IS THERE STILL ANARCHY IN THE UK?
I already know that the first line of an article is supposed to be catchy, intriguing, maybe shocking… but definitely in some way, is also supposed to make the reader feel ensured that the writer is informed. I’m going to do the opposite and tell you that I’m not a fucking punk scholar! All I have to hold on to is the hope that the perspective of a 20 year old – writing 42 years on from when the first punk single in the UK was released – is at least (vaguely) interesting and new. Though to help me out a bit, I’ll be including opinions and quotes from punk musicians who actually know what they’re talking about (all retrieved from interviews, documentaries and writings created by people much more talented and hard-working than me). Anyway, in order to give any kind of answer to the title question, I thought it’d be best to establish three things:
Is PUNK an ATTITUDE or a SOUND?
Does POLITICS make PUNK?
Did PUNK DIE?
Once we have a grip on a working, supported definition of punk and understand if or when it disappeared and in what circumstances, we can conclude whether it’s dead and gone, or been lying dormant to erupt again.
ATTITUDE OR SOUND?
I think we know punk when we hear it, but what makes its sound? If we believe that everything is formed by its past, whether in influence or rejection, then it’s my best guess that the same thing happened with punk. Although it’s always felt like an unspoken law to scorn rock/metal giants like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Arturo Bassick of The Lurkers mentioned that he’s “fallen asleep at a Black Sabbath concert”, mainly because of the abundance of “long guitar solos and twenty minute numbers” which all felt “too long [and] drawn out”. Explains the incentive for quick, snappy chord changes in tracks no longer than two minutes – so was punk a defiance against its preceding 70s rock and metal, riddled with self-indulgent solos performed on 7-foot high stages?
More obviously and a lot less arguably, punk is a massive fuck-you to the sweetened bubblegum pop slathered all over the media in the 80s, 70s and – well since ever, really. It makes sense to combat all the sugar with almost stupid levels of volume, speed, energy and viciousness, and all of this reaching the UK Top Ten on a few occasions (I’ll have to find all the videos I can of incongruous Top of the Pops punk performances) was a total revolution. This chaos was appealing, and it’s easy to see how punk caught on; Rat from the Varukers says “[punk] just seemed so exciting after watching shit bands on TV like ABBA, The Bay City Rollers and Boney M”. With that, I think we’ve accepted that a lot of punk was born out of distaste for the banality paraded around the charts in the 70s, but surely what ignited, justified, and unified this active feeling was an attitude?
Well, yes. First of all, everyone who thought Boney M and Cliff Richard were shit at that time all shared that level of defiance in common, particularly in an environment where it wasn’t really okay to go against the grain (it’s hard to think that by the late 70s, homosexuality had been legalised barely 10 years earlier). Adding to that though, was a feeling of wanting to be the opposite of what’s been idealised – all the long hair, baggy clothes and disco dancing became short spikes, leather jackets and ‘dancing’ I’d describe as half-pogoing and half-beating-the-shit-out-of-everyone (but most of the time quite amiably) This leads up to Captain Sensible’s philosophy: “punk rock should be appalling, disgraceful, [muttering what sounds like an apology to the cameraman as he tips over a nearby table] … just vomit on life and get your fucking arsehole out [demonstrated] … that’s punk rock for you”. You could say punk was just rejection for the sake of it, just to piss people off, but it definitely carried a strong message: you can’t tell us what we want.
So, punk undeniably has its own sound – formed predominantly by a rejection a pop – and this naked rejection is inevitably founded on an attitude of rebellion. Can one exist without the other? Punk with no attitude is posing, and the attitude that makes punk can be used in other genres (a lot of rap shows the same anti-police, anti-discrimination and anti-establishment energy) without it sounding like punk. Looks like there’s always been a bit of both.
IS THERE PUNK WITHOUT POLITICS?
Looking back on 70s and 80s punk, it’s easy to think politics is integral to punk. If you listen to practically anything by Crass, Subhumans, the Dead Kennedys, The Exploited… it seems clear that these bands’ music is born out of anger and discontent of the political environment we’re stuck in: Crass rants about the unjust class system, Subhumans warns us of the potential devastation of nuclear war, the Dead Kennedys wrote a song just to shit all over President Ronald Reagan and The Exploited’s Maggie doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination. (Any of these factors feel only too familiar? One? All of them?) “Social problems – that’s what punk’s about” reckons Wattie himself, and Jello Biafra talks about punk’s incentive to “break down different types of uniform and social etiquette getting in the way of an open mind”. But what about some of the punk giants like the Buzzcocks or The Damned – you can’t hear much anti-establishment there. The Ramones didn’t even swear did they?!
That’s just it – anarcho-punk is just a branch of punk, and I was surprised to find even Discharge – with their famously pacifistic lyrics and cover art – aren’t all what they seem… Founding member Tez tells Ian Glasper in Burning Britain “[Cal] was the one who was really anti-war. The rest of us didn’t give a shit about it personally; we just wanted to go out there and make a fuckin noise and piss some people off!”. Simon of Court Martial also mentions that “we weren’t anarchists or anything, we were just a bunch of kids from a working class background who formed a band for the love of music”. Seems like there isn’t much of a clear answer to this one. Personally, I think the idea of working class teenagers gaining a platform to write lyrics about their life and perform their own music – the kind of kids who haven’t had prior years of guitar, drum or singing lessons paid for by their parents, and the kind of kids who didn’t go to private art and music schools – is a big political statement in itself.
DID PUNK DIE? IS IT ALIVE NOW?
I’ll tell you what’s disheartening: hearing people, in 1981, talk about punk being dead. I think of the early 1980s as being the pinnacle of punk – if it was dead then, what is it now?
But there are a couple things about punk that are immortal. Punk’s attitude can exist in other musical genres and places, as Jello Biafra explains: “there’s always going to be punk in some way … the spirit is where you find it”. And it’s true: there’s always something to be angry about in social and political terms and things in 2018 give us plenty of ammo, the same kind of things fuelling punk back in the day. History repeats itself.
When we look at mainstream music now, it’s hard to deny its impeccability, in terms of autotuning, musicianship, and image: we expect everything to sound and look perfect, not one note slipped, drum beat missed, and those superstars who rule the media have always been a flawless, plastic kind of beautiful. Now more than ever we need ugliness and crudity, someone to balls up a snare roll while headlining Glastonbury and someone else to break a string in the middle of recording an album then carry on playing a three-stringed bass for the next five songs. This age of robotic perfection is daunting and unreal and most importantly, hard to keep up. Punk’s momentum is running faster.
INFO:
Dead Kennedys Interview (1983): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRlYCNDn21o
Punk in London (1977): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IGMqqN3UVY [21:09]
The Damned (2016) Vive Le Rock! Issue #35 Vol.3 pg 52
Punk’s Not Dead (2007): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9b_M-i7HF0&t=4201s [1:10:00]
Burning Britain The History of UK Punk 1980-1984 – Ian Glasper
Jello Biafra Interview (2013): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksKWonVOAgE
MY REBELLION 2018 TIMETABLE
This was supposed to be the only thing close to ‘useful’ on my entire blog, but alas, it wasn’t to be. Instead of publishing the bands I want to see at Rebellion a few weeks in advance, so as to inspire anyone going, I’m posting it hours before I leave for Blackpool, because I was too busy going to the pub to write this in good time. What a bastard! At the very least though to those who aren’t going to Rebellion, here’s a list of ace bands who are likely to be touring about right now, along with a description of their sound and one or two of my favourite tracks/albums. After dividing the Rebellion 2018 ticket price by the potential of 25 bands in this list, it works out that I’m paying £6.80 to see each band. If only I wasn’t going to be spending double that at each band on beer!
THURSDAY:
* RIOT SQUAD
Although I saw Riot Squad a few weeks ago, I’d like to try one of their gigs again but this time, without being so humiliatingly drunk. Described by my dad as “skinheads but alright”, Riot Squad is a solid band with some hard, almost metallic riffs and rough vocals. When I saw them they did a cover of Wasted (Circle Jerks’ version I think) and the combination of being intoxicated, right next to the speaker and it being a fucking 30 second song left me in the dark for about 24 seconds before I thought ‘shit! I love this song!’. I looked like a right poser to this girl, who saw me last in a Black Flag t-shirt. Anyway, they played Society’s Fodder first when I was the least drunk and it was ace, so looking forward to hearing it again.
THE DRONES
Knowledge runs thin here for me, but their track Lookalikes feels to me like an Undertones/Sex Pistols hybrid so I’m not gonna miss out on that. Main reason I’ve added The Drones to my timetable though is to give me a nice bit of 70s punk so I can relax my neck a bit, because the next couple days of Italian/Serbian thrash isn’t going to be kind to me. Still, The Drones seem cool and their guitarist is/was called Gus Gangrene, which is always an added bonus.
* T.S.O.L.
What a fucking cool band man. They seem to have a bit of everything: the Damned, Misfits, Ramones and the Sex Pistols, while sounding original as fuck. Their horror-punk, deathrock tracks Code Blue and The Triangle have been haunting me for over a week but unfortunately for me, Code Blue, amongst the Captain Sensible riffs and Dee Dee Ramone bassline, contains lyrics you can’t really sing out loud in your family home. But you bet your fucking ass I’m looking forward to hearing it live, and shouting about necrophilia in a room full of 50 year olds!
Me from the future here: the singer Jack Grisham apparently is a massively perverted prick – to say the least, judging by the claims made against him. I won’t be paying to see them again.
** BUZZCOCKS
Why why why why why have I not seen the Buzzcocks yet? Their songs are legendary, John Maher is my drumming icon and I spent about three weeks and all my braincells laying down my love for them when I reviewed their debut a few weeks ago. I’d love to hear anything from their Spiral Scratch EP, but I don’t know how well my other favourites Strange Thing and Autonomy would translate live but I really hope to find out. Either way, I know it’s gonna be a night of me singing really loudly and abysmally, while trying to pogo on no more fuel than a few pints of cheap cider and a bag of crisps.
FRIDAY:
* SICK ON THE BUS
Although I keep hearing about this band and I’ve even been sick on a bus myself, I never got around to listening to them until now. From what I can tell, they’re still releasing albums and they still sound pretty good (they remind me of Chaos U.K.’s recent albums), and even though the band’s on abominably early in the day (a decision to start drinking at 3pm is undoubtedly going to bite me in the ass later), I’m looking forward to some good, UK hardcore punk with some great, stupidly crude lyrics.
* VICIOUS CIRCLE
Well, this is a bit of a confusing one. There’s three bands named Vicious Circle and while I’ve ruled out the drum and bass group, I initially thought I’d be seeing the death metal/thrash band Vicious Circle, who is solid as fuck and I think (unless I’m getting really confused) associated with T.S.O.L.. But then I realised there’s another band called Vicious Circle and they’re Australian hardcore punks! So fuck knows who’s playing but I actually like both bands equally, so it doesn’t matter to me. The Australian Vicious Circle are more punk, but a tad more on the melodic side (perhaps prompting one YouTube user to comment “how is this hippie shit “hardcore”?), but their absolutely disgustingly distorted electric guitar really saves the day for me. Looking forward to being deafened either way.
DEATH METAL THRASH:
AUSTRALIAN HARDCORE PUNK:
** SUBHUMANS
A no brainer!! Subhumans was brilliant when I saw them last year and I can’t wait to see them in a big crowd (attendance, for whatever reason, wasn’t fantastic in Birmingham). No is one of those tracks you already know every word to and although they played No and the classic Religious Wars last time, I really want to hear a new favourite of mine Reason For Existence and its huge, electric, chortling bassline and manic drumming. I Don’t Wanna Die is still one of the strongest Subhumans tracks (and one I constantly fail to drum along to), so hearing those two will make my fucking night.
* THE BOYS
Another nice bit of 70s punk to give me a bit of a breather. Their self-titled 1977 album is giving me a lot of The Damned’s Damned Damned Damned (1976) and Music For Pleasure (1977) – fairly neat and steady with a lot of energy – and their first track Sick On You (good start!!) is very Ramones-esque. So, two great bands in one! The Boys also wrote First Time, which Special Duties (the Special Duties who did Colchester Council (full of shit) you ask? Yes the very same) covered hilariously – Steve Arrogant’s vocals really spice it up a bit so I don’t think I could hear that track without laughing – but The Boys sound like a decent band. I hope their energy is still coming across forty years later.
** GBH
GBH was probably one of my favourite gigs back in 2016 and there were a few things that made it memorable: one was that I was really hungover after drinking round my mates house until 4am the night before, then only just realising when I got back home at 5am that I had to get to college for 11am for a drama rehearsal (after two years of my Drama A-level I realised that I hate 90% of all plays and 90% of all actors), which I managed to get to (somehow) in one piece. It was just after Christmas, I had £15 to my name and I was so dehydrated and hungry that I was either going to vomit or die on the spot (or both), so I did what any respectable person would do, and buy a 10-pack of fags and keep the rest for entry to GBH later that night. I remember walking into the gig and I was fucking terrified! Everyone was at the front with their mohicans and boots dragging each other to the ground and I’d brought my two mates with me who aren’t into punk (and one of them was wearing fucking flannel which didn’t make me feel better), but of course no one gave a shit and everyone was sound. I got up to the front and stayed there, even when GBH played what felt like a half-hour encore and even I was completely knackered, though I was by far one of the youngest in the room. There was a nice big open space to the side of the stage by the wall and I wondered why no-one was standing there, but still had a rest for a bit there anyway. Turns out an 8-foot tall speaker isn’t the best place to have a breather and my ears rang for 3 weeks straight, but I loved that night and remember it as if it was yesterday: GBH have a lot to live up to.
* A-HEADS
Jesus, this has driven me around the bend! As it turns out, there’s two punk bands named A-Heads: one’s an anarcho-punk band from Warminster, UK, and the other (the band I’ve been listening to) is from Germany, though their tracks and lyrics are in English, which is bloody confusing. The German band has a subtly melancholic and gloomy sound, and when I had a listen to their album AHEADS on Spotify, I ended up liking every song I heard, especially Looking At Me, Object and Who, which are pretty dingy and rough, but still neatly played with a lot of energy. Hardly any of their songs are on YouTube but some absolute beauty has uploaded a load of their demos, including my favourite tracks, and pretty much every song is as good as the other. Now, you should take into account that when I wrote all of this, I didn’t know that the another A-Heads existed and also that it’s probably 8000% more likely that the English band is going to be playing over the German one. Funnily enough though, both bands don’t sound massively different to each other, excepting that the English band has a female singer, Mel. Though this band are slightly more melodic in Dying Man, Mel’s vocals carry a solemn edge and a few of their other tracks like Forgotten Hero are quite grey with a measured tempo. I’ll link the German band because they’re a great listen, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be hearing more from Warminster than anywhere else.
GERMAN A-HEADS:
UK A-HEADS:
** THE EXPLOITED
The Exploited are legendary for their seriously hard (and later verging on thrash) tracks, Wattie’s bright red mohican, and the fact they don’t like Margaret Thatcher very much. I was supposed to see them last year but Wattie was too ill to play, so I’ve been waiting a long time for The Exploited and I know they won’t disappoint. I was listening to Fuck The USA (subtle I know) the other day and man, just the first few seconds really got my adrenaline going, and not a lot of bands have that gift. Although when my dad told me about this song I thought he was joking, Maggie (you cunt) is my favourite because its riff is raw and tight as fuck (not just because of its lyrics), and I’d love to hear it live. (Fuck The USA is age-restricted on YouTube (Maggie you fucking cunt has slipped through the net luckily) so not useful as a link, sorry kids, but it’s worth looking up yourself.)
* RED ALERT
My Thursday and Friday so far has been lacking in the Oi! department so if hepatitis of the liver doesn’t force an early end to the night (saying that, it’ll be half one in the morning at this point), I’ll be paying Red Alert a visit. Their big, loutish sound’ll keep me awake and hopefully there’ll be a good fight going on somewhere too.
SATURDAY:
** VOX POPULI
I saw Vox Populi on the line-up, and thought I may as well give them a listen. That’s when I realised that Jesus must be real, because this band is fucking untouchable and I’m looking forward to seeing them the most out of everyone, even if it just for thirty minutes, at the ungodly hour of two in the afternoon. Even though their album Ne Mozes Svima Udovoljiti (yep, that’s not English) came out in the early 2000s, it’s just as tight, distorted, disgusting and outrageous as anything that came out for the first time forty years ago, and even though the genre ‘hardcore’ has been twisted and tainted over the decades, Vox Populi is living proof that pure, hardcore punk is alive in the 21st century… even if it is in Serbia.
** RAW POWER
The Europeans are killing it on this fine Saturday afternoon, because this Italian hardcore punk band blew my fucking head off when I first heard them. Their albums Screams From The Gutter and After Your Brain rip from start to finish: their Mayhem-style metallic guitar hooks send the tracks Joe’s The Best and the classic State Oppression into a lethally quick, electrifying frenzy, so I just know this gig is going to be pretty fatal. My dad had Screams From The Gutter on vinyl and when I asked him where the hell it is, he said that 30 years ago he probably wanted some money for some chips so sold it to a girl for three quid. Devastating.
** THE STUPIDS
My dad described The Stupids to me as a “stupidly fast band” and it didn’t take much more persuading from there: they carry the same, quite tunefully-hardcore-but-still-a-bit-thrash sound as Raw Power, and I’m looking forward to seeing them just as much. I’ve probably broken my neck by this point, and it’s only 7pm.
** UK SUBS
Probably every punk in the world has gone to a UK Subs gig and there’s a good reason why. Their tracks are fresh, timeless, addictive and full of energy, even at their gigs now, in spite of singer Charlie Harper’s ripe age of 74. UK Subs was my first punk gig and I remember venturing my way to the front when they played my favourite tracks Teenage and I Live In A Car, and pogoing on top of this kid I saw that I fancied, and then saying “oh sorry” to him as a fool-proof way of getting his attention. It sort of worked I suppose, but he left the gig early and I haven’t seen him since. I’m just gonna have to go to every UK Subs gig they play and if I see him, I have to hope my pick-up lines have slightly improved since two years ago.
* COCKNEY REJECTS
The kings of Oi! themselves, the Cockney Rejects’ tracks The Greatest Cockney Rip Off and the self-explanatory Oi! Oi! Oi! are quite good (in kind of a more funny way than anything) and I know their gig will be a laugh. Any band that makes the live audience at Top of the Pops squirm in fear definitely has my respect. Oi! from my kitchen table!
** DISCHARGE
I saw Discharge last year and I’m gonna go ahead and say it was the best gig of my life. The place was fucking heaving, Antisect supported and they were ace, I lost my dad for about twenty minutes and then found him again, when we both simultaneously barged our way to the front as Fight Back began. Discharge is such an immensely powerful band, it’s no wonder they’re sounding just as strong forty years on. No stories of romance this time round except for this kid I liked at the front, but I wasn’t drunk enough to talk to him. Probably for the best because about a month later at Abrasive Wheels, I saw him in daylight and realised that he was about 43.
** STIFF LITTLE FINGERS
I really haven’t been giving SLF the love they deserve up until recently. Obviously I knew Alternative Ulster and Suspect Device but I didn’t realise that Stiff Little Fingers is the best of 70s punk: neat, arranged, quick and really well written, with still enough bile, distortion and energy. At this moment in time I have no idea why Bloody Sunday isn’t widely renown as the best song in the universe (and although I always welcome people calling Bono a cunt, the mass of YouTube comments on SLF’s Bloody Sunday has got me worrying that U2 has done a shite cover of it), and hearing it live would be fucking priceless.
SUNDAY:
** MDC
Once upon a time before I’d heard MDC, I thought Minor Threat was the fastest thing in history. Millions of Dead Cops are about as subtle and forgiving to listen to as their name, and their releases Millions of Dead Cops, Multi-Death Corporations and Millions of Dead Children are lethally fast, adrenaline-fuelled riots, from beginning to end. No war, no KKK no fascist USA!!!!!
* ADOLESCENTS
Technically, the Adolescents is actually the second punk band I ever heard, when – amongst my one and a half years of listening literally just to the Ramones in my room every day – my neighbour suggested the Adolescents instead. I liked them, then completely forgot about them for whatever reason, then last week bought their debut on CD and it’s actually very good. My favourites I Hate Children and Self Destruct surprised me with its nice, crude bassline (which I kinda associated with UK hardcore punk over American), but I have to say that I don’t really like their most famous/played track Amoeba (sorry not sorry). Most of the album is really good and when I had a look at their later album Brats in Batallion and I liked that too, so the gig seems promising.
* D.R.I.
A nice bit of crossover thrash to seal the deal, if all my major organs are still intact by this point. All the most viewed Dirty Rotten Imbeciles tracks verge closer to metal, but my dad showed me their track I Don’t Need Society which is from their debut and much more my kinda thing. I won’t be able to describe it better than YouTube commenter Edward, who writes: How the Hell did they pack that much thrash into less than 2:00? This shit is KILLER!
* PUBLIC IMAGE LTD
Well, we’ve reached the headline slot for Sunday, and I’m in three minds at the moment. Yes, I really like their song Public Image and yes, the lead singer is Johnny Rotten, but PiL’s other stuff is a bit… laid back for my liking. Then again, I am just a dumb punk.
OR
* THE ADICTS
I don’t know too much about The Adicts, but they’ve cropped up a lot in a few punk documentaries I’ve watched and it seems like they one of the first punk bands out there, and that they were really influential. I really like their 70s, “simple but good” (I’m never going to be as good at reviewing as the YouTube commenters) sound, and Monkey’s vocals and iconic joker look really add a spooky edge to their music. I reckon they’re definitely worth a look.
OR
* THE VARUKERS
Being completely honest: if I hadn’t already seen The Varukers, they would take priority over PiL and The Adicts. The Varukers fall under the same category as Conflict and Discharge and their tracks are seriously quick and powerful: pretty much the opposite in hue to the other two headliners. Their track Another Religion Another War is massively underrated and Tell Us What We Wanna Hear (typo’d as Tell Us What We Wanna Wear on my (dad’s) Deadly Games 12”) is one of my favourite punk songs of all time, though they didn’t play it last time I saw them. Fuck knows which of these bands I’ll be seeing on Sunday night, but I won’t be mad either way.
In reality, I’m going to be much too drunk, ill and tired to see all of these bands, even though this is a shortened list. There’s a few bands I won’t be able to see due to unfortunate clashes, so I want to give them credit here:
PETER & THE TEST TUBE BABIES
CRISIS
MAU MAUS UK
HAGAR THE WOMB
It’s brilliant that there’s something like Rebellion going on in 2018, where I can see a shit ton of really good bands in one place. Remember kids: fuck teachers, fuck the police and fuck the Tories, because punk’s not fucking dead!!!!!!!!
REBELLION 2018 REVIEW
In my last post, I wrote out a detailed and “optimistically long” timetable for my first time at Rebellion Festival in 2018. I also forecast a couple things for the weekend: the first was that there was no way I was going to be able to see all the bands I wanted with just 15 minutes gaps between each, and the other was that everyone would be too old to pogo – and I was wrong both times. Most days I was looking for another band to see in those 15 minutes gaps – I planned to see 25 bands and ended up seeing 30 – and as it turns out, though the atmosphere at the front of gigs feels a lot more mellow than it probably was in the ’80s, the accumulated mass of a large bunch of overweight middle-aged punks does seem to add its own kind of lethality.
While my skill for reviewing gigs is certainly questionable, I do endeavour to be useful in some way. So, with all the new bands I mention, I credit them with a link to one of their tracks/albums, so you can have a proper listen. With (most of) the bands I already had planned to see, I’ve compiled a list of tracks they played live (and linked each one) so that if you fancy seeing them in the close future, you’ll know which songs you’re likely to hear. Of course, the songs on these lists are going to be limited to ones I actually know, and ones I actually remember hearing because come on, I was probably drunk and Rebellion was at least a couple weeks ago.
At the very least though (this is becoming quite a common phrase on my blog), even if you don’t read a word I’ve written: here is a list of great punk bands and a lot of links to great punk songs.
THURSDAY:
REVENGE OF THE PSYCHOTRONIC MAN (ARENA):
I wasn’t supposed to see this band, but after realising that if I spent any more time in the pub I probably would never leave, I thought that seeing a new band one hour ahead of my scheduled start wouldn’t be such a bad idea. And it was a really good start to the festival for me, even though I only caught the last few of their songs. A lot of stuff begins quite Slipknot-y and metallic, but asserts itself with a vicious amount of punky pace and great vocals I can best describe as “shouty”. Unfortunately though, most good things in my life are cruelly taken away from me and Revenge of the Psychotronic Man is no exception, as they mentioned that Rebellion was their second-to-last gig ever before they split up.
RIOT SQUAD (ARENA):
I promised to be positive in this review, so I’ll only briefly mention the reason I missed the first half of Riot Squad: after being told that Steve Ignorant of Crass was performing in the Opera House with his “project” Slice of Life, I filed into my seat quite enthusiastically. After about three minutes, I left my seat even more enthusiastically, and managed to catch some of Riot Squad. It was mad seeing them perform in front of 40x the amount of people they played to when I saw them in a pub a few weeks before, and they were just as riled, tight and brilliant.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
THE DRONES (OPERA HOUSE):
I have a lot of respect for The Drones for two reasons: the first is that they started their set with Lookalikes, meaning I could carry on to T.S.O.L. without missing my favourite song. The other reason is that I assumed that The Drones would be pretty soft in comparison to most of the bands I was seeing, but they looked like they’d [REDACTED – I thought that was funny when I was 20 but it probably isn’t appropriate]! Jesus man, they brought a lot of unexpectedly rough energy to their songs, and I really really enjoyed the twenty minutes I had with them. The only thing I missed in Lookalikes was the cool Mayhem-style riff throughout that really makes the track special – but there was only three of them so I think it was a physically impossible task. Regardless, I was really impressed, and I wish I could’ve seen the whole set.
T.S.O.L. (CLUB CASBAH):
I really didn’t know what to expect with T.S.O.L.: I knew there was something intangible about their deathrock Dance With Me (1981) album that blew me away, but I hadn’t listened to much of their other releases, and had no idea what Dance With Me was going to sound like 37 years on. When Jack Grisham appeared on stage looking like Guy Fieri, with his bleached hair spiked up, wearing an enormous red suit and singing like Axl fucking Rose, I felt like nothing else in the world could surprise me.
Even though the first half of their set was mainly songs I didn’t know from their other kind of typical-American-melodic-hardcore albums, I really was hooked: their drummer is particularly fantastic and reminds me a lot of Rat Scabies (drummer of The Damned), with all the time spent on the ride and the masses of snare/tom rolls (done in threes I think???), and Grisham’s vocals really made the ensemble into something so weird, but something so intriguingly good. On cue with my Damned comparison, they covered Politics from the The Damned’s Music For Pleasure (1977), albeit not their best album but one of the stronger tracks, and a pleasant surprise nonetheless.
The place really came alive, though, in the first few seconds of pounding toms in Sounds of Laughter (the opener to Dance With Me) and man, did it sound just like the album. The Triangle was pristinely spooky and the bass and lead guitar were just as vivid and lucid as when I’d first heard them on my stereo, and of course Code Blue was profanely quick and, well, profane. It made me wonder whether there was anybody at that gig seeing punk for the first time, and hearing at least a hundred of us at the front shouting “I wanna fuck, I wanna fuck the dead!” at the top of our voices… but anyway, T.S.O.L. was one of my favourite performances, and one I’m not going to forget.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
THEATRE OF HATE (OPERA HOUSE):
Another band off the itinerary and I don’t know why I made my way over to them, but I’m glad I did. I don’t even know what musical genre Theatre of Hate falls under (Wikipedia says post-punk/goth rock/new wave) but their eerie, primal sound, and Kirk Brandon’s truly striking vocals filled every square inch of the Opera House.
(NB: I’ve read back the rough descriptions I’d written of Thursday’s shows and found “saxophone!” scrawled next to “Theatre of Hate”. I don’t know what my point was, but it seemed that I really wanted to get across the fact that there was a saxophone on stage and seeing as I have no other context, this is the only way I can do that).
Looking at the running times now, I realise I could’ve seen up to 45 minutes of Theatre of Hate without missing any of the Buzzcocks. But, five pints of (not cheap!) cider had taken its toll on my mind and bladder, and I don’t remember seeing more than 20 minutes of them, but I’m definitely going to be taking time out to listen to a lot more of Theatre of Hate.
BUZZCOCKS (EMPRESS BALLROOM):
Jesus! Fucking! Christ! I don’t know why I had my doubts about the Buzzcocks live – I think I’d once heard something about them being “too old” – but their energy was flawless. They played one classic right after the other and everyone was going mental; everyone was shouting every single word to every song, the entire floor was bouncing (I thought this was really impressive at the time until I found out that Strictly Come Dancing is filmed in the Empress Ballroom, because of its sprung floor), and a very nice man told me I was really good at pogoing! Then they even came back on and played Harmony In My Head. Perfect end to the night.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
FRIDAY:
SICK ON THE BUS (EMPRESS BALLROOM):
I only caught the last few tracks of Sick on the Bus’ set, again at the fault of a member of Crass: Penny Rimbaud’s 90 minute, theatrical performance of a war poem wasn’t at the top of my agenda, but my dad said it would be interesting and while I agreed on that, I knew that ‘interesting’ does not equate to ‘entertaining’. A critic with an English degree and a braincell will give you a much better review of ‘Penny Rimbaud Performs What Passing Bells – The War Poem’, and while I do have an appreciation for the fine arts dwelling somewhere in my head, it was pushed right to the back of my mind by a more primal instinct, urging me towards more cider and more hardcore punk, so I jumped over my seat and said “fuck you dad, I’m going to see Sick on the Bus” (or words to that effect).
Sick on the Bus definitely satisfied that craving, and was also definitely more to the tune of ‘hardcore punk’ than the old bloke on stage ranting next to a girl with a cello. Everything was loud, substantial and aggressive, but whether it was at the fault of the sound engineer, the acoustics or if it’s just in the nature of hardcore punk, a good few of their songs sounded the same as each other – which is fine if you like one Sick on the Bus song, but it was more difficult to pick out your favourite tracks from the buzz. The singer was a laugh though, if you hold remarks like “we haven’t played this song before, so if we fuck it up, then… fuck you!” in high esteem (I do).
AGROTÓXICO (ARENA):
When my dad saw Agrotóxico on the line-up he said “great, sounds just like a South American hardcore thrash band” and while one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, one probably can judge a Brazilian hardcore punk band by its name. Similar in tones to Revenge of the Psychotronic Man, as well as whatever System of a Down would sound like on steroids and a lot of speed, Agrotóxico was hard, heavy, fast, and just about as intelligible as most English punk bands, even if all the words are in Portuguese.
VICIOUS CIRCLE (ARENA):
Drum roll please… The Vicious Circle that played was the Australian hardcore punk band, not the American thrash band! For some reason I don’t remember staying for very long, because I think my dad said he was bored… I think the acoustics of the Arena weren’t doing anyone any favours, and a lot of the hardcore tracks kinda blurred into one distorted drone. I just found an ace song by them though, so at least that’ll give them more credit than what I’ve said.
SUBHUMANS (EMPRESS BALLROOM):
Subhumans is a very good band on vinyl – their tracks are intricate, fast, vivid and powerful, and it’s hard to see how all of these factors could survive the studio-to-live translation. It’s also hard to wrap your head around how phenomenally well Subhumans performs live. Every single note played is electric, Dick’s vocals are full of vigorous conviction and Trotsky’s drumming grips every person in the room by the chest: the animation of each member’s playing elevates each track into an experience, rather than just a performance of a song. They were so good, that I won’t even complain about them never playing my favourites I Don’t Wanna Die and Reason For Existence. Just remember, kids: government! bullshit!
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
THE BOYS (EMPRESS BALLROOM):
Look, I never actually said I was going to be good at reviewing gigs. I was looking forward to seeing The Boys because I really liked their self-titled album, which sounds like 50% The Damned and 50% The Ramones. Unfortunately when me and my dad started down the steps into the Ballroom, The Boys were playing a particularly not great song, which made my dad stop in his tracks and say “what the fuck? Is this Donny Osmond?” – so there wasn’t much else to do except turn around and go back up the stairs to the exit. I wish I’d given them a bit more time, but to be honest, they did sound a bit too much like Donny Osmond.
THE RAMONAS (CLUB CASBAH):
I had low expectations of The Ramonas and I think the only reason I wandered in was because I left The Boys early. I don’t know where my doubts stemmed from, but The Ramonas wasn’t playing in the biggest room of the entire venue for nothing – they played like a machine, starting with about 6 songs consecutively before even introducing themselves and their stamina and execution was flawless. Yes, I know Ramones songs aren’t the hardest in the world to play, but they’re bloody difficult to cover convincingly and I think The Ramonas nailed it. They flew through all the classics, and there was a real sense of modesty with The Ramonas: the gig wasn’t about them on stage, but all about celebrating The Ramones, because you could just tell they loved every Ramones track they played.
I was standing on the sidelines for the first few tracks but when they started Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue, I knew I had to get in there. Then straight after, they played my favourite Ramones song ever, fucking Animal Boy!! I didn’t realise up until this point that I needed to hear these songs live, and there’s now no other band I would go to to hear them. Maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t play my second-favourite track Psycho Therapy or I might’ve lost my mind.
By the way, it’s definitely true that the best way to make a move on someone at a gig is by trying to push them over.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
(all links are Ramonas covers, except Animal Boy)
NOW I WANNA SNIFF SOME GLUE (I’m in the crowd somewhere on the right)
GBH (EMPRESS BALLROOM):
I don’t think GBH live could ever disappoint me, because the power of their tracks is always colossal even when they’re not pounding through several 6 foot high speakers. I didn’t have to wait long to hear my favourite tracks Lycanthropy and Generals: the energy in the room was crackling, and the combination of that and the huge amounts of speed was really, well, exhaustingly good. The first half an hour was gold, but I remember just standing around a bit towards the end – it was probably just because I was tired, but I seem to remember feeling like everything coming from the stage was beginning to buzz all around the large room into a nondescript wall of sound. No one’s fault there, and it’s only a compliment that GBH draws a crowd of 1000+ and needs to be in a big room. Any time they play a gig near me, I’m there.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
SICK BOY (which Colin introduced with “this one’s for Wattie”)
Friday night was by far the saddest night of Rebellion. Rumours had been going around that The Exploited had dropped out, and that Peter and the Test Tube Babies was filling in for them. I was knackered after GBH so I went out to get some food (chips, naturally) and by the time I’d sat down, I’d realised that I was supposed to rush over to the Pavilion after GBH to catch the last half hour of A-Heads! It really was one tragedy after the other. We went back to the hotel and even though I was supposed to go back and see Red Alert at 1am, I ended up in my bed somehow. Ah well, six bands out of nine ain’t bad.
SATURDAY:
Because Friday night’s bad luck just wasn’t enough, I got another shock when I looked at the line-up for Saturday morning and saw that my new favourite Serbian hardcore punk band, Vox Populi, had dropped out too! I’m not doing the lottery any time soon.
SPIDER (REBELLION INTRODUCING):
Spider got my attention from the moment I entered the venue, and by the time I got into the room and saw them on stage, they were definitely putting on a show: the singer was in a blazer, swinging the mic around and throwing t-shirts into the crowd (one of which I caught, impressing myself), and then the guitarist only went and smashed his guitar up at the end! And I mean he literally smashed it up! Their tracks were pretty decent too, and a dynamic and energetic performance like that can’t go uncredited.
RAW POWER (ARENA):
Another band that have certainly won the test of time because their performance was furious – I remember the pit looking that bit too vicious for me, so I kept out (until State Oppression of course). And for those worrying, the cowbell is still alive and well.
UK SUBS (EMPRESS BALLROOM):
I’ve learnt now that any performance by UK Subs is going to be bulletproof, all because their tracks are timeless, and will always sound like the first time you ever heard them. The first half of their set was slower in a Warhead and Down on the Farm kind of tempo, which worked really well, but of course, Teenage stirred the crowd like nothing else – Teenage was the first song I ever pogoed to, and it certainly wasn’t going to be the last. If only they played C.I.D.! We were all chanting it too. Can’t win ’em all, I suppose.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
ANTISECT (PAVILION):
It’s not that I don’t enjoy and respect Oi! Punk, but walking into the Pavilion after seeing the Cockney Rejects (I was supposed to write a section on them, but I thought it’d be as insulting as it was a waste of everyone’s time. I only remember two things about their gig: one was shouting flares and slippers! as loud as I possibly could, and the other was hearing the singer introduce one of the band members with “he’s finally served his 20 year prison sentence and now he’s back here playing for us”), and hearing Antisect’s deep, dirty, heavy sound shake the room, made me realise that what I’d been missing the whole weekend: some really good crust-punk.
I only had about 15 minutes with Antisect before Discharge came on in the Club Casbah, so my plan was to just stand at the side and listen. No fucking chance! Their earthquake of noise was irresistible even before they started playing their Out From The Void EP, so off to the front I popped. Antisect was actually the only band I ended up seeing in the Pavilion and I really liked the sound in there: the roundness of the room enveloped you with the grind of the low electric, and Antisect’s stomping, assured pace worked perfectly with it. Antisect was fantastic, but there’s only one band that could make me leave that room early… and that’s Discharge.
DISCHARGE (CLUB CASBAH):
Now, Discharge had a lot to live up to. Antisect had just given me a great performance, and in my head, I couldn’t foresee anything topping the first time I saw Discharge last year in a small, dingy and packed-out room. The Club Casbah is fucking huge, so I was sceptical and tired, on my own, four pints deep and needed a wee. Before I knew that Discharge was actually about to give one of my favourite performances of Rebellion, I was on my way to the bathroom (I apologise for over-sharing my toilet habits but I’m trying to give you the full experience) when I heard the first few notes of Fight Back, so I legged it through a thousand people until I was standing, in awe, in front of this huge, flashing, raging machine. I can honestly mainly remember the gig in emotions, because their racing, ageless power awakened every inch of adrenaline in me, to the point where I felt like an animal – which I hope justifies the way I was literally screaming “aint no feeble bastard no fucking scapegoat” so loudly I could hear my own voice. I certainly didn’t win any points for looking sane, but I came out of that gig more exhilarated than I’d been for months, which is a lot more important.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS (EMPRESS BALLROOM):
The excitement of Antisect and Discharge had taken its toll on my stamina – which had been working against the laws of physics for the last two days – meaning that unfortunately for both of us, I was practically exhausted by the time Stiff Little Fingers came on. And that meant that I spent most of the gig concentrating on not falling asleep, instead of being in the due amount of awe over one of the best punk bands in the world, though I do remember that Jake Burns sounded terrific. For what it’s worth, I also remember feeling this warmth (yes it was sweaty but I’m trying to make a sentimental point) during the classics Tin Soldiers and Barbed Wire Love, because you could see the affection from the crowd as they chanted every single word of each track. In my weird, tired and tender state I probably would have started crying if they played Bloody Sunday, which is never ideal at a punk gig, so instead I expended the last drops of fuel in my Pogo-Tank and ran to the front for Suspect Device and Alternative Ulster. I definitely slept well that night.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
SUNDAY
BATALLION OF SAINTS (ARENA):
Sunday morning was one full of decisions. The first was whether or not we should get up “early” to get to the venue for Bingo With Max Splodge at 12:30pm (that’s why I put “early” in inverted commas). We did go (mainly because I told my mum that I was going to play bingo with Max Splodge and she texted back “what? is that a joke?”), and so the second decision of the day was whether or not we should start drinking at said early-afternoon bingo session. We didn’t, so I only had half a pint of Pepsi to accompany me and my poor efforts to keep up with the bingo game, which was more difficult than I imagined – particularly as Max Splodge was actually already drunk and making up the numbers he called, calling the same one twice, making the occasional joke about vaginas and finally asking “if anyone was close”, so that he could call out the numbers they needed so they could win and he could go and have another pint. To be honest, I don’t even know who the fuck Max Splodge is, but I do know that apparently he spent a night on my dad’s carpet at one point. My dad woke up and saw him, and instead of saying “what are you doing in my house”, he exclaimed “you’re wearing eyeliner!”.
Anyway. Battalion of Saints was a great discovery to me, because they sound just like two exceptionally good bands in one: Discharge and Raw Power. The singer was ace too – somewhere in the mass of sweaty black hair were the most astonishing vocals of the weekend, and their tracks were really strong. I think I should start every afternoon with some very fast hardcore punk.
THE SEX PISTOLS EXPERIENCE (THE TACHE):
As with The Ramonas, hearing a Sex Pistols track live right in front of me made me realise what I’d been missing all this time. The band was brilliant, because they didn’t play like a tribute band, or the connotations I had of a “tribute band” in my head: they weren’t live karaoke, but they were every ounce of energy burned onto vinyl over forty years ago in physical form, and none of the loud and proud, full throttle ferocity was lost in the conversion. Johnny Rotter must have called me a cunt at least twelve times, but I still think I prefer him to the actual Johnny Rotten, who was going to NOT play any Pistols tracks six hours from then with PiL, for probably one hundred times the amount of money. The clue’s in the name: this band will give you The Sex Pistols Experience, and nothing less.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
(Sex Pistols originals)
CRISIS (OPERA HOUSE):
Although I could only stay for a couple songs for a very sad reason I’ll explain shortly, I really want to mention Crisis’ gig because I really enjoyed them. As with Theatre of Hate, Crisis carries a lot of dark, gloomy tones that do really well in the Opera House, because of how the sound swells as it travels around the large room. Their steadier pace made the most of their cool, Joy-Division style tracks which I would have happily let wash over me for the next hour, but instead I rushed over to the Club Casbah, full of enthusiasm and naïvety, to get a good place for MDC.
MDC (CLUB CASBAH):
Oh man oh man oh man… I’ve really tried to think of lots of excuses for MDC’s shockingly bad gig. Did they forget to do sound check? Had one of the speakers blown? Did they forget to plug their guitars in? Had I lost 80% of my hearing? I don’t think any of these were the case, unfortunately, so that means MDC’s patchy, bland performance was all down to a complete lack of attack behind every member’s playing (except the drummer, but I don’t know if it’s actually possible to play punk drumming ‘with no attack’). MDC spent the first 20 minutes playing a load of their new songs that no one knew, and the only reason I stayed long enough to know that was because I just needed to hear one song I knew; then, just maybe, all the disappointment I was hearing would evaporate into a cloud of smoke, and then the real MDC would come on stage, beat everyone up and play Corporate Deathburger. I thought my dreams were becoming a reality when I heard the introduction of Corporate Deathburger so I yelled out in triumph and even got into the pit, but when I opened my eyes again, all I saw was Dave Dictor delivering his vocal with as much violent intensity as a pacifistic slug. So I left instead, defeated. I really did try.
ADOLESCENTS (CLUB CASBAH):
After MDC, I thought all American hardcore punk was ruined for me forever. And how many Adolescents songs did I even know? About three, all from the same album (Adolescents (1981)), which I’d bought a week earlier. I didn’t think I could face walking back into the Cursed Club Casbah again either, but after a hearty tea (a turkey salad sandwich and a pint of Strongbow) I summoned my strengths and said to my dad “I’m going to see the Adolescents, they might be shit but I’m just having a look”. I really hoped the sound man had remembered to plug the guitars in this time.
So yes, sometimes I am wrong about things. I certainly didn’t think that the Adolescents would give me the best performance of Rebellion. It was hard to process how perfect the drumming was, how every electrical note was crisp, clean and coloured and how Tony Cadena’s frontmanship was so intense, to the point where it was moving: Cadena dedicated a few minutes mid-set to the late Steve Soto – former bassist of the band – and the way he carried all his emotion, but used all his strength to keep it from overflowing almost made me cry in the fucking pit. I was this invested in the band by this point, and I only knew three songs! They didn’t even play I Hate Children!
One more thing, ladies and gentlemen. In my last post, I said I didn’t like Amoeba and even insinuated that it was quite crap. I hereby admit that I am a nob, because when the Adolescents played Amoeba live, I felt my soul leave my body, and enter Pogo Heaven.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
THE ADICTS (CLUB CASBAH):
The Sunday Headline Slot Dilemma had been sitting on my shoulders for the entire Rebellion weekend. So who was it to be, Public Image Ltd., The Varukers, or The Adicts? It’s funny how easy it is to make a decision when you’ve had a few: I kind of just followed the sacred cider stream of destiny into the Club Casbah for The Adicts, and from now on I’m going to trust my liver in all situations, because I can’t imagine a better end to Rebellion.
The first song I heard when I walked into the room was Joker In The Pack, so I thought “fuck, I can’t miss half the songs I know” and sprinted and pushed my way to the front, annoying loads of people standing around holding pints. When I got into the middle and looked around, I felt like I was in the middle of a birthday party with all the confetti cannons, inflatable beach balls and streamers flying around – The Adicts really aren’t nicknamed the “showmen of punk” for nothing. The performance they gave was nothing like I’ve ever seen, and when I say that everyone was singing along, I mean everyone, and you could tell that we were all pulling out the stops for the last show of Rebellion. I certainly did anyway, because I’d been dreaming of crowd surfing all weekend and decided that the Adicts’ finishing track,Viva La Revolution, was the best time and place to do it. It wasn’t particularly comfortable and I accidentally booted a good few people in the head (sorry) but for a band I initially didn’t care about seeing, The Adicts definitely made Sunday night special.
SONGS YOU’LL (PROBABLY) HEAR LIVE:
My expectations of Rebellion were exceeded in pretty much every way (as long as I don’t think about MDC too much), and I’m counting down the days until Rebellion 2019. Again, it’s brilliant to see that there’s a time and place for punks all across the world to see everyone’s favourite bands, and I was really surprised to see how brilliantly the whole weekend was managed: at the punk gigs I go to, everyone overruns by half an hour at least but at Rebellion, each and every band began and ended on the dot, exactly as it was written in the programme. There were hardly any queues to the bar and I don’t think security had to beat up anyone, even though a good few punks were throwing up Buckfast at the entrance. But most importantly, every gig I attended proved to me that none of these bands were “past it” and that everyone really believed in punk, maybe more than they have done in a while.
UNDERLOVED PUNK TRACKS
Oh, look. It’s just another one of those brainless articles that offer nothing of intellectual value, but just link a load of YouTube videos and hope that they do most of the talking. And you know what? You might be right, but what else do you want from me with my limited time frame? With going to work, going to the pub and writing this blog as my main responsibilities, you have to let me fit going to university in somewhere!
Even if it might look like I put this together in a hungover flurry, I’ve actually discovered these ten tracks myself over the years through B-sides, punk books, compilations, festival line-ups… and sometimes, spelling mistakes when searching up a different song. Would you have been more impressed if I’d put “(hand-picked)” in the title? There’s a good range here, and I think they’re fucking ace and deserve a lot more credit.
You say it’s lazy writing, I say, fuck you!
STENCH – ADOPTION
Boasting 121 views on YouTube (and at least 80 of them were definitely from me), Stench’s Adoption offers you two chords, a verse about paedophiles and a distortion so disgusting you feel like you’re gonna catch some kind of disease from it. The holy trinity come to life, I think. Pretty much everyone on earth disagrees with me of course – but what Ian Glasper in Burning Britain describes as “musically poor” is, to me, and hopefully to you, a diamond in the rough.
THE BOYS – TONIGHT
As one of the first punk bands about back in 1976, The Boys are poised with a pure punk rock fullness that should see them among the big-name punk pioneering giants. Just like the rest of their debut (The Boys 1977), Tonight is assured in its slick rock and roll tones, showing off this weird kind of ‘neatly rowdy’ charm you can only really find amongst first-gen punk. A great track you can drum along to on the table – while annoying everyone sitting at it, of course.
THE VARUKERS – TELL US WHAT WE ALL WANNA HEAR
Sitting at the bottom of Another Religion Another War (1984)’s Side A, Tell Us What We All Wanna Hear (typo-d as Tell Us What We Wanna Wear on my (dad’s) 12”) really caught me by surprise after a good 20 minutes of The Varukers’ quick metallic gloom – the kick and snare ignites a glucose rush of pace, as the electric guitars, fizzing and distorted, pound down steadily in their declines and inclines… I must’ve put this fucker on repeat about 5 times when I first heard it! Tell Us What We All Wanna Hear is The Varukers’ top track in my book.
A-HEADS – DYING MAN
This one’ll probably be in your head all night. Dying Man sports a great catchy tune and is a lot less depressing than it sounds with its bouncing pace and electric guitars chugging like a train, but Mel’s vocal inks the track with a haunting, melancholic edge. That discordance, set against Dying Man‘s vivid energy, gives you goosebumps as you listen.
T.D.A. – T.D.A.
So T.D.A. (whatever that means) released a self-titled track (uhhhh) and judging by my criteria, it’s a fucking great song: whatever starts off as a drone of feedback which builds up into a wall of distortion, a big snare roll and a load of rants and chants about the police, “having a wank” then “having a fight” is a 10/10 for me. There’s a lot of muscle behind this track in the tribal drumming and harsh vocals, so it’s a good one to get you out of bed on a Monday morning. T.D.A.!!
THE DRONES – LOOKALIKES
As with The Boys, The Drones was one of the original punk bands back in ’76, and their track Lookalikes is a classic punk staple. It’s as neat and bright as The Undertones, but peppered with a nice bit of first-gen punky crudity, gearing you up (well, as least me) for a pogo-thon. So, Lookalikes is a great place to start with punk – as a step onto harder stuff, or, for me, just a good place to rest my ears for a bit.
THE MISFITS – SPINAL REMAINS
Yes, I know that it seems pretty moronic to include a band as big as The Misfits on an “underloved punk tracks” list. But, while Spinal Remains was written and recorded in 1978 for The Misfits’ debut Static Age, this darkened, grungy piece of perfection didn’t hit the shelves until 1996 – 18 years later – because no record label wanted to release it! When you play Spinal Remains, the speakers grind and the room fills with nuclear soup: and the rest of the debut is as beautifully noxious as that fucking awful metaphor. Static Age is the best of The Misfits, and I think they’d be known as a different band if their debut was signed by a label and released back in the 70s.
THE EJECTED – I DON'T CARE
I’ve played this song so many times I’m surprised that 1) my single hasn’t turned to dust, and 2) my DNA still spells AGTC and not OIOI. I Don’t Care is punk done right: a beefy bassline, quick chord changes, drumming that does pretty much the exact same thing throughout the whole song and of course, some brutish vocals spelling out some pretty stupid lyrics. I know I’m spending the next three years of my life studying romantic poetry at university but deep down, I’ll always know that “I just wanna spend the night puking up on you” resides closest to my heart.
AHEADS – CAT'S EYE
This German band is massively under-loved because they’ve pulled off a feat a lot of bands struggle to match: coming out with a flawless album, AHEADS, in 1981… and also because no one (in the UK at least) knows who the fuck they are, unfortunately. I described Aheads more recently in a Single of the Week, talking about their dichotomy between a light and bright, whippy tempo and tune working well with a lot of dark, iron discordance, and Cat’s Eye shows this in action.
DEAD KENNEDYS – STRAIGHT A'S
Again, I know Dead Kennedys is a big band for an ‘under-loved’ list (I’m not THAT clueless), but Straight A’s is one of my favourite tracks, and it’s only ever been released as a live recording on Side B of Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death (1987) – a compilation album released after the band broke up. As it’s pretty much impossible to describe a Dead Kennedys song properly (but I always try anyway), you can only listen to understand what I mean by Straight A’s’ live, electric rawness in its bawdy, cartoon-ish tempo. I don’t normally talk much about lyrics either (this blog is an escape for me from literary analysis), but Straight A’s story about a kid cracking under pressure to do well at school (“I look so big on paper, I feel so fucking small”) is jarringly dismal compared to all its gaudy energy: you can hear frontman Jello Biafra’s voice swing and flail around the stage, and at the end of the track East Bay Ray’s sour riff and Ted’s careful drumming rear backward into turmoil. This is punk that makes you feel a million things at once.
So there it is, fuckers, hope you learned a thing or two. You can tell by this list that punk encouraged a lot of kids to get up and have a crack at writing a song, and a good few succeeded – even if it was only once, and even if only people as tone deaf as me find their song listenable!
SOME GIG REVIEWS
So everyone, since we’ve been so considerately offered this period of reflection at the beginning of a new decade, I thought I’d look back on some gigs I’ve been to in the last four years. This idea is half inspired by my aunt who recently showed me a notebook full of her old gig tickets with little notes next to them, and half inspired by my own incompetency. I looked at my Rebellion Review from 2018, and while I have some admiration for my intent to actually properly review the bands I saw towards the start of it, the review noticeably sloped into more of a story of me telling you about how drunk I got at these gigs and the funny/stupid things I did. Don’t worry, I’m in my early 20s and I’m pretty sure alcohol abuse doesn’t become an alcohol ‘problem’ until you’re about 30, so hopefully these stories shouldn’t make you uncomfortable. So, I realised that I’m better at writing stupid stories than reviews, but I do try and do a bit of both here. I didn’t record much during the gigs mentioned here because my old phone was about as effective as a camcorder as a piece of cheese, but whatever I can find I’ll make sure to include. Even if you don’t want to read anything, I’ve included YouTube links for all the bands so you can check them out if you have nothing better to do.
You’ll notice that it takes me a bit of time to get to the punk gigs, and that’s because I didn’t really know what was on around me at the time and I didn’t really have anyone to go with. But soon enough I start going to them on my own, or my brilliant mates are obliging enough to come with me if it means going somewhere and drinking beer. I haven’t included every gig here because some of them were boring, shit, or I just couldn’t remember it: I’ve had to piece together stuff from 2016 and 2017 with some old tickets I found, some photos and some awful flashbacks, like me being sick in the back of a taxi and getting charged fifty quid after seeing The Beat. Some bands I end up seeing again like Alestorm and The Damned, so if it seems like I’ve skimmed over them, I’ll make sure to colour them in more lovingly in the next part. Oh yeah, I thought it’d be best to split this up into parts otherwise this would be long as fuck and no one would read it, so these are the gigs I went to in 2016-20.
20/02/16: FAT WHITE FAMILY @ O2 INSTITUTE
Ah, the most pointless time of anyone’s life… 2 days before your 18th birthday. Unfortunately for me, the bottle of Echo Falls I was drinking in the queue (well, the 3/4s I drank before I got told off by security) didn’t do much in the ways of getting me intoxicated. For that reason, I can’t tell you much of a funny story about me doing anything stupid, because even if I looked older than 15 at the time I definitely couldn’t afford any of the drinks at the bar. So I think I just stood at the barrier and was soberly squished for an hour or so, while the singer shrieked at us and writhed across the stage. I’m definitely not complaining; they’re an ace band to hear live, especially in a small room, because the band do well to fill the space with their weird dark intensity. I suppose there’s something a bit incongruent about Fat White Family’s energy because it’s sort of twisted and grim, yet pretty vivid and lively, like a dead man walking. Or maybe that’s something to do with taking loads and loads of drugs.
28/02/16: ALESTORM & SABATON @ 02 ACADEMY
??/07/16: BASEMENT @ SLADE ROOMS
??/??/16: THE BEAT @ RAINBOW WAREHOUSE
Right, unfortunately I have no idea when this gig was, so I’m having to use the powers of deduction to work it out. I know it was a while ago, and that it probably wasn’t long after I turned 18 because on this day, at some point in 2016, I learned the hard way the hard lesson about mixing your drinks all night. It was probably close to summer because I was wearing my leather jacket, and I remember that because I got sick on it. And I remember getting sick on it because I remember getting into a taxi after buying some salt and vinegar crisps, then throwing up all over the backseat and getting charged 50 quid. So, unfortunately I can’t remember much about the gig, except the bouncers tapped everyone’s boots to check if there were steel caps in the toes, which I thought was weird. I know the band were great and I’ve been wanting to see them again for a long while, so that I could see them sober and actually remember some of it (the magic formula). Unfortunately, Ranking Rodger died last March, which is pretty upsetting, so this expensive, vomit-stained night is all I have to remember them by. R.I.P. x
??/10/16: ALIEN ANT FARM @ SLADE ROOMS
This is the second time I saw Alien Ant Farm live: the first time was at some point in January 2016 and unfortunately nothing very interesting happened that night so I didn’t write about it. In fact, nothing particularly interesting happened at this gig either, but I wanted to complain about these three boys I met in the crowd so I’m going to write about it anyway. First, though, I should give credit where credit is due to Alien Ant Farm, because they really are an ace band. Their ANThology album is masterful, and their most famous songs don’t do them credit. They did however, in this tiny packed room in Wolverhampton, do credit to my favourites of the album Stranded, Summer and Attitude – the bass-heavy, Deftones-style blanket of noise made its way to my soul and back out again from each song’s beginning to their ending. And fuck me, that drummer must be related to God somehow. Anyway, I think I’ve sort of forgotten how those boys annoyed me. I think one of them played the ‘I’m middle class but I feel guilty about it so I’m going to say “you sound posh” to try and reflect the fact that I’m actually posh’ card on me, then after the gig he waited for his mum to drive from fucking DERBY to pick him up and take him home! Wanker!!! Meanwhile I got the last train on my own (during killer clown season might I add) to Smethwick like the posh cunt I am.
??/11/16: THE DAMNED @ WULFRUN HALL
This is gonna be one of the last of the gig reviews I write which actually reviews the band to any extent, so don’t get used to it. That’s because I wasn’t very drunk this night, and I was with my mum. I remember the gig being in November 2016 cause it was The Damned’s 40th Anniversary concert and it was also the most I’ve ever spent on a ticket (and probably will ever spend). I think everyone was caught off guard by that because I heard loads of old blokes going “£30 to see The Damned? Everyone clapping after every song? Back in my day we just spat on them”.
Nevertheless, The Damned were playing (sort of) near me and I’d just started to get into them and really wanted to see them. And from what I remember they were pretty good – they definitely sound like they’re comfortable in big venues, and their huge weird opulent gothic dark riotous and colourful sound does well to fill the large rooms. Vanian’s smooth crooning is also something that ages well so they’re always gonna be a good band to see live, even forty years after their first single. I think they played for fucking ages. There’s a fair chance they played something from every album, because there were a load of songs I didn’t know although I hadn’t really attempted to listen to much past The Black Album at that point (and still haven’t and probably never will, to be honest).
Anyway, they played Anti-Pope at some point and that was my cue to say sorry mum can you hold my massive coat (cloakroom was shut) and my pint because I really have to pogo to this song, which I did. We had to leave early to catch the train but don’t worry, a couple years later I’d go and see The Damned and do a lot more pogoing and a lot more almost getting crushed to death by 60 year old fat men.
??/12/16: UK SUBS @ THE FLAPPER
And here it finally is folks, my first little punk gig with my mates. The reason it took this long is 95% because I thought no one who I knew in their right mind would spend money they didn’t have to go and see a 40 year old band they didn’t know with me in a shithole pub somewhere, and 5% because I didn’t even bother asking them. But this time I heard the UK Subs were playing at The Flapper, which was mine and my mates’ favourite pub ever, so I managed to convince two of them to come to the gig: Harry, who will always be relied on to go out somewhere with you as long as there’s beer involved and Ben, who… well I have no idea why he came with us because he’s older than us and has a lot more going for him in life, but I’m glad he came anyway. The rest of my mates, Sam Kelly and Kayleigh, got drunk in the smoking area waiting for us (for moral support: I’m always and forever very grateful to them and the loving image of those three together in a smoking area is one I’ll always cherish). Anyway, I really really enjoyed The Subs and they were a perfect first gig. All of their tracks are pogo anthems and even if you only know a couple of their songs you’ll definitely enjoy the rest, because they’re all really easy listens and carry this infectious energy. Pretty much everyone I know who’s into punk has seen The Subs at least three times, which just goes to show how much of a punk staple they are. Long live Charlie Harper!
30/12/16: GBH @ THE FLAPPER
Remember this date – because if you’ve ever met me in real life, I’ve probably told you about the dilemma of a lifetime I faced on this fateful night, three and a half years ago. So I woke up at around 10am in the morning, painfully hungover with no idea what was going on (that would be another story but I can’t remember what I did the night before), when I realised I had to be in bloody Stourbridge (12 miles from me!!) in an hour and a half to meet up with my drama group about our performance (I think we’re now all glad that these days are far behind us in the past). So I tore myself out of bed to get the train, managed to get it without throwing up or spontaneously combusting, and made it to the Wetherspoons (Stourbridge’s place of meeting). I may have been on time, but unfortunately I felt a lot like my head wasn’t attached to my body, and felt like it was spinning off, flying above everyone eating their chips in the pub out into the horizon. I probably wasn’t contributing much to this meeting.
There was hope though – something that would have helped me out immensely here, was food. I looked in my purse, and found I had £15 to my name. Now, £15 in a Wetherspoons in Stourbridge is probably enough to cater for The Last Supper, but I had two ideas about how to spend this money. After deliberating on the two for quite some time, I stood up from the table, walked to the bar, walked past the bar, walked out of the pub and into an offie opposite and bought a ten pack of fags. Then I sat back at the table starving (I did ask the bartender for some tap water and he made a joke about them being all out of tap water but I was so hungover that I didn’t get it) then that evening went to The Flapper and paid on the door with my last tenner to see GBH. I reckon it was a pretty good decision. GBH were fucking ace, I fell over in the pit about 6 times, and my ears rang afterwards for three weeks. THREE WEEKS!! I think that was because, during the half-an-hour encore the mad bastards did, I was exhausted but still wanted to stand at the front. So I stood for a while in this lovely empty space close to the stage that everyone else with common sense had vacated, because of the enormously loud 8 foot speaker that had been blaring the colossal noise of GBH into it for the last hour and a half. It was with no regrets I entered 2017 (after a day’s recovery), skint, bruised and deaf.
01/02/17: DOYLE @ MAMA ROUX’S
As you probably won’t be surprised to find out, on this night, I saw Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein in real life. Doyle!!!! From the fucking Misfits!!!! In real life???? It’s been three years and as I’m writing this I’ve seen Doyle three times in total and I still can’t believe he’s actually been in the same room as me. Even looking at him in the flesh at the time was a weird experience, you gotta rub your eyes a couple times to double check that he’s an actual real person, not a giant (he’s fucking tall!) mutant Halloween-edition Ken doll stomping around a tiny stage in a shit venue in Digbeth, Birmingham.
Before I sound any more insulting, I should address the elephant in the room. Is Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein of The Misfits’ own band shit? Although I will admit that initially 95% of my eagerness to go to the gig was Misfits-inspired, the answer is no!!!! Doyle has got a pretty fucking good band going for him. Their music isn’t a sad imitation of the Misfits – actually it’s nowhere close to that. Their sound is heavier, steadier and more metallic than the Misfits, but they still pack in all the punk vigour, pace and horror into their powerful tracks. The entire band put on a pretty extraordinary performance too: Doyle is obviously Doyle (he’s ace on guitar, although watching him play puts you on edge a bit because his guitar looks like it might snap in his massive grasp at any moment), Alex Story is very intense and probably fairly insane but it’s entertaining watching him writhe around and fall into the audience while still singing well nonetheless.
I realise it must be annoying having your own really good band but having people only turn up to hear songs from another band you were in decades ago. But me and the 40ish other people in this room might have been the luckiest people on the planet on this night, because Doyle played nine Misfits tracks!!! This gig is definitely in my top three of all time, it was ace screaming the words (well trying to but I never really know what Glenn Danzig is saying) to Queen Wasp and Last Caress along with the bassist Brandon Strate who looked like was having as brilliant a time as I was, and seeing Brandon Pertzborn on drums was a blessing, that kid is a fucking machine. But most importantly, Doyle’s band is a really good listen. My favourite track is probably Headhunter but I recommend you to listen to their entire Abominator album, you won’t regret it.
28/04/17: DISCHARGE & ANTISECT @ CASTLE & FALCON
We’ve reached a milestone in my life now: the time I fell in love with crust punk. What was my life before it, other than meaningless? This has to be another one of my favourite gigs of all time. Fucking loads of people turned up, the place was rammed and really sweaty, and I witnessed the half disgusting half brilliant moment of a bloke headbanging in front of me, accidentally (I think anyway) dipping his mohican into my pint of cider, whipping it out in front of him in a golden stream then back into my face again. I think this was the first time I’d heard Antisect and I was really really impressed with the gut-level power at a steadier pace (still not particularly slow but not what I was used to). I couldn’t wait to see Discharge though, because I’d dug out my Dad’s WHY? E.P. about a month or two before this gig and I was looking forward to hearing nuclear Armageddon, live in front of me, in Balsall Heath. Obviously they were fucking brilliant – the vocals were really strong and gritty and the pace was insane, and you could feel the adrenaline in the room like it was static electricity. Got a good few bruises to show for it too but of course everyone was pretty nice at the front, especially this funny bloke who gave me an impressive hard push out of nowhere, and when I turned around he genuinely looked apologetic said “oo sorry I didn’t know you were a girl!”.
29/04/17: SUBHUMANS @ CASTLE & FALCON
Yep, I’m pretty sure this gig was on in the exact same place only a day (maybe two, definitely less than three) after the Discharge gig. Unfortunately that meant that 65% of the clientele who should have attended the Subhumans gig were still having a rest, so there were far less people around than there should have been (don’t worry though, I saw the Subhumans again at Rebellion Fest in 2018 and the massive room was absolutely packed with probably about 1000 people, so they usually still draw the crowd they deserve). The Day The Country Died is the first record I ever bought and it’s always gonna be one of my favourites, because every track is as stark and quick and as well-played as all the others. I’m going to have to steal a description of Subhumans live off myself from two years ago in my Rebellion Review (my circumstances at this moment in 2020 aren’t exactly inspiring much creativity) but everyone in the band performs with such conviction, it feels electric. The performed tracks live sound really just like they did when they were burnt onto plastic decades ago. It was a really enjoyable gig, even though this is the night I found out that dancing at the front with only about four other kids your age and a 40 year old bloke who must have been on speed is a bit more of an intense than with a normal crowd. I think I forgot what age I was, and that I wasn’t a weird 64 year old bloke, when I awkwardly patted Dick Lucas on the back as he came off stage into the crowd and uncertainly said “well done mate”. He was really nice about it though. If you haven’t heard Subhumans before, their tracks are really full and fleshed-out but still straight to the point. They’re a pretty intricate and clever band yet you can still hear the beat of anarchy strong in them, they’re a really easy listen but definitely not two-dimensional. They’re one of the best punk bands about, definitely in my top three, and a really good gig. Recommend listening to all of The Day The Country Died to get a good flavour of them.
??/05/17: ABRASIVE WHEELS @ THE FLAPPER
I can’t offer you much with this one unfortunately, because I only just remembered it happened about a minute before I was about to finish writing this and upload it. This was another situation where I would go to The Flapper with my mates and they’d chain smoke as I went into the venue bit to see a band (don’t know what I would do without them, lovely bastards). The most I remember about this gig is getting headbutted really hard in the face, and that there were barely any people in the room. I dunno if it was just a bad gig or something, but everything felt a bit lacklustre that night. I’m pretty sure they played most of their tracks off When The Punks Come Marching In and I’ve had a nice nostalgic time listening to that album now at least. Their tracks are really catchy, fast and fun to listen to. I’d really like to see them again properly this time.
I’d forgotten about this song for fucking ages!! It’s brilliant. I’m fucked off with 2020 myself.
2?/06/17: DEAD KENNEDYS @ O2 ACADEMY
20/10/17: ROTUNDA & THE VARUKERS @ THE FLAPPER
A big shout out to my mates Jake and Harry for keeping me company and seeing these great Birmingham bands with me, and of course to beer that persuaded them to. I started listening to The Varukers roundabout the same time I first heard Discharge, and was hooked by how fast they were (always a compliment in my book) and their crusty dingy sound. Rotunda supported and they’re an ace band, they play loads quick and catchy tracks and they’re great to catch live. The room was rammed for the Varukers and it was a great show. I fell on the floor about four times and was exhausted by the end of it, which goes to show how much energy they still pack into a performance.
Writing about this has seemingly unearthed a forgotten passion I have for the Varukers so I’ll briefly talk you through my favourite tracks. Like Another Religion Another War, No Escape is effortlessly powerful, and I think there’s something great about the EP’s production which makes all the distortion and cymbals massive but somehow still crisp at the same time.
Here’s Rotunda, probably my favourite song.
So here’s what I’ve got for 2016-2020. It’s been nice to look back on all the great bands I’ve managed to see, and sort of sad at the same time, especially given the amount of gigs I got to see at The Flapper which has been permanently closed down now. I know for a fact that in 2018 and 2019 I have some good stories, because this is when I finally worked out how to be really drunk without losing control of my legs and consciousness. Given that there’s not much going on in the way of gigs at the moment, I’m gonna have to live vicariously through the memories of the last four years…