The demise of industrial Tyneside. The People v Thatcher - SLAB 1984

SLAB was sonically constructed at the time of the miners strike to represent the anguish, hardship and unemployment that was a direct result of the political destruction and neglect of heavy industry and the north-east's mining communities by Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government. At that time dumdum SCORE represented Tyneside's art music scene, newly termed 'industrial music' by the press. The piece is produced to reflect the sound of toil and hard labour that resonated from Wallsend to Scotswood road. That constant backdrop of sound was to disappear along with a way of life that had existed for decades. The track appears on the album 'audio sheep' that was released two years later as a stereo piece although it was manifested live as a multi-media production including advanced projection techniques and multiple directional speakers to engulf the audience with 'Tyneside's industrial sound' .

People are talking, and it's close at home

hitting the nail - for the sake of the art

On your head be it

deliver - deliver the noise

deliver the noise display

There's blood on the dovecote

red on white suits

On target !

Skills are dead - in boom land

on target on target

SKILLS ARE DEAD - IN BOOM LAND !

ON TARGET !

ON TARGET!