Anger Is An Vitality
That Heaven 17 bought off to such a monumental begin was because of “the anger and vitality flowing out of us,” in response to Gregory, as Ware explains: “That anger can go to the darkish aspect, the place you turn into bitter and twisted, or you’ll be able to redirect it into one thing optimistic.
“We’ve all the time been optimistic individuals. We got here from pondering one thing like The Human League and Heaven 17 would by no means occur, so something that did occur simply appeared like a bonus.”
Musically, Fascist Groove Thang noticed Gregory, Ware and Marsh take away The Human League’s manifesto of “Solely artificial sound”. There was even, gasp, a bass solo. Ware says: “All bets had been off. That digital manifesto had been impressed by Kraftwerk, however in Krautrock I additionally appreciated bands who had been a hybrid of actual and digital devices, like Can, Neu! and Amon Düül.”
Lyrically, Fascist Groove Thang was the primary marker that Heaven 17 might sort out large topics. “Phil had little interest in any of that political stuff,” states Ware. “He was into sci-fi and being profound. We wished to shock individuals once they first heard us. In a minor method, Fascist Groove Thang is famous, and that’s implausible.”
Over 40 years on, its sentiments are nonetheless related, arguably extra so given present world occasions. “It’s irritating that it’s nonetheless so related,” nods Gregory. “I feel we might have launched it each 10 years since, rewriting it with the title of Donald Trump or George Bush. That’s miserable.”
It wasn’t solely indignant polemicism driving the trio, nevertheless, as Gregory admits: “We had been afraid after we had been writing songs like Let’s All Make A Bomb and At The Peak Of The Preventing. These threats had been actual, this wasn’t only a stance we had been taking.” Ware provides: “We thought we is likely to be blown up at any second.”