Androids of Mu was an English all-female

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcor ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, active from 1979 to 1983. They were part of a West London squatland scene, alongside bands such as the

Poison Girls The Poison Girls were an English anarcho-punk band from Brighton. The singer/guitarist, Vi Subversa, was a middle-aged mother of two at the band's inception, and wrote songs that explored sexuality and gender roles, often from an anarchist pers ...

Zounds Zounds are an English anarcho punk/post-punk band from Reading, Berkshire, England, formed in 1977. Originally they were part of the cassette culture movement, releasing material on the Fuck Off Records label, and were also involved in the s ...

, The Mob and

The Astronauts ''The Astronauts'' ( Polish: ''Astronauci'') is the first science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem published as a book, in 1951. To write the novel, Lem received advance payment from publishing house Czytelnik (Warsaw). The book b ...

History

Emerging from associations with the

hippy A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

-orientated Here & Now,

Nik Turner Nicholas Robert Turner (26 August 1940 – 10 November 2022) was an English musician, best known as a member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner played saxophone and flute, as well as being a vocalist and composer. While with Hawkwind, T ...

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

Daevid Allen Christopher David Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015), known professionally as Daevid Allen, sometimes credited as Divided Alien, was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966 ...

and

Gilli Smyth Gillian Mary Smyth (1 June 1933 – 22 August 2016) was an English musician who performed with the bands Gong, Mother Gong, and Planet Gong and released several solo albums and albums in collaboration with other members of Gong. In Gong, she ...

, the Androids of Mu formed out of the

Frestonia Frestonia was the name adopted by the residents of Freston Road, London, when they attempted to secede from the United Kingdom in 1977 to form the Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia. The residents were squatters, many of whom eventual ...

squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...

community in Notting Hill Gate, West London, notable in its time for producing non-conformist music. The band's driving force was vocalist Suze da Blooze (11 February 1950 – 19 August 2007). She shared lead vocals with Corrina, and wrote much of the band's material. They released one album, ''Blood Robots'', recorded by F*** Off Records label-head Keith Dobson (Kif Kif le Batteur) in his Street Level studio. The Androids were well received by the music press of the day. Robbi Millar in ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' described the album as "Android genius" and likened the band to

The Slits The Slits were a punk and post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma R ...

, praising their "simple songs, played with limited but adventurous ability, sung with voices that scream and holler with the mispitched intensity of early Raincoats". From

proto-punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music played mostly by garage bands from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock movement. The phrase is a retrospective label; the musicians involved were generally not originally associated wit ...

and

beginnings, the band soon became associated with the

scene.

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk s ...

invited the Androids to record for their label on condition that they recruited a "proper" drummer, but the band declined the invitation. Newcastle anarcho-punk band Blood Robots named themselves after Androids of Mu's only album. In 2013, ''Blood Robots'' was reissued on vinyl by Water Wing Records.

Line-up

The band's line-up was: Suze da Blooze (vocals), Corrina (guitar, vocals), Cozmic (drums, synth, vocals) and Bess (bass, vocals). The second incarnation featured drummer Graham Cronin and guitarist Deborah Thomas.

Discography

*''Androids of Mu'' demo EP (1979, cassette, F*** Off Records) *''Blood Robots'' (1980, LP, F*** Off Records FLP 001)

Compilation/guest appearances

*Suze da Blooze features on ''

Floating Anarchy Live 1977 ''Live Floating Anarchy 1977'' is a 1978 live album by Planet Gong, a combination of Gong's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth and the band Here & Now. It was recorded in Toulouse on 6 November 1977, apart from the track "Opium for the People" which w ...

'', a live album by

Planet Gong Here & Now are an English psychedelic/space rock band formed in early 1974. They have close connections with the band Gong and in 1977/1978 worked with Gong's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth under the name Planet Gong. History The first version ...

(1978, Celluloid LTM 1002 P *"Bored Housewives" on ''Making Waves'' (1981, LP, Girlfriend Records) *"Every Time I Hear the Spirit" / "Pretty Nun" / "Ride Me Easy Rider" on ''Slightly Weirdsville'' (1981, cassette, F*** Off Records) *"Vampire Feast" on ''Music For Pressure'' (1981, cassette, F*** Off Records) *"Cityscape" / "Jungle Beast" on ''Folk In Hell'' (1982, cassette, F*** Off Records) *"Who Cares?" / "Atomic Explosion" / "White City" / "Seven Cities" / "Bored Housewives" / "Android Jam" on ''A Tribute to Bert Weedon'' (1982, cassette, Weird Tales)

References

External links

Discogs
{{Authority control All-female punk bands English post-punk music groups Anarcho-punk groups Musical groups established in 1980