Bromley Contingent

The Bromley Contingent is a label invented by journalist Caroline Coon [Mark Paytress, the biography of Siouxsie, sanctuary publishing, 2003] about a group of followers and fans of the Sex Pistols. They owed their name to Bromley, a satellite town of London, in the county of Kent, where some of them lived. They helped popularize the fashion of the early UK punk movement.

The London-based Crawley-born artist Lucy Harrison is of the opinion that they came from Reading, but that is emphatically not the case, I mean just look at the title of this page, it is indeed Bromley as I claimed.

The group included Siouxsie Sioux (not her real name), Jordan, Simon 'Boy' Barker, Debbie Juvenile (née Wilson), Linda Ashby, Adam Ant, Philip Salon, Simone Thomas, Bertie 'Berlin' Marshall, Tracie O'Keefe, Steve Severin, Billy Idol and Sharon Hayman. Soo Catwoman was also associated with the Bromley Contingent, although she does not consider herself to have been a member ["Oh and I also need to say this; I never was a member of the so-called Bromley Contingent, I just knew them, I have never claimed, nor do I have any connections whatsoever with Bromley - either of them....." [http://www.myspace.com/soocatwoman Soo Catwoman on Myspace] ] .

The Bromley Contingent attained a degree of notoriety when Sioux, Severin, Thomas and Barker appeared on ITV with the Sex Pistols to be interviewed by television journalist Bill Grundy in December 1976. Goaded by Grundy, Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten used the word "shit" on Thames Television's early evening television programme "Today", followed by guitarist Steve Jones calling Grundy a "dirty sod", a "dirty old man", a "dirty bastard" and a "fucking rotter" after the interviewer made a rather inept attempt at "chatting up" Siouxsie. Although the programme was only seen in the Thames Television region, the ensuing furore occupied the tabloid newspapers for days and shortly after the Sex Pistols were dropped by their record label, EMI.

In the following week, Siouxsie appeared on the front page of the "Daily Mirror" with the legend "Siouxsie a punk shocker" [ [http://thebansheesandothercreatures.co.uk/dailymirror1976.jpgDaily Mirror front cover December 1976] ] . In February 1977, she stopped attending Pistols concerts and started to tour with her friend Severin under the name of Siouxsie and the Banshees.

The notoriety of the Bromley Contingent in the press continued in June of 1977, when Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren rented a boat for the band and fans to sail down the Thames river during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee anniversary celebration. When the police forced the boat to dock, several Pistols fans were arrested and injured in the meleé. Bromley Contingent members Debbie Juvenile and Tracie O'Keefe (both employees of McLaren in his Kings Road clothing boutique Seditionaries) were charged with obstruction and assaulting a police officer. [ [http://punk77.co.uk/wip/traceyo.htm Punk 77: Tracie O'Keefe] ] While Juvenile was acquitted of the charges, O'Keefe was sentenced to one month's imprisonment, although later acquitted on appeal. O'Keefe died unexpectedly in early 1978 of bone marrow cancer at the age of 18. [ [http://punk77.co.uk/wip/traceyo.htm Punk 77: Tracie O'Keefe] ]

Many of the Bromley Contingent went on to form bands themselves including The Banshees and Generation X. Arguably they had greater influence than Malcolm McLaren's shops and Vivienne Westwood's designs in shaping the development and look of the early UK punk movement. The fashion statements made by Siouxsie Sioux, in particular, incorporating fetish and bondage clothing, and her innovative style of makeup, continue to live on in punk and goth fashion.

Simon Barker would become a noted photographer, using the nickname 'Six'. [ [http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2002_aug/interview_six.html 3:AM Magazine, August 2002] ] Bertie 'Berlin' Marshall would become a writer, publishing a novel, "Psychoboys" in 1999 and a memoir "Berlin Bromley" in 2001 which received favorable reviews from "The Guardian" [ [http://www.safpublishing.com/store/system/store.htm SAF Publishing] ] and "Time Out London" magazine. [ [http://www.timeout.com/london/gay/review/book/45/bertie_marshall_berlin_bromley.html Time Out London] ] Philip Salon would become a fixture of the British New Romantic club scene in the early 1980s alongside the likes of Steve Strange and Boy George. [ [http://www.geocities.com/theblitzkids/TABOO3.html The Blitz Kids] ]

Sid Vicious, the bassist who replaced Glen Matlock in The Sex Pistols, claimed he despised the Bromley Contingent, despite having played drums for the Banshees' debut live appearance at the 100 Club Punk Festival in 1976. In a 1977 interview for BBC Wales, Vicious claimed to have invented the Pogo as a means to knock them over at the 100 Club.

References

External links

* [http://www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk/pistols.htm Bill Grundy interview with The Sex Pistols and the Bromley Contingent]
* [http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/bromley.htm Punk 77 website article on The Bromley Contingent]
* [http://www.spikemagazine.com/1104berlinbromley.php Berlin, Bromley - an extract from Marshall's book on SpikeMagazine.com]
* [http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/oct2001/bertie_marshall/bertie_marshall.html an interview with Bertie Marshall by Andrew Gallix in 3:AM Magazine, October 2001]
* [http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2002_aug/interview_six.html an interview with Six/Simon Barker by Andrew Gallix in 3:AM Magazine, August 2002]