Hot Press is shocked to learn of the death of Ari-Up, the 48-year-old leader of seminal all-girl outfit The Slits who lit the touch paper for the Riot Grrrl movement and have been a major influence on emerging acts like Warpaint who, as coincidence would have it, are playing in Dublin tonight.
The news was broken last night on her stepdad John Lydon’s website: “John and Nora have asked us to let everyone know that Nora’s daughter Arianna (aka Ari-Up) died today after a serious illness. She will be sadly missed. Everyone at JohnLydon.com and PiLofficial.Com would like to pass on their heartfelt condolences to John, Nora and family. Rest in Peace.”
Formed in 1976 when Ari-Up was just 14, The Slits shot to punk rock fame a year later when they supported The Clash on their White Riot tour. More in thrall to Jamaican reggae than they ever were the Dolls or the MC5, their debut Cut album remains a dubwise classic and inspired a whole new generation of girls to take up guitars.
Despite her illness, Ari-Up was in fine fettle during her last Hot Press interview, which took place in April ahead of The Slits’ visit to Dublin Crawdaddy.
Asked about her influences, she said: “I totally grew up with music. On my father’s side, it was blues, swing and jazz, and from my mother’s side, rock and punk. I just consumed it, I was totally absorbed by it.”
As for the first record she bought, “It was probably something by David Bowie. And I still think to this day that he’s my favourite rock artist.”
Recalling those spiky-haired days of yore, she added: “In the punk days, we were banned from many clubs for being called The Slits, and for being associated with the whole punk revolution. We were on stage in England once, and the whole audience charged, we had to run for our lives. It was terrible, our bouncer at the time was a black guy with dreads, and whatever audience that was, they were very racist. They were really chauvenistic that we were women, it was too much for them. We all had to run off. It was adventurous to say the least!”