Conflict Announce First New Album In Over Two Decades “This Much Remains”

Conflict formed in 1981 in Eltham, a district of Southeast London, when frontman Colin Jerwood, inspired by early encounters with the Sex Pistols‘ Spunk bootleg and following The Clash on tour, struck up a friendship with Crass and set about crafting a whole new kind of punk that totally upped the ante in terms anger and confrontation. Crass, the renowned anarchist punk collective, having got Conflict started by releasing their debut single, The House That Man Built, in 1982 on Crass Records, ended in 1984 as they had always intended. Now it was up to Conflict to pick up the baton and run with it. And they did, charging into the battle lines of authority.

The years that followed saw Conflict go from strength to strength, and from threat to threat, peaking on the 18th April 1987 at the Brixton Academy for the Gathering Of The 5,000 concert. It was an ambitious gathering of the tribes. A climax and explosion of rage and rebellion that inevitably ended up in a police provoked full-scale riot across Brixton with police injuries, arrests, and with the band hopelessly in debt and banned from the majority of major London and UK venues. Undeterred, Conflict continued into the 90s with their acclaimed Conclusion album and remained a mainstay of the live punk circuit throughout. However, after more than two decades since the release of 2003’s There’s No Power Without Control album, the band are poised to finally release a new album, This Much Remains, that is set for release on April 25^th through Mortarhate & Cadiz Music. 

Featuring sixteen brand new Conflict creations, the album sees the band keeping one eye on their eventful past, and the other firmly on moving forward, both musically and politically. Animal Liberation are still at the forefront of Conflict’s collective minds, giving a voice to the voiceless on songs such as A Mother’s Milk and Shut The Fuck Up, whilst their anger at world governments will never dissipate. This anger, alongside themes of personal loss, environmental issues and those ‘profit over people’ billionaires like Bezos, Musk and Trump, find Conflict at their most inspired and invigorated. This Much Remains also features an appearance by the late Benjamin Zephaniah on the track Cut The Crap. Benjamin’s relationship with Conflict goes right back to the infamous Brixton Academy gig in 1987 where he performed with the band and it’s right that his voice is found here, with additional lyrics by recent addition to the band line-up, dual vocalist Fiona Friel (Dragster). 

“Benjamin is a legend, and I really felt a weight of responsibility when writing the adjoining lyrics to this song. I had some of his books, so I went to peruse through them and started with ‘Windrush Child’ as I felt the subject matter would tie in well.  Immediately I saw the line “I am history” and that’s all I needed. I put the book straight down and wrote and wrote and wrote. So much so, once in the studio I had to cut over half of what I had written. I hope I’ve done him proud.” (Fiona Friel)