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They attended the birth of NYC punk; perhaps even delivered it. Their sound provoked wrath, particularly from The Clash’s crowd, detailed here. But Suicide did not flinch, creating some of their era’s boldest music. Henry Scott-Irvine talks to them, and Craig Leon writes about producing their debut LP
Suicide is fearless
Alan Vega and Martin Rev formed Suicide in 1970, some seven years before they recorded their debut album. “After seeing Iggy Pop in Forest Park in Flushing, Queens, Alan Vega realised he could no longer continue as an ‘artist’, unless he moved into performing,” said Martin Rev. “That moment changed his life. He knew right there and then he had to perform.”
Rev met Vega, a sculptor, in 1969, when Rev was known as the Reverend B. “Yes! Marty started out with this jazz band called Reverend B,” concurred Vega, “and it was the greatest band I ever saw. He had three trumpets, two sets of drums, and four clarinet players. I’d walk on stage banging a tambourine. It went on all night. Later on there’d often be 12 guys on stage!”
Suicide’s gestation grew out of Vega’s involvement as an artist in the experimental arts lab called The Project Of Living Artists, which was in turn inspired by The Living Theatre. Suicide’s first two shows took place under that banner in November 1970 at The New York City Museum, which was then situated at 729 Broadway. Here they were billed as “Punk Music by Suicide”