An insight into Sunderland's punk scene

New documentary charts the music phenomenon - complete with interviews with the stars of the era.

Transcript

00:00 Most bands go through personnel changes before they settle on the lineup that'll produce the sound they're after.

00:04 So I'm expecting one of the North East bands to emerge shortly as a really big name.

00:08 [Music]

00:17 The right time, the right place, the right type of people who got involved.

00:23 I think with the right direction, we already had that kind of outsider mentality.

00:29 Just kind of no bullshit music. It was the kind of not pretentious raw energy.

00:34 It was a kind of cry of rage.

00:36 The North East was a stronghold, especially in the Sunderland, South Shields area because of the deprivation.

00:42 Thatcher started attacking the North East and I never thought she would be as victorious as what she was.

00:48 Them early songs reflected the times, didn't they really? Thatcher's government.

00:53 Different colored hairs, leopard skin hair, no hair at all, and everybody was individual.

00:59 That's when the third wave or the fourth wave started with all the Mohicans and it wasn't for us.

01:07 I was going to be a policeman and then I decided to become a clown instead, so there you go.

01:13 For me, I never played there, but I've seen bands, loads of bands.

01:17 It was the Mayfair. To me, that's the best there has been.

01:21 Mayfair, Newcastle was just amazing.

01:23 Me and Al stayed upstairs on the balcony and we were just fighting right through the gig.

01:29 The Ferry Tavern, South Shields. We used to actually play after the strippers on a Sunday.

01:36 The O29, it was like the place to play because at the time, Red Alert were playing there, Angelic Upstarts.

01:43 Just decimation. I didn't know how the government used to afford the glasses

01:48 because the floor used to just be... I don't know why they didn't get plastic glasses

01:52 because the floor used to be just broken glass.

01:56 It was just a massive bulk of broken glass on the floor. It was unbelievable, you know.

02:01 We didn't need to get on a bus to London and say, "Oh, the big bands won. We had our local heroes like Red Alert."

02:07 Someone's just been like a braiding ground for musicians, you know.

02:11 Newcastle had the venues, but we had the musicians.

02:15 Red Alert!

02:16 Red Alert!

02:17 Red Alert!

02:18 Red Alert!

02:19 Red Alert!

02:20 Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. We love you all.

02:29 Red Alert!

02:30 Red Alert!

02:31 Red Alert!

02:32 Red Alert!

02:33 Red Alert!

02:34 (whooshing)