March 2002

UK Book SAF Publishing ISBN 0 946719 46 2

Written by Mick Fish

Published in March 2002
288 pp
Paperback
From the publisher:
"In Industrial Evolution Mick Fish takes us on a journey through the eighties via the Sheffield music scene of Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League, ABC, Clock DVA, Hula and The Box, offsetting it against a background of rampant Conservatism and local authority politics.

By the late 70s Britain had a new leader in Margaret Thatcher and a music scene in London that was embracing New Romanticism, while up North bands like Joy Division were casting darker musical shadows.

1979 was the year Mick Fish first entered Central Depot, the local Council's Refuse Dept. That same year he visited Sheffield and became embroiled as a bystander in the post-punk Sheffield music scene, and in particular the Industrial music of Cabaret Voltaire. Over the next nine years, Fish made regular visits to Sheffield and watched the Cabs develop from the punk thrash of "Nag Nag Nag" into the synth-electro pioneers, whilst himself battling to hold down a day job amongst a bunch of weirdos and misfits working at the local refuse tip.

As the 80s progressed, harsh market forces were at play both within Local Authorities and Independent record labels. As a result Fish became unintentionally caught in Maggie's stringent initiatives to whip Local Government into shape. He also witnessed Cabaret Voltaire's rise to Indie favourites and early rave exponents, ultimately to disband in turmoil under the pressure of big labels, internal disputes and substance-induced paranoia.

Industrial Evolution is a highly cautionary but typical 80s tale, as a mood of rampant Conservatism ran roughshod over all things industrial."