Anti-Cimex Archive

One of the most memorable aspects of Anti-Cimex's oeuvre is the artwork for the 2nd and 3rd EPs. They are iconic. As a teenage punker in the 90s, long before I had heard the music, I knew the sleeves. I believe the first time I saw the artwork was in the old Havoc Records printed catalog of shirts and backpatches. It wasn't too long after that I discovered that R. Cobb, who made the artwork for the "Raped Ass" sleeve, was a well-known radical antiwar artist (and the artwork was not made for the sleeve--they reappropriated it!).

A buddy of mine just acquired a copy of "Raped Ass" pressed on clear vinyl, with the two-piece R. Cobb sleeve (see here). It includes an advert flyer I've never before seen. The flyer is for a recording called "Bootleg Live!" released on Hardcore Horror Rec. And the flyer actually looks a bit like a j-card. But I've never seen such a release.

Maximum Rocknroll has been posting some awesome stuff on their website lately to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the magazine. For example, you can download pdfs of some early issues, and there are reminiscences with people involved at very early stages of the magazine's history.

And then there's this.

Here's a great photo of three punks hanging out in the Haga neighborhood in Göteborg, circa 1983. Notice the poster hanging in the window.

Here is another post about a test pressing of "Raped Ass." The previous ones are here and here. Obviously, this archive could easily degenerate into a collectorsfrenzy style log of highly priced auctions on eBay (Cimex-frenzy?). I've been tempted, but that's not quite the point. Rather, the idea is to collect together previously unknown or undercirculated information and ephemera related to Anti-Cimex and Shitlickers.

This is the third installment of Cimexleaks. Check the previous ones here and here.

A few Cimex collectorscenti have been sending e-mails back and forth lately trying to confirm—but really propagating—the rumor of the existence of a band from Göteborg in the early 1980s called International Jailbreakers, featuring members of you know who.

Here is what is known:

Serious fans of Skitslickers and Anti-Cimex may already know that there were at least four bands that included Tomas Jonsson before the classic bands were formed. These bands were Kloak, Bombhot, Avfall, and Bohmann Brinner. But only recently, to my knowledge, has any documentation of the existence of the first two—Kloak and Bombhot—circulated among collectors.

An archival discovery set the internet ablaze in the last couple days. E-mails have been shooting around the globe, followed by eager posts on message boards and blogs. Everyone is so excited about a simply sublime short film released in 1985 that documents some moments in the life of a young punk rocker, Sixten Andersson, who played bass on "Victims of a Bombraid." The flim was posted on a newly opened archival site produced by a Swedish television station.

One pal who e-mailed me about the discovery said this:

I previously posted that I would soon publish a Wikileaks style cache of Anti-Cimex photos sourced from an anonymous operative. Here it is!

1. This one you may have already seen. Recently revealed data suggest that the punk with GBH on his leather is Charlie of Anti-Cimex. The photo was taken at a Shitlickers gig.