Case - Croydon Oi and the oldest graffiti in New Cross (?)

We've previously considered some of the ancient graffiti of South London (notably the now painted over Cold Blow Lane tunnel), those spectral traces of lost bands, social movements and love affairs. At that point where the Old Kent Road becomes the New Cross Road, under the railway bridge just past Ilderton Road if you're heading South, you can still see a few letters of a word that by my reckoning must have been painted getting on for 30 years ago.

The word is 'Case' - to those in the know a punk band from Croydon in the early '80s associated with the Oi scene, to those not in the know a band best known for their prolific graffiti campaign. At least one of their efforts still remains, as we can see. I think I need to do a proper feature on Oi in South London, an oft-misunderstood working class punk/skin scene famously championed by journalist Gary Bushell at the time.

Of Case, Bushell says: 'And when great Oi-influenced bands did break through in ’83 they all fell at early fences. Croydon’s Case were cracking – they specialised in a ballsy brand of high-octane pop fresher than Max Miller chewing polos in a mountain stream and were fronted by the exceptionally expressive Matthew Newman. Case attracted acclaim from most quarters (including the Daily Mirror and Radio One) but fell apart when Matthew swapped the stage for domestic bliss with Splodge co-vocalist Christine Miller'. There's another South London connection there as Splodge were from Peckham, but that can wait for another day.

In 1981, Punk's not Dead zine wrote: "CASE: One of the most invigorating moments of my life this year was wandering into the Woolwich Tramshed to be whacked wide awake by an experience more invigorating than the kiss of my life from Pamela Stephenson. That experience was a shower, not of cold water, but a motley one from Croydon name of Case who specialise in fast, boisterous new wave rock that's catchily uncategorisable. There's some Ruts in there, even a touch of the Beat, pushing pumping power, red hot and hard-driving, and the punks and skins in the audience were going seriously bonkers. Case are fronted by cropped Matthew Newman (picture) who is incredible to watch. One minute he's Buster Bloodvessel, the next Ronnie Kray. A clown and a criminal, a nut-case and a hardcase all rolled into one, leaping into the audience and rolling round the floor with a snatch of enthusiastic punky punters. I've never seen a face that says so much and for forty minutes it's physically impossible to take yer eyes of him . . .".

Not much of their stuff online as far as I can see, but you can listen to their ska infused track Oh on youtube.