Punkobit: Nidge Blitz

Nidge Blitz, guitarist and leader of sort-of-reformed his street punk band Blitz, has been killed in a road accident in Austin Texas, just two days shy of the end of a 21 date tour.

Originally hailing from New Mills, Blitz were co-opted to the Oi scene by Gary Bushell, when he was still a writer on Sounds. Nidge never felt comfortable with Bushell's judgement, joking about it in a later interview:

I did go to his office with a sawn off shotgun but he said "lets go for a Beer" and I forgot all about it.

The first reactivated Blitz tour had run into trouble. Some fans complained that only Nidge remained from the 1980s band (this subsequent tour was undertaken as Nidge Blitz); more grimly, some of the musicians playing on the tour turned out to have links to a White Power record label. Back in the 80s, of course, the original Blitz had taken part in The Business' response to the "Trotskyist" Rock Against Racism tour, the snappily-titled Oi Against Racism and Political Extremism But Still Against The System; Nidge's response to this challenge was to apologise for having worked with the wrong people and to set about changing the line-up, but not without causing an eye-watering amount of name-calling and baiting on skinhead message boards across the US.

Punk and Oi in the UK once asked Nidge what the strangest rumour he'd ever heard about himself was:

The story that i spent the night with Avril Lavigne.

The truth is that i was at a Party with a bunch or record company guys and promoters and i ended up in a Hotel room with some chick who was from Ontario - Canada and i remember the name avril Ramona. Also I remember she said she had moved to LA and signed a deal with Arista Records and that her music was kinda pop/punk.

A year later, Avril lavigne burst onto the scene and a few of the guys who were at that party are convinced that was the girl i spent the night with. Damnit, there was so much free drink that night, i dont remember.

Anyone who can provide a link - however implausible - from Gary Bushell to Avril Lavigne has clearly lived a life.