Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliche

One of my great inspirations in pursuing a DIY ethic is the late Poly Styrene, singer and writer for X-Ray Spex and someone I sadly missed meeting during my time in the UK. Not that I didn't try. I distinctly remember speaking to her manager Falcon Stuart around 1995-96 and trying to arrange an interview, but it did not happen. And I missed the X-Ray Spex reunion gig at the Roundhouse in 2008, the gig that would turn out to be her last, as one of the interviewees in this documentary points out. Styrene's death in 2011 robbed the world of a visionary figure who was ahead of her time. Stuart, who passed in 2002, also appears in archive footage and I was startled to discover the two were lovers back in the day. It is one of many eye-opening moments in this unusual film, whose narrator is none other than Celeste Bell, the daughter of Poly Styrene. 

Or rather Bell is the daughter of Marion (also frequently spelled Marianne) Elliott, but had to get used to sharing her mother with the public figure who was Poly Styrene. Their tumultuous relationship is at the heart of the film, which follows Bell around the various haunts of her mother, as if seeking traces of an elusive figure: Hastings, Hertfordshire, New York City and even India. Bell pops up in brief tracking shots as the soundtrack gives voice to her thoughts while actress Ruth Negga gives voice to Poly's written thoughts. The diary is extraordinary, showing what a brilliant writer Styrene was. If only she had written a novel! And Negga's voice is uncannily similar to Styrene's. If a bio-pic ever appears, she surely must be a shoo-in for the starring role. 

What comes out of the piece is really how much Bell wanted to be the daughter of someone a bit more normal and less volatile than Styrene who was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia before being correctly diagnosed with bipolarism. Bell explains how she grew up with her grandma after many adventures with Styrene including time in a Hare Krishna temple. 

Bell seems to be coming to terms with both this personal legacy and with upholding her mother's creative legacy as she notes how much she treasured working with her mother on her solo album, Generation Indigo. Many other interviewees appear in voice only, among them Gina Birch and Kathleen Hanna, but it is Poly's voice and her relationship with her only child that comes through most movingly. It makes one want to run out and re-listen to Styrene's records. 

Poly Styrene Weekender

Coming up is the Poly Styrene Weekender, which seems to only be one day, 1 June, but it's packed full of activity.

Disappointingly, I cannot attend but am very excited to hear there are an exhibit, a biography and documentary in existence celebrating the human dynamo that was Poly Styrene. A punk legend, she wrote for and fronted X-ray Spex before going solo and then vanishing from the public eye for many years. I attempted to make contact with her when I arrived in the UK in 1995 but never did and she was taken far too soon, in 2011.

But let's celebrate her wonderful achievements in music. This is one of my favourite songs ever, an excoriating 3-minute examination of identity.

This is a very odd profile of her which appeared on the BBC in 1979, hinting at some existential melancholia.

And this is her last release. Enjoy.

Poly Styrene RIP

First Ari Up, now Poly Styrene. Not so unexpected, as she had been fighting cancer for awhile, but still.... Aargh. Never met her, never saw her play, but am an admirer from afar of her and X-Ray Spex. And "Identity" is one of my favourite songs EVAHHH!

X-Ray Spex Reunion

Continuing the unstoppable propensity of reunions, legendary punks X-Ray Spex have re-formed for one gig in September.

After a number of years out of the limelight, frontwoman Poly Styrene has been popping up of late, appearing in Zillah Minx's film, She's a Punk Rocker UK. She also made a cameo appearance at the Love Music, Hate Racism event in the spring, having played at the first Victoria Park event 30 years ago.

Last week she appeared on a UK radio station for an interview, which was a bit of a letdown, because the presenter insisted on focussing on the most idiotic of topics: gobbing and braces. Please.

The woman is a gifted lyricist, with trenchant observations about consumerism and identity that were decades ahead of their time, and he wants to talk about gobbing. Clod. She dealt with it in a dignified manner but it must be irritating to talk about such teen-era trivia.

I'd like to know what she's been doing all these years. There was a brief solo career in the '80s and an abortive band reunion in the mid-90s, which produced the album Conscious Consumer. And she joined the Hare Krishna movement, but it wasn't clear from the interview whether she is still a member.

The gig seems to be a one-off, a testing of the waters to see if there is an appetite for more. There is a lot of rehearsal planned and she promised an intense and tight live show. It's not clear who the band personnel are, but I'd quite like to see Lora Logic in there. Here's hoping.

X-Ray Spex play The Roundhouse on 6 September.