Gina Birch

How does a working class autodidact, with no visible means of support, maintain his role as the leader of a cult British underground band into its fifth decade? Comedian and writer Stewart Lee, director Michael Cumming and James Nicholls investigate the mysterious existence of Robert Lloyd, Britain’s ultimate post-punk survivor. Robert Lloyd’s Prefects played with The Clash on the White Riot tour in 1977, and their ongoing incarnation, as Birmingham’s Captain Beefheart suffused post-punk poets The Nightingales, recorded more John Peel sessions than any other band. Ever. But what were the social, cultural and economic circumstances that enabled and sustained such outsider artists in the punk and post-punk eras, and how has the world changed to the point where such figures are unlikely to flourish in the same way today? Lloyd’s own odyssey echoes how abstract notions of social mobility, of the value of culture and music, have changed in the last five decades.

The tale of the formation, journey and end of the seminal Punk/Reggae band The Slits.

London 1976: Between economic crises and the Silver Jubilee, something is brewing in the squats and basement clubs of West London: Punk. A promise, a new beginning. Punk meant self-empowerment, especially for the women in the scene. For the first time, women picked up guitar, bass and drums, formed bands and wrote their own songs.

This almost three-minute film, the approximate length of a Super 8 film cartridge, is filled entirely with Birch's energetic screaming

A documentary about the influential band.

Loud, fearless and (un)typical girls: Gina Birch (The Raincoats) and Helen Reddington (The Chefs), musicians and punk icons turned directors, serve up a fascinating documentary built on new interviews with the women who played instruments in punk bands in the 1970s. In accounts laced with wit, honesty and insight, pioneering players including the Adverts’ Gaye Black (bass), Palmolive from The Slits (drums), Shanne Bradley from The Nips (bass), Jane Munro from The Au Pairs (bass), Hester Smith and Rachel Bor from Dolly Mixture (drums and guitar), bassist Gina and guitarist Ana Da Silva from The Raincoats, as well as many others, we hear about acquiring instruments, learning to play, forming bands and getting gigs.

This almost three-minute film, the approximate length of a Super 8 film cartridge, is filled entirely with Birch's energetic screaming

A documentary about the influential band.

A documentary about the influential band.