Viv Albertine Does It Her Way

Musician, director, actor, artist, author. How does she do it all?

Let me count the ways in which I love Viv Albertine.

First, she was the guitarist in The Slits. An all-girl band at a time when such a thing was virtually unknown, they were a defiantly different female presence in the maelstrom of punk.

There were other women, of course. Patti Smith. Poly Styrene. Siouxsie Sioux. Pauline Penetration. And a little later, the Raincoats, the Au Pairs, and Pauline Black from The Selector were all important to me.

But the Slits felt somehow especially mine, and their anarchic dub version of Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ was a key part of the soundtrack to my teens.

Later, when I moved to London, one of my flatmates was in their touring band, so Albertine and Slits singer Ari Up were often around. They breezed in, bringing chaos and fun, energy and inspiration.

By then, I paid my way through university by writing reviews for New Musical Express. And Viv Albertine was my north star. She showed me the way.

After punk imploded, Albertine went to film school. She made promo videos for indie bands, making the most of the opportunities that opened up with…