Bromley Contingent

The core members of the group included Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, Billy Idol,{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3557048/Billy-Idol-the-return-of-Billy-the-kid.html |title=Billy Idol: the return of Billy the kid |first=Andrew |last=Perry |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=24 July 2008 |accessdate=3 June 2016}} Simon 'Six' Barker, Debbie Juvenile (née Wilson), Linda Ashby, Philip Sallon, Simone Thomas, Bertie 'Berlin' Marshall, Tracie O'Keefe, and Sharon Hayman. Soo Catwoman, another early punk aficionado, is often described as a member in later press, though Catwoman and members of the Bromley Contingent later dispute this.{{cite web |url=http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/bromley.htm |title=The Bromley Contingent |work=Punk77 |year=2012 |accessdate=3 June 2016}}

{{main|Bill Grundy#The Today incident|l1=The Today incident}}

The term Bromley Contingent first appeared in the UK music press after the Sex Pistols' gig in Paris on 3 September 1976, when journalist Caroline Coon decided to write an article about "the fans rather about the band".Paytress, Mark. P.40 The label was a bit of a misnomer as some members came from other places, including Kentish Town and Burnt Oak.Paytress, Mark. PP.42-43 Of those with a Bromley connection, Siouxsie was from Chislehurst and Idol had lived in Orpington. Severin, Barker and Berlin came from other parts of Bromley. Severin stated: "we certainly never referred to ourselves as that".Paytress, Mark. P.42 Siouxsie said: "After we got back from Paris, resentments from some of the other people we used to see began to creep in. Those people all thought we'd called ourselves the Bromley Contingent, when we hadn't".Paytress, Mark. P.43

The Bromley Contingent attained a degree of notoriety on 1 December 1976 when Siouxsie, Severin, Thomas and Barker appeared on ITV with the Sex Pistols on Thames Television's early evening television programme Today.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/never-mind-four-letter-words-heres-the-sex-pistols-when-television-met-punk-rock-426571.html |title=Never mind four-letter words... here's the Sex Pistols: when television met punk rock |first=Jonathan |last=Brown |work=The Independent |date=1 December 2006 |accessdate=3 June 2016}} Interviewed by television journalist Bill Grundy, Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten used the word "shit". Siouxsie then told Grundy, "I've always wanted to meet you", to which he replied; "Did you really? We'll meet afterwards, shall we?" This comment provoked guitarist Steve Jones to call Grundy a "dirty sod", a "dirty old man", a "dirty bastard", a "dirty fucker" and a "fucking rotter".{{cite web |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRNOUz7uefA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/jRNOUz7uefA| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Sex Pistols - Bill Grundy TV show |work=YouTube |year=2006 |accessdate=3 June 2016}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web |url= https://www.nme.com/news/sex-pistols/38482 |title=Sex Pistols on Bill Grundy's 'Today' show most requested clip |first=Adam |last=Bychawski |work=NME.com |date=28 July 2008 |accessdate=3 June 2016}}

That was the first time in the history of UK television that viewers had heard swearing at this hour of the day. Although the programme was only seen in the Thames Television region, the ensuing furore occupied the tabloid newspapers for days and, shortly afterwards, the Sex Pistols were dropped by their record label, EMI. This episode changed the face of music in Britain.{{cite magazine|first=Peter|last=Macia|title=Interview With Ari Up from the Siouxsie Sioux/Shabba Ranks Icon Issue|magazine=The Fader|url=https://www.thefader.com/2010/10/21/read-our-interview-with-ari-up-from-the-siouxsie-siouxshabba-ranks-icon-issue|date=21 October 2010|accessdate=26 December 2018|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20181226153301/https://www.thefader.com/2010/10/21/read-our-interview-with-ari-up-from-the-siouxsie-siouxshabba-ranks-icon-issue|archivedate=26 December 2018|url-status=live}} Up until December 1976, punk rock was a relatively low-key fashion, apart from appearing from time to time in small parts in music papers. In the following week, Siouxsie appeared on the front page of the Daily Mirror with the legend "Siouxsie's a Punk Shocker".{{cite web |url=http://thebansheesandothercreatures.co.uk/dailymirror1976.jpg |title=Daily Mirror December 1976 |work=thebansheesandothercreatures.co.uk |accessdate=3 June 2016 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120720101625/http://thebansheesandothercreatures.co.uk/dailymirror1976.jpg |archivedate=20 July 2012 |url-status=live }} The last time Siouxsie and Severin attended a Sex Pistols gig was at Notre Dame Hall in London on 15 December 1976.Paytress, Mark. P.47

The notoriety of the Bromley Contingent in the press continued in June 1977, when Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren rented a boat for the band and fans to sail down the River Thames 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 melee. Bromley Contingent members Debbie Juvenile and Tracie O'Keefe (both employees of McLaren in his King's Road clothing boutique Seditionaries) were charged with obstruction and assaulting a police officer.{{cite web |url=http://punk77.co.uk/wip/traceyo.htm |title=Tracie O'Keefe |work=punk77.co.uk |accessdate=3 June 2016}} Juvenile was acquitted. O'Keefe was sentenced to one month's imprisonment, later acquitted on appeal. O'Keefe died unexpectedly in early 1978 of bone marrow cancer at the age of 18.

Many of the Bromley Contingent went on to form bands themselves: Siouxsie and Severin respectively became singer and bassist of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Idol became the leader of Generation X. The fashion statements made by Siouxsie, in particular, incorporating fetish and bondage clothing, and her innovative style of makeup, had a lasting influence.

Barker became a photographer, using the nickname 'Six'.{{cite web |url=http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2002_aug/interview_six.html |title=Pervateen: An Interview With Photographer Six |first=Andrew |last=Gallix |date=August 2002 |work=3:AM Magazine |accessdate=3 June 2016}} Bertie 'Berlin' Marshall became a writer, publishing a novel, Psychoboys in 1999 and a memoir Berlin Bromley{{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=Bertie |title=Berlin Bromley 2022 Version. 4 |date=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/berlin-bromley-2022-version.-4}} in 2001 which received favourable reviews from The Guardian{{cite web |url=http://www.safpublishing.com/store/system/store.htm |title=SAF publishing |work=safpublishing.com |accessdate=4 June 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070803060541/http://www.safpublishing.com/store/system/store.htm |archivedate=3 August 2007}} and Time Out London magazine.{{cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/gay/review/book/45/bertie_marshall_berlin_bromley.html |title=Bertie Marshall "Berlin Bromley" |work=Time Out |location=London, UK |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413140041/http://www.timeout.com/london/gay/review/book/45/bertie_marshall_berlin_bromley.html |archivedate=13 April 2008 |accessdate=4 June 2016}} Philip Sallon became a fixture of the New Romantic club scene in the early 1980s alongside the likes of Steve Strange and Boy George.{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022132231/http://geocities.com/theblitzkids/TABOO3.html |archivedate=22 October 2009 |url-status=dead |url= http://www.geocities.com/theblitzkids/TABOO3.html |title=Taboo Reviews |work=The Blitz Kids Site |date=30 January 2002 |accessdate=3 June 2016}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Paytress |first=Mark |title=Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography |publisher=Sanctuary |year=2003 |isbn=1-86074-375-7 }}

• [http://www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk/pistols.htm Bill Grundy interview] with The Sex Pistols and 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]

{{Sex Pistols}}

Category:History of the London Borough of Bromley

Category:Punk

Category:Siouxsie and the Banshees