Electro Hippies

Electro Hippies were a crust punk band formed in St Helens/Wigan, United Kingdom, in 1985.

Though they were short-lived and underground through their career, their music influenced many future crust, hardcore punk, and grindcore bands. The band relied heavily on low bass end sounds to create their low-fi, primitively produced music. They also incorporated elements of heavy metal and have been described as "proto-grindcore".

The band strongly embraced the D.I.Y. (do it yourself) ethic which was very common among many early crust punk bands. The band's lyrics spoke heavily about animal rights and vegetarianism. A recurring lyrical theme on each LP targeted the McDonalds corporation, evidenced by the lyrics to "Run Ronald" and "Scum".

The Electro Hippies included Jeff Walker (guitar, vocals) in their ranks. He later joined extreme metal band Carcass. When Walker joined Carcass full-time, Simon (drums) and Andy (guitar) took over vocal duties. Eventually, the band split up in 1989, playing one last gig and releasing the show as their final album.

Links To Peel
Peel was an early supporter of the band in the mid/late 80's and invited the group to do a session for his show which they did. The band's song 'Mega-Armageddon Death' was a favourite of Peel, who would boast that it was billed as the shortest record ever made, which was later beaten by Napalm Death's Suffer. In 2004, Peel re-discovered an Electro-Hippies and described why he decided to play it on his 27 July 2004 show:

"'I was looking for something else in the shed at home over the weekend and came across this, and thought you might like a reminder of it. And for those of you who have not heard the record before, obviously you may find this quite entertaining, but then again you may not. It was billed, it was released and billed, as the shortest record ever made. And it's by the Electro Hippies on Strange Fruit Records, and I can't remember what the title of it is. Hold on a second, I've got it down here somewhere. 'Mega-Armageddon Death' is the full title, and the title considerably longer than the track itself. The track goes like this...'"

The single later on would turn up in John Peel's Record Box.

Sessions
Their only session is available on The Peel Sessions (1987, 12", Strange Fruit) 1. Recorded: 1987-07-12. Broadcast: 20 July 1987, 28 December 1987
 * Sheep / Starve The City (To Feed The Poor) / Meltdown / Escape / Deadend / Thought / Chickens / Mother / Mega-Armageddon Death Part Three (Part Four)

Other Shows Played
1986 1987 1988
 * HO John Peel 1 1986: Profit From Death (split album with Generic - Play Loud Or Not At All) Flat Earth
 * 1987 (Rockradio) (September 1987): Vivisection Song - Mindless Slaughter comp LP - Anhrefn
 * 08 September 1987: Vivisection Song (LP – Mindless Slaughter) Recordiau Anhrefn
 * 21 December 1987: Mega-Armageddon Death (v/a cassette album - Mixed Peel) New Musical Express
 * 21 December 1987: Chickens (v/a cassette album - Mixed Peel) New Musical Express
 * 14 March 1988: Scum (LP - The Only Good Punk ... ... Is A Dead One) Peaceville

1989 1990 2000 2003 2004
 * 19 September 1988: Chickens (Peel session EP) Strange Fruit
 * 19 October 1988: Sheep (LP – Hardcore Holocaust (87-88 Sessions) - The Peel Sessions) Strange Fruit
 * 22 May 1989 / HO John Peel 11 1989: Meltdown (album - Live) Peaceville
 * 28 June 1989: Next Time (album - Play Fast Or Die) Necrosis
 * 13 July 1989: 'Mega Armageddon Death Pt. 3 (7" with v/a album - Grindcrusher - The Earache Sampler) Earache
 * 25 July 1989: Vivisection Song (12" - Play Fast Or Die) Necrosis
 * 24 November 1990: Mega-Armageddon Death (12" - The Peel Sessions) Strange Fruit
 * 27 January 2000: 'Mega Armageddon Death Pt. 3 (split 7" with Napalm Death - You Suffer])' (Earache)
 * 10 July 2003: Am I Punk Yet? (LP - Play Fast Or Die) Necrosis
 * 27 July 2004: Mega-Armageddon Death (12" - Peel Session EP) Strange Fruit