EVERY day the Covid statistics are published: infections, hospitalisations, deaths. Bare figures, with the last one, sadly, drawing the most attention. And last week that last column contained the name of one of the greatest socialists and anti-fascists to emerge from the original punk scene. Thomas Mensforth, aka Mensi, for more than 40 years singer and leader of South Shields’ Angelic Upstarts. I knew him for most of that time.
 
Mensi came from a mining background and was himself a miner for a while, but soon punk rock came calling and his band, simultaneously hard as nails, noisy as fuck and gloriously melodic, provided some of the great soundtrack moments of the late ’70s and ’80s – especially, of course, during the great miners’ strike of 1984-5.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-DzvhKvX8

He was a poet too: his spoken word piece Heath’s Lament – which I shall be performing during next Monday night’s livestream, translated from its native Mackem into Southernspeak – takes us back to the earlier strike in 1972, a miners’ victory which Thatcher never forgot and never forgave. The record from which it came, Two Million Voices, is one of punk’s truly great albums.
 
The Upstarts’ uncompromising anti-fascist stance was especially important because it began at a time when right-wing violence at gigs was a real problem, as I myself knew only too well, and Mensi & Co didn’t back down one inch. I saw him face down rioting fascists from the audience on a number of occasions and was proud to join him on stage several times, most memorably at the Marquee in London at the end of the ’80s.
            
The previous year the Upstarts had been attacked by supporters of notorious Nazi band Skrewdriver at a London punk festival and the gig closed down: the fascists had vowed that the Upstarts would never play London again.

Anti Fascist Action laid down the gauntlet at one of the capital’s most high profile venues, inviting the Upstarts to headline in an open challenge to the far right. I was the support act alongside fellow anti-fascist stalwarts Blaggers ITA.