Self Abuse was formed in Bournemouth, Dorset in January 1982 when Andy Nazer [vocals/bass] and Dave Brown [guitar vocals] both 16 old and still at school, got together with Roger [later Jarvis] Smale [guitar] and Steve Ridgeway [drums] both age 17.
The first gig was played in at the Sloop pub, Poole, [with Barbed Wire] in October and the first cassette 'State of Mind' was recorded and released on their own 'Abused Tapes' label later that year.
1983 saw them record and realese the 'Teenage' cassette [again on their own label] and play across the south of England with band such as Subhumans, Cult Maniax, Screaming Dead, Amebix, A-Heads, Organised Chaos, Shrapnel, The Samples and more locally with Butcher, The Mad Are Sane, Admass/Madmass, Shock to the System/Atrox, Idiom Tribe, Confession of Sin, Last Order, Breakout and The Parasites among many others.
In 1984, the [I Didn't Wanna be a] Soldier EP was released [almost a year after being recorded in the summer of 1983] on the Radical Change label and was played by the great John Peel on his radio show. A third demo/cassette was recorded in the summer and two songs [Another Nightmare and Strange Life] were released on the Party Pooping Punk Provocations 12" compilation on the Xcentric Noise label. The other songs remained unreleased.
The band split that year after a final Xmas gig at the Pembroke Arms in Bournemouth.
20 years later in 2004, the original line up reformed to play a sold-out gig at Mr Smiths in Bournemouth and released the No Change 7" EP on Abused Records and the following year saw them play the Wasted [now Rebellion] Festival in Morecombe and continue with other gigs playing with Subhumans, Virus amongst others here and there.
The Grand Theft Audio label [USA] rounded up the early cassette/demo recordings - including the 3rd demo and the Soldier EP and released the [I Didn't Wanna be a] Soldier compilation CD in 2006
Around this time Steve Ridgeway decided to stand down from the drums and in came Dom 'Upchuck' Webb from local Bournemouth punk band the Demonic Upchucks.
With Dom on board, SA released the Celebrity Death Squad [2009] and Burn Trash City [2014] 7" EP's and rounded up all the recordings and out-takes since their reformation on the Screenage CD [2015] on Abused Records. Antitodo Records [Spain] re-issued the Soldier EP 7" on clear vinyl in 2017 and the band have carried on gigging sporadically, notably with a return to Rebellion and the odd bigger gig with the likes of SLF, Chelsea, The Vibrators and Menace.
2019 brings news that another, as yet untitled 7" vinyl EP is recorded and awaiting release....
Tracklist:
A1 Spare a thought 00:02:21
A2 Torn Apart 00:01:40
State of Mind Demo 82
A3 (I didn't wanna be a) Soldier 00:03:19
A4 State of Mind 00:01:35
Soldier 7 EP 1983
A5 So cold 00:03:38
A6 Pills 00:01:55
Teenage Demo 83
A7 Strange Life 00:03:30
A8 On and on 00:03:44
Third Demo Summer 84
B1 No Change 00:02:56
B2 PCTV 00:02:57
No Change EP 2004
B3 Trash City Burning 00:01:37
Demo 2005
B4 Celebrity Death Squad 00:02:53
B5 Barcode Breakdown 00:02:12
Celebrity Death Squad EP 2009
B6 World in Action 00:03:33
Outtakes 2009
B7 Burn Trash City 00:01:47
B8 (Now the) Circus (is over) 00:02:21
Burn Trash City EP 2014
