Virgin Prunes

Tripping the lite fantastik – Record Mirror (1981)

Cover and ‘Tripping the lite fantastik’ article by Chris Westwood, from the February 21, 1981 issue of Record Mirror. From the article: Gavin Friday is wearing a dress (“but I don’t want to look like a woman – I’m not wearing the dress in a feminine way”); Dave-id is currently calling himself Dave-Id Busaras Scott [...]

Pigswill – Flexipop 29 – magazine (1982)

‘The Virgin Prunes give Kris Needs some pork scratchings’ in this interview from Flexipop magazine (issue 29, 1982) Gavin: “The pig is supposed to be a greedy and selfish animal, symbolic of dirt and filth. But the thing is, it’s the most honest.” A German tour was pulled out “because they thought we killed pigs. [...]

Rip it up and start again – Simon Reynolds (2005)

In “Rip it up and start again” Simon Reynold’s book on post-punk music (78-84), the author writes the following on the Virgin Prunes in the chapter “Dark Things: Goth and the return of rock”: ‘Release the Bats’ was produced by Nick Launay, who had worked on PiL’s tribal-sounding ‘Flowers of Romance’ and later produced another [...]

Les Virgin Prunes sons possédés par le diable? – Actuel 33-34 – French magazine (1982)

From 1982, an article on the Virgin Prunes from Actuel, a French magazine, written by Elisabeth D. She rambles on about God and the Devil quite a bit… It’s best to skip the text and enjoy the pictures. Download the article (PDF)

Conversation avec Gavin Friday – Entropie #9 – French fanzine (1986)

French fanzine Entropie #9 from 1986 contains a conversation with Gavin Friday in which he’s asked to comment on various issues such as the definition of Virgin Prunes, Irish music and culture, Northern Ireland, the Industrial music scene, violence and Guggi leaving the band. Some quotes: “Jesus Christ! Virgin Prunes are ugly, magnificent, simple, true. [...]

VOX – Irish fanzine (1980-1983)

“Vox which started in March ’80 became a significant cultural publication of the era combining punk, electronic and progressive music, underground poets, performance artists and fringe entities. Flicking through its pages is like looking through a directory of all things new wave and underground covering that period of time, with so many topics and features [...]

Black & White fanzine (1980)

Meet the Virgin Prunes in this 1980 article from Black & White, and Irish fanzine. The band lists ideals as “Love, peace and the Human Race, modern satire, Human reaction.” Their method as “Attack, unpoetry/paint, art, reverse humour, mime and rock’n’roll.” Download a PDF of the article

NMX fanzine interview (1981)

Q: What is ‘A New Form of Beauty’ about? Dave-id: Ugliness Dik: Very difficult to explain in verbal terms. We had become disillusioned with the releasing of just records. We wanted to make up our own rules as opposed to working to rules made up from the outside. ‘A New Form of Beauty’ is about [...]

Zig Zag magazine (1982)

An interview with Gavin and Dave-id from Zig Zag magazine (1982). ZZ: How come you did such essentially rock ‘n’ roll gigs as the Theatre of Hate support spots? Dave-id: It’s only rock ‘n’ roll and I don’t like it Gavin: There’s no use playing gigs unless people see you. We use gigs like that. [...]

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