Last Jubilee cancelled at last minute

The Last Jubilee festival, due to be held at Bath Racecourse this weekend and featuring a host of punk bands including The Damned, Buzzcocks, Eddie & The Hot Rods, 999, Menace, The Rezillos, UK subs, Chelsea, Ruts DC, Glen Matlock and The Vibrators. On the official website (http://www.lastjubilee.co.uk/) organisers blame the local council and the venue "Dark Establishment Figures put brakes on alternative Jubilee Event" saying "The spirit of 1977 has shown it’s ugly side with Bath Council putting a cancellation notice on the Last Jubilee event being held at Bath racecourse 2,3,4 June 2012. Using spurious health & safety legislation and by delaying their decision until today (31-5-2012) has meant that their ridiculous claims and pathetic demands could The miniscule issues that the venue and the local council had could easily have been dealt with if their notice of cancellation had been delivered in time. They chose to wait until today to do this, giving the organisers no time to put right the minor issues that were raised." However Bath Racecourse posted their own press release online (http://www.bath-racecourse.co.uk/events/event-details.php?detailId=111 ) saying "The racecourse had agreed to provide the venue for the event, entitled The Last Jubilee. The Last Jubilee was an external event, organised and managed by a company in no way affiliated to the racecourse. Unfortunately, the organisers have failed to fulfil their contractual obligations and the racecourse has taken the difficult decision to withdraw the use of the venue due to breach of contract and health and safety concerns".   Bath and Somerset North East Somerset Council has issued a separate statement saying  (according to reports) " it has not been involved with the cancellation of the event and that it has not expressed any concerns about its nature" and a spokesman added: "The council has spent a significant amount of time with the police and other local stakeholders to help facilitate the event and give it every chance of success."  There also seems to have been noise issues resulting from a dance music event also held at Bath Racecourse two weeks ago. Four children's charities were meant to have benefited from the event. It is not clear of the event will be rescheduled with organisers Jamonit Events Ltd saying "The promoters and organisers of The Last Jubilee have asked for patience and understanding from the ticket holders and performers as they try and rearrange this event as soon as possible".

The Ignerents formed in Whitstable, Kent, in 1977 with Steve Harris on guitar, Chris Harris on bass, Stan Gretsch on drums and Mark Leighton on guitar. Ben Challis joined the band as vocalist three days before their first gig which was in a local church hall on April 16th 1977. Mark Leighton didn’t last that long and the band continued to play live and record and produced demos for Step Forward Records and the band recorded and released their first single Radio Interference b/w Wrong Place Wrong Time on Ace Records in 1979. Stan died in 1981 and the band released a single (Platform 5 b/w The Trouble With You) as the Beekeepers with Nick Appleton joining as a second guitarist. Chris died in 1994 and the remaining band members performed a tribute concert that year and Ben and Steve compiled a full album (Woodbines, Tears & Jealousy) in 1997 featuring 14 Ignerents’ tracks, many unreleased.

See Punk 77 for more at

http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/ignerents.htm

Ignerents interview from The Herald circa 1979

Ignerents Local Press

Press from The Times and Observer, September 1977



I know we weren't Kent's only punk rock band, but the icecreams were nice, so thanks Adscene!

The Ignerents with The Only Ones

Ignerents photos from summer '77

The first photo was taken in the summer of 1977, and it looks like Stan's front room in Herne Bay in Kent at a rehearsal. The shot features (L-R) Chris Harris (bass), Mark Leighton (guitar), Stan Gretsch (drums), Ben Challis (vox) and Steve Harris (guitar/vox).


The second photo was taken at All Saints Hall in Whitstable in July 1977. It feature (L-R) Mark Leighton (guitar), Chris Harris (bass), Stan Gretsch (mostly hidden, on drums), Ben Challis (vox) and Steve Harris (Guitar/vox).

The Ignerents - a brief history in time

The Ignerents were formed in 1977 in Whitstable, Kent, by brothers Chris and Steve Harris, joined by neighbour Mark Leighton on guitar, vocalist Kevin Holmes and drummer Stan 'Gretsch' Littlejohn. The band were an important part of the local Kent punk scene in the late seventies in Kent alongside bands like Wild Billy Childish's Pop Rivets, The Names, Naughty Thoughts and The Rivals (see http://www.boredteenagers.co.uk/RIVALS1.htm)

All of the band went to Queen Elizabeth's School in Faversham. The band were managed by a third Harris brother, Phil, who was quick to recruit Ben Challis from another local punk band, The Plague, when Kevin Holmes dropped out as lead singer just before the band's first gig in Whitstable. In its final and most successful lineup (as the Ignerents), the band was a fourpiece consisting of Ben Challis (vocals), Steve Harris (guitar), Chris Harris (base) and Stan Gretsch (drums). The band released one single in 1979 (Radio Interference b/w Wrong Place Wrong Time. The Ignerents also featured on the First Offenders compilation album in 1980 with two tracks, Harbour Street and I Won't Be There. Wrong Place Wrong Timealso featured on the German Punk series 'Back To Front'. The band finally evolved into a new band, The Beekeepers, which featured Nick Appleton on guitar alongside Steve and with Chris, Ben and Stan, and then finally with Russel Lax on drums (who, in the then small Kent new wave music scene had, I think, been the Pop Rivets' drummer!). The Beekeepers released one single, Platform 5 b/w The Trouble With You in 1981.

On the live circuit the Ignerents were active from 1977-1981 with numerous gigs that included the Marquee Club and the Vortex in London and support slots with bands like 999, The Only Ones, Wayne County & The Electric Chairs and Chelsea.

The band's history has been marred by two tragic deaths: firstly, Stan, by noiw drummer with the Rivals, died in a road accident in 1981 and then in 1994 Chris died in a drowning accident whilst on holiday. Both are still much missed. The band released the Beekeepers single to celebrate Stan's life and played a final tribute gig to celebrate Chris's life at the Tankerton Arms in Whitstable in 1994 and in 1997 released a CD (Woodbines, Tears and Jealousy)which featured all of the Ignerents' previously released tracks and another ten archive tracks.

Various tracks also feature on other compilation albums (see the Discography) including Wrong Place Wrong Time on Back To Front Vol 4 and Call me Irresponsible on Punks, Skins & Rude Boys III.


The text of this Article is available for modification and reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).