User:A2RK

Jobbykrust was an underground Anarcho/Crust band who formed in a large housing estate in Newtownabbey North Belfast. Active in the winter of 1990 and disbanded in 1997.

History

Music was a way of escaping the sectarianism and bigotry prevalent throughout Northern Ireland. Being in a band allowed you to get away from the hate filled housing estates and small minded towns and mix with like minded people for whom what religion you were was an irrelevancy. Through the music culture an alternative lifestyle was offered. This, without a doubt, was a major attraction in Belfast at the time and still is to this day.

By 1990, punk in Belfast had gone into a sort of lull; bands such as Pink Turds in Space and Toxic Waste had been and gone. The scene was centred around the old Warzone Centre (a.k.a. Giros), a dilapidated building in Belfast City Centre. It was here the first Jobbykrust gig took place in February 1991 – as a last minute addition to an all day gig. The gig took place on a day of protests against the first Gulf War. Then, as now, no one listened and the war went ahead. Nothing really changes I suppose. Once the demonstration was over the gig got underway and lasted well into the night. Jobbykrust played poorly, being out of tune, out of time and full of first gig nerves. However the crowd was that drunk nobody seemed to notice, a regular feature of Belfast gigs.

During 1991 two demos were recorded; a self titled one and “Mary Ate A Little Lamb”. Both had about 50 copies made but after these were gone no more were produced. Both demos were extremely poor – okay for a drunken laugh but certainly not for general consumption. The recording quality on a four track wasn’t great, the guitars painfully out of tune, and the general sound poor.

Frustrated at the lack of gig opportunities, (the Warzone Centre had temporarily closed and was moving location), Jobbykrust, along with other local bands and people started “No Name Productions”. This was a gig collective designed solely to set up gigs for local bands in a small pub, The Pennyfarthing, in Belfast City Centre. The gigs were usually every two weeks and all proceeds went back into the collective or towards various causes. The gigs were marked with enthusiasm, freshness, and positivity. Many people were involved and all contributed. They were good times filled with hope and optimism.