Anti-Nowhere League + guests Gatecrash

The band officially started in 1980 as a four-piece band, with original members Animal, Magoo, Bones and Baggy. They played a few shows together at local venues and soon got a reputation for being an obnoxious band with a bad attitude. By 1981 the band had written and recorded their first album We Are the League, which was at no. 1 for many weeks in the independent charts along with the singles Streets of London, I Hate People and Woman. Although the album was successful for the band, it did not include the song So What because of legal restraints of obscenity laws, so the band took the album on the road for the So What Tour.

By 1983 the band brought in a second guitarist, Gilly, to add a more musical sound and recorded the live album Live in Yugoslavia, which was received well, especially with the former Yugoslavians for whom, for many of them, it meant that punk rock had arrived in their neck of the woods. Later on in 1983 PJ was sacked and JB took over drumming and the band had finished writing their second studio album Branded, but due to management’s bad finances the album never got recorded and the band were sent on tour to keep them quiet.

After the release of their single Out in the Wasteland in 1985, the band became disillusioned with the music scene and had lost their way in what direction the band should be going, so decided on one last major tour to get inspiration, and Australia was calling.

By the time the Crime album got recorded the band were not happy with the end result. Although the album was written with electric guitars it ended up using synthesizers and fell into oblivion. In 1989 the band recorded The Final Farewell show in the Victoria Hall, Southborough, and soon after decided to call it a day and split.

In 1991 the band made the decision to get back together thanks to Metallica covering their song So What and asking Animal to join them on stage to sing the song live with them at Wembley.

With the new line-up of Animal, Magoo, Winston, Revvin and new second guitarist Beef they set about booking some European tours and recorded a few tracks to warm up. Although Metallica inspired the band’s reforming, the metal edge was not working for them. Songs Talk Dirty to Me, Judges and Whores and London Boys from their EP Pig Iron did not work, so Animal and Magoo started working on the Scum album, which was going to bring the band back to their punk roots.

They had a good time writing the Scum album, at ease with the fact they were writing it for themselves and not a record company, but it suffered from a lack of studio time and both agreed with each other not to let it happen again. In the late nineties, after a couple of USA tours of hard work and little money, Winston decided enough was enough and left the band. He was replaced by Jon Jon, who filled Winston’s shoes and the band were back in business.

After numerous appearances at festivals and many short tours, Magoo could not balance the touring with his daytime job and had to quit the band. He was also having trouble with stage nerves, which meant Animal was the only original member. After many band member changes in the next couple of years, Animal started writing the Kings and Queens album with Jez, the new guitarist.

With the line-up now Animal, Jez, Shady and Nato they were back on the road with a new album. For the next few years the band went back to Australia and the USA along with other countries to tour and show they were capable of playing the biggest festivals as well as smaller venues in the punk and metal scene.

In 2006 Animal wrote The Road to Rampton, an album he said he had to do. It was his life story that picked up a new audience within the rock world and was described as a punk musical. It showed the band were now capable of playing loud and confidently, crossing punk with metal.

The band toured with bands such as Motörhead and Rancid and played festivals like Download, Sonisphere and Rebellion. Animal rejoined Metallica on stage to play their 30th birthday show in San Francisco, which showed that metal and punk can stand side by side.

In 2012, after a difficult Australian tour, Jez parted company from the band and Tommy H took up the position on guitar. Within a year Nato had to leave the band due to army commitments and was replaced on the drums by Sam Carnage, which is now the current line-up.

In 2016 the band released their album The Cage, which is an insight into how “we all live in cages we have built for ourselves”. In 2017 they released their covers album League Style… Loosen Up Volume 1, a collection of reggae songs that Animal and Winston grew up with, but giving the songs a guitar feel incorporating Tom’s guitar work.

The band are now playing live and recording, swimming against the flow of the controlled music business and showing that punk is a music rebellion and is still a music force to be reckoned with.