FULLER UP HOME GRIM REAPER PAGE CAUSES OF DEATH SEARCH BY NAME GET IN TOUCH SHAMEFUL DISCLAIMER    Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory    Matty Blag Matthew Roberts February 22, 2000 Age 36   OD    OBITUARY  BIOGRAPHY  LINKS  Buy or Hear the Music       Editor's Pick:  On Yer Toez

OBITUARY 

NME       MATTY BLAG  1964-2000                     Former BLAGGERS ITA Matty Blag - real name                     MATTHEW ROBERTS - died of a suspected drug                     overdose last Tuesday (February 22).  He was 36.                     Blaggers ITA rose to fame in the mid-90s and                     were well-known for their strong anti-fascist messages.                     They played a blend of punk rock and rap music and                     often took part in Anti Facist Action rallies and                     advocated direct action against far-right organisations.                     In fact, Matty famously beat up a Melody Maker                     journalist who, during an interview, kept telling Matty                     that people who beat up fascists were as bad as                     fascists themselves.                     Blaggers reached the outer reaches of the charts on a                     number of occasions, but probably their best-known                     record was 'Abandon Ship', which reached 48 when                     released through their then label Parlophone in                     January 1994.                     A memorial service was held for Matty in his home                     town of Oswestry, Shrophshire, yesterday (March 7).              NY TIMES

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

Band Bio    Blaggers I.T.A. are a UK band that last year were being splashed all  over the pages of the British music press, being an anti-fascist band before   the cause was a compulsory fashion statement. They now release their   major-label debut, an album which outperforms their debut and stands   favorably alongside any of the other Brit-pop albums that have been raved   about this year, and, yet, barely a whisper is heard. Why is this ?             Well, at the height of the hype, an after-show discussion over a few  drinks between lead Blagger Matty and a Melody Maker journalist ended up with  the journalist receiving a kicking after making several disparaging comments  to Matty's face. The resultant furor has resulted in the band being given an  unofficial cold shoulder.             Now, I am in no way saying that what Matty did was admirable, but the  hypocrisy displayed in crucifying a band for displaying the same tendencies  they seem only too happy to encourage in Oasis, and an act of violence they  would have cheered from the roof-tops had it been perpetrated against an  insulting *tabloid* journalist rather than 'one of them', is laughable. Seems  you can talk about how hard you are till the cows come home as long as you  don't actually *do* anything.             Blaggers I.T.A. are deeply political - they are affiliated with the  fight-fire-with-fire Anti Fascist Action organization - but the politics here  go past the familiar 'racism is bad' chant that we all know, and dig a little  deeper into UK and world politics. This is done with an eloquence approaching  that of the Manic Street Preachers, although with a good deal more clarity.             Musically, they are like all your favourite current Brit-Pop bands  rolled into one (which is what makes the press snub all the more apparent) -  they have Oasis' cool-hooligan swagger and pop-suss combined with a punk attack  that will have the New Wave of New Wave bands giving up and going home and fans  of The Clash getting excited. On top of all this a samples-and-rap element that  the 94-model Pop Will Eat Itself would (and *do*) thoroughly approve of.             Sure, its not all perfect. Its often all too easy for the message to  get lost in Matty's sneer and snarl and co-hort Christy's speed-fire rap but  the adrenaline rush makes up for this.              The music borrows freely from other sources, but the samples and vocals  give the album an unmistakeable identity of its own. Everything from the  90-mph ram-raid of "Stresss" with its 70s-cop-show trumpets to the mid-pace  soaring guitar-pop of "Hate Generator" reeks of something that, under normal  circumstances, the UK press would be getting excited about.             In the absence of that support then.....the hype starts here.  - Martin Bate -- Consumable

 

LINKS

Streetforce Blaggers Page

 

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