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All Music Guide:
Zounds were an anarchist post-punk band with an altogether gloomier and more polished sound than the abrasive crash'n'bash of their mentors in Crass. Formed in 1977, Zounds was the brainchild of bassist/vocalist Steve Lake, a native of Reading who'd moved to Oxford and lived in a squatters community. The initial lineup included Lake, guitarist Steve Burch, and drummer Jimmy Lacey, and early on was influenced by psychedelia and Krautrock just as much as punk. Second guitarist Nick Godwin soon joined up, and Burch left before any material had been recorded, to be replaced by Lawrence Wood. The quartet spent most of their time touring the free festival circuit until meeting Crass, whose anarchist politics had a major impact on Lake. The group cut a demo and sent it to Crass, in the midst of personnel turnover: Godwin left, and Lacey was shown the door in favor of Joseph Porter. Crass signed Zounds to its own Crass label, and in 1980 issued the band's three-song debut single, "Can't Crash Karma"/"War"/"Subvert." Crass' Penny Rimbaud, who produced the single, had Zounds use a session drummer on the single, as Porter wasn't quite up to speed technically yet. Another single, "Demystification," appeared on Crass's former label, Rough Trade, in 1981. Rough Trade also issued the band's first (and only) album, The Curse of Zounds, in 1982; its claustrophobic paranoia won generally good reviews, but the record slipped under the radar of most listeners outside the anarchist punk community. Two non-LP singles, the Mikey Dread-produced "Dancing" and "More Trouble Coming Every Day," appeared later in the year, amid more personnel shifts. Keyboardist Brian Pugsley briefly became an official member, and Mob drummer Tim Hutton came on as the bassist, with Lake switching to guitar alongside Wood. Exhaustion was setting in, however, and after one more perfunctory EP -- 1983's La Vache Qui Rit -- Zounds called it quits. Lake and Wood briefly reteamed with Godwin in the World Service, but soon broke up. In 1997, Broken Rekids reissued Curse of the Zounds on CD, with their previous singles added as bonus tracks. Lake re-formed Zounds in 1998 with a lineup of bassist Protag (ex-Blyth Power) and drummer Stick (Extreme Noise Terror), and cut a benefit single, "This Land," in support of Dave Morris, the man sued by the McDonald's corporation for libel.
Wikipedia:
Zounds are an English anarchist band formed in 1977 from loose jamming sessions around the Reading area. Originally they were part of the cassette culture movement, releasing material on the Fuck Off Records label, and were also involved in the squatting and free festival scene. The name of the band is derived from the old English minced oath coined by William Shakespeare: "zounds", which is a contraction of "God's wounds", referring to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, formerly used as a mildly blasphemous oath.
History
The band were formed around the nucleus of Steve Lake from Reading, Berkshire and evolved from a number of jamming sessions with other musicians and friends in Oxford, taking in influences from the Velvet Underground to the Sex Pistols. The band began performing gigs in 1977/78 with a line-up of Steve Lake (Vocals/Bass), Steve Burch (Guitar) and Jimmy Lacey (Drums), adding Nick Godwin (guitar) at their second gig - adopting the name 'Zounds', chosen from a dictionary by Burch. Soon, Burch left the group and was replaced by Lawrence Wood. After this the band slowly became more politicized owing to troubles with police and unfolding events of the cold war, and became more and more involved with free festivals, alongside The Mob, with whom they developed a close association.
The band met up with fellow anarchists Crass when, legend has it, their van broke down on the road. They made their way to nearby Dial House, where Crass were based, who helped them with repairs. The two bands became friends, and although musically very divergent, they shared many common political views. After undergoing several line-up changes Zounds shortly afterwards released their first EP, Can't Cheat Karma, on the Crass Records label (although drummer Joseph was replaced for the recording by a session drummer) in 1981. The EP featured possibly their most well-known track "Subvert", a call to arms against the grind of daily life. The release of this EP and association with Crass led to an increase in the band's profile in the embryonic Anarcho-punk scene, touring with both Crass and the Poison Girls, as well as performing several squat gigs in West Berlin.
The band released their first album The Curse of Zounds on Rough Trade Records in 1981, recording and mixing the LP within five days. The cover art, by anarchist artist Clifford Harper, featured a painting of fire fighters apparently trying to put out a blaze at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. However, the picture continued onto the back cover, which showed that in fact they are spraying the fire with petrol, thus feeding it. The band released three more singles on Rough Trade, Demystification (a psychedelia-influenced track backed with "Great White Hunter"), Dancing and More Trouble Coming Every Day, as well Le Vache Qui Rit (initially intended for a split EP with The Mob for an anti-draft benefit in Belgium).
The band split up in late 1982, Steve Lake disaffected with the Anarchist music scene in general and the band worn out from touring. Bass player and vocalist Steve Lake and guitarist Laurence Wood continued to work together for a while as The World Service with original Zounds member Nick Godwin, whilst drummer Josef Porta went on to join the The Mob and later Blyth Power. Lake continued work as a solo artist recording two albums with Nick Godwin and Brian Pugsley. Zounds occasionally reform for benefit gigs with a line-up augmented by Protag (formerly of Instant Automatons, Alternative TV and Blyth Power) and drummer Stick (previously of DIRT, Doom and Extreme Noise Terror). A remixed version of the bands song "This Land" was released in 2001 as a CD single benefit for the McLibel support campaign. In 2005 the Go All The Way EP was released with tracks from an aborted second album, with tracks commenting on the USA's War on Terror.
In 2007 Zounds reformed. Steve Lake recruited Paul O'Donnell (bass) and Paul Gilbert (drums) from The Evil Presleys, a "primal rock n roll" band that they were in together (with guitarist Andy Parker). The reformed Zounds then played sporadic gigs over the next two years including "The Feeding of the 5000" at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London and the Carling Academy, Birmingham (both with guitarist Dominic Dominion).
In 2010 the band began playing more extensively across the UK and Europe, completing two short European tours: the first was for a week in April (Holland and Belgium) and the second was from 17th September to 3rd October mainly in Germany, plus gigs in Holland, Poland and Italy.
They have now completed a new album, The Redemption of Zounds, which was available for download from 10th July 2011, on CD from July 26th 2011 on Overground Records and on vinyl in the US on Brokenrekids from Sept 2011.
