Rudimentary Peni - History

History

Rudimentary Peni emerged from the British anarcho-punk scene in the early 1980s. Lead singer/guitarist Nick Blinko is notorious for his witty macabre lyrics and dark pen-and-ink artwork, prominently featured on all of Rudimentary Peni's albums. Blinko is also rumored to have written the band's Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric album whilst resident in a psychiatric hospital. Bassist Grant Matthews has also written a number of songs for the band, though his lyrics primarily focus on sociopolitical themes. Very few photos exist of the band, as their albums feature Blinko's drawings instead, but Pushead published a few in an early edition of his magazine.

In Maximum RocknRoll, issue No. 237 (February 2003), Matthews explains how he came up with the name of the band: "When I was at school studying biology, we were told that in the fetal stage the clitoris is a rudimentary penis."

The band released its first record; a 10 song EP pressed into 7" vinyl, on their own label, Outer Himalayan Records. They have continued to self-release much of their material, with occasional offerings from other record companies. Early on, Rudimentary Peni had connections with fellow anarcho-punkers Crass, and their second 7" EP, Farce, was issued by Crass Records. Up through the band's first studio album, Death Church (1983), their records were packaged in fold-out paper sleeves full of artwork, lyrics and poster graphics characteristic of Crass and many other bands in the anarcho-punk scene.

Rudimentary Peni stopped performing in the mid-1980s after bassist Matthews was diagnosed with cancer. After a 4 year hiatus, they recorded Cacophony, a sonic tribute to seminal New England horror author H. P. Lovecraft. The band has continued to record and release material. Blinko authored a semi-autobiographical novel called The Primal Screamer, which has most recently been repressed by PM Press from Oakland, California. Blinko has also become increasingly popular in the Outsider Art scene. Blinko continues to release new music, despite his move to a psychiatric hospital somewhere in London. Blinko also authored The Haunted Head. They have a cult following in the United States punk scene, with the EP's of RP and Death Church becoming diversely popular within various punk scenes in recent years, despite changing much of their early anarcho punk after the release of Farce (collected in EP's of RP). Most reissues of their 80's albums are now out of print.