Conflict

Conflict is an anarcho-punk band originally based around Eltham in South London. Formed in 1981, the band’s original line up consisted of: Colin Jerwood (vocals), Paco (drums), Big John (bass), Steve (guitars), Pauline (vocals), Paul AKA ‘Nihilistic Nobody’ (visuals). Their first release was the EP “The House That Man Built” on Crass Records. By the time they released their debut album It’s Time To See Who’s Who on Corpus Christi Records, Pauline and Paul had left the band. Conflict later set up their own Mortarhate label, which put out releases by other artists including Hagar the Womb, Icons of Filth, Lost Cherrees, The Apostles, Admit Your Shit and others.

In 1983 Steve Ignorant, at the time a member of the band Crass, guested on the band’s pro-animal rights single “To A Nation of Animal Lovers.” After the dissolution of Crass, Ignorant later became second vocalist for Conflict on a semi-permanent basis. This followed a 1986 gig in Brixton, London wherin he had joined the band on stage for a few numbers.

The band have always been outspoken regarding issues such as anarchism, animal rights, the anti-war movement and in their support for the organisation Class War, and a number of their gigs during the 1980s were followed by riots and disturbances. The band’s ‘Mortarhate’ logo, originally designed by ‘Nihilistic Nobody’ is commonly mistaken as a reference to the initials CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), but as quoted directly by paco the drummer for conflict is in actual fact a nihlist symbol. it incorporates two ‘A’s for anarchy and autonomy, and an ‘N’ for nihilism. The logo originally appeared around 1980 in Thanatos, a small circulation pamphlet produced by Toxic Graffity (sic) fanzine editor Mike Diboll.

The band continues to exist today, although their record releases and live performances are sporadic.