If you want to understand the early days of punk rock, you need to talk to Zillah Minx. If you want fascinating, insightful conversations about the state of music, film, and fashion today, you need to talk to Zillah Minx. While she never got to be quite as famous as Dave Vanian of The Damned or Poly Styrene of X Ray Spex, Zillah's made a huge impact in her own right. This interview is jam-packed with personality, strong opinions, and punk herstory in vivid detail. Long live Zillah Minx! Hope y'all enjoy the read.

Hey Zillah, thanks for doing this interview! Please tell us a bit about yourself, your film projects, and Rubella Ballet.

At a Crass gig in early 1979 I met Sid eventually we formed Rubella Ballet.

Sid became homeless & was invited to live at Poison Girls commune housing association house in Epping close to Crass. Poison Girls had a room in the house with musical equipment they used as a rehearsal room.

Vi Subversa lead vocalist of Poison Girls is the mother of Pete Fender & Gem stone they had just released a record as Fatal Microbes with Honey bane. When Sid moved into the house Honey Bane was pursuing a solo career so Pete Fender & Gem Stone no longer had a band. After lots of jams in the rehearsal room, unorganized gigs and various line ups of musicians and vocalists, Annie Anxiety was also a vocalist. The band eventually became Sid drums, Zillah Minx vox, Pete Fender guitar & Gem stone bass.

Our first gig was unorganized with Crass and Poison Girls at Conway hall.

the famous Crass gig at Conway Hall where Crass invited the audience to use their equipment and finish off the evening doing their own thing as they wanted and left the crowd in charge, so Sid got up on Penny’s drum kit, Zillah grabbed Steve’s mic, Pete & Gem taking the bass and guitar, it probably sounded rough but it was the start of a very colorful part of what was and is the British anarcho punk scene. Sid was also asked by Colin to play drums for the Epileptics who then recorded on Crass records as Flux of pink Indians. Sid is the drummer for Flux of Pink Indians and played on the single Tube Disaster and writing the music for the b-side Sick Butchers and Background to malfunction. He left as he was also playing full-time for Rubella Ballet.

Just before Sid left Flux the guitarists Andy, Neil and key board player also left at the same time Rubella Ballet lost our guitarist so we joined up with the flux musicians who had recorded Neu Smell for Rubella Ballet’s first release The BALLET BAG 9 track Cassette in a bag with a poster, badge and lyric book all made and compiled by the band.

Suddenly there was lots of punks all starting to form bands of their own, Many of the bands got together as friends to organize gigs of our own in old empty churches, community centres anywhere we could play we organized gigs & played gigs of our own. Bands like ourselves were forming and reforming with each other we played with Conflict, Epileptics, Flux of Pink Indians, Dirt, Hagar the Womb, Youth In Asia,Omega Tribe. Also Anarchy goth gigs with UK decay, Southern Death Cult, Sex Gang Children, Specimen, Ausgang, Blood & Roses and many more.

We were just punk friends being creative and forming bands lending each other equipment and band members. When we wanted to play gigs we played a lot of squat venues & booked and promoted our own spaces. We would make our own posters, or flyers. Lots of people would turn up at gigs with their own home made photo copied fanzine. Fanzines were really good at introducing new bands to the punk scene as they would interview and review new and often local bands. Fanzine writers also traveled to gigs all over the country so would often find great new bands in far away parts of the U.K.

We formed bands for the fun of it, there was no thought of money, bands rarely ever got paid. Most gigs we played were benefits for The Miners, Anti Apartheid, No Nukes, CND, ALF, single parents, homeless people, unemployed, anti war, Greenham Common women, Greenpeace etc.

The Anarchy scene was another part of the punk scene so a lot of the bands on the Anarchy scene also played with what were now well established punk bands such as The UK Subs, The Damned.

Rubella Ballet: Further history
http://killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/rubella-ballet-xntrix-records-1982-3/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rubella-Ballet/138491775101?fref=ts
Rubella Ballet video Money Talks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyiIJ3UrVQk&feature=share%27%2C%29
Rubella Ballet False Promises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LbA6wQ3PVA&feature=share%27%2C%29
http://www.reverbnation.com/rubellaballet
FREE full length live gig 1984 @ Heaven London.
https://store.payloadz.com/details/899433-movies-and-videos-music-video-freak-box.html

She’s A Punk Rocker U.K.

I made this film without any funding because I decided there is a need for our own punk herstory. It may be unconventional in style and content and took many years to finish due to going it alone with Sid to finish an edit. Learning to film, interview, write transcripts & edit, the steep learning curve involved in making a documentary to a professional screening standard.

She’s A Punk Rocker U.K.

This is a one-hour film Documentary by and about Punk Rock Women
1977 Punk Rock an Oral History by the women who were part of Punk.
Punk women changed the public face of female. It was very empowering for universal women. The story of punk could almost be a women’s liberation story. Caroline Coon.

1977 sees the explosion of a new subculture: Punk. Punk women were clearly visible by their appearance, clothes, makeup, hair, piercing and tattoos. Punk was the first youth movement where women were equals. Prior to punk, women were seen as the girlfriends of skins, mods, hippies and teddy boys, but a female punk was a punk.

Punks, both male and female, hit the media headlines from 1976 onwards. Moral outcry erupted as the media and officialdom proclaimed Punk Public Enemy Number One. Being a punk was dangerous, so why did so many women become punks? Was it just about dressing up outrageously? Were these punk women treated as equal members of the subculture and how were they treated by the rest of society? How did being a punk affect their lives? Did punk woman directly influence society’s attitudes to women today?

The lives of these women will reveal an insight into female punks and a culture that has been greatly misunderstood and misrepresented in the media. Their personal oral histories explore their experiences of being a punk. Life stories, gigs, fashion, music, politics, friends, relations & events. The women to a varying extent agree that today they are still punks at heart, if not in appearance.

Why did women want to be punks? How did they become punks? Socially what was happening in their lives? Was it a gradual move or a sudden overnight decision? Did being a punk change their lives?

The present media interest in punk is a male-dominated vision of the era. This programme reassesses - from the perspectives of punk women - women’s roles in a dynamic movement that irreversibly changed the face of society, politics, art and music.

I made this film without any funding because I decided there is a need for our own punk herstory. It may be unconventional in style and content and took many years to finish due to going it alone with Sid to finish an edit. Learning to film, interview, write transcripts & edit, the steep learning curve involved in making a documentary to a professional screening standard.

Director: Zillah Minx – Lead singer with punk band Rubella Ballet.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shes-A-Punk-Rocker-UK/134866653210402?ref=ts&fref=ts
Free online.

For She’s a Punk Rocker DVD Send £10 through paypal to sidandzillah@hotmail.com or
http://www.uvp-productions.co.uk/shop.html Or
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shes-A-Punk-Rocker-UK/134866653210402?fref=ts

Do you think that the history of punk has been told with too much emphasis on males? Is it a "his story," so to speak?

Yes, but the emphasis on male perspective was put there by the men who made early punk documentaries they often knew little about punk only what they read. Don Letts and some others are of course real deal recording punk from the inside as it happened. That’s why I made a documentary about punk from our punk perspective , by the women involved in the creation of punk in 1970’s.

Is there a particular band or handful of bands from that early scene who you think didn't get enough credit simply because they were women?

The Slits, Greta X (Jordan) in Adam & The Ants, Poison Girls, Youth In Asia.The list includes all of the punk bands you could list Punk couldn’t get played on the radio or TV. Only in very few select radio shows like John Peel or a TV documentaries. I don’t think it was just women bands I think it was punk in general that got little credit So when it came to women in the media getting credit that was difficult.

In 1975 and 76, were you consciously renegotiating gender with the way you dressed, or were you just wearing what you wanted to wear?

I was creating punk clothes with others who were doing the same male and female. I remember their being a mix of us black, white, disabled, gay we all seemed to be represented for a while during that creative phase of Punk. Before the general public had any idea what we were creating, Punk. We noticed that we had decided to wear each others clothes and we did. We conciously set out to break stereotypes and all rules and regulations we didn’t agree with. I think for a time when so many became punks we were a force to be reckoned with a lot of our ideas penetrated the main stream and started to become accepted ideas about how women should behave or live their lives only taking certain jobs and less wages than men for the same jobs is something punks refused and mainstream eventually agree so we did affect change,

What do you think about bands like Raped who actively straddled the gender line?

That’s a fantastic achievement.

Transwomen like Jayne County blew the lid off of gender norms in the early days of punk. How accepting were female punks of their trans sisters?

We loved it men wanting to be women. That was a new one for most of us, Wayne became Jayne and we all loved the drama and music

What do you think of women's music festivals that exclude transwomen today?

Why would they do that? I never heard of it, you don’t mean punk gigs?

When you performed with Rubella Ballet in the '80s, did you wear bright colors specifically to stand out from the anarcho-punk crowd?

No, I was part of that crowd I am also an original punk. I became a punk when I was 15 in 1976 before the Sex Pistols where on TV and everyone found out about punk. At that time i made my own clothes the only shops that sold punk clothes was Sex (sedirtionaries) a few stalls in Beafort Market in Kings rd where Poly Styrene had a stall. Also a stall in Petticoat Lane that later became the Last Resort shop. I bought a lot of stuff at charity and second hand shops then adapted or customized the clothes. At the start of punk everyone was creating their own individual style in a punk fashion. My friend decided to dress all in black to match her black lipstick. That caused an outcry no one wore black unless in mourning. I bought an old black jumper that had day-glo colours in it which I liked so I always made bright clothes and I used a lot of fabrics to make clothes that used animated cartoon character prints such as Batman, superwoman, star wars, Mr men.

When I later became part of the band Rubella Ballet we were living and playing gigs with Crass and Poison Girls. Both of whom wore their own colors on stage, Crass wore black army style seconds and Poison Girls wore Red & Black. We decided to just carry on as ourselves wearing our own punk DIY clothes. This slowly developed into full on day-glo because we could use black lights on stage to really make a glowing show that no one had seen before. The first time we used the black lights we were on tour with Death Cult and we played Birmingham. We always had a massive following in Birmingham as Sid was born there, when the crowd saw us perform under the black lights they went wild. Death Cult couldn’t understand how the support act had such a massive following of supporters.

The first recording that I heard of yours was the John Peel session. What do you remember most about that?

The BBC had a computerized recording studio. When we arrived the Engineer and crew told us we were locked out by the computer for three hours. It was surreal as no one we knew of at the time had computers. But the BBC are cutting edge when it comes to technology as they have millions of pounds to spend on equipment they couldn’t use. It felt futuristic but annoying as we only had eight hours in the studio to record and mix all the tracks,

We were disappointing John Peel wasn’t there for the recording but the BBC have separate people to do the recording session and then Peel plays it. I later met John Peel when I appeared in a strange one off Channel four programme, What ever you didn’t get. Vi-subversa was the Queen and Boy George was the King. The rest of us, George Michael

(who tried to chat up all the women including me, before he came out as gay.) John Peel, Dave Vanian, etc where guests. It was at the making of this show I got my chance to talk to John Peel to thank him for the session and tell him I was also from Liverpool. He offered us our second John Peel session., result nice one John.

What was the wildest gig that you played with Rubella Ballet?

The very first gig with Crass at Conway Hall was part of a riot, but I was young and loved it, I wasn’t afraid to fight and neither were the girls I hung out with, Sid was also there which probably frightened off a few people as he is 6 foot 10. Really all of us are pacifists and no one wanted to fight, we had become punks to avoid the crappy disco where everyone got pissed and had fights.

We supported the Damned at an outdoor festival in France. We took a coach & ferry along with Peter & The Test Tube Babies, Brigandage etc. On arrival at the festival in the middle of nowhere it was raining. As we descended from the bus we heard the gossip. Skinheads in the crowd beating up punks. Everyone was herded into a huge backstage tent where we would have to stand with our equipment for several hours before going on stage. Unfortunately all the bands on the bus arrived with no equipment except guitars as we had expected a back-line. As we are about to go on the rampage we are distracted by the promoter taking Rubella Ballet to the support band caravan. We are made up a place to ourselves.. We are not alone for long the rest of the bands have found us and are squeezing in to get out of the rain with excuses they have drink,drugs & booze to share! I head off to find the promoter to get paid before the gig. Sid is on the rampage as no one has found him a drum kit. The gig is horrible for the punters its raining and the bands are all running late and there are groups of people attacking punks. Rachel Minx, my sister and latest bass player and I are wondering round in muddy wet fields wearing enormous day-glo net dresses trying to find a toilet, Finally we realize it;s the field or nothing. Under our enormous skirts no one can see us crouching down in a field.

Before we know it The Damned arrive and are escorted to their mobile home as the headline band. Sid starts harassing The Damned roadie to see if we can borrow their drum kit. Ha Ha as if, Everything stopped for the Damned to go on stage even though as the support band we should be on before them. The Damned played and later Rubella Ballet also got on stage as it rained on us and the equipment.

We went back to our caravan and squashed in with everyone of the other bands we were due to go home with on the coach. Don’t know how it happened but at some point everyone in the caravan fell asleep. When I woke up there was our caravan all alone in the field everything and everyone had left. An assortment of twenty odd punks fell out of the caravan wondering What the Fuck where did everyone go? where is our coach? how do we get to the ferry? And all the other bands shit we haven’t been paid!

Eventually we left the caravan in the field and found a phone box where I ordered 5 taxis’ to take us to the Ferry, We blew all our fee getting all the bands back to the ferry. We were greeted by The Damned (minus Dave Vanien who had flown on to a interview in Paris) who thought it was hilarious that we had all been left behind.

I got loads another that comes to mind the time a riot broke out in Paris and we were escorted out as the fifty police aimed guns ready to fire at us as we were told to leave.

Did having your sister join the band change the dynamic at all?

Yes I loved my sister being in the band we always had each others back.

Rachel like me was used to fighting so we stood our ground when threatened on or off stage, Also Rachel was more political than previous guitarists she wanted to play every benefit gig. WE supported The Miners, Anti Apartheid, Ban the bomb, Greenham common women etc. Rachel was twelve when she became a punk and I was fifteen in 1976 we loved being punks and being in a band together.

What made you want to reform the band in 2000?

I never wanted to stop.....punk for life. We only ever stopped due to members of the band leaving and time taken to find and rehearse with new guitarists. Sometimes our debts from touring made it impossible to carry on especially in the 1990’s as rave and DJ became a cheaper option for venues than bands. Eventually we started to gig again.

What kind of influence do you think women in the late '70s-early '80s UK punk scene had on Riot Grrl in the US in the late '80s-early '90s?

Poly Styrene is a massive influence on women world wide. Riot G often name Poly and her influence on their scene. I remember Poly talking to me about it she was thrilled and surprised. She never really grasped her huge influence and admiration we had for her men and women loved and understood her lyrics and music.

How active has Rubella Ballet been in recent years?

We have recently played, London, Prague, Liepzig, Berlin, Holland and Milan.Our last gig was Rebellion 2012. Since then we have been writing, rehearsing and recording our new album Planet Punk.

You knew most of your interview subjects in "She is a Punk Rocker," right? What was the most surprising thing you heard while interviewing one of your friends?

I can’t think of anything that surprised me, but nothing surprises me.

What was the biggest challenge in making that documentary?

I did everything myself. It was 1990’s Finding and asking various women to be interviewed. I did it all by phone and friends to find some of the women. Quite a few said no, I’m not interested in punk I’ve moved on. Some never spoke to me or got back to messages. Some may never have got my requests, so I don’t blame them. I wanted any or all of The Slits, Cat woman, Siouxsie, Vivien Westwood, Jordan, Pauline Murray, Dino Dirt.... but I will try again as I am making part two She’s a Punk Rocker Europe & U.S.A.

You're a passionate animal rights supporter, aren't you? How did you get involved with animal rights activism?

I love animals I would save baby birds fallen from nests or stray kittens would come home with me. My sister became a vegetarian age 11 in 1970’s. I was also against fox hunting the fur trade, ivory trade and wild animal hunting or stealing. I saw Crass and became interested in their message regarding animal experiments & vivesection.
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/11936/The-Animal-Communicator

Are there any animals in your life at the moment? Do you think that here are moments of empathy that are easier to have with animals than humans?

Three years ago in the summer we had all our doors open and we were upstairs on our computers when we heard a loud meow. A cat had entered our house and come upstairs to find us. She meowed persistently and we stroked her for a while expecting her to leave, but she remained, At the time we had recently changed our lifestyle to combat Sid’s cancer, we followed a raw vegan diet. We had nothing a cat would want to eat but she was still in our house sitting next to us waiting. I went downstairs followed by the cat who had been farting smelly ones since arriving. All I had was Quinoa with some fine sliced raw veg mixed in. I thought the cat wont want this unless she is starving, she ate it all. Then followed me back upstairs, when we went to bed we locked up the house but she wouldn't leave so stayed the night in our room with us. The next day Sid went to the shop for cat food the cat never left. Three months later she produced five kittens we kept one black kitten and our good friends took the others. I cried when the kittens went I wanted to keep them all but we couldn’t afford the cat food.

You're interested in cannabis activism too, right? Are you a medical cannabis patient?

No we don’t have that legally in U.K. Sid has been diagnosed in 2005 with Cancer Multiple Myeloma. One alternative clinic in London advised Sid to use Cannabis as a pain killer but was unable to prescribe it. Yes we believe and campaign to legalise cannabis as we know of the pain relief and healing properties of the plant. We have a new song on our album Planet Punk called Hellbilly Heroin. The lyrics written by Sid describe his struggle as a cancer patient, regarding legal medication prescribed by GP’s that have side effects & kill and Cannabis that has no side effects and cures disease.

Essential information regarding hemp as a medicine: "Run from the Cure" 1 hour. Watch for free:
youtube.com/watch?v=0psJhQ… - 10 Oct

What are the cannabis laws like in the UK and how do you go about changing them?

Recently they upgraded cannabis use to a class b drug which means a stricter sentence now than recently in the past. It’s a terrible situation to make criminals out of sick people. Personally I compose music and write my own lyrics stating my views. I also do this in interviews, online petitions & campaigns, supporting festivals, benefit gigs & being part of the force for change.

The Dali lama supports medical cannabis.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/360355

What do you think about Pussy Riot gaining international attention after their protest and where women are taking the punk ethos now?

Admirable. Protesting is dangerous it can get you ridiculed, sectioned, prison, murdered. For those who dare ....It can also be change and a new way of life.

Pussy riot are paying a terrible price for their activism. Prison is a terrible place especially in Russia.

Which projects are you putting the greatest amount of creative energy into right now?

Our new album, Planet Punk 15 new never before released tracks on CD & Vinyl with a lyric book.

Filming & editing our own promo videos for Planet Punk.

Editing She’s a Punk Rocker part 2

Fashion designer Louise Gray after one of her catwalk shows was quoted as being influenced in her fashion show creations by her muse Zillah Minx. This led to a meeting Between myself and Louise Gray arranged by the mag Dazed & Confused as they wanted to interview us together and take photos. When we met we instantly became friends we discussed working together. One idea we discussed is to display at The V& A my self designed unique punk clothes, due to my influence on fashion since the origination of punk from 1975 to 1980’s neon.

*The Slits inspired me, and Zillah Minx of Rubella Ballet - she was one of the originators of punk in London. She wore colours and used UV paint to make her clothes and sets for gigs so everything was illuminated! I love her” Louise Gray, Elle Magazine May 2013.

I also have an original collection of punk memorabilia, films, photos etc that I would like to incorporate into the show. So I am also working on this idea for a future show.

Thanks for the interview, Zillah! Any words of wisdom that you'd like to share with Punk Globe readers?

Live life as the person you are, finding ways to achieve your goals.

Punk gave me a way & confidence to do anything I want to, I get job/life satisfaction. The point is anyone can do anything in life and this is especially important for women and girls in the world today to know they can empower themselves to live the life they want not have other peoples rules imposed on them.