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In the beginning it was just

a very exciting time
for me as a 17 year old.

And I had to break
down all these barriers

of the society we
were living in,

and you had to just
do something about it.

You were in charge.

We don't care what
you think we ought to be doing.

We're gonna do it our way.

They were
definitely the queens of punk.

The Slits had attitude.

You had these four women

that were like
sticks of dynamite

and the whole thing was like

this feminist
explosion on stage.

They were threatening to men,

certainly empowering for women

and I just found them
totally fascinating.

It was adventurous,

it was anarchic
and it was female.

And I hadn't seen
anything like that before.

It was something
that I wanted to do

and suddenly I've
been enabled to do it.

Rock and roll was about men

rebelling against their moms.

And the Slits used rock and roll

to rebel against everything.

The Slits were powerful ladies

that have opened the
door for other ladies

because people didn't
use to associate women

with playing instruments.

They were
inventing a new kind of music.

It was completely
outside of rock and roll.

It was completely
outside of punk.

They terrified people

but it wasn't just like angry,

screaming, girls
kind of terrifying

it was a deep psychology
that, you know,

some people could not deal
with these powerful women.

We had a mission,
we were girls on a mission.

We were absolutely driven by it

and it was bigger than our
petty little squabbles.

We were very strong, all of us.

The initial Slits had a potency

because of how
different we were.

I was so shy, people
called me the quiet one,

so this was just a whole
world opening up for me.

Now you got to
understand this is the beginning

of the whole punk
rock explosion.

And everybody was trying
to work out their shit

and it sort of said to people
if you were brave enough

and you had a good idea you
could be part of this shit too.

- Ah.

So what do I see here?

I see a photograph of myself
outside the Roxy club;

all blotchy, stained with age.

That's why I've got these
gloves on because I don't want,

I'm trying to protect
these archive scrapbook.

The Slits scrapbook
that I must have started

literally right at the
beginning, 1976, '77.

We didn't obviously
know each other then

but everything started
at the Roxy club

in Covent Garden that
doesn't exist anymore.

And all the bands, this
was the first exposure

for the new bands to play at.

So all of the original punk
bands played at the Roxy club.

Don Letts used to
DJ reggae music

and the reason he was
playing reggae music

is because it was right
at the beginning of punk,

there were no punk records.

And on the first
night I was invited

to introduce Generation X.

The first band that was on.

You know I was there
really nervous as I am.

I was like okay, I'll do it.

Okay, I'll do it.

So I get on and I nervously go,

tonight we have Generation X.

And then there's
some punkie girl

in the front going,
who's that wally?

Okay, so here we have
the first ever gig.

Ever, ever, first
ever Slits gig.

Headlining is the Clash,
then the Buzzcocks,

then Subway Sect,
then the Slits.

I had literally joined
the band two weeks before.

Hadn't played the bass.

Had to learn all of
the songs in two weeks.

- Clash, Subway Sect, I
didn't go to see them.

I went to see the Slits
because I saw those other bands

all the time and I'd
heard about the Slits

and I've been in a
band with Palmolive,

the Flowers of Romance
with Sid Vicious.

So I wanted to check
out what she was doing.

I was thinking, I don't know,

I keep seeing them
running around

with black plastic bin liners
on, screaming and shouting.

They're probably not
gonna be that good.

- Palmolive was starting to try

and play the drums
and be in a band,

and one day she invited
us to the first Slits gig.

And it was a
life-changing thing.

There was just this complete
raw energy and the music.

Some people said that
it sounded terrible

and they couldn't
play, but to my ears

it was the most delicious sound.

It unlocked something
for me and suddenly

I was standing there thinking,

wow, I want to do this too.

- The way Palmolive drummed.

I mean she just
gave it everything.

She was like Keith
Moon 10 times over.

Really, really present,
and really fierce.

Never seen a girl
drum like that.

I mean never seen a
guy drum like that.

- She radiated when
she played live,

her eyes come alive
and there was something

so magical about her.

- And Ari, who seemed such
a big personality off stage,

suddenly was absolutely
in her element.

Really confident lead singer.

The sort of lead singer you
feel comfortable watching

because you can channel all
your own sort of insecurities

through them and they
become like a shaman.

Whenever me and Sid
Vicious watched a band,

we'd think, are they
as good as the pistols?

And here at last, I
felt, was a singer

who was equal to Johnny Rotten.

Just as exciting, just as
irreverent and iconoclastic

and then, on top
of that, a girl.

I was absolutely won over,
absolutely astounded that night

and I rang them up
the next morning

from the phone box up the road

and said oh, if you ever want
to get together and play,

I'd really like
to play with you,

I thought you were
fantastic last night.

- I was just 17,
Ari was only 14.

It was just pure
energy and attitude

that just made people go
what the fuck is that?

We were coming from a very,
sort of, gray population

just thinking what is
there for us out there?

- Men ruled the world.

Men in bowler hats and
three piece pinstripe suits.

They did rule
England, those men.

It was a very sexist, very male,

very class ridden society
where we were invisible really.

But, you know, because
when no one was looking,

the rapscallions scuttled in.

Out of that came music.

- We just left home.

We didn't worry about
where we were gonna stay.

And you just had to survive.

You'd find a way to survive

and you found
like-minded people.

There was always a
way basically, there
was always a way.

And the reason I met the Slits,

it was because there was
the News Of the World,

which was one of the
Sunday sensational papers

and the headline
is, these girls make

the Sex Pistols look
like choir boys.

Here come the Punkesses!

Whoa!

The News of the World has
been talking to the bands.

Our verdict, if the Punkesses

become a craze we're all crazy.

They have holes in their
socks, sex on their minds

and vocabulary so pock-marked
with four-letter words

they seem to say little else.

The name of this all-girl
punk rock group is so vulgar

that we are unwilling to print
it in a family newspaper.

I was still at
college at the time,

playing in a group
called the Castrators.

Suddenly the News of the World

are knocking on my
door as a 17-year-old,

they wanna do a newspaper
interview and it was shocking.

It was slammed on my dad's
desk on Monday morning.

I tried ringing him up to
say, I'm really sorry, Dad,

but he didn't want
to talk to me.

That was it.

They had already established
themselves as a band

but they hadn't
played any gigs yet.

- I played with the
Flowers of Romance

with Sid Vicious for
a whole two weeks.

So we finished practicing and
I'm there in the house alone.

So Sid Vicious is
acting all macho-like.

I used to wear these mini
skirts and fishnet tights

so, of course, he's
hanging out for something

and I'm like not
into him at all.

He goes, I hate blacks.

And I go, I hate people
that hate blacks,

and then next time we have
practice Sid goes, you're out.

So my experience with Sid,

it made me want to
form a girls group.

It was clear in my mind, it
was not that I hated guys.

Um, at all.

But I just felt that
it would be simpler.

I wouldn't need to deal
with that kinda stuff.

I packed my bags.

I just went to London without
knowing anybody really.

I landed in this squat in 101.

One of the creative projects

that we rallied
around was the 101ers.

Woody was the lead
singer and very soon,

I was living with Woody
who became Joe Strummer.

Joe wanted to go and be
part of the punk movement.

He cut his hair
and he spiked it.

Because he was all about
changing image, changing looks,

so I adopted Palmolive.

So when the punks exploded

and everybody and their
mother was having a band,

you know, like I
want to have a band.

- It would have been
summer of '76, I guess,

and Paloma came
up to me and said,

do you know anybody
who plays guitar?

She said, do you?

And I said, a
little, and she said,

do you wanna be in a band?

And I said, okay we'll try it.

I vaguely remember meeting
Ari at a Patti Smith gig

and thinking she might
be a little bit too young

and brattish to pull it off.

- All the attention
was on Patti Smith

but my attention was on Ari

because Ari was on the floor
shouting at Nora, her mom,

effing this and effing that
and like she was shouting

and she did not
care about anything.

So I felt she had
no inhibitions.

And so I said she would be
great for a front person

in a band, in my band.

So I went and asked her.

I said, do you wanna
be in a group with me?

We had a bass player at
the beginning, Suzy Gutsy,

and she wasn't there very long.

- I wasn't getting
on too well Arianna

and I think she wanted
Tessa to be the bass player.

So I just left and
went, did my own thing.

- So it was Kate,
Kate was the one

that came up with
the name The Slits.

- The name of the band
shocked a lot of people.

It called to mind
violence for some people,

and pornography to others.

It had a lot of
different meanings

depending on who you were.

And we did want to
change peoples image

of what females might be.

- We had seen an article

in the News of the World
with the Castrators,

so we grabbed Tessa from there.

So it was Kate,
Tessa, Ari, and I.

- I hadn't finished
my college course

but who wouldn't
want to be involved

in something more exciting
than finishing your exam stuff.

So I blew that, told
the college I'm leaving.

Two weeks later we're on stage.

First gig.

Kate taught me the bass lines
when I joined the group.

So Kate, to me, was very kind

but obviously I only knew her
for a short period of time.

She did two gigs with us
and shortly afterwards

she left or was thrown out,
however you want to put it.

- Viv and the
others got together

and they decided to be a band.

And I was told that I was
no longer in the band.

And then, almost
immediately afterwards,

they asked me to be the
manager which I turned down.

I felt rejected but, you know,
life is full of rejections.

- At that time, the
White Riot tour comes up

and the Slits are offered
a spot on the bill.

Another brilliant line-up,
Clash, Buzzcocks, Slits.

- At this period Don Letts
attempted to manage us.

And it says here June the
25th 1977, Melody maker.

- I Went along to a Slits
rehearsal in Daventry street

and me and Ari
absolutely clicked.

Very, very different to
rehearsing with Sid Vicious

and I had rehearsed with
Johnny Thunders a bit as well

and I'd felt very awkward
and very out of my depth

and didn't really
flow, but the minute

I hit that basement
with those girls

it was absolutely meant to be.

- One, two, three, four.

And that was it, we were a band.

When The Slits were
offered the White Riot tour

and I'd only been
with them three weeks

and we could barely play,
there was no question

of saying no, we're not ready.

It's like yeah go
for it, go for it.

And then the next thing you know

we're out in front
of a thousand people.

Ready!

One, two, three, four!

It was all so new.

Exciting, I
mean people were so excited

to see it and we were so
excited that they were excited.

It was just such a high.

- But we didn't really
know how to play,

so sometimes we would be
playing different songs

and we couldn't
even tell sometimes.

Sometimes we could tell.

We were just
together for the gig.

Now we were in a van with
the Clash, driving for hours.

It was exciting and
we were on the bus every day

but we were very much
kept under heavy manners.

Ari was not to leave her seat

or speak on any coach journey.

- Bus driver on the
White Riot tour, Norman,

he had to be bribed to
let them on the bus.

And they didn't do
anything to him directly.

He was just so threatened

on some sort of deep
psychological level.

Just their presence, just
the look in their eyes

before they even opened
their mouth, you know.

- It kind of got to
us a bit actually,

it made us act badly.

As it does you know
if people expect

the worst of you,
you kind of give it.

The other bands, and
certainly their managers,

became like the
establishment to us.

- When we got to somewhere

people would say,
they're too outrageous.

I remember being so disappointed
because you get to a hotel,

you wanna party and no, no,
you have to go to the rooms.

Of course we didn't really
listen to them too much

but the fact that we
couldn't was like, come on.

The guys were just as
bad but we were more

shocking to them, I think,
because we were girls.

And they didn't expect
that from a girl.

- There was one
incident where we walked

into this hotel and the
graffiti, The Slits,

as soon as we walked
into the hotel,

they refused to allow
us to stay in that hotel

just because of this thing
written on my guitar case.

We sort of signed in and then
signed out straight away.

So that was ground breaking
for us that tour was,

thank you so much, The Clash.

And here we have, is this Ari
saying we're not musicians.

The ultimate test
of creative talent

and potential is
the extent to which

an artist puts
across original ideas

in a manner transcending the
limitations of technique.

That the Slits do this
is beyond question,

only spoilsports could
dismiss them as a joke.

Do they consider
themselves musicians?

No, not at all, says Viv
and that's not because

we cant play brilliantly,
its because if we do

we'll be misrepresented.

We've heard about
musicians and anyway,

is that what we play, music?

Says Palmolive, if
men don't like us

to be free that's their problem.

If they don't like it they
can fuck off.

Ari Up quote, the reason
why there's hardly

any girl rock and
roll stars is because

most girls are not strong
enough in their own minds.

The Slits talk about
the lyrics of their songs.

All right, all right
lets do the splits, shall we?

Yeah, yeah.

This is a bit about
splitting up with a boy.

No it's just about, you know

- About guys fucking, hey!

This is our drummer
and bass player.

And lets do the split
is about fucking,

guys fucking us about and
we tell them to fuck off.

- We were crazy, and
people knew that,

that's what they were expecting
and that was fine with us.

That was our life but then
we would finish the gig

and then go home and
then the next day

we would do it again, so our
whole life was the group.

- The Slits were forming
their own constituency

and their own aesthetic
and it was truly original.

- When the four Slits walked
along, we were like a gang.

You know, we could
almost practically hear

our theme tune
behind us you know,

jungle drums and everything.

But because of how we looked,
the hair and everything,

they couldn't tell if we were
male or female or even human.

And they were scared.

They were scared of us.

These guys didn't know
whether to fuck us

or kill us basically,
they were so confused.

- You have to understand
that when we walk the street

people did not look
like the way we looked.

Your outfit had to express
this new vision that we had.

Like you wanted to shock people
out of their complacency,

so we would have
people coming to hit us

or people just going to the
other side of the street

just because of
the way we looked.

- England is a sort of
country of little factions

they followed their band but
we weren't following a band.

We were the band.

- Nowadays, you can
wear whatever you like.

You can choose your look,
you can choose your outfit

but back then society told
you what was acceptable.

- Girls were supposed to not
go out until they were ready.

And being ready meant
everything in it's place,

the make up perfect,
the hair perfect.

Calm yourself down, go out.

The Slits they were wearing
chaos and they were being chaos.

Their fun was more important

than what anybody
thought about it,

especially what men
thought about it.

You were talking about a
generation of young women

who'd been brought up to
feel that everything they did

was wrong unless they
did the right thing

and the right thing is
sitting quiet, being biddable.

If you jumped off
that railway track,

you jumped into ugly territory.

Those barbs, they hurt the
people that they were aimed at.

They were intended to hurt

and intended to make
people feel wrong.

Part of what was
written about in lyrics

and part of what was
articulated on stage

was a celebration
of that wrongness.

- It was girls
reclaiming our own space

and identity for ourselves.

- Because everything
was up for grabs.

Presenting yourself in
a truly original way

that looked as topsy-turvy
as their sound sounded.

It was like a new
paradigm for females.

So they were provocative,
they were outrageous

but also they were having fun

because they hadn't
been manufactured,

they weren't having to please

some, usually 99.999%
of the time, male boss,

you know they were
presenting themselves

and pitching themselves
the way they wanted to.

Un-reconstructed.

Without giving a fuck.

Here we have
Palmolive, Viv, Ari,

and what's interesting
about these pair

of jeans I'm wearing,
you see it has a slit

in the pocket at the back.

Now these are the jeans
that Ari got stabbed in.

This guy just
comes up behind her

and just slices her
through the coat,

through her jeans and says,
here's a slit for you,

and he's gone.

These were violent times
which we have to remember

and it took a lot of nerve
to dress the way you did

and walk down the street on
your own as we often were.

I think it's just human nature.

People love a fight.

Don't we all.

Okay, here we have the
good, the bad, and the ugly.

Which one do you
think the Slits were?

The ugly.

Would you describe
yourselves as a punk band?

Chorus: No!

Viv: we're just the
Slits, we are what we are,

like the Sex Pistols
are what they are.

The newspapers invented
this punk shit,

they've got to label everything.

They call us punkettes.

What kind of shit is that?

We're just ordinary,
normal girls

that's why we want to be in 19,

because we think
that fashion is crap.

We want to show girls that
you don't have to be pretty

and skinny to get into a group.

You can be just what you are,

you can be wild-looking people

with personalities
and not stereotypes.

Why did you choose
the name Slits?

Palmolive: it's a vicious name.

Ari: it has three meanings;
slitting someone open,

a slit in the side of a
skirt and dot, dot, dot.

We all know what that is.

Et cetera, et cetera, you know.

- I had no role models
as a female musician.

There was no one I wanted to be.

So much so that it
didn't even occur to me

to even be a female musician.

The Kinks went to my school

and Rod Stewart
went to my school.

It never occurred to me to think

I could possibly be
in a band myself.

I was mad about music from
the age of nine or 10,

which in the '60s
and '70s was unusual.

Yet absolutely immersed
in music as I was,

never occurred to
me to be in a band

until I saw Johnny
Rotten on stage

and then it was like a
huge whoosh of everything.

Bang, bang, bang coming into
my head at the same time.

So I watch this sort
of androgynous guy

from North London like me,

comprehensive state
schooling like me.

The only thing was
that he was a boy

but he was so sort of
androgynous and white,

and limp in a way
that I think I managed

to overcome the fact
that he was a boy

and think I'm
gonna buy a guitar.

I went out the next day and
bought an electric guitar

even though I couldn't play.

- After the White Riot
tour, we were all fired up

and excited and actually
lots of things were going on.

But there was a slight shift
where the Pistols come,

which was Malcom really,
is becoming commercial.

It shifted from them
being colleagues in crime

to them being the establishment.

The Slits went through
13 managers in our time.

Some lasted a few weeks,
some lasted a few months,

some ripped us
off, some ran away.

And always picking us up
when it all went wrong

and it always went
wrong, was Nora.

- Nora's house in Shepherds Bush

was a great meeting
point for various members

of the whole original, early
punk movement from 1976.

A lot of interesting people
passed through that place

and Nora was excited and happy

and welcoming to
all these people.

- All right, ma?

Nora was a
German promoter of music.

She worked with groups like
the Cream and Jimi Hendrix.

Which meant Ari was in contact

with all these people
in her early childhood.

- Nora's house was a
place we came together.

It was just a safe, clean place.

Some meals provided.

We were horrible to her
and she was so nice to us.

She had the ability
to just laugh

and roll with it and ignore it.

- Every Christmas she'd buy
a really big Christmas tree

and put real candles on
little silver holders

with you know
flickering real lights.

She was like all of
our mother in a way.

- I think to Ari, the
Slits were like her family,

we were like the sisters she
never had being an only child

so I think that made Nora
happy, and I felt safe as well.

I felt I found my
people, kind of thing,

because as I said I'm
quite a solitary person.

So this is a show we did

where we you're trying to
mix reggae, funk, and punk.

For the first time in the UK,

three different
cultures meet live.

So we were trying to just mix

all these different
types of music

and hope that it would work

and sometimes it did,
sometimes it didn't

but the connection with
punk and reggae is huge.

Put on the record.

- A bridge trying
with the lines.

- Oh come on!
- I can give it to you.

- The reason the
punks liked reggae

was the lyrics were about
shit they understood.

I need a roof over my head,

money in my pocket,
chant down Babylon.

Music that spoke about
how we could live

and how we could do it together.

And, yeah, they didn't mind
the weed either, you know.

The thing is with the Slits,

the way we played reggae we
filtered it through our music,

and we filtered it
through ourselves

and our lack of
technical ability.

For us it fused our whole sound.

- In the 1950's there was
a huge influx of immigrants

from the Caribbean to come
and work on the underground

or do the jobs that British
people didn't wanna do,

thinking they'll have
a bright future here

and the attitude they got
from the general population

all over England was
extremely racist.

So they were a
rebellious generation,

we just happened to collide
at that point in time.

- If anybody defined
the punky reggae party

that Bob Marley sang
about it was the Slits.

Particularly Ari, who was
the first white dreadlocks

that most people had ever seen.

She even shocked the
very cool Bob Marley.

The first time I heard the
song Punky Reggae Party

it mentioned the Slits.

It had that line
which later became

the Damned, the Jam, the Clash.

In the early versions he
talks about the Slits,

so they had a lot
of confrontation
everywhere they went.

- As a girl it was difficult
because we were brought up

to be self conscious
about how we looked,

to be feminine, to smile
and any scrutiny about us

and our love lives and our
bodies was very painful to bare.

The Rastas were just
sort of beginning

to come up in London as well

and they were very into
women being at home

and not showing their hair.

So just as I was
beginning to branch out

and feel like I really
looked like myself

for once in my life these men

that I really quite respected

were sort of putting
it all back down again,

so the scrutiny was
even more painful.

The youth of those '70s
were nothing in society.

Girls until then had
been terribly, terribly
self conscious.

I can't, you
know, I can't do it.

I'm not a fucking genius.

Until that moment you
never questioned a dentist,

a doctor, a
headmaster, a teacher.

Anyone male.

All right, put it
on again, I'm just finished.

Come on then.

You know, feel
and look back on that time

as an extremely
painful time for me.

I was a very self conscious girl

and someone who helped
me through that,

without actually doing anything

but just being herself, was Ari.

So that's
the four original Slits

at their best, I would
say, at our peak.

- The music slowly
got a little better.

We started to play the same
song here and there, you know.

People were very
thrilled to see us

and the papers always gave
us really good reports.

We were very strong, all of us,

and I think the initial
Slits had a potency

because of how
different we were.

We were still like
excited about each other

and being in the
band and we felt it

with the same intensity.

And here we have Don
Letts's, The Punk Rock Movie.

Because Don, from the beginning,

was documenting everything
on his Super 8 camera.

He caught everything.

We were rehearsing for
the White Riot tour.

So for some reason,
don't ask me why,

somewhere I just
decided to take a pill.

Someone went, oh
do you want a pill,

I was like, yeah why not?

It was like half an hour later,

just before the rehearsal,

I start feeling a bit
woozy like, whoa, oh,

and they're just
furious with me.

She's fucking
useless, she's crap.

She can't play a
proper rehearsal.

She doesn't concentrate,
she doesn't try.

You know she doesn't
even try to play.

- Palmolive's saying, oh what's
wrong with her, you know,

we got her the bass, we
got her the equipment,

what's she think she's doing?

Yeah she's useless,
blah, whatever

and then I realized
I am on the verge

of being thrown
out of the group.

There's no going
back after that.

So I just rehearsed
night and day on my own,

make sure I know the
songs back to front,

make sure there's no way
they're gonna throw me out.

I cannot lose this opportunity.

Fucking hell!

- And what happened?

I rehearsed so hard I
convinced them to keep me.

- We started of all very naive,
you know, full of energy.

We were always very, very close.

We were like sisters and
we bickered like sisters,

but anyone threatened
us from the outside

and we would have
killed for each other.

Literally would have
killed, especially for Ari,

who I felt incredible
protective of

even though she drove
me the most mad.

- We were very different
but we really got on well,

I think we were a good
balance to each other.

But I mean we were so
opposite to each other

that energy that
we created together

was very potent and very timely.

- And there were times
when it was so difficult

and I so wanted to
leave, but I knew

with them I was a bigger person.

We had a mission, we
were girls on a mission.

We were absolutely driven by it

and it was bigger than our
petty little squabbles.

This mission that we were
on, sort of obliterated

any of the little petty
day to day problems

that we had amongst each other.

Losing Palmolive probably
took a bit of that away.

That was quite a big change.

- The Slits were high octane.

On any given day some
explosion could have happened

that could have
changed the landscape,

and it quite often did.

I mean one moment Palmolive
was there, then she wasn't.

And so Slits
last gig with Palmolive.

Last year, best ever.

After that, Pam
joined Raincoats.

Towards
the end of my involvement

with the Slits, was some things
that I started questioning.

Almost like looking at a punk,
a little straight in the face

and saying, you know
what, there is more.

And I didn't feel the group
could accept my questioning.

And so then, suddenly, it felt
like instead of being free

it was actually
very restrictive.

And so Tessa came
up to me and said,

you're not in the group anymore.

I think it was sad because Tessa

was my closest
friend at that time.

- It was obvious
within the group that,

I hate to say it, that
we needed a new drummer

and this was very traumatic
to me because Paloma,

Palmolive was my best
friend at the time.

We shared a squat and I
was appointed to tell her

that she was not in
the group anymore.

And it just totally did me in.

- And so I figured I'd
be in another group,

like with the Raincoats,
I joined the Raincoats.

And then really came
down six months.

Think it didn't
take me that long,

then I was able to say,
no I'm not doing this.

Going out of punk, it was
almost like a withdrawal.

It really felt like
this barren emptiness.

That was every day, wake up,

it was the Slits
or the Raincoats,

so suddenly, like
that, not to be there,

I just wanted to leave London.

At that time I started thinking,

what about spiritual things?

If God is there,
I wanna meet him.

So we packed our bags
and we left for India

and we went to this Ashram

and we had our adventures there

but I did not feel
the guru was God.

- We decided, the Slits decided,

we wanted to be
on Island records.

No other record
company would do.

We thought nothing
was gonna stop us.

- It's interesting, they
signed to Island Records

'cause it's got a really
interesting tradition

of picking up on things that
are sort of left of center,

and no one else would
touch that band.

And Chris saw their potential,

obviously this is a man that
passionately loves music.

Grace Jones, Bob
Marley, Burning Spear,

John Martyn, Roxy Music,
Traffic, King Crimson,

I mean I ain't even touched it.

He knew not to fuck
with an artist.

He let them do their own thing.

So best choice
ever to be signed with Island

and we had complete creative
control in this contract.

Also it led us on to
being able to work

with the infamous Dub
Maestro, Dennis Bovell,

how better does it get?

- They were being hailed
as the female version

of the Sex Pistols.

Everyone was looking at them

to be the premiere
punk female band.

So I leapt at the opportunity
to help them get there.

And I instantly
detected their love of reggae.

- Dennis was a hard taskmaster.

It had to be perfect, for Viv

and me specifically,
it was kind of torture

but you just don't give
up until it's perfect.

- We had a drummer, Budgie.

He was fantastic, really,
really light touch.

Very open to Ari's suggestions,

not easy, got a 15-year-old girl

telling the drummer
what to play,

Ari out of all of us was
the most musically adept.

She really came into
her own in the studio.

She was just firing,
she was in her element,

she couldn't be
trapped or trained.

She was too big for it all.

But music is so huge,
it's like an ocean,

she could pour all her
energy out into this ocean.

There was no fighting
amongst us, no ego problems.

We all just wanted to serve
the song and serve the album.

- When Cut came out you
didn't really believe

it had happened, because
it was such a lot

of upheaval and turmoil
up to that point

that you never really
believed that they could

actually end up committing
to vinyl, and when they did,

it's this kind of historical
document that's out there

to kind of see a different
way to do things man,

you know what I mean?

Something that's off the scale,
operating in its own space.

- I was pleasantly
surprised and happy

when I read that out
of a hundred albums

that the British
music press considered

to have structured and
shaped the punk scene,

that album came in at number
two after the New York Dolls.

- And this sounds
like me, in hindsight,

trying to make it all
marry up politely,

but I do remember
sitting on the grass

with Viv, Tessa, and
Ari and I felt like

that to finish this
album there was something

more intense gonna happen.

They were either gonna
completely implode, explode,

kill each other, or it was
gonna go into another world

and I think it would
have been very much

a private world of three girls.

I suppose it did, the
other way of looking at it

is what would have
happened had I stayed?

That would have been a very
different album sleeve.

Maybe.

And I wouldn't have, you know,

spent the next 25 years in
Siouxsie and the Banshees.

But I don't think it
was all continued on

into the sunset easily
after Cut I mean.

- Viv Goldman took
the picture in

to get a review for the album

and when they saw the
cover they were like ew,

but they look so
ugly and disgusting.

We don't want to review that,

we don't want to put
that in our paper.

But the worst thing is the
criticism that followed

is that people
thought, oh, the Slits

aren't playing on that record.

No it must have been Dennis,
it must have been Dennis.

- There was such
hostility at that time

because they were an intrusion.

Women were supposed
to know their place.

And their place was
to be wearing clothes

that some other bloke dictated,

singing what some regular
guy wanted them to sing

and, you know, just shutting up

and just popping out
you know, on order.

Not determining themselves.

It's always said there is
nothing new under the sun

and generally that is true

but the Slits really
were something new.

The Slits came forward with
something completely fresh.

Prior to the Slits, there
was no self-determined group

of women sounding like
the way they wanted to,

dressing the way they wanted to,

living their lives
how they wanted to.

But the fights and
the endless conflicts

that the Slits went
through were part

of them being a harbinger
of a new generation.

- By this time, the Slits
had totally freed themselves

of any of the initial
punk shackles.

They were this
avant-garde, afro-jazz,

punk motherfucking group
that no one else had touched.

- We started to branch out.

We were no more sort of just
hanging out with rock bands

or whatever, we were finding
our own way musically.

We'd met the Pop Group.

I started to go and
see improvised music

with Steve Beresford and
bit by bit we were trying

to put together a tour of
England and we thought,

well we're not gonna just
do a boring old tour,

we'd go out playing the
same old songs every night.

If this tour is gonna
be paid for by us

and it's gonna cost us money,

why not make it like an amazing
learning experience for us.

We'll get two other bands,
Don Cherry and a Reggae band,

Prince Hammer, and the
three of us will rotate.

And no one had done that before

and no one had mixed
those genres before.

- Ready, go!

- On the first day,
Don Cherry turns up

with this 14-year-old girl
with dyed bright red hair

and cool clothes
and that was it.

A friendship made
for life there.

So lovely for Ari to have
someone around her own age

for the first time and
they were inseparable.

- I just remember being kind of

almost unable to
speak I was so shy.

I've never actually heard
anything that sounds like this.

Even though I felt very
green and very young

and very awkward in the
beginning, felt at home.

I think that a lot of the
crowd in a lot of the places

didn't really know
what had hit them.

- It caused conflict.

I mean, on the tour,
we encountered people

spitting at Don Cherry.

Throwing things
at Creation Rebel.

- We arrived in Newcastle
and there were like skinheads

or some kind of racists
outside the hotel.

- It was an absolutely
mad tour, you know.

That basically,
if you look at it,

was setting the stage for
the whole Punky Reggae Party

having people from, who
shouldn't even perhaps

be on the same stage together
being on the same stage.

- The whole thing was
kind of like, I guess,

like kind of a dream come true.

- I think if the
Slits made an album

that had been giving the public

what they thought they wanted

which had been like the tempo
of Shoplifting or whatever,

they could have been a
massive energy guitar band

but the Slits didn't want that.

There's a Jamaican saying
each one to each one

and then you pass
on some good spirit.

That's how music's
supposed to be,

and where the Slits were
aiming was really special.

- They listened to lots of
different types of music

and they managed to
filter that into something

that made sense for them.

Their artistic
direction was diverse

and I think people sort
of found it hard enough

to take the fact that this
was a women-led punk band.

- We were having a
hard time in the band.

We weren't being
taken seriously,

Island had chucked
us off their label

for absolutely no
reason whatsoever.

We delivered a great album,

they just weren't
interested anymore.

Got a few new A&R guys
and didn't want us.

When I started
working with the Slits,

they were already
not all female.

They had already had Budgie,

and then later Bruce
and Steve Beresford

After Paloma was gone

it was really the three of them

and I was there with them

but I let them make
those decisions,

do you know what I mean?

It was their thing, you know.

- It didn't mean anything to me.

I mean they're
boys, they're girls,

you know, so what, so what?

We'd already decided anyway,

there was no boundary
between male and female.

He was the best
person for the job

and he's a really nice guy.

He had an androgyny to
himself at that time

that enabled him to
really relate to females.

When Palmolive left,

sort of qualitatively
it felt a bit different

because it was no
longer all females,

but at the same time,
the men they brought in

were like what you might
call new age, not uptight.

The non-sexist man.

So I think, in a way,
they lost something

by not being that unique
or very rare all-girl thing

but they gained something
by being more tribal

and showing that
it's rubbish to say

that we regard men as the enemy.

We are just a new sort of
tribe, striving for an equality

that's almost unknown
in the regular world.

- I think we wandered
around as a tribe

because we traveled
around as a troupe.

It was self sufficient,
it funded itself,

it was a sort of a
collective endeavor.

A collective of
people cooperating

with each other to make
something marvelous.

- Bruce Smith, the
drummer, went between

the two bands: The
Slits and The Pop Group.

The Pop Group were important
in turning all of us

on to free jazz and that
free jazz approach to life.

Where, you know, you're trying
to find a emotional truth

through not fitting
into the cell blocks

of 4/4 rhythms and bars.

- By '81, when everyone suddenly

was about earning money and
dressing in designer clothes

and buying a house and
getting a mortgage,

that '76, '77 scene, sort
of looking back on it

felt a bit naive and
aggressive and old fashioned

and out of place and
no-one respected it.

- The Clash reached
commercial success,

and the Sex Pistols'
demise as we all know

what happened to poor Sid.

Anything bright and powerful
is gonna burn out quickly.

You just keep on developing.

I mean who wants to be stuck
under the label of punk?

It was dead by then, to me.

The more commercial side
of things got squeaky clean

and it was all, the '80s
generation was all me, me, me.

- After Island, who dropped
us for god knows why,

we recorded our next tracks,
went to CBS and they signed us.

Return of the Giant Slits.

When the Return record came out,

the media didn't know what
to do with this record.

You have world music in
there, you have jungle beats,

very adventurous,
very experimental,

and still very listenable.

- Return of the Giant Slits

probably is the
record responsible

for bringing world
music into new music.

It doesn't have any
boundaries at all any more.

They found a way to
destroy rock and roll.

It died the moment
it was released

and that's the big tragedy
basically about The Slits.

- Slits Split.

The Slits have
apparently broken up

some five years
after their formation

as Britain's original
all-girl punk group.

Lead singer Ari Up has
already left the country

for an indeterminate
stay in Jamaica.

The future of the other two
Slits remains uncertain.

The split comes shortly
after an extended UK tour

by the group, to
coincide with the release

of their debut album and
single on CBS Records.

When approached by NME,
Viv Albertine confirmed

that the threesome
had no definite plans

to work together again
and that they had

formally abandoned The
Slits as a working unit.

Definitely the end of an
era, as far as I'm concerned.

We started to feel like

we were sort of battling
uphill in a way.

We always were but you know

this is three or
four years in now.

Not being taken seriously and
then we can feel it shifting,

they're finding something
else more interesting.

All girls or girls in a band,

that's not interesting any more.

We were never that, but they
just thought we were a fad.

I'd sort of moved home,
I started dressing
in brown clothes,

I'd dyed my hair back
to brown from blonde.

I was just very, very hurt,

like I'd split up
from a huge family.

- Then Ari had her twins
and became a mother

and we all just went
our separate ways.

- It was the end of that
phase of the bold adventure,

where four wild women set to
take on the world of pop music.

Did they win?

It's a funny thing, at the time

it didn't seem like they did

because they were so firmly
stomped from history, you know?

The herstory was erased.

Hidden from history,
but it always happens.

It happens all the time.

After The Slits split up,

I had totally lost
interest in music

and that's where,
unfortunately, I fell into the

terrible path of heroin.

Naughty me.

We had to go our separate ways

and go on our separate journeys.

You had the security
of a group before

and that was your
identity and then you had

to find your own
personal identity.

And I had a child myself
and the day I gave birth

to my daughter was the
happiest day of my life ever.

I had started a
family with Dave, my husband,

and we had two kids.

I had no answers for
them and that took me

to the experience
of understanding
that there is a god

but we don't
understand him as much

as some people think
we do understand him.

I think he's misunderstood.

He is a revolutionary.

A lot of the things
that I long for,

I have found in the
person of Jesus.

I think the fact that we did

what we wanted to do
was a positive thing.

That we weren't afraid to fail

or not be able to
play our instrument.

We wanted to do it
so then we did it.

So that whole thing I can
apply in the classroom

when I teach little kids.

I can say you can do it, you
wanna do it, you can do it.

Okay, so who wants to do
the Agent zero zero seven?

Me!

So, to me, the message

is love people,
really give yourself.

Thank
you, Mrs. Paloma.

I've come to a place

that I feel very
liberated in the sense

that I can have
connection with a group.

But I also feel, you
need to keep your person,

who you are, and be
true to yourself.

Because in the end of the
day you live your life.

Something
quite strange happened.

I went to my daughter's
dead father's gravestone.

I was just feeling a bit
lost and I just spoke to him

and said, I need some
guidance at the moment.

I just don't know which
direction I'm going in.

I hadn't seen Ari for
at least 15 years.

Occasionally Ari would send
me cassettes she'd made

off the radio from
America or Jamaica.

She was there at
my daughter's birth

and I didn't see a
lot of her after that.

She just suddenly
came back into my life

like a hurricane, you know?

It was just so exciting.

And then she just asked me,

hey let's get The
Slits back together.

We contacted Viv but
she wasn't interested

and was quite against the
fact of a reformation.

Kind of made me
feel a bit anxious,

because I wanted to get
the approval, obviously.

But Ari just said, look
we're gonna do it anyway.

And then she found
two guitarists

on the same day
in Ladbrook Grove.

Then we had to
audition for a drummer.

Anybody ever heard of the Slits?

I wanna do it so
that we're really

gonna end up shoplifting
something from Selfridge's.

We did our first gig

at a store in London,
called Selfridge's.

One, two, three, four.

And The New
York Dolls were playing

the night before and the
Buzzcocks were headlining.

- Pressure was absolutely huge.

People were queuing
up round the block

because the Slits hadn't
been seen for so long.

Not just the reputation
of the Slits as was then

but the whole reputation
of The Slits before

was on the line.

- I was just so nervous,

I was literally shaking
before I got on stage.

Because I hadn't
been playing for years.

- I don't think The Slits ever
got the credit they deserved.

They were a very
influential band

and influenced a lot of
people to this day still

and that's why I think she
wanted to get back together

just to show people
they could still do it.

- Ari needed to do
it, it was her baby

that she needed to revive it.

She just wanted to
get back making music

with The Slits and
finishing that chapter.

- We did various
other London shows

then we did a major
American tour.

- It was so fun, it was just
one of the happiest moments.

It was like seven women and
we're all squeezed together

in a tiny van, traveling
all over America

with suitcases, merchandise.

- There was always
something, like,

really funny about everything
that we were doing.

It was like, we're on a
mission, you know?

- And I think the band really
started growing together

because we were so confined
and I suppose for me,

for Adele, for Dr. No, it
was the first real tour ever.

- Our friend Jen, who
was our tour manager,

documented it on film.

Jen was doing like four jobs:

driving, filming,
collecting the money.

- It was really special for me

just to be with women like
that, it had been a long time

since I had just been
around a lot of women.

So a lot of
conversations took place

that didn't happen
with other bands.

- The age differences in
the audience was interesting

because you had
young teenage girls

and I think this is really
what made Ari and Tessa

so happy and proud,
because they realized

that The Slits are living on.

- I think she felt
like The Slits

didn't really get to
finish what they started

and so she wasn't looking back
trying to recreate anything,

she was just trying to
continue and move forward.

- She lit up a stage,
when she got on the stage,

she had the entire audience
in the palm of her hand.

- She just radiates
energy like the sun.

I mean basically
she had the same

amount of energy as our sun.

- Sing about my legs again!

And you left
her feeling that you

could conquer the world.

All the barriers came down.

She was like some
kind of mad drug.

- It's just a regular
night in Atlanta.

What can I say, it's Atlanta!

Are you recording?

Yeah

- Are you ready to go?
- Yeah.

- Are you ready?
- Yeah.

- You got my butt?
- Yeah.

- Okay, here we go.

This is how The Slits need to
pee when we're on the road.

Are we ready?
- Yeah

- Set, go.
- Yeah.

I loved being in
the room with Ari

because chaos ensued
and that excites me.

I get along well
with people like that

because they push me
to work really hard

and they remind me to fight for
everything I wanna do and be

so I loved being around her
because I love the chaos.

- You know Ari was a
very complicated person

except for one thing, she always
spoke her mind completely.

- You know that song,
there's a Slits song

that we have on Return
of the Giant Slits.

That underrated,
fantastic, brilliant,

mythological, legendary album
that no one knows.

Anyway, they need to know,

there's a song called
Difficult Fun on it.

- I think for Ari it wasn't
about being liked at all,

it was about being honest.

And so, she gave you what
she thought you needed.

And you had to take
it or leave it.

You look absolutely fantastic.

You're back in your field, man.

This is what you're born to do.

You're born to perform.

The Slits, born to perform.

Taurus and Capricorn.

- Ari's and Tessa's relationship
is really interesting

because Tessa was really
grounded and down-to-earth

and definitely a feeling person.

She was kind of humble and
didn't want to pester anyone

and maybe too humble
also, you know.

She would always say,
oh, I can't play bass.

And, oh, I'm just rubbish,
but what was wonderful

is Ari was the
one always saying,

Tessa, what are
you talking about?

You are an amazing bass player.

And she would
encourage her on stage

and say, this is
Tessa, the bass player.

Listen to the bassline,
and made her play it alone

and so, in some ways,
Ari picking Tessa up,

making her more
confident and then also

Tessa being a moderator
to Ari almost,

because she would be the
one telling her shut up.

She would be brave like
that and just put her right

and so they were kind
of helping each other.

- It was Ari's initial
plan to make a film.

She's felt our story
had still not been told.

- I filmed everything.

We were making a movie.

Ready, go!

And Ari was directing it,
so it was chaos and mayhem.

- No, wait on me!

Ari was obsessed
with filming everything.

- Look at The Slits.

Slits!

The desert.

- I don't know if she knew
the clock was ticking.

In retrospect, I think she did.

Because she would
say things like,

I don't have this much time

and was screaming at
us to film everything.

- Oh god, I'm alone
in New Mexico.

- Ari Up was
very dramatic, so if
Ari says she's sick

I don't know what that means.

I don't know if it's really
serious or if it isn't.

- I've only got $20!

Oh my.

- I recall distinctly
when she was pushing me

to do something with this
footage we were shooting

she said, I don't have a
lot of time and laughed.

And I laughed too and
said, yeah, me neither.

She said it a few
times on the road:

I don't have that kind of time.

I now think it was
because she knew.

- It was difficult
because people lived

in different countries
but we'd somehow

communicate back
together and did various

little tours like
European tours.

Went back to America and
finally recorded our album,

Trapped Animal, in Los Angeles.

So as we were there,
we just recorded the album,

let's do the video.

- Ari and Tessa always wanted

the young new recruits to
really be an equal part.

And so they wanted
everybody to contribute.

- I wrote one of my
first proper songs

and recorded it with The Slits.

I was kind of really shy
about stuff like that.

And the thing that was
always really cool about Ari,

was that she didn't ever really
make things a very big deal.

Like she was always so
casual, like, oh, you know,

and you can play keyboards now.

And I was all like, uh,
I don't think I can!

And she was like,
ah just play it.

She gave me so much
confidence, more than anything

she just made things
seem really doable.

Ari has always got
songs busting out of her.

She's just so full of energy
and got so many ideas.

She forced me to write a melody
to the lyric I'd written.

Something came out of
my mouth and I was like,

wow, I can write a melody
if I really push myself.

It was just easy, it
was just really fun.

We just used the
environment we were in

and I think it's
hilarious, I love it.

- The very last tour was in 2010

and they were set
up nice and correct,

with proper promoters, and
the nice sort of surroundings

and that was really good.

- By that point, we were
in the swing of things,

we'd been together
for a few years,

we'd done the
album, played a lot.

I had some really good shows,
actually, on that tour.

- It was really, really,
wonderful in that way,

but in terms of the
group dynamic it was
actually the worst.

- The final tour we did,
which was a tour of Europe,

I'm not sure if she's
ill or she's not ill.

I just find her acting
very strangely on the tour.

She seems to need
to rest a lot more.

- Adele had left the band.

We didn't have
Nadya at that point.

There was a lot of
different tension

going on when we did that one.

Ari was sick and we
didn't really know.

We did know but we
didn't really know.

She seemed a bit changed.

She's furious every morning.

She's one minute having
a go at the tour manager,

then having a go at
Anna the drummer,

then having a go at me
and we're like fuck you,

well fuck you, well fuck you.

- Ari was famous for
having fits with people

and thinking they were evil
and telling them to go away

but she would always protect
her family and her own group.

But on this tour
she was like totally

turning against
Tessa, for example.

She was obviously
struggling with something

and I remember after this tour

I thought this is
the last tour for me.

- I speak to Hollie and
Anna and just think,

I'm just feeling they wanna
get on with their own thing,

I'm just saying, look if you
need to do your own music

just go ahead and
do it, don't worry.

- It felt really, really
sad when it was over.

It felt so sad
that I didn't want

to do it anymore, unfortunately.

Oh god, getting emotional.

I knew I was gonna get
emotional, fuck sake.

Oof.

Yeah.

We decided to talk to Ari.

We knew that we kinda had to
just stop, for a while anyway.

- And I think that
we decided that Tessa

was gonna be the messenger,
the happy messenger.

- We all come back and I
invite Ari over to my flat

because we've discussed
just saying to Ari

we need a break,
something's just not right.

And I tell her this and
she's up, she's traumatized,

she's distraught and she leaves

and we don't speak
to each other again.

So I was in touch with Nora

because I started to
become extremely worried,

and I was panicking and
I was crying on the bus.

Suddenly in shock, realizing,
oh my god I think Ari's dying.

And then I spoke to
Nora and she said

I think you better come over,

she's been told she's
got two weeks to live.

But then when we get
there, Nora said,

Ari appreciates you've come,

she's really sorry
she can't see you,

she's on a really
personal journey.

And so we just all go
like in total shock.

We don't know what to do.

We just all sit on
this bench outside.

Just like shaking and just
not being able to speak.

I think she must have
known how ill she was

and that she was
maybe pushing us away

to protect our feelings.

And I think she was
terrified herself.

I think she was scared.

I saw that look of
fear in her eyes

that I'd never seen before.

And then I get this phone call

like 2:30 in the morning
telling me the bad news.

Because Ari had this thing

that she just wanted
to help people,

she just wanted to get
the best out of you.

She could just see
the potential in you

and she got really disappointed

if she felt you
were messing that up

or throwing away what you
could be fantastic at.

She came back into my
life with such a force

and made me believe
in myself again,

that I had some kind of
treasure that's really precious.

It's like I feel like I've
lost my right arm in a way.

It's kind of eased off
in the last year a bit

but the first two years
I just fell apart really.

I feel so much
stronger and happy

to be in this period of my life.

So much more clear-headed
and I just don't care anymore

about the bollocks
in life, you know.

I feel like I'm
learning to let go.

When I look back at the Slits,

I feel like I'm glad
that I did what I did.

It couldn't have been
any other way really,

because who I was
and who they were.

So my punk experience
has helped me

to not just play the party line.

To be able to say wait a minute.

Just because they say okay,
now you have to believe this,

you can never put that down.

You are who you are and if you
have doubts that's healthy,

and if you don't understand
something that's good,

go for it, study it.

Follow what you think is true.

Be careful also in groups.

Whether it's a church
or is a government

or is professional group, don't
lose yourself in the group.

I recommend to be free.

Freedom comes from inside,

not from a certain look
or anything exterior.

Be it religion or being in punk.

In either way, freedom
comes from your own heart.

After the
Slits decided to split,

I went from having an identity

to absolutely nothing overnight.

No one was interested in me.

It was just blank eyes.

The loneliness of the
long distance, author.

And I fell right back to being
an invisible woman again,

and that was very sobering.

It's given me all the
drive that I've got

now I've come back and
I'm making music again,

and writing, et cetera.

I'm still as angry and fueled,

and I'm still that girl
who was in the Slits

but now I'm the woman
who was in the Slits.

The Slits were that, all us
four girls were that person.

We were those people.

We were those rebels.

And we still are.

We still are.

I can't tell you
how restricted life was

for young women in the 1970's.

It was horrible, it was like
when you were born, right.

And you come out of the
womb and you're screaming

and you're flinging your arms
and legs around and it's life.

As you grow up as a girl,
your arms get folded in,

your legs get folded in.

This happens.

So you're constantly
trying to find a place

where you can go,
where you can be noisy.

Where you can fling your
arms and legs around,

where you can wear what you
want, where you can not care.

What the Slits did was
to completely untie

all of those things.

Where you say what you
want, you express yourself,

you make such a lot of noise

that people have got
to listen to you.

The Slits were
two girls, too tough.

They wouldn't allow
anybody to stop them

trying to make the music
they wanted to make

and make the statements
they wanted to make.

If the Slits had not come along

there would be no Madonna.

Without the Slits these things
would never have broken down.

The riot girl
movement happened in the '90s.

They weren't afraid
to be rough or loud,

they were inheriting
something from the Slits.

That's one of
the charms of the Slits,

it's all about discovering
who you could be

if you unshackled yourself.

That's not to say that
they found it easy

and they just steamed in.

It was hard and
they went through

a huge amount of very
depressing experiences

but the fact is
they got through it

and they fought through it.

It's not a
struggle that goes away.

The struggle always continues.

You have to go into it
saying, it's not like

I don't wanna be
popular and sell records

but there's a sense in which
I'm not here to be liked.

Don't believe when somebody says

that you can't do something
because that's not true.

If you have a passion go for it.

That's the only thing
that makes a better world.

Don't be afraid
of what you believe in.

If you believe in something

you have to stand up for your
convictions and be counted.

If you have
something that you really,

really want to
communicate, and a sound

that you hear, insist on it.

And don't expect to be
popular but just stick to it.

It will give meaning
to your life.

Ari never really
left that front line

no matter how much they
fought against her.