The Mob – No Doves Fly Here

Description

EXPECTED 8TH AUGUST 2025

12″ Single Black Vinyl

Recorded over two intense days in September 1981 at Southern Studios, ‘No Doves Fly Here’, by The Mob, stands as a raw, unorthodox moment in anarcho-punk history.

Produced by Penny Rimbaud and engineered alongside John Loder, the session saw Crass members and others pitch in — brewing endless pots of strong tea and occasionally manning a four-foot gong hired specially for the track. Mark, frontman of The Mob, recalls recording vocals word-by-word, a painstaking shift from the live takes of their previous releases. The result: a hauntingly deliberate performance unlike anything else on the Crass label. Paired with I Hear You Laughing, a live favorite, the single is a testament to the spirit of experimentation, DIY collaboration, and creative trust that defined the era.

Penny Rimbaud tells us; “Mirroring John and Yoko’s ‘peace not war’ profundities, The Mob’s ‘No Doves Fly Here’ stands out as one of the great classic tracks of the punk era. Profound in its poetics, and poignantly atmospheric in its arrangement, it expresses so much of the hopes and aspirations that later became known as ‘anarcho-punk’ (hitherto the ‘peace movement’). ‘War is over if you want it’, the dream is not over.”

Tracklist

No Doves Fly Here

I Hear You Laughing