The Burial - "Holding On" (1988)

Forgot how good this band were. Loved this album, "Day On The Town," when it came out(1988), as well as their songs on Oi compilations. A great band, that mixed genres(ska/oi/soul) and definitely weren't just another generic Oi band. Also had intelligent(unlike so many other Oi bands)lyrics, both personal and sociopolitical.

The Burial were a ska, northern soul and folk-influenced Oi! band from Yorkshire, England, formed in 1981. They released one album, A Day On The Town, and have worked with Bradford's anarchist rant-poet Nick Toczek on various projects under the name Britanarchists. They split in 1988.

Eric 'Barney' Barnes, was the chief ideological leftist influence on the band. He was an active member of Militant tendency, and he vigorously supported the National Union of Miners in its year-long strike action and working class revolutionary socialist groups such as Red Action, to whom The Burial gave an interview, in which guitarist Chris said "I've got short hair that don't mean I'm a frigging Nazi but I ain't a Commie either." Barnes told i-D magazine:

"I come from an iron ore mining village near Middlesbrough and a strong trade union background. A lot of my family were original skins and to us Skinhead was a working class movement and fascism is totally opposed to that. The strong grounding in working class politics has given Northern Skins an abhorrence of the National Front that London skins never had."

The magazine went on to say of the band, "They formed six years ago, emerging at the same time as The Redskins, but whereas the later responded to boneheads by moving into the student circuit, a strong feature of The Burial's gigs was the Nazi-bashing." The article includes a quote from Paul McGinn of the Glasgow Spy Kids: "They were the first band to stand up and say what a lot of people felt." The book Spirit of '69 A Skinhead Bible includes a quote from singer Mick at a concert in Stockton in 1985, in which he said to the audience: "You read in the papers all Skinheads are thick fascist thugs. I'm not a thick fascist thug. Are there any thick fascist thugs in here?"

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[nathank1988]

@DreadRock69

its all about holding on

[balearicsoundwave89]

fucking hell ,i remember these lads,good band. saw em a few times in the early 80s.

[DreadRock69]

What's this song about?

[TheRegalKings]

Check out ex The Burial new band "The Regal Kings" debut 4Track Ep "Dancefloor diamonds Part 1" out June 2011

[beverett01]

Absolute classic!!!!

[74brooklynboi]

Good song.