LIVE REPORTS
Reports by Jaime Pina, Lorraine Carter
Scarborough Punk Festival
Festival Review By Lorraine Carter
My ticket was an early bird, bought as soon as they came out, as the previous year had been so amazing I had been determined to not miss it.
The combination of a beautiful seaside location superb punk music and not forgetting, the furiously friendly and loyal punk rock community, well what more could I ask for?
A good deal has happened for all of us since last year, we have lost loved ones and the punk music scene has lost too many talented and beloved musicians: Geordie Walker, the guitarist from Killing Joke—Shane Macgowan, vocalist from the Pogues, and Tom Verlaine, co-founder of Television.
Its seems more important than ever before to attend these events and go to as many gigs as possible, while we still have the chance.
I was very pleased to see that there were a few different bands that had women in them, as last year female representation was a little low.
So bearing that in mind, the first band on stage. Was Face Up, unfortunately, I missed their set. They had lots of positive responses from the people I spoke to, and the youth and energy of the singer attracted well-deserved attention from the photographers. These guys stayed around most of the day on their merch stall and were very friendly, which is always good to set. Next up was Hung Like Hunratty. What can I say? They always have the crowd in the palm of their hands, with sing-along choruses and stage antics. Singing songs about fat people on mobility scooters and Jimmy Saville, who used to live a little further up the hill, in a private flat, connected to a hotel, they are now desperate for that connection to be wiped from history, as its really not good for business.
Back to the band, they smashed it and left the audience, sweaty and gasping for more ale.
The Members played a very tight and professional set, much calmer than the previous band, but hitting all the right spots, nonetheless.
I never made it to see Goldblade, as I had met up with old friends, who I had not seen since 2022 at Rebellion, so there was some catching to be done and some beers to be enjoyed.
If any of you have read my previous reviews you will know that Gene October is not one of my favorite people, but my friends wanted to go and see them, and to be fair the band are musically very good.
October is certainly a character and always finds time to slag off at least one other band, playing on the bill. This time it was the turn of, The Anti-Nowhere League. I can’t help but describe him as a bit bitter….
The venue for this event is fab, right next to the sea, when sitting in the bar it feels like you are on a punky cruise ship, as all you can see out of the windows is the ocean. The staff is super friendly, the security is ace, and the way things are laid out makes it easy to get around. I can’t think of anything negative to say about, they all do a super job.
My favorite performance of the night had to be The Anti-Nowhere League, they stormed through their set and Animal was on top form. I personally think that they should have headlined on the night, but that position went to the Buzzcocks.
Saturday night finished and it was back home time, once again using the wonderful funicular railway, to get back up that ridiculously steep hill.
For me the standout band of Sunday was the female-fronted Loaded 44, they were truly amazing, this was the first time I had seen them and I was far, far from disappointed. Beckie has a deep and surprising voice, which is brilliant and she moves around the stage like a slinky feline, absolutely gorgeous. Her partner Stephen Straughan, also guitar for the UK Subs, so this was his first visit to the stage today.
I was surprised to hear how long this band had been going, and even more surprised that they were not playing in the evening.
I bought one of their CDs. bloody brilliant. Look out for them.
Peter and the Test Tube Babies, played a good singalong set, getting us all shouting out. “None of your fucking business”, an earworm for the rest of the evening for me..
Charlie Harper of The UK Subs, making his journey toward 80 years old and still managing to sing his way through an excellent set, this band should have headlined, and I am not sure why they didn’t. Excellent tunes, Warhead, particularly having the whole room singing along. Everyone loved it and to be fair they were a very hard act to follow.
So it was that the headline band of the Sunday was Sham 69.
Jimmy and the boys came on the finish the night and the weekend, they were ok, but after the Subs, for me personally they just didn’t do it. I know many will disagree but i guess I am the one writing, so you are gonna have to take my word on it…
See you all there again next year.
The Infamous Stiffs The Redwood Saturday, May 18, 2024
Show Review and Photos By: Jaime Pina
The Infamous Stiffs are a Rock N’ Roll band with a punk edge. Their music is high energy and you can do The Monkey to their music or start a slam pit. I enjoyed their excellent Kill For The Sound record and wanted to experience them in a live setting. What I did not know is that they had undergone a line-up change recently. The old rhythm section is gone and in their place are Dave Bach on drums and Troy Takaki on bass. Dave also plays in The Avengers and was previously in The Afflicted. Troy plays in Berkeley’s band The Boneless Ones. Both work in the film industry when not playing heavy duty Rock music with heavy-duty people.
Going on promptly at 10PM the band was fired up from the start and rocked the house. The new rhythm section pounded out the beats and low-end allowing guitarist Mark Pananides to weave his chording and solos in and out without worry. Singer Scott Wilkins is well known as the former singer of Verbal Abuse, Condemned To Death and Electric Frankenstein and he brings all the energy from those bands over to the Stiffs. Always a dynamic frontman, Scott interacted with the audience, sang his ass off and clearly was an entertainer on all levels. At one point during the show after pleading with the light person to keep the hot, bright lights to a minimum he was forced to use his coat sleeve to cover his eyes to keep from being blinded but instead looked like he was making fun of Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy when he sings “Bela Lugosi Is Dead”. It was punk comedy gold. The band has a full length lp and a digital ep available and play often so check them out if they are appearing nearby. And if you are a fan of the television show Dead Boy Detectives they have a song at the end of episode 6.
The Zeros, The Hangmen, Zeke The Notoriety Lounge Saturday, May 25, 2024
Show Review and Photos By: Jaime Pina
After enjoying a fantastic performance by Descendents on the Punk Rock Bowling main stage Saturday night it seemed like a no-brainer to walk the short distance to the Notoriety Lounge for the killer line-up that was just starting. I was there with my Cholos from North Carolina, the formerly New Jersey-based Electric Frankenstein. We played a killer set the night before at Container Park as I was filling in on lead guitar and we were relaxing and enjoying ourselves rocking out to Bill, Stephen, Karl and Milo. After Descendents finished, the new kids in EF, drummer Wheez Von Klaw and singer Johnny Flude, joined me in keeping the faith and we intended to see The Zeros.
Johnny had gone on ahead and when Wheez and I met up with him Zeke was burning through a furious set and we were delighted to discover that Notoriety Lounge is a former multiplex theatre and once you gained entrance you could see any of the bands playing in either of the gutted screening rooms that had the seats removed and a stage put in, or in the lobby. It was getting very crowded during Zeke’s set in the lobby and Fear would be playing soon and we wanted to check out The Hangmen anyway and wandered into one of the screening rooms as they were playing.
Back when Hollywood still had a flourishing club scene, I saw The Hangmen or played on bills with them many times and always enjoyed them as a dependable band with great songs who were fun to watch. But there was something about their set this evening. It might have been the Jack and Cokes or the pre-rolls but the set they played was hypnotic. The players were firing on all cylinders and it just seemed like there was something special in the air and the band rose to the occasion and performed brilliantly. I had assumed that The Zeros playing on this bill would either be the original line-up or have Victor Penalosa on bass filling in for Hector. However on Thursday night as we were walking around we saw that El Vez was playing and then Dan mentioned to me that it was odd that he was playing on his own but not with The Zeros. I was confused and he explained to me that somehow there were now two Zeros line-ups split in half with Javier and Baba playing Punk Rock Bowling and then a version with Robert and Hector playing in San Diego the week after. It seemed weird but I was already in the venue, I was high as fuck and I fucking wanted to hear Zeros songs.
They got on stage and Baba was wearing a pink afro wig. Since we were in Vegas I was sure he was out on Fremont asking tourists if they’d like to take a photo with him for fifty bucks earlier. Hell, I’d rather pay him for a photo instead of a pair of these surgically altered hoochie coochie girls hustling for dough. Especially if he was wearing the pink afro wig. Victor was on bass and they had a skinny, young kid on second guitar. Javier came out dressed to the 9’s and the band tore into the Johnny Thunders version of “Pipeline”. After that they started whipping out The Zeros classics like “Beat Your Heart Out”, “Wild Weekend” and “Hand Grenade Heart” and they sounded fantastic. Any apprehensions I had were immediately crushed as this version of The Zeros kicked ass. I later discovered that the skinny, young kid playing guitar just happened to be Jessie Rodriguez, the son of
Steve Rodriguez, original Dragons bass player. He played well and even sang a killer version of the Doll’s “Chatterbox”. They played all the classic street wise Punk N’ Roll/Pop songs in their catalog with Victor doing a fine job singing the Robert tunes. They still had that certain kind of cool that is part of The Zeros mystique. Me and my fellow EF’s wanted to see The Zeros and by the end of the night we had smiles on our faces and we had been thoroughly rocked.
