Barbarella’s: how The Prefects encapsulated the punk scene of Birmingham
Far too often, the punk movement that exploded in the United Kingdom during the mid-1970s is limited almost exclusively to the streets of London. Granted, local venues like The Roxy in Covent Garden were essential in fostering the blossoming scene and supporting now-iconic groups like The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sex Pistols. However, it did not take long for punk to spread from the capital, infecting every major city up and down the British Isles and inspiring an entire generation of musicians in the process.
There must be something in the water in the Midlands; over the years, the region has given the world some of the earliest heavy metal groups, the 2 Tone revolution and even the pioneering experimentalism of Delia Derbyshire. When it came to punk, the city of Birmingham had a particularly interesting scene, likely influenced by its industrial or post-industrial surroundings. Every local music scene needs a venue, and for punk in Birmingham, it was Barbarella’s.
Located in what is now a gentrified landscape of office blocks and luxury apartments near Gas Street Basin, Barbarella’s first opened its doors in 1972. During these early days, the venue would play host to artists like Junior Walker and even Tina Turner, but it really came into its own when punk rock kicked off. Whenever a punk group passed through Birmingham, they would play at Barbarella’s, providing local groups with the chance to see groundbreaking bands like The Clash or the Sex Pistols.
Of course, the venue also hosted a plethora of local bands too, of which The Prefects were a definite highlight. Spearheaded by the incredible lyricist and frontman Robert Lloyd – who would later form the celebrated post-punk outfit The Nightingales – The Prefects were, in many ways, the archetypal Brummie punk group. Armed with a charismatic frontman, simple song structures and a unique sense of humour, the group soon became regulars at Barbarella’s, so much so that they felt compelled to write a song about the venue.
Simply entitled ‘Barbarella’s’, the 90-second sonic assault could easily describe any and every local grassroots music venue – boasting about its amenities in the lyrics, “They got carpets, they got ashtrays, Barbarella’s”. The song was simultaneously a love letter and a piss-take of the Birmingham punk scene, which The Prefects helped to formulate. Seemingly, the feeling was mutual, as the band were reportedly bottled off stage at the venue at one point after performing the song ‘Birmingham’s a shithole’.
‘Barbarella’s’ would not feature on The Prefects’ only official release, 1980’s ‘Going Through The Motions’ single, but the group did perform it during a 1979 live session for Radio One disc jockey John Peel. Peel is to be thanked for introducing many people to defiant and uncompromising groups like The Fall, but The Prefects were a particular favourite for the DJ. Nevertheless, the band did not witness the same rise to success as their Mancunian counterparts and would soon implode when Lloyd went off to form The Nightingales.
Despite the tenure of The Prefects being fairly short-lived, they remain an incredibly important artefact of Birmingham’s punk scene. More than that, though, they came to represent the inventive, independent, and local side of the punk rock explosion, far away from the glitz and glamour of Vivienne Westwood clothing and performative anarchy. The Prefects were anti-pop in the greatest way, and perhaps that is why their music still holds up to this day.
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