Rubella Ballet

Rubella Ballet
Rubella Ballet playing at the Clarendon Club, London, Christmas Eve 1985
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Punk rock Anarcho-punk Gothic rock
Years active	1979–1991, 2000–present
Labels	Xntrix, Ubiquitous
Associated acts	Fatal Microbes Poison Girls Omega Tribe
Members	Sid Ation Zillah Minx
Past members	Gem Stone Pete Fender Annie Anxiety Womble It Sean Adam Rachel Minx Steve Cachman Phil Paris Ite

Rubella Ballet are a gothic anarcho-punk band formed in Summer 1979, who released several albums before splitting up in 1991. They reformed in 2000.

The band was formed by drummer Sid Ation (born John Carroll, 18 April 1960, Sutton Coldfield, a former chef and later also the drummer with Flux of Pink Indians), together with former Fatal Microbes Pete Fender (Dan Sansom, guitar), Gem Stone (Gemma Sansom, bass) and It (Quentin North, also bass), with vocalists Annie Anxiety and Womble. Their first gig was at the Triad Leisure Centre in Bishops Stortford on 5 August 1979, where they crashed the bar to play at a Crass/Poison Girls/Epileptics gig that was happening in the main hall. Several other gigs followed throughout the summer of 1979, until Annie, Womble and It left, to be replaced by vocalist Zillah Minx (born Zillah Elaine Ashworth, 31 March 1961, Birkenhead)[1] towards the end of the year.

Zillah's first performance was when they took to the stage at the end of a Crass/Poison Girls concert at Conway Hall, Holborn.[1] The new band's first proper gig was a fundraiser for the Theatre Royal in Stratford supporting Poison Girls, which ended in a riot due to an invasion mid-way through Poison Girls' set by the local skinhead contingent of the British Movement, during which several members of Poison Girls were injured. Rubella Ballet had agreed to be interviewed by Mike Diboll for Toxic Grafity fanzine after their performance, and thus escaped the attack. Following this the band played frequently around the UK, often asking audience members to put them up after gigs.[1]