Sly is a punk fucker I've known for a long time, His orginally from Tipperary but went to foreign shores, and ended up in London, like so many other punks have gone from here and never came back. Well I said I'd interview him.At the time he was very much involved in the squatted anarchist center the 121 in Brixton,London which was evicted some years back. Protest: Well tell us how did you get into punk rock in Tipperary of all places? Are you taking the piss!!! It all started in '84/'85 when I met a guy called Sid who gave me a tape of 'never mind the bollocks'. Then I bought S.L.F'Inflamable Material', 3 months later I was listening to Crass, Conflict , Discharge and numberous other anarcho bands. Around this time I got hold of demos by Irish bands like Paraniod Visions, Crude and Synyde, Apocalypse, Stalag 17...My life was ruined forever!!! What was the first gig you put on?Any advice for people tryying to put a gig on? I had helped put on a few gigs over the years, but we started to take it a little more seriously with the 121 gig collective. Every gig being abenifit for various projects including ABC(political prisoner support), Animal Rights groups, A d.i.y practise space, a couple of punk people that died recently and a whole range of other needy causes. Bands have included, Oi Polloi, Aus Rotten, Los Crudos, Defiance, Doom, Disfear, Coitus, Restarts, Scatha, Quarantine, basically any travelling band whos into benifits. The answer to part 2 of that question is just do it. Tell us abit about the 121 in Brixton? YThe 121 centre is a squatted/anarchist centre and has been for over 12 years. It holds a cafe 3 times a week with really cheap vegan food(50p a meal). A bookshop 4 times a week. Its also home to the anarchist Black Cross(London) Bad Attitude(feminist mag) Job Shirkers Aliance, Print Collective, Contraflow, Fare DoggersLibfront and to anyone that wants to use it positively. Is punk finally dead? To me personlly it dies constantly and then comes back to life to kick my ass. I love, I hate it. As long as theres a d.i.y ethic, it will always live> I think major labels and people that use it for their own personal gain are tryying to kill it, but fuck 'em. What do you think of the Irish and English scenes at the present? I can't say too much about the Irish scen at the moment 'cos I don't get enough exposure outside the Green Isle, the English hmmm, lets just say it has its ups and downs, but I love it. What gigs do you have lined up for the future? Next gig is Headache/Haywire after that its Scatha, Bloodshot, Bus Station Loonies and posssibly Concussion. Hopefully in the next few months we'll have Anomie and Peace of Mind, Gout and Cheapskate(if they get their damn cheapskates on!!) Virual Reality and Doom and of course all our regular faves-Coitus(when they stip splitting up)Restarts, Haywire, Ciderfex, Chinapple Punx etc. Cheers Sly The hidden history of squatting in Ireland