England’s Vex were a short-lived post-punk band on a subsidiary label of Conflict’s Mortarhate Records. They only produced two albums one being the “Sanctuary†EP and a 3-song demo which has the only “studio†version of their song “Pain†on it. Vex seem to have been chiefly inspired by Killing Joke but teased out that band’s punkier elements a bit; though Vex are still post-punk, they definitely retain the “punk†part of that equation, unlike manybands labeled post-punk. “Pain†has a really nice militaristic drumming style of the kind pioneered by Penny Rimbaud in Crass (as in the drumming for “Do They Owe Us a Living?â€) — a drumming style that I think is great, and surprisingly under-utilized by punk bands. In the 80s — and since then — punk bands went head-over-heels for the d-beat and thrashy drumming styles of Discharge and Minor Threat, and almost no bands have consistently used the more militaristic chops Rimbaud laid down, and which Vex exploit in “Pain.†A shame.
- Information taken from "Radio Schizo" @ CULTPUNK.COMVex hailed from London and the ’Sanctuary’ 12" is their one and only release. It was issued on Fight Back, a sublabel of Mortarhate, run by the people of Conflict. Vex played gigs with Conflict, so they were more associated with the anarchist punk scene than the Batcave fair. But contrary to most anarchopunk bands from that time, they were not influenced by CRASS or Conflict. Soundwise, the band was more inspired by Killing Joke or UK Decay. Another song called ’Rushing To Hide’ can be heard on the ’We Don’t Want Your Fucking Law’ comp. LP, also on Fight Back. ’It’s No Crime’ also appeared on the ’Who What Why When Where’ comp. LP on Mortarhate (and reissued on Get Back Records).
-Information taken from Phoenix Hairpins @ http://phoenixhairpins.blogspot.com