I recently stumbled upon a dusty box of old cassette tapes—handcrafted mixtapes I either recorded myself or swapped with friends back when I was about 16 or 17, sometime between 1977 and 1979. Now carefully digitized and uploaded here, these tapes open a raw, authentic window into the gritty DIY punk scene of the late 1970s.

The tracks on these recordings have likely been buried in obscurity for decades, featuring a treasure trove of bands from my native north-east — most of whom I was lucky enough to see live in those chaotic, electric days. When better-known groups appear, I’ve deliberately picked lesser-known cuts to keep the spirit underground alive.

As you might expect, the sound quality is a little rough around the edges—authentic tape hiss and all—but that’s part of the charm. So buckle up for 45 minutes of unfiltered noise and rebellion, captured at a time when the internet was still a wild dream, and punk was a loud, vivid reality.