The Weirder The Brave...
Anonymous Tip
e -mail interview by Rosey R*E*P*E*A*T, April 2010

“Anonymous Tip give us plenty of reasons to keep the faith” – Rock Sound

"Anonymous Tip focus on creating the kind of frantic sing-a-long anthems that are as intoxicating as they are totally irresistible" - Drowned in Sound

"Hotly Tipped Rock Monsters" - Music Week

“The Twickenham quartet balances gritty punk-rock menace with moments of soulful reflection and a socio-political commentary that makes for a perfect warm up” - Punktastic

“I haven’t seen this sort of energy since Rage Against the Machine in 2000” - Bizarre Magazine

The fast and furious tones of Anonymous Tip have been rocking venues up and down the UK since their inception back in 2002. They have made a real dent in the underground punk rock circuit as an unorthodox group of punk rockers with an ambiguous message. Songs about archaic politics, confessions of nymphomania, fascism within rock scenes and their deep routed suspicion of the music industry, have helped them gain a notorious and loyal following. Their musical statement of intent is to blend emotive chants with fast-paced grooves, at the same time keeping everything carefully crafted to ignite the monster inside and to provoke debate and passion.

Seminal punk legends Snuff went on to release Anonymous Tip's self-financed and self-produced debut 6-track EP “Greetings from Wasteland” through 10 Past 10 Records and took them on a unadulterated tour around the UK with Five Knuckle, Captain Everything and of course, the mighty Snuff. The EP SOLD OUT – over 2,000 copies - and was released in other territories, where it sold well too, especially in Japan, where the band built up a cult following.

Since the release of their debut album ‘Not Your Orthodox’ in 2008, the band have also gigged with the likes of Propagandhi, Enter Shikari and The King Blues.

‘The Weirder Brave’ is the first single of their second full length album ‘Snitches & Stiches’ planned for release later this year. ‘The Weirder Brave’ is another polemic statement of frustration at the rise of media coverage for the British National Party.

Vocalist Sanj Surati says; “My best friend was picked on at school because he was white and I was brown. The shops in our high street used to have huge racist slogans painted on them calling all brown people obscenities and infestations. Young and old people had to hold their heads high in the face of such provocation. This song is about those people who dealt with this then and for those that are dealing with it now.”

Their new single ‘The Weirder Brave’ is all about the rise of the BNP in the UK, and with election time looming it couldn’t be more relevant.

Rosey R*E*P*E*A*T thought it time to send them some greetings from the wasteland.

Anonymous Tip - who, what and why?
The fast and furious tones of Anonymous Tip have been rocking venues up and down the UK since their inception back in 2002. We are a four piece punk band from Twickenham, South West London. We have made a real dent in the underground punk rock circuit as an unorthodox group of punk rockers with an ambiguous message. Songs about archaic politics, confessions of nymphomania, fascism within rock scenes and their deep routed suspicion of the music industry, have helped us gain a notorious and loyal following. Our musical statement of intent is to blend emotive chants with fast-paced grooves, at the same time, keeping everything carefully crafted to ignite the monster inside and to provoke debate and passion. We are proud to be politically conscious and are strongly anti racist so much so that we have just recently set up a campaign in the UK in support of our new single called “The Weirder Brave” Which is about the current rise of the BNP who are a racist political party in the UK.

Where are you now and what is the vibe like?
We have just got back from touring the North of England and Scotland with our friends the Edelweiss Pirates. It was a great run of shows that really tested our sanity and endurance. We haven’t toured Scotland since 2004 so we were eager to please and to see how things have changed up there since we were there last. The drinking and excess partying really caught up with us on this tour. The first show we did on this tour was at the Old Bell Inn in Derby. We left the stage at 12:30AM after an hour set and were thrown into a Dub Party in the same building till 5AM. We slept two hours and were in the van again on our way to Newcastle to do the same thing again the next night. It's fun and easy at first until the hang over’s and the fatigue kicks in.

Pic - Sean Goblin

Describe your sound to a hard of hearing visitor from Pluto.
We’ve been described as King Prawn with Mike Patton on vocals and Slipknot meets Asian Dub Foundation. We like to call ourselves “Political fury with a few quarter notes”.

What do you listen to when hoovering?
All of us listen to lots and lots of music that range from the obscenely grotesque to the extremely docile. I guess you can’t go wrong to ACDC when you are hovering! Their grooves are just great at all times.

What do you think the role of politics is in music?
Music has always been a way for artists to express themselves in a spiritual and positive way all over the world. Politically charged music has always been relevant within the subversive UK music market and has helped to change British society dramatically for hundreds of years now. British Bands like the Clash, Steel Pulse and Crass were pivotal in helping human rights laws to be changed. They challenged people’s perspectives in ways that had never been challenged before. We’ve always strived to use what we create to instigate debate and challenge people’s thoughts whether politically, emotionally or both.


Lots of young people think that politics has nothing to do with them, what would you say to them?
That’s a tough question. The last thing we want to do is sound like a bunch of preachers telling young people out there how to live their lives. All we can say is that all of people died so that people like us could have the power to change the world and the freedom to express ourselves. Its up to all of us to ensure everybody in the world has a right to an education, healthcare and a roof over their heads.


What is the Anonymous Tip live experience like?
We try to make our shows as intense as possible. We grew up going to Rage Against the Machine and At the Drive In concerts, which were always blistering. We’re proud to always get the crowd going no matter how many people are there. Its just how we role and we have been rolling like that for almost a decade now.


By definition, all rock'n'roll records are anti Nazi records, but my favourite explicitly anti Nazi records are 'Black and White' by ADF and 'I don't want to be a Nazi' by Apocalypse Babys (http://www.myspace.com/apocalypsebabysofficial), what are yours?
As stated before, all of us listen to a lot of different types of music. The far end of our spectrum has to highlight the 1982 number one single Ebony and Ivory” by Paul McCartney <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney> , performed with Stevie Wonder <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Wonder> . At the simplest level, the song is about the ebony <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony> (black) and ivory <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory> (white) keys on a piano <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano> , but also deals with integration <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_integration> and racial harmony on a deeper level. Rage Against The Machine’s “Darkness” has some incredible lyrics about the horrors of worldwide racial inequality towards Africa. There is a lot of music out there that voices the sorrows of racial divisions.

[Unlikley weirder and brave 2023 update:
We received an email from America telling us about their updated, comprehensive review of beat making pianos on Beginner Guitar HQ. Readers may find it useful / interesting and you can find it here: https://beginnerguitarhq.com/beat-making-piano/ ]

Who is weirder, and brave?
“The Weirder Brave” is about two kids at school who are respectively different colours. They become best friends and are ridiculed by others of their respective ethnicities for befriending each other. They are both seen as a weird bunch of friends but they are brave to be so strong against such provocation.

Pic - Sean Goblin

What would you say to those people who for whatever reason are feeling so shit about themselves and the system that they either disengage from politics or even consider voting BNP?
On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery,_Alabama> , Parks, age 42, refused to obey bus driver James Blake <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Blake> 's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks' act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation> . Everybody has the power to make a positive change for the future of this country. There are some serious problems with our current government that do need to be addressed and changed. However, the BNP are not the solution to this. Their leader Nick Griffin was convicted for inciting racial hatred after a BNP magazine he published denied the reality of the Holocaust. Why should anyone in their right mind vote for someone like that? We as individuals and as a band are proud of being British and are proud of where our ancestors come from.

What's next for Anonymous Tip?
We’re still working on our new record and have plans for another single out later this year. We also got a great write up in the Delhi Sunday Guardian recently about our latest single, which could instigate us touring over in India.

http://www.myspace.com/anonymoustip

Thanks to the band for their time and Jay at Fantana PR for setting things up