Label Of the week – Alternative Tentacles

One could easily be forgive for forgetting about a record label that has been releasing classic albums for nearly 40 years. it’s a sign of todays mobile world. We no longer need to rely on a labels good name for records to listen to. Alternative Tentacles started in 1979 and since then it’s roster has included (wait for it), Alice Donut, Citizen Fish, Leftover Crack, Noam Chomsky, Pansy Division, Unsane, Butthole Surfers, DOA, Nomenasno, Neurosis, Victims Family and of course Jello Biafra and his various music associates including the Dead kennedys.

They have been releasing records since California Uber Alles was unleashed amongst a legion of punks. It is almost impossible to get a list of releases as there has been cd’s, 7″‘s, digital releases and t-shirts all seem to have catalogue numbers. I can safely guess at around 400 releases. 400 picks of rockin’ hardcore and off kilter country tunes designed to educate a nation and overthrow the machinations.

When Crucifucks were singing about Wisconsin or the Beatnigs telling us that Television was the Drug of the Nation alternative tentacles were shouting from the rooftops.

After the Dead Kennedys gave us Frankenchrist the label started to run into trouble due to the amount of attention PMRC were putting. I contacted the label in the UK to see if Irish Punks could help out with No More Censorhip Defense Fund. We put a gig on, showed solidarity in the way the label have been showing since.

It isn’t just a label for punk rock and up front hardcore there is alternative twang of Evan Johns and Eugene Chadbourne or the rockabilly blues style of more recent visitors to Ireland, the Legendary Shack Shakers

It is still releasing records, bringing out podcasts and finding new ways to encourage subversion. Jello is still playing music and releasing records, Winston Smith is still producing art and the label still flourishes

niallhope

Jello Biafra and John Lydon…the punk jesters.

The punk jesters

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine came to Dublin this week and they entertained a large and receptive crowd in the Button Factory. When I say ‘they came to Dublin’ I actually mean that some promoter brought them over and make it happen….in this case, as Jello acknowledged from the stage, the promoter was one Timmo, or Paul Timmony. Jello explained to the crowd that Timmo was the only person who ever promoted shows for him in Dublin.

In which case, Dublin has a lot to thank Timmo for, Jello Biafra is one of the most articulate, thought-provoking and interesting characters from the early US punk/hardcore movement. Yet with the Dead Kennedys he always seemed to stand apart from that movement…if he was one of its leaders, he was also one of its innovators and most unorthodox figures. Maybe people like that are what stopped punk becoming so (or more) formulaic and standardised, even when commercial forces seemed to drag it in the direction of a generic identikit market segment.

So we have a lot to be grateful for to promoters like Timmo and acts like Jello B.

Seeing Jello with, what was a really cracking band, in Dublin, also brought home how funny he is. Onstage, he was almost a cartoon character, which rather than make his words feel like gimmicks, or his points silly, actually made his message sink deeper. He runaround actions drew me in, made me pay close attention…and made me smile. He would probably have been an excellent stage actor..although probably one who would not be constrained by a script. I can imagine: “To be or not to be…..hey, why don’t we think about that for a moment!”

So he is a Merry Prankster, making serious points and making us laugh by ridiculing situations and power. What an intriguing way to Fight The Power. Maybe laughter is the best medicine.

Mirroring this idea..punk frontmen as Merry Pranksters, this week Neil McCormick (former Hot Press writer/artist) printed a really good article/overview of one John Lydon, whose excellent PiL have released a new album.

I haven’t heard it yet, but the interview reminded me why I look forward to buying it. Lydon achieved the unthinkable when he formed, and maintained, PiL and became an even more fascinating front-man that he had been with the Sex Pistols. And that is not to deny what a thrilling and innovative frontman he was with them!

Funnily enough, for such a lightening rod of controversy, for such an engaging and vibrant front-man, he also professes to be a very shy individual.

In the interview, he spoke about how humour was a great weapon….and clearly in his hands, just as with Jello, it is a wonderful tool/skill to make your point, to be heard, and to be sensational!

To me, Jello and Lydon are valuable contributors to our culture, and also possess sharp minds and know how to cut through a cluttered media landscape.

Long may they entertain us.

Wild hearted outsider

Hope Show 102 – the lowdown

This weeks show

The Dead Kennedys have been such a huge part of my life. Like so many other bands that fit into my invisible memoirs Jello’s troubadors have always been close to my heart.

I remember my brothers buying Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, the vinyl kept getting played. We dissected the songs and wondered did they really want to ‘Kill The Poor”. Of course they didn’t and as my horizons broadened and the tunnel vision glasses of world politics were removed the Dead Kennedys played a part in assisting my global understanding. My globalisation was American hardcore in the form of the DK’s and Bad Brains and Minor Threat – Spanish history from the Ex, Central and South America from the Clash – british politics from Crass, the Redskins, three johns and new model army. Personal politics from Flux of Pink Indians and how to conduct business from labels like Alternative tentacles.

That is why a book like Michael Foleys review of Fresh Fruit is vital or Alex Ogg’s synopsis of the same record . They are talking about my education and expanding on it.

Of course Jello is still playing and is in Dublin this week. IN celebration of his gig this weeks radio show is a compilation of some of his bands. You could be have a lot of shows considering the amount of records Jello has been involved in but I wanted to take a selection for this week show. Enjoy
niallhope

This Weeks news – September 7

This weeks news September 7

The Winter Passing release their debut album, A different Space of Mind on September 18 on 6131 records
The launch gig for their pop punk emo mix in Ireland is in Grand Social on the 26th, the band will then cross the Irish Sea for a UK tour in October

Another good release this week is from Scotlands Make That a Take Records. They are releaseing the Dark Days EP from Perth band PMX . “Dark Days” is a mission statement that combines the pop-punk sensibilities of their earlier material with razor-sharp guitars, massive harmonies and a pervading darkness wrapped up with a super-speedy technical and progressive skate punk edge. Bursting with passion, frustration and a healthy dose of existential angst, “Dark Days” takes classic skate punk/melodic hardcore and adds an undeniable Scottishness with an injection of thrash metal, like classic Fat Wreck meets early 00s UK punk rock, never a dud release on that label.

Of course this is UMack Week – Two classic gigs on the way in Dublin. Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine with two of the best bands from the Dublin punk scene – Paranoid Visions and Sissy on Wednesday night
To celebrate the gig I dedicated my radio show to songs sung by Jello this week. Spanning all the Dead Kennedys records as well as collaborations with the Melvins, Al Jurgenson, NO WTO and a solo track as well as some songs from GSM who are playing this week

And then when you’ve had Thursday to recover we see the ex coming to Whelans.

For anyone left in the punk scene who don’t know about the Ex
“THE EX is a punk, industrial and experimental band from Amsterdam, Netherlands. They formed in 1979 at the height of the original punk explosion and have released over twenty full-length albums since, making them one of the longest-lived and most influential underground bands (along with The Fall) still in existence. THE EX just celebrated its 33⅓ year anniversary with a series of festivals. Not merely retrospective but primarily forward-looking and adventurous.
The Ex have defied categorization ever since they started playing in 1979. Born out of the punk explosion, when anything and everything was possible, the band have still managed to retain both curiosity and passion for their music. Using guitars, bass, drums and voice as ther starting point THE EX have continued to musically explore undiscovered areas right up to the present day: the early 1980s saw collaborations with industrial, experimental and jazz musicians and an Iraqi-Kurdish band. In the 90s the group found a myriad of partners from varied musical and non-musical backgrounds including Kamagurka, Tom Cora, Sonic Youth, Han Bennink, Jan Mulder, Shellac and Wolter Wierbos. In 2002 The Ex set up a lively musical exchange with Ethiopia, which eventually led to two CD recordings and hundreds of concerts with the legendary saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria.
After 33⅓ years, more than 25 albums and around 1800 performances the band continues to work as they did in when they began, completely independent of record companies, managers or roadies. Because of this ‘do it yourself’ work ethic The Ex is still a great example for other forward-thinking bands and musicians.
The Ex debuted with a single titled “Stupid Americans” on the Utregpunx vinyl 7″ compilation released by Rock Against records in Rotterdam. The release of their first 7″ All Corpses Smell the Same came shortly thereafter in 1980. Through the decades they gradually developed into their current form of highly intricate, experimental punk/post-punk/no wave-inspired work. Always involved in a large number of projects, both in and outside the band, its members have been able to keep their music fresh and exciting, and, some opine, constantly better.
Breaking from the relatively narrow confines of punk rock, The Ex has incorporated a wide array of influences, often from non-Western and non-rock sources. Some include Hungarian and Turkish folk songs, and more recently music from Ethiopia (including collaborations with Ethipian saxophonist Gétatchèw Mèkurya, Congo (shown in their tribute to Congolese street band Konono Nº1 and Eritrea (whose independence song is covered on Turn). Other examples of branching out stylistically include the improvised double album Instant and a release under the moniker Ex Orkest, a 20 piece big band assembled for performances at the esteemed Holland Festival.
The band has had successful collaborations with many disparate artists, including UK anarchist band Chumbawamba (sometimes using the name Antidote), Dog Faced Hermans, and with the late avant-garde cellist Tom Cora in the early 1990s, resulting in the watershed album Scrabbling At the Lock in 1991 and the follow-up And the Weathermen Shrug Their Shoulders in 1993. They have also collaborated with members of Sonic Youth, Dutch improvisers ICP Orchestra, and released a collaborative EP with America’s Tortoise.
In January 2009, front man and founding member G.W. Sok announced on the band’s website he quit the band. Arnold de Boer from the Amsterdam band Zea replaced him.”

And after that, if you have any energy left you can go see Vic Goddard and Subway Sect in Fibber Magees

niallhope

Forthcoming Gigs

Workmans Club 5th Birthday Celebrations – Sept 8th – 12th
Al Porter – Sept 8th
The Hot Sprockets – Sept 9th
Little Green Cars w/ guests Other Creatures – Sept 10th
Little Green Cars w/ guests Bleeding Heart Pigeons – Sept 11th
Eternal Summers w/ guests Pleasure Beach – Sept 12th
Tickets to all shows just €5

Jello Biafra + Paranoid Visions + Sissy – Hangar September 9

The Ex plus guests – Whelans – September 11

Vic Goddard and Subway Sect + The Dubtones + Gakk – Fibber Magees – September 11

Eternal Summers + Pleasure Beach – Workmans Club – September 12

Dope Body – Whelans – September 12

August Wells – Workmans Club – September 13

Sleaford Mods – Hangar – September 19

XSLF + Hooligan – Fibber Magees – September 19

La Misma + Disguise + Overbite + Surge – Dublin September 20
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Whelans – September 26

The Winter Passing + Chewing on tinfoil + Kates party + Driveaway – Grand Social September 26

Wheatus – Whelans – September 28

B Dolan – Wormkans Club – September 29

We Shall Overcome – Dublin – October 2-4

Hard Working Class Heroes – Dublin – October 2+3

Juan Wauters + No Monster Club – Whelans – October 4

The Lemonheads – Academy – October 5

Hey Rosetta – Workmans Club – October 9

Giveamanakick – Whelans – October 10

Nothing Clean – Tenterhooks – October 10

Cockney Rejects – Grand Social – October 10

Inner Terrestials – Fibber Magees – October 16

English Dogs – Fibber Magees – October 23

dAVID kITT – wHELANS – oCTOBER 24

Litovsk – Dublin – October 25

US Girls – Whelans – October 25

Liturgy – Whelans – October 26

Dragster + Angry Itch + Stop start Again + Black Pitts + Jobseekers – Fibbers – October 30

Deer hunter button factory – November 1

Slaves – The Academy – November 5

Girl Band – Button Factory – November 7

Stiff Little Fingers – The Academy – November 13

Coitus + Paranoid Visions + Coldwar + Liberty – Fibbers – November 14

Mercury Rev – Button Factory November 22

Chelsea Wolfe – Button Factory November 25

Peter Hook and the Light – The Academy – November 27

OM – Button Factory – November 28

Therapy – Button Factory December 11

The Selecter – The Academy – December 11

Bad Manners – The Academy – december 28

This weeks News – August 24

Round Up August 24

Paranoid Visions have just released their new record. Cryptic Cross Words is the 5th album the band have released since their 2006 reboot. Add to this the multitude of singles and a myriad of
historical re-releases and compilations and it becomes clear that Paranoid Visions are a band who are not content to sit back and relax or attempt to trade on past glories. Indeed founder members Deko and P.A are of the opinion that there are no past glories with the recent releases being more reflective of what the band were about in the first place. Cryptic Cross Words, a culmination of a year’s recording and writing is an attempt to craft a specific album with a specific modus operandi.“With every release we have done, there has always been a compromise, and certain styles or genres we have wanted to explore have been almost achieved, but not executed the way we imagined them…until now”.
Switching rhythm section and losing a backing vocalist in early 2014 gave the band the opportunity to form the perfect line-up and create what the band believe is best album they have ever made. It’s
certainly a more focussed and strategic release that relies on soundscapes and moods that co-exist with the various musical genres the band continues to dip into. But it explores these cohesively
with production that has been described by one early reviewer as being “crisp but avoids the sheen of the nu”. Certainly this album owes as much to UK Decay as it does to UK Subs, or is “more
magazine than fanzine”.Lyrically the album is tackling different subjects ranging from the Catholic Churches abuse of
children, invasion in the Ukraine, sexual harmony, working culture and the voice of the downtrodden public on the verge of snapping. In the case of Anagram Sam the lyrics consist entirely of anagrams
(Anagram Sam, he’s one of those NAMELESS SALESMEN, his LIFE is a FILE of anagrams, he’s the SENATOR for TREASON etc etc….you get the picture!!) whilst the album’s closer, “baNAMA Republic” is a
delicate slow building acoustic song spanning seven minutes and sung by Aoife Destruction detailing the fall of the Irish economy and the corruption that facilitated it.
The album which I bought today in Tower Records is an aesthetically beautiful white vinyl LP with free CD and 16 page booklet which includes a real cryptic cross word and word search on the sleeve

Dublin’s the Jimmy Cake have their fourth album launched this week. 2724 days after 2008’s Spectre and Crown. Teen Mist is the shortest track on the LP, clocking in at a radio friendly 15 minutes and 10 seconds long. Master is three compositions laid out over a 72-minute journey through space, time and a musty & secluded railway arch off North Strand Road, Dublin where engineer, producer & hero John Spud
Murphy lost his mind but gained a twitch. Gone are the lush strings & understated beats of Spectre & Crown, replaced by vintage synths & psychedelic rhythms to create an ever-morphing, technicoloured
behemoth of a record.

Available on CD, 180g double vinyl & download, Master is accompanied by blackly comical album artwork by UK illustrator & cult hero Jack Teagle & housed in a magnificently eccentric design by band member Paul G Smyth.

In a week of record launches Kate’s Party are doing one with a twist. They are launching a tape this week which is doubling as a fundraiser for their upcoming UK tour. Should be a cracking evening.

As mentioned last week Holly Golightly is bringining out her new album this week, first since 2004 -The band consists of Matt Radford (double bass) Ed Deegan (guitar) Holly Golightly (vocals) Bruce
Brand (drums) Bradley Burgess (guitar) Holly first came to musical prominence as a member of Thee Headcoatees, a Billy Childish/Thee
Headcoats all-girl splinter group in 1991. Four years later she broke away from the garage punk scene with the release of her debut solo album The Good Things, which featured a mix of folk, early electric blues, & ’60s beat influenced rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a template that she’s honed over the course of 13 solo albums, along the way impressing celebrity fans such as Jim Jarmusch (Holly’s track “Tell Me Now So I Know” featured as the main title theme in his Broken Flowers movie), and most notably Jack White who duetted with Holly on
“It’s True That We Love One Another”, the final track on the classic White Stripes album Elephant. Though it’s been 11 years since her last solo album, Holly’s been busy as half of blues/Americana duo Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs (The Brokeoffs being multi-instrumentalist Lawyer Dave). The pair have released a string of well received albums, and undertaken many tours on both sides of the
Atlantic.
Slowtown Now! features 12 songs that will please fans old and new alike. Why not have a listen to
Seven Wonders

On the way
THe workmans club was a welcome addition to the Dublin gig scene 5 years. As it celebrates that milestone they are puttng on a week of gigs with low admission price. I will be up in the hangar
two night (at Jello and The Ex) but in case you’re interested

The party continues Sept 8th – 12th with shows from….
Al Porter – Sept 8th
The Hot Sprockets – Sept 9th
Little Green Cars w/ guests Other Creatures – Sept 10th
Little Green Cars w/ guests Bleeding Heart Pigeons – Sept 11th
Eternal Summers w/ guests Pleasure Beach – Sept 12th
Tickets to all shows just €5

Forthcoming Gigs

Pine hill haints – Tenterhooks August 27

The drays – lesson lounge August 207

Kate’s party + Spines + Stariwells + Glassgears – bello bar August 28

The Jimmy Cake – Hangar – August 29

Protex babyshakes number ones bello bar August 29

Warzone Festival – Belfast – August 29

Polyphonic Spree – Academy August 31

Fuzz – Whelans – September 2

Jello Biafra + Paranoid Visions + Sissy – Hangar September 9

Vic Goddard and Subway Sect + The Dubtones + Gakk – Fibber Magees – September 11

Eternal Summers + Plpeasure Beach – Workmans Club – September 12

Dope Body – Whelans – September 12

August Wells – Workmans Club – September 13

Sleaford Mods – Hangar – September 19

XSLF + Hooligan – Fibber Magees – September 19

La Misma + Disguise + Overbite + Surge – Dublin September 20

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Whelans – September 26

Wheatus – Whelans – September 28

B Dolan – Wormkans Club – September 29

We Shall Overcome – Dublin – October 2-4

Hard Working Class Heroes – Dublin – October 2+3

Juan Wauters + No Monster Club – Whelans – October 4

The Lemonheads – Academy – October 5

Hey Rosetta – Workmans Club – October 9

Giveamanakick – Whelans – October 10

Nothing Clean – Tenterhooks – October 10

Cockney Rejects – Grand Social – October 10

Inner Terrestials – Fibber Magees – October 16

English Dogs – Fibber Magees – October 23

dAVID kITT – wHELANS – oCTOBER 24

Litovsk – Dublin – October 25

US Girls – Whelans – October 25

Liturgy – Whelans – October 26

Dragster + Angry Itch + Stop start Again + Black Pitts + Jobseekers – Fibbers – October 30

Deer hunter button factory – November 1

Slaves – The Academy – November 5

Girl Band – Button Factory – November 7

Stiff Little Fingers – The Academy – November 13

Coitus + Paranoid Visions + Coldwar + Liberty – Fibbers – November 14

Mercury Rev – Button Factory November 22

Chelsea Wolfe – Button Factory November 25

Peter Hook and the Light – The Academy – November 27

OM – Button Factory – November 28

Therapy – Button Factory December 11

The Selecter – The Academy – December 11

Bad Manners – The Academy – december 28

niallhope

Rebellion 2014 – Day 3

Rebellion 2014 day 3

There’s just so much to get through at this festival even as I arrive today

For instance Hannah rickard and the relatives playing their doo wop rockabilly or Louise Distras discussing here career to date

The literary stage had a great lineup his afternoon. The clashes first drummer Tory crimes (better known I suppose for his real name as terry chimes) was to regale us with some stories and got stuck in traffic (maybe he drove up with Patrik Fitzgerald) . No matter where you turn in this beautiful old building the clash are never far away, be that in spirit or on posters!!! Before terry came was due on mark perry from atv and, more importantly sniffin glue fanzine, spoke to rhoda dakar about punk scene in early days and had a great style of chat.

It’s great to hear stories of fanzines and photocopied montages. Mark didn’t really want to write but e wanted to be involved. As bear trade still sing “Let’s get involved”

Terry was still in the “traffic jam” so jello Biafra gave us tales of occupy and some straight talk. I mosied off to see vice squad playing to a decent crowd at the empress. Always enjoyed these punk tunes with that slight metal edge.

Loaded 44 aren’t too disimilar, less metal but still rocky female fronted punk rock.

The argies are, as their name suggests, from Argentina. Spirited fast punks oi sound. Great tight powerful set

Hard skin are another rebellion institution where we stand back and get absurd and laugh and sing along. They are serious when speaking about being anti fascist but all else is a wonderful story of sing along punk rock I love hard skin and shout along to beat the band

The requiem of the acoustic room is next somewhere to sit and enjoy proceedings. But it doesn’t stay peaceful for long as goldblade bash cardboard boxes and acoustic guitars for their set. There is no barrier between band and audience as brother john invites us all up on stage. If things don’t work they can be improvised. We were host to a legion Of camera phones as lead singer john Robb led us around the winter gardens singing at the top of our voices. Pure punk rock

The cravats were in in the pavilion so I had a listen to their quirky full sound for a few songs. Tight and off the wall

Ruts dc are incredible. No need to say more, words don’t do them justice. I love them. The standing ovation of a completely packed out acoustic room is a sign of the respect the ruts dC peers have for them. As I said, incredible

Tv smith sums it all up during his set “the rich don’t have even 1%of the community we have here” the audience is eating out of his hand. A big night for the acoustic room
He plays for 90 minutes and finishes with guests coming on stage for three adverts songs. A privilege to be in their presence. The second standing ovation of the night too

Paranoid visions are another institution at rebellion. This is the best live set I’ve seen them play here. Songs Full of anger, they have released an album with Steve ignorant sharing vocal duties. It’s hard for the anger to still rise to the surface after all this time but the visions pull it off

And so I troop off to bed, knowing I leave sets by jaya the cat, killing joke, spizz energi and king kurt behind. It’s after midnight, I’ve been here 12 hours is that not enough?

Niall hope

Rebellion 2013 – day 4

Rebellion 2013 day 4

The problems with doing stuff on your phone means you can lose hours of material. Don’t know how but my early descriptions of the day have vanished. I had written about pros and cons of this festival!! All gone now, must be my pocket demon deleting the punk word. I had been taking notes as I went along but now half way through the day they’re gone. And when they’re gone they’re gone!

The adolescents played their tuneful hardcore to a crowd that had been treated to strictly hardcore by Goldblade previously. Goldblade played a riotous gig. You are always guaranteed a show from brother john on vocals but they were in great form today asking people to testify to the power of rock’n’roll.

The stitches preceded them. I knew nothing about the stitches before today and bar for the purpose of this blog I don’t think I will be actively seeking them again. From la, around since the mid 90’s they were kind of comic punk to me.

Channel 3 before them were so much better. Also from la and around a decade longer they have the interesting attribute of being the only American band on an punk and disorderly compilation

The art of punk is a great book by russ Bentley and Alex ogg. They spoke about the pain of putting it together today. Alex and russ told how it was a labour of low over 18 months and the result is an extremely compressive display of artwork from punk through all stages.

Bizarre bizarre is the aptly named venue for the pukes, an 18 piece ukelele band playing punk covers. You can’t but be entertained by that.

tsol are banged out a rocking hardcore sound. Its amazing, Tshirt sales are happening everywhere as Merch takes on as much importance for some as the songs on offer. After listening to what Russ and Alex said regarding design I have taken to looking around the room at all the band branding we are so used to, logos of the subhumans, black flag, cock sparer and the Ramones are everywhere.

Can’t say that there were too many t-shirts of the nightingales in the crowd although they did have some stuff on sale. Their indie sound featured a sparse crowd. Shame as their riff laden angular pop is a good respite form gimp fist who are working class and proud. Oi oi, for sure

The quirky acoustic sounds of billy liar beckoned. One man and his guitar with a difference. Then it was back to the noise.

Fucked up are from Toronto. I saw them with gallows a couple of years ago and hated their on stage persona. I didn’t want to exchange sweat with their lead singer but maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m the sort of person that likes to go to see a comedian and not get singled out. I pay in not to provide the entertainment. However in the safety of the balcony seats I saw everyone buying into the fucked up regime. Tight hardcore sound. Some great songs as the singer tries to personally greet everyone in the audience lots of hugs but no missiles thrown which was the case last time. Deadly.

I ludicrous are the chalk to fucked ups cheese. Much like the nightingales earlier they come from the indie world of clean riffs and angular rhythms, much like the nightingales there were very few to share the experience with them.

Roughneck riot had a great energy about them. They were competing against awful sound. I know they’ve a ukelele and accordion and banjo but heard none of it. Lots of guitar, bass and drums energy though

The Bronx are from California, they have a rockier sound than fucked up with singing rather than screaming. There’s a similarity in extroverted vocalists adding to the spectacle. Me? I was glad if a seat to be honest but my head was bopping along and the knowledgeable crowd were enjoying it

Again it was a tale of two sounds as lene lovich took to the bizzare bizzare stage. Bizarre it certainly is, new wave sound with keyboard and that distinctive voice I hadn’t heard in nearly 30 years. Still as strong as ever and the 300 capacity crowd lapped it up.

Tv smith is part of the rebellion decor and he only played once this time. His acoustic set was jammed and he never disappoints so why stray now. I dipped in and out of his 90 minute set

Peter hook used to be in band called joy division (ever hear of them?) he then went to new order (maybe you know them?). Tonight he played unknown pleasures. Unknown pleasures!!!! What an album, and more! some amazing bass hooks in those songs

Jello Biafra has been rallying against the establishment since the dead Kennedys were a dream. He kept it going tonight with his Guantanamo school of medicine set. Powerful. Even some dead Kennedys songs thrown in for extra special good measure. It is heartening to see such a performance and we can only hope that the man is as good as his words and really wants to work with people to make this a better place to live. For an hour tonight Blackpool was a better place to be

Sham 69 were the last band on this marathon 4 days. My first experience with sham was Hurry up Harry. I got the that’s life album as a present and could recite it word for word. It didn’t take much to slip back into this memories tonight. 3000 people screaming George Davis is innocent 35 years on.

Whilst we were screaming about Angels with dirty faces Roddy radiation of specials fame was playing on a different stage with his moon stompers and discharge were discharging their speed core to another thousand people.

What a weekend