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There was also much international condemnation. Most significantly, there was a massive upsurge in violence and support for the IRA. Even Winston Churchill hadn’t gone this far with Ghandi (though recently released records show he wanted to). If Penny Rimbaud had discovered the ruthlessness of the state via the Wally Hope experience, the rest of Crass might have considered this their wake-up call. Out on the streets of the UK, Crass was also encountering a different sort of problem.Their increasing fame and notoriety had given them a wide and often quite young fanbase. As with everything else in their set up, Crass toured without the usual rock’n’roll circus. Despite being significantly older than most bands, they had no roadies, preferring to lug all the equipment themselves. Rather than stay in hotels, they stayed in peoples’ houses – often at kid’s parent’s houses and often without beds. Instead, all the door money would be diverted to a plethora of good causes – almost every gig was a benefit for something or other. Their values deliberately represented a mirror image of the hippy capitalist popstars who flaunted their excesses in front of those whose poverty they continued to shamelessly ignore. Phil Free:“A number of the members of the band were starting at the age where most bands are reforming, and had lived without any great money or jobs . . . so it wasn’t like we were starting out and here’s somebody showing us some money.We were quite happy as a lifestyle getting by – someone would always be bragging about who got the cheapest bit of army gear and so on.” It was inevitable this integrity would be misunderstood by younger fans and lead them into uncomfortable areas marked celebrity and responsibility. While Crass would take up the mantle of responsibility with almost unprecedented, er, responsibility, it would be a chore that would tire them out.Years of explaining how anarchy and peace could be reconciled to earnest young men must be more tiring than relaxing with a beer and a spliff backstage. Things like the quandary of signing autographs – you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Sometimes time would be taken pointing out the inherent flaws within the concept, but not always. . . Steve Ignorant: “Because you just got so pissed off with trying to explain . . . you’d have more bloody arguments . . . does it hurt? Have I
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