Antisect

During the 1980s, Antisect stood among the leading voices of Britain’s anarcho-punk community, a socially and politically engaged outfit that wove the squatters’ movement and direct action into its core ethos. Musically they surpassed most contemporaries in sophistication, crafting a more intricate and fluid style than Crass, Discharge, or Conflict while folding in elements of psychedelia and heavy metal alongside the velocity of punk. The band took shape in 1982 in Daventry, Northamptonshire, with an original roster of guitarist Pete Lyons, singer Pete Boyce, bassist Renusze Rokicki, and drummer Pete Paluskiewicz; a local resident who viewed them as opposed to everything coined the term “anti-sect,” a label that endured after the group relocated to Northampton and recruited additional vocalists Rich Hill and Caroline Wallis. Having established themselves on the U.K. punk circuit, they issued their first long-player, In Darkness There Is No Choice, in 1983 on Spiderleg Records, the imprint started by Flux of Pink Indians. Although the album earned favorable notice, personnel changes continued; by the 1985 EP Out of the Void—on which heavier-metal textures became more prominent—the lineup had shrunk to a trio of Lyons on guitar and vocals, Paluskiewicz on drums, and John Bryson on bass and vocals. In 1987 yet another configuration—Lyons on guitar, Paluskiewicz on drums, Tim Andrews on bass, and Laurence Windle on bass—began work on a second album that remained unfinished when the band dissolved. Several tracks intended for that project later surfaced on the posthumous live releases Peace Is Better Than a Place in History in 1993 and Leeds 02.04.86 in 2010. May 2011 brought word of a reunion for live performances, commencing at Finland’s Puntala Rock Festival and featuring Tim Andrews and Pete Boyce on vocals, Pete Lyons on guitar, Laurence Windle on bass, and newcomer Joe Burwood on drums. Andrews and Boyce departed by 2014, at which point Chris Capps joined as vocalist. Three years later the group tightened to a trio of Lyons on guitar and vocals, Burwood on drums and vocals, and the returning John Bryson on bass and vocals, resulting in the studio album The Rising of the Lights.