Who plays the spoons on The Slits’ 1979 song ‘Newtown’?

Dennis Bovell played the spoons on The Slits’ 1979 song ‘Newtown’, using an ashtray, a spoon and a box of matches as percussion. The improvised sounds helped shape the track’s unusual punk and dub texture, accompanying its critique of suburban boredom and consumer culture.

The song appeared on the band’s debut album, *Cut*, recorded at Ridge Farm studio in Surrey in spring 1979, with Bovell producing. He said he played keyboards and percussion on ‘Newtown’, which likened television and football to drugs; the ashtray, spoon and matches carried references to smoking and heroin.