For anybody that knows anything about the early 80's UK Punk/Oi scene, the name Blitz will or should be known to you. Blitz were the first band to have a single release on the now defunct No Future record label. They went on to record an album and two more singles after the debut "All Out Attack EP" release before the band took a drastically different musical direction (one that wasn't well received by the then punk/oi audience) The band kept the name Blitz when they went through the transformation and released a second album and three more singles before splitting up. We have a chat with Neil McClennan (Mackie) who was the original bass player.
DLW: Hi and thanks for agreeing to do the interview. I would assume that in the past you may have been interviewed quite a few times so I'll try not to ask questions that you've probably heard before. So, going back to the start, who started the band? Were you all mates from school or knew each other as kids?
MACKIE: I Joined a school band called XS Rhythm. My mate Bill was one of the two singers, Carl (later of Blitz) was the other, Nidge was my mate all through junior and secondary school. We got into punk at the same time, he joined on second guitar, we did shitty covers at first, like most bands but wrote our own stuff and did a few gigs. The band split. Carl and NIdge asked if I wanted to do something else, so we got Charlie in on drums and that was the beginning of Blitz.
DLW: Before joining Blitz, could you play bass or did you learn it as you went along? Could the rest of the band play prior to being in the band?
MACKIE: I started out on guitar but couldnt master that, so I got the shitiest bass ever and managed to learn a few bass lines, we all sort of learnt as we went.
DLW: Who came up with the name?
MACKIE: Nidge came up with it, from Blitzkrieg Bop. He loved The Ramones and we used to play along to there records to learn how to play. We were also briefly known as UK Riot haha, now thats a punk band name.
DLW: The classic line up was yourself (bass), Charlie (drums), Carl (vocals) and Nidge (guitar). Was that the original line-up?
MACKIE: Yes, no line up changes.
DLW: How were the very early rehearsals? Did you all chip in and write the songs or was there someone in the band who wrote the music and/or lyrics?
MACKIE: Nidge was the main man for the music, riffs and stuff. We all chipped in with ideas for arrangement etc, Carl wrote the lyrics. I wrote a few of the songs or come up with a bass line and we would jam around until we had something. Warriors was bass driven, as was Nation On Fire and Bleed.
DLW: What was the inspiration for forming Blitz and were did you all draw your influences from?
MACKIE: As mentioned, Nidge loved The Ramones, I loved The Clash, I think we all liked SLF and later on Discharge. All the early stuff, The Ruts, UK Subs, we also liked the Crass stuff and some left of field stuff like Joy Division, not all of us but some of us. We just liked playing punk music and listened to all sorts .
DLW: Garry Bushell was a massive help to the band, how did your working relationship with him start and is it true that Nidge had a falling out with Bushell?
MACKIE: Haha I'm not sure, I've heard the interview where he slags Bushell off but that was just Nidge being Nidge.
DLW: Blitz fell under the moniker of Oi! Did that bother you as you and Nidge had that 'punk' look about you whereas Carl and Charlie fell under the skinhead classic look?
MACKIE: Originally we were all punks. In the first photos, Carls got a kilt on and Charlie has spiky hair, I'm not sure why they changed? Maybe coz Charlie's hair fell out? Or their mates were all turning skinhead. Never really got the Oi label although we were on Oi albums and had Oi shouts in one song, we were a punk band, Oi if that suits you better, street punk, UK82, all just labels, we were just a punk band.
DLW: Your first release 9if I'm correct) was on the Carry On Oi album, how did it feel to actually have your own material released on vinyl?
MACKIE: Just got me thinking there, after a quick check All Out Attack was out August 81 and Carry On Oi track was october 81 but yeah to actually be on a physical record was fantastic, we never thought we would get anywhere but things just seemed to fall into place.
D
LW: Shortly after this, your debut single 'All Out Attack' was released on No Future Records. How did that come about? And is it true that the aforementioned single was a demo that was just simply put straight to vinyl?
MACKIE: No future put an ad in Sounds for punk demo tapes, I sent ours along and they got back in touch saying they wanted to release it just as it was which was awesome for us, we had sent tapes out to Rough Trade and Anagram and a few other labels but no one was interested.
DLW: With the success of the single, where Blitz far more busier gigging? Did you play many gigs with your label colleagues?
MACKIE: It's common knowledge that we didn't gig as much as we should have done but yeah things picked up after the record came out and we did gigs with label-mates The Partisans, Red Alert, Test Tube Babies plus gigs with Discharge, GBH and loads of others.
DLW: A further two singles and an album were released on the No Future label, out of all the recordings, what is your personal favourite and why?
MACKIE: I think Razors and Never Surrender, coz they came out really well and were two different tracks.
DLW: After New Age was released, you and Nidge formed Rose Of Victory and had one single released. Was the plan to go on and release more records as Rose Of Victory?
MACKIE: When Blitz called it a day, me and Nidge wanted to carry on under the Blitz name but Carl phoned No Future and beat us to it. Rose Of Victory was just a name Nidge came up with, we did intend to do more stuff but it never worked out.
DLW: Carl and Charlie carried on (with Tim) and recorded two singles (Telecommunication and Solar) and an album (Second Empire Justice) which was far from the Blitz sound that everybody knew. What was your opinion of this sudden twist in musical diversity? And as Wattie (Exploited) once said. If they wanted to change direction and release something which is so different from what the band were known for, why carry on as Blitz, they should have changed their name? Would you agree with him?
MACKIE: See above, they should definitly have changed there name, they went in a different direction but we should have kept the name.
DLW: With reference to New Age and the other Blitz releases on Future records, am I correct in saying that you are acknowledged as playing bass on them? If yes, how come?
MACKIE: I left after the album came out and before New Age came out, I didnt play on New Age but I really love that song, someone said it says I'm on it on discogs but no, Tim Harris played bass on that one.
DLW: When Nidge recorded the album Killing Dreams in 1989 with Gary (Attak) on vocals, were you approached to play on it or had you severed all ties by then?
MACKIE: He never asked me, we hadn't fallen out, I just got pissed of with all of it, the hassle and band politics, I played on some of the demo ideas on Killing Dream but thats all.
DLW: Obviously Nidge died tragically in 2007 in Austin, Texas. (RIP) Did he ever ask you to play live shows again?
MACKIE: It's funny coz we very nearly did get back together at one point but it just didn't happen. I saw Nidge about a week before he went to The States and we chatted and were getting on okay after all those years. So sad when I heard the news, I couldn't believe it.
DLW: Looking back, how would you describe your overall experience in Blitz? You must have many happy and not so happy memories? Are you still in touch with Carl and Charlie?
MACKIE: Fantastic times, we didn't realise what we had, we were just mates fucking about, and didn't really think it would get anywhere. I recently got in touch with both Carl and Charlie and we were supposed to meet up but the pandemic arrived and we put it off but it will happen, it's not about re-forming, I just wanted them to sign some stuff for me and to catch up.
DLW: Would you ever consider a re-union gig with a different guitarist?
MACKIE: Quite simply..... No.
DLW: Last question, if you were interviewing Mackie, what would you ask him about Blitz?
MACKIE: I would ask him why he quit and he wouldn't really have a decent answer.
"DLW: So apart from Rose Of Victory, you were in another band quite recently called Epic Problem, how did that come about?
MACKIE: I hadn't played in bands for years but got a guitar and decided to have another crack at it, Epic Problem started in 2010/11. It was, me, Jake, Morry and Greg. Greg left after the first few records, we did eps and split singles, toured all over and finally called it a day last year."
DLW: Anything you'd like to add?
MACKIE: Thanks for the interest, everyone asks about Blitz reunions , I always reply, no Nidge, no Blitz. It was great but I just can't see it happening. I'm not really into money so that wouldn't persuade me. Let's just move on...
DLW: Well thanks very much for taking the time to talk to us via the means of the interweb thing and offering an insight as to what life in Blitz was like. Take care and good luck with any more future musical projects. I'm off to re-visit Voice Of A Generation and give it a blast!!!
Words: DLW, Photos: Media
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