70 Gwen Party

Pursuing a fiercely independent ethic from start to end, the heavily underground British group 70 Gwen Party -- at heart the duo of Victor N'Dip and Lurgin Pin -- worked a vein of social protest drawing musically on everything from high-volume industrial beats to low-key piano pieces and lyrically nodding to Crass and Chomsky in equal measure. 70 Gwen Party got its start in the late '80s after a group the two played in, Isis, broke up. N'Dip initially worked on his own, but having stayed in touch with Pin invited him to join in 1988. A stream of singles on the band's own Snape label was the result, along with two early albums, Devil Wrapped and Ginsung Buried and The Optical Glass Empire. The group also recorded a series of sessions for John Peel, with a collection coming out as the band's first CD. Unfortunately for the duo, 70 Gwen Party's most well-known reputation during the '90s was as a random joke reference for many U.K. music papers' humor section, given the group's extreme stances and non-user friendly approach. N'Dip gave as good as he got, though, becoming almost as notable for his fiercely critical letters to the press and fiery sleeve notes as for his band's music. After a third studio album, Anti Blue Nazi, and final single and compilation tape, 70 Gwen Party wrapped up work in 1998, with N'Dip stating he wanted to take a break before considering what future artistic avenues to pursue. ~ Ned Raggett