Formed: Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK

The following information courtesy of Henk:

Great band if you like Lost Cherrees, Expelled, A-Heads.

This is the only info some Googling gave me:
The Iconoclasts were an all girl punk group from Liverpool.
Involved with WASP collective. Original singer was Netty.

1980-81

Hertsy - Drums
Noz - Guitar
Greg - Bass
Mandy - Vocals

1982-8?

Netty - vocals
Mandy (ex-Decomposed, pre-MDM) 'Bendix' Shaw - vocals
Dibble - guitar, backing vocals
Moge - bass, backing vocals
Spekki - drums

Below is 2 different interviews made in some old fanzines, don't know exactly which one's as i never read the actual zines myself.

They were sent in by Scott. MANY THANKS!

Please read 'M' as 'Mandy', and mis-spelling and shit is probably my fault... /web-bastard

(Zine 1)
The Iconoclasts are an all female, five piece punk group who hail from Merseyside. They consist of Mandy- Lead vox, Dibble- guitar, Spekki- drums, Moge- bass & backing vocals and new member Linda on lead guitar. In case you didn't know (I didn't), the name 'Iconoclasts' means 'imagebreaker' - coming from two Greek words 'Eikon'=image and 'Klastes'=breaker. The Iconoclasts were a religious movement from around the 8th A.D. they believed that Icon worship was wrong and fought to abolish it. They were vicious and violent, causing vandalism to churchs and cathedrals, and also caused politically backed riots. Many prominent Bishops and Priests were Iconoclasts.

Now enough of all this introduction business and on with the interview, the questions were answered by Mandy.

Q: Is the all female line up intentional?
Mandy: No, it wasn't at first, but it is now. We would have a lad but he'd have to go through the amputation test! It was a case of who was available when we needed them.

Q: Do you get haseled or patronised at all because you're a female group?
M: Course we do, but we give as good as we get, but in a lighthearted way.

Q: Do you think you'll always play punk music or do you think you'll progress?
M: It all depends on what you mean by "punk" but obviously we will progress to our own style.

Q: You probably wouldn't go on 'Top of the pops' (or would you?) but would you go on the 'Tube'? If "yee", say you had a gig the same time as you were to go on the 'Tube', what would you do the gig or the 'Tube'?
M: It depends where the gig is but we would go on the 'Tube' for publicity it would be a big break for a small band like us.

Q: Is your song "He's a pervert" about any specific person? (I bet everybody asks that).
M: Yes, it is dedicated to this lad called Mos who lives by us and all percverts in general

Q: What is the most you would charge people at gigs? Do you do cobver versions?
M: We don't do any cover versions, we do our own songs. It's up to the promoters how much to charge for gigs, we never get a say in it.

Q: Who or what influence the group?
M: We are influenced by no one.

Q: Who are your favourite groups then?
M: Our favourite groups are Lost Cherrees, Penetration, Swell Maps, Stranglers, Drongos For Europe, Defects, A-Heads, The Damned, Girlschool, Dead Kennedys and Bowie

Q: What do you think of foreign punk?
M: Some foreign punk is ok, mainly Finnish and U.S. Toxic Reasons from America is smart.

Q: Are any of you vegetarians, do you think that people who protest about animal abuse and eat meat are hypocrites?
M: We are all vegetarians. It's up to the individual really and not us to say.

Q: If there was an election tomorrow would you vote? Do you think we would be better off under a labour Government?
M: (this part have fallen of somewhere)

Q: Do any of the group listen to any non-punk music?
M: Yes, we are very broadminded. We listen to all sorts of music.

Q: Do any of you work, and what do you think about the work ethic?
M: None of us work. The unemployment is very high in Merseyside so none of us could get a job even if we wanted one.

Q: Is there any plans for a record release, if so how much will it cost?
M: We don't know yet, there may be one in the near future.

Q: What interests do the group have outside of punk?
M: Roller skating, drinking, tennis, swimming, watching telly, and generally McBevvying around. McBevvys is not a piss take on the Scottish people. We have a group here called McBevvys. Basically what we do is wear kilts and go mad. All the band dress in tartan, each member has their own clan. McBevvys is the female version, the male version call themselves the McBearballs (think about it)

Q: Do you read fanzines and what what do you think of them?
M: We read a lot of fanzines. They're good because they help small bands get known out of their local area.

Q: Who is your favourite character out of the Young Ones?
M: Moge likes all of them, Dibble likes 'Neil', Linda - 'Rick', Spekki likes the hamster and I prefer 'Vivien'.

Q: Would you like people to treat you as equals or to hero-worshiåp you like popstars?
M: What's a popstar?! There's no use talking about it because we won't be popstars.

Q: What's the first thing you would do in a riot?
M: Run the opposite way, wouldn't you? (Fuck no. I'd head for the off licence-John)

Q: When is the world tour?
M: Next week, but we're hoping for something bigger.

Q: How much importance do you place on the punk look? Do you think you have to look punk to be a punk?
M: No, it is up to the individual how they want to dress. There are other ways of expressing your feelings than clothes and hair.

 

(Zine 2)
Now if I was working for 'Sounds' or 'NME' i'd feel obliged to write some muck-raking sexist piece 'cos that always seems to be the case when a female band, or band with female member, are featured. Anyway there's been some great all female bands, also some really shitty ones I have to add, but unfortunately The Iconoclasts safely fall into the first category, having seen them over a year ago supporting those 'punk' dinosaurs the UK Slugs at Bradford Palm Cove. Since then they've added a fifth member to the band making the line up-up now read: Mandy (who wrote all the letters and sent all the stuff) on viocals, Dibble- guitar, Moge- bass & backing vocals, Spekki- drums & new recruit Lynda (who's not included on any of the photos) on lead guitar. Shit, I've already fucked this up, i was gonna take off on a big ego trip about female bands like the Runaways and the Slits and Girlschool and a great band from York called the Straits who had connections with The Jerks, in fact one of them is on the cover of the Jerks second single 'Cool' but that's all very immaterial really so back to the plot.... I sent off what i thought were some highly interesting and original questions, some great investigational journalism and here's the highly interesting and original answers i was seeking when i hatched this plot...

Q: What's it like to live in Liverpool, is it the decaying city we've all been led to believe on TV?
M: Liverpool isn't all that bad, there's a hell of a lot of unemployment. We don't really know a lot about it as we live in the Wirral which is over the water from Liverpool (Foiled already and we're only on question 1)

Q: ??? (this part fell off somewhere)
M: ??? to tell you the truth we live on instant mash, spaghetti and cheese. Where we can aford it we get sosmix (great!), veggie curry but not often.

Q: Have you any plans this year for world domination, records, tours etc?
M: We have a few plans, the biggest is a single, nothings confirmed yet as it's still early days, the rest will come after the single hopefully.

Q: Who did you want to win the FA Cup?
M: We didn't care who won the FA Cup as we all hate football the only sport we are interested in is roller skating

Q: Have you any pets?
M: Spekki has a white rat, Dibble and Lynda haven't got any. I've got a dog, a Jack Russell called Sam Piddler and he's gorgeous.

Q: Any political beliefs?
M: No, we all hate politics. It's a pathetic and stupid and we've got no time for it.

Q: What would you like to have happened to the Iconoclasts in thone years time?
M: Well, in a years time we hope to have made a name for the band, loads of gigs, singles etc.....

Q: Is there any kind of scene in Liverpool, bands, zines and stuff worth noting?
M: There's not much of a scene in Liverpool, there's a good fanzine called Phoenix
run by Perc and Middie, in fact we'd rate it as one of the best in the country. There's also a really good band called Manic Depression.

Q: What influences you to write songs?
M: Before Mandy joined the band Moge and Dibble wrote the lyrics, their songs are mainly lighthearted ones. When I joined i took over writing the lyrics, my lyrics are mainly serious, about things we all feel strongly about, when we comåose songs we usually start off with the tune and add the words later, the main influence for our songs comes when one of us has an idea of either a new tune of a new set of lyrics, , no we start to work on it.

Q: You ask me a question and i promise to answer it.
M: Our question for you is: Can you get us some gigs with our band?, Bet you weren't expecting a cheeky question like that were ya? And remember you promised to answer it, so say yes, go on you won't regret it!!!

Q: If anything comes up then sure we'll get you a gig but at the moment we're still playing 'toilets' and supporting mediocre bands who have more studs than talent, when things start looking up, hopefully after the next EP is released then we'll be able to play where we want, when we want without having to submit to third rate dictators and 'media messiahs', we try to play gigs that matter, places where bands don't usually play 'cos it's not a safe 'punk rock venue' or because it's not financially viable which means we make little money. If we were in the position of headlining (an awful rockstar term) then we could help bands like yourselves and others we have faith in but at the moment we're no better off really. I won't forget and hopefully i'll be able to get you a gig, it take what seems like an eternity but i'll try.

DISCOGRAPHY

Singles / Albums

Merseyside Alive '85 (12", 1985)
Demos / Tapes
Demo 1984 (Tape, 1984)	Demo 1985 (Tape, 1985)	100 Club (Tape, 1980s)

Various Artists

"Get Lost!" UK Tape 1984 (Greenhouse Tapes): (Greenhouse Tapes): He's A Pervert / Zitty

Links