The great myth about late 70s UK punk bands is their inability to play. In fact, The Clash and Sex Pistols could play pretty well, and the Buzzcocks and The Damned were more than proficient.
But The Slits really weren't. Formed in 1976 by Arianna Forster (Ari Up) who has died aged 48, and her friend Paloma Romero (Palmolive), their lack of musical skill and tender age presented no barriers. Arianna was just 14, but thanks to the do-it-yourself spirit of the time, their amatuerish performances were regarded by many as being most authentic if not particularly listenable.
Perhaps it was inevitable Arianna would pursue a creative life. Her mother was Nora Forster, a friend of Jimi Hendrix, boyfriend of rocker Chris Spedding and the daughter of the owner of Der Spiegel. What's more, Nora would go on to marry John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), front man of Sex Pistols and shy figurehead of the UK punk movement.
By 1977, Ari and Palmolive had been joined by Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt and The Slits were regularly supporting The Clash on tour. Footage of the band appears in Don Letts' The Punk Rock Movie and does confirm their basic approach to their instruments, but it also shows their appeal. It's clear these young women were driven, serious and full of the limitless energy reserved for the very young. And that is surely what people loved about the group.
The Slits probably didn't realise it, but they were also blazing something of a trail for women in rock, putting an end to the manipulation of groups like The Supremes and confronting their audiences and the industry in a way previously set aside for hairy blokes. They were women, but they were never demure.
As with many of their contemporaries, The Slits had a huge regard for reggae, but unlike most punk bands who used the Jamaican influence only now and again, Ari Up and her crew adopted it as their principal sound, combining it with an angular, metallic new wave that was limited but all their own. Unsurprisngly, John Peel was an early fan and their first recordings were a session for his show.
Palmolive's relationship with Joe Strummer ensured the band had access to some rudimentary tuition and in 1979 they entered the studio to record their debut album for Island Records. Appropriately, reggae stalwart Dennis Bovell was tasked with producing them and is widely acknowledged to have done a near faultless job in capturing their naive, schoolgirl dub and spiky, jerky guitar stabs.
The record, named 'Cut', reached number 30 on the album chart, but the music was overshadowed by the sleeve. Featuring the band covered head-to-toe in mud, bare breasted and sporting loin cloths, it led to the departure of Palmolive who was very much against the concept.
Clearly Ari had no taste for pop stardom and further releases were steadfastly experimental. Work with Bristol's Pop Group and a relatively unsuccesful second album 'Return of the Giant Slits' preceded the band's split in 1982.
This freed Ari to explore beyond exotic music. I can safely say she was the only figure from the original London punk scene to live with the tribal peoples of Indonesia and Belize. Sporting a proud headful of dreadlocks (and an interesting hybrid accent), she then settled in Kingston, Jamaica with her husband and twin daughters.
A new band was formed, The New Age Steppers, and Ari continued to record with them and as a solo artist, occasionaly using the titles Baby Ari and Madussa.
In 2005 Ari released her only solo album 'Dread More Dan Dead' and in 2006, The Slits reformed - or at least Arianna and Tessa Pollitt toured Europe, the USA and Japan under the name - producing an EP with the help of Sex Pistol Paul Cook and Ant Marco Pirroni. Only last year, an LA label announced they had signed the band and were planning a fresh Slits album.
That was not to be and of course, Arianna would never trouble the UK charts again. But I feel sure this wouldn't have worried her one bit. So many artists refer to themselves as free spirits (while regarding their royalty statements like hawks), but Ari genuinely did embody the notion of following one's heart whatever else the world expected.
A friend of the Rocking Vicar who knew her said 'She was completely nuts but only did anything because she wanted to.'
That seems an exciting, brave and honest way to live a life.
Magnus Shaw, October 2010
