Rubella Ballet

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Rubella Ballet formed in 1979 and toured with Crass and the Poison Girls in the early days of Anarcho punk. Sid and Zillah Minx, original 1976 punks toured & lived with Poison Girls at a large commune close to Dial House where Crass lived. Vi Subversa of the Poison Girls often had visits by Andi Sex Gang and even the odd visit by Ian Astbury who had recently formed Southern Death Cult. In these early days of punk we would all meet up to plan gigs together in London & Yorkshire a Goth hotspot. The band had the honour later of supporting Death Cult on their British tour in 1983.

Rubella Ballet hail from the Anarcho punk scene but are equally at home playing the Goth scene as a seminal part of it's early conception. Influencing newer bands with their pounding hypnotic tribal drum beats, blood curdling bass lines, screeching banshee guitars and Zillah's angelic harmonies. Fusing punk & goth into an exciting and sometimes haunting atmospheric music and stage show.

Rubella Ballets following grew rapidly and they went on to headline their own gigs and encouraged newly formed goth bands such as Ritual, Sex gang children, Ausgang, 1919, UK Decay, The Skeletal Family etc to support them. As well as supporting Death Cult, Rubella Ballet also supported, The Dammed and in America, The Mission & Faith no More.

"They were the band who bridged the gaps between The Sex Pistols, X Ray Spex, and Crass."

- TylerVile Punk Globe Dec 2013

Rubella Ballet pride themselves for never selling out to any of the major labels that hounded the band for years with lavish offers of great wealth and stardom if they changed the band look and sound. Sid & Zillah have stayed faithful to their alternative DIY lifestyle. Masters of their own destiny and proud to be one of the first bands to be invited to play the original Bat Cave. The band was also featured in Goth photographer Mick Mercers book 'Music to Die for'.

In this early punk scene Rubella Ballet were different, not just another Anarcho punk Crass styled band, refusing to conform to wearing a black uniform. "Day Glo is the new black." Zillah Minx became infamous for creating the Day-Glo Death Rock, Goth punk scene with Rubella Ballet and their different and innovative style of weird music and the shock value of wearing ultraviolet Day-Glo clothes on stage. Louise Gray our hottest British designer, has credited Zillah Minx as an influence on her designs some of which are in Top Shop in London's Oxford Street." Zillah Minx of Rubella Ballet - she was one of the originators of punk in London. She wore colours and used UV paint to make her clothes and sets for gigs so everything was illuminated! I LOVE HER" Louise Gray, Elle Magazine May 2013.

Rubella Ballet released their first single 'Ballet Dance' in 1982 that reached No 1 in the independent charts. Along with a creatively packaged cassette in a bag with a poster, lyric book and badge 'Ballet Bag', (1982) also hit number one in the independent album charts.

Chart success led to being invited to record two sessions for John Peel for Radio 1 the first 29/5/82 and the second 26/1/83, aired three times and an extra play for John's Birthday show.

By 1984 Rubella Ballet had progressed musically, far more than any of their contemporaries in the anarcho-punk scene. Adopting both gothic and poppier influences, their new sound coupled with their unique day-glo look saw them achieve increasing commercial success with 1984′s "42F" 12″ (Jungle Records) reaching no. 10 in the Independent Charts. 42f featured the soundtrack to the cult classic horror film 'Halloween'.

The band then formed their own label Ubiquitous Records which resulted in their most prolific period with the release of their first vinyl album "At Last It's Playtime" & "Money Talks" 12″ one of the scenes first promo videos for Money Talks played on every video jukebox in the UK. This time chart success led to an American tour where both of these releases were No1 in the album and singles chart on KXLU radio in Los Angeles.

The band went on to release the classic "IF" album (1985), "Arctic Flowers" 12″ (1985), Cocktail Mix LP (1987) and Live double album "Birthday Box" LP (1988), At The End Of The Rainbow LP (1990′s), There was a bit of a wait for the next release on CD as the band decided to release their whole back catalogue on two CD's "Anarchy in the U.V "(2009) and "Nevermind the Day Glo " (2010).

Rubella Ballets latest release is a new Album 'Planet Punk' on CD and Green vinyl w/CD Release date: 31st March 2014 On Overground Records. The latest album from Rubella Ballet " Planet Punk" reveals the bands Ultra Violet darker Gothic side with their signature atmospheric music and lyrics about Blood, death & Vampires.

One of the tracks Vampire Wedding tells the violent bloody history & love story of two Vampires who torture and murder their way through immortal life, through the blood of their victims escaping to Whitby to hide and marry his blood countess. Another track Pandora's box raises the issue of estimating your lifespan to anticipate your death. After taking an expensive test doctors can measure the length of your telomeres to estimate the time you have left to live opening a Pandora's box.

The album also contains highly motivated and political songs about a variety of dark and evil subjects such as: The illuminati, government brainwashing, New World Order agenda, global corruption, the creation of new strains of flu virus to reduce human population, what really happened during 9/11 to atrocities that have happened closer to home like the police cover up of Hillsborough stadium disaster.

Rubella Ballet remains active having previously played the scenes famous venues including the original Marquee, 100 club, Camden Palace & Fridge. Rubella ballet also featured front and centre page spreads in the NME, Sounds, Melody Maker, Zig Zag, the infamous Punk Lives & Maximum Rock n Roll. Recent gigs have shown that their power continues undiminished, with a original atmospheric black UV light show and live performance that continues to break contemporary stereotypes. Their songs that have politically and ethically more than stood the test of time, showing how ground breaking and ahead of time their stage show, music and ideas really were!