In Search of Tito's Punks with author Barry Phillips & Russ Bestley

Join us for a fascinating look at the vibrant punk scene that exploded in Yugoslavia during Marshal Josip Broz Tito’s final years.
About this Event

In Search of Tito's Punks with author Barry Phillips & Russ Bestley.

Join us for a fascinating look at the vibrant punk scene that exploded in Yugoslavia during Marshal Josip Broz Tito’s final years.

In Search of Tito’s Punks tells the incredible story of how an obscure 1981 UK punk single became famous in the former Yugoslavia, without the knowledge of the (young and somewhat notorious) multi-racial provincial punk band who recorded it. Hoping to understand how Demob’s No Room For You had taken root in the communist-era Balkans, Barry Phillips (the teenage bassist on the recording) embarked on a nine-year quest In Search of Tito’s Punks. Travelling across a country that no longer exists he attempted to uncover the journey of the song and understand the people who embraced it.

Phillips interviewed heroes of Yugoslavian punk and post-punk music, as well as cultural commentators, journalists, filmmakers, authors, punks (old and young), and a legendary ‘anarchist taxi driver’. He was in the 8,000 sell out crowd at the 40th anniversary concert of the biggest ex-Yugoslavian punk band, Pankrti (Bastards), where Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols was special guest. He spent the next day in the company of Pankrti’s charismatic front man Pero Lovšin, who told him that he too had recorded his own version of No Room For You.

In Russia the book was described as a Cold War Searching for Sugarman. The 2024 translation of In Search of Tito’s Punks created such a buzz in the Balkans that Phillips has been repeatedly invited to appear on national TV, including an entire 45-minute episode of the weekly Slovenian flagship culture programme.

Copies of Barry's book will be on sale a the Festival and there'll be a dedicated book signing after his event.

About the Author:

Barry Phillips has been a barman, factory press operative and Police ID Parade suspect. In the Civil Service, he worked his way from post room (where he was joined by Paul Simonon’s sister) to speechwriter for numerous politicians including one (in)famous Prime Minister.

He founded The Blitz Boys, whose Eddy’s New Shoes EP (1980) was played repeatedly by John Peel and, still at school, was invited to join Gloucester punks Demob. He played bass on No Room For You (1981) and toured alongside the Angelic Upstarts, The Exploited and Discharge. In June 2025, No Room For You was voted 54th best punk rock song of all time in Vive Le Rock’s Top 250.

In the late 1980s, with The Rainsaints, he achieved a lifetime ambition when their twisted noir-country records were released by the legendary Good Vibrations Records in Belfast. He has shared the stage with acts as varied as The Sisters of Mercy, The Levellers, Big Country, Therapy?, Divine Comedy and Pulp, and played with members of Massive Attack, EMF, Richard Hawley and many others.

Inspired by the success of In Search of Tito’s Punks, he has now returned to his other first loves – history and writing. He is currently co-authoring a book about superstition, science and crime in the Scottish Enlightenment and a follow-up to In Search of Tito’s Punks, which has the working title In Search of Goths, Primitives and Spomeniks.

He will almost certainly tell you that he is now a crossword clue in Croatia.

About Russ Bestley:

Russ Bestley is Professor of Graphic Design & Subcultures at the London College of Communication, editor of the journal Punk & Post-Punk, series editor and art director for the Global Punk book series and a founder member of both the Punk Scholars Network (PSN) and Subcultures Interest Group (SIG). His most recent publication, Turning Revolt into Style: The Process and Practice of Punk Graphic Design (Manchester University Press 2025), charts the relationship between amateur cultural producers, design studios and printers during a period of significant technological change that impacted established labour relations across the design and print professions of the 1970s and early 1980s. His research archive can be accessed at www.hitsvilleuk.com.