Note- this section is hardly complete, and there are many problems with this text :(
However I am hoping someday to work on a full replacement for the RIO/ReR history
sections of this site. For now, please use this information as you see fit...
phil zampino
Before RIO
Many events set precendence and influenced the genesis of the concert that began the concept of Rock in Opposition:
The oldest of the RIO bands, the Italian Stormy Six began life in 1965 as a pop/rock band rooted in American tradition; early gigs had Stormy Six opening for the Rolling Stones on tour. The band quickly shifted personnel and direction, and in fact none of the founding members of this band remained in the version of the band that was to take part in the RIO activities. The refocused band shunned popularity, reacting with obliqueness to popularity, incorporating folk elements and improvisation into their music, and in the Brechtian tradition, writing lyrics of facts, not feeling.
The artists whose ideological direction was to lead Stormy Six were Umberto Fiori and Franco Fabbri, while the musical direction was given more to Tomasso Leddi. Politically active in Italy, Stormy Six joined the Movimento Studentesco, a propaganda group active in the 1972 Italian Communist Party Elections. Among other political action they participated in the L'Unita Communist festival. Fiori and Fabbri were outspoken activists, and interviews published in the RIO edition of Impetus Magazine (No. 9, 1979) describe their cooperative and socialist philosopies.
Stormy Six had released four records by the time of the March 12, 1978 RIO festival, the last three on their own L'Orchestra label, formed to allow themselves the freedom to write songs about the Italian resistance and the struggle against Fascism. The label was also formed in reaction to the commercial release of a contractually obliged record they were forced to release. The freedom of producing and releasing their own records allowed them to pursue a conglomeration of folk and rock uniquely their own, placed in the context of the social struggles of Italy.
Of all the RIO bands Stormy Six was the most politically active and the
most outspoken. They joined Rock In Opposition specifically to meet other bands
and to discuss political and social issues. But it was also
their confrontational nature that made difficult the unification of
the five RIO bands, leading to ideological arguments amongst the
participants.
The Swedish Samla Mammas Manna were perhaps the most popular within their own country of all the RIO bands. Formed in 1970 and led by Lars Hollmer the band began life as a progressive rock band through and through, using guitar, synthesizer and accordion to play exuberant and technical music. Suprisingly most of the band was self-taught! Their music incorporated elements of Swedish folk music and was written with an interesting and endearing sense of humour.
Releasing their music on the Silence label, by the time Samlas released their fourth record, _For Aldre Nybegynnare/Schlagerns Mystick_ they gone through several key personnel changes, and had begun incorporating improvisational elements into their music. This record in particular was a double release, one album of which was new studio material, the second of which were live improvisations (the record has a dotted line drawn down the middle so that the listener could cut one or the other away if they preferred!). The latter was not as well received by their country as their more structured pieces, but it was the improvisation that caught the ear of Chris Cutler and prompted him to write a letter to the band praising their work. This led to further dialog between the bands, and inevitably to dialog regarding touring with Henry Cow in England and Switzerland.
...
From the pamphlet for the RIO concert on March 12, 1978, Henry Cow wrote:
It's very difficult to talk about our own music, the influences are diverse but there exists among Univers Zero a desire to recover the occidental spirit of the music. But at no price do we want to sacrifice our music by working in any established direction, either musically or socially. Music we listen to, for example, includes Captain Beefheart, Third Ear Band, Peter Brötzmann, Stravinsky, Penderecki, Huybrechts.
We believe that in order to make valid music, on both the human and social levels, we must not sacrifice anything on things other than music. Humanity and music are but the same. We are trying to remain realist at every moment.
Technically we are seeking to escape the preconceptions about the kinds of sounds one would expec the from the instruments we use.
PostScript: We are looking for a hearse in good condition, about 1940 to 1955. Please write to Roger Trigaux [...]
"Alan Freeman:
The popular music press always branded Henry Cow or Art Bears as "left wing".
Chris Cutler:
Of course. Extremely. If you hate this government, and everything it stands for."
"Art is not a mirror. It is a Hammer." wrote filmaker John Grierson.
From the pamphlet given all attendees at the "Rock In Opposition" Concert, Sunday March 12, 1978, New London Theater, written by Chris Cutler:
We would like to say 5 things:
(1) The music industry can CREATE nothing- it can only exploit the real abilities of its victims.
(2) The music industry wants to keep its hosts' desires at the lowest level possible because formulas are easy to reproduce while musicians with integrity can be difficult to control.
(3) The music industry makes all its decisions on the basis of Profit & Prestiege... they have ears only for the rustling of money, hearts which only pump with the blood of murdered.
(4) Kafka wrote only what is true. Paranoia is simply a recognition of human values under capitalism... "the point is to change it!"
(5) Independence is only a valid first step if Revolution is the second.
After the March 12 concert the five bands met again on December 8 of the same year, 1978. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the definition and direction of Rock In Opposition. Umberto Fiori of Stormy Six began the meeting by presenting a paper on "Rock In Opposition," and lively and fruitful conversation ensued.
In an article to Sound International entitled "RIO News" Chris Cutler wrote
Rock In Opposition you will recall from an article in this paper (August '78) is an international collective of groups from Italy, France, Sweden Belgum and Britain.
On December 8 all the RIO groups met at Sunrise Studios in Switzerland. Among the topics discussed were those theoretical: what constitutes 'rock' exactly, economics and aesthetic 'oppositions', the place and theory of improvisation, the relevance of music to political actions - and those practical: concert schedules for all of the groups playing together, tours for one group in another's country, the distribution etc. In pursuance of this last, RIO are presently compiling an 'alternatives' and resources yearbook which will list facilities in all the countries of Europe which would be useful to independent groups - ie alternative tour and concert agencies or venues welcoming experimental music, studio, publications, printers, record distributors, mail order buyers, shops, radio stations, equipment hire, record and cassette manufacture, advertising rates, willing helpers etc. Anyone wishing to be listed under any of these headings, or who has something else to offer which they feel is relevant please send to: RIO Yearbok, c/o Silverthorne Rd [...]
It was determined that a collective basis should be defined to bind the bands together under RIO, and that a constitution of sorts be defined. Rock in Opposition would be a closed and small organization, but welcome to (somewhat ironically) new groups with a permanent continuity of existence, and who adhered to the following criteria:
(A) That of musical excellence. This depending on their collective evaluation
of the same.
(B) That of working actively outside the establishment of music business.
(C) That of having a social committment to Rock.
Three other bands were subsequently drafted into Rock in Opposition: Aqsak Maboul, Art Zoyd and Art Bears.
Unfortunately amidst the constructive discussion arose disagreements between the RIO bands.
Stormy Six expressed that Univers Zero were concerned only with Form, a trait in retrospect they have agreed on, and that they took a laissez-faire attitude to social and political considerations. Univers Zero countered that Stormy Six were too political, that they were not interested in Art. Stormy Six also considered Samla Mammas Manna as apolitical, while Samla Mammas Manna declared Stormy Six's music too populist. This was not a well .
After the RIO meeting in Switzerland, Samla Mammas Manna organized
a festival in Stockholm, and Art Zoyd and Univers Zero
organised concerts in Mauberge.
Apparently Stormy Six's adamant stances
also drove them to action, for a
Rock in Opposition festival was held from April 26-May 1, 1979 at
al Teatro dell'Elfo in Milano of 1979. The performances were
advertised as:
| Univers Zero on April 26 |
| Etron Fou Leloublan on the 27th |
| Stormy Six on the 28th |
| Aksak Maboul also on the 29th |
| Art Zoyd on the 29th |
| Samla Mammas Manna on the 30th |
| Art Bears on the 1st of May |
As well that year Samla Mammas Manna organized a tour for Henry Cow through Sweden, and Etron Fou organized a tour for Samlas in France.
Sadly the planned European Yearbook tours Cutler described never happened, and no further formal RIO activities took place. However, as though defining RIO's epitaph and RIOs persistent existence at the brink of it's creation, Chris Cutler wrote in the pamphlet given all attendees of the March 12, 1978 Rock in Opposition concert, written by Chris Cutler:
From the pamphlet given all attendees at the "Rock In Opposition" Concert, Sunday March 12, 1978, New London Theater, written by Chris Cutler:
Out.
Even if R.I.O. folded up tomorrow, & packed its tents forever, the inevitability of International co-operation & solidarity is a certainty in the modern world. Facts force us to unite in order to survive, but more than that we are conscious that there is work to do. We recognise that Rock musci is a legitimate & powerful medum & one in which criticism & hope can be carried. "Now is the time we are in love with." You are a part of this reality whichever side you are on.. if you do not take a side the battle will be fought anyway. This is only a thread of a life & death struggle which wracks the world now- itself will change nothing, but the battle must be fought on all fronts however small- everything must be called into question, examined, experimented with, changed - even the concepts of 'enjoyment' & 'entertainment'.
I would like to remember Phil Ochs tonight, who fought uncompromised & brilliant against the implacable & vicious apathy & rejection of American culture. Few have achieved so much against such odds. In more human times he will be remembered & appreciated. We have a lot to learn.
C Cutler