Dirt Box Disco – ‘Rokapokalips’ (Avenue Recordz)

Dirt Box Disco – ‘Rokapokalips’ (Avenue Recordz)

When you begin your musical career by releasing a debut record as genre defining as ‘Appetite For Destruction’ or The Stone Roses’ ‘Self-Titled’ album you’re always going to get people asking if the new one is as good as that record. Dirt Box Disco have that very same albatross hanging around their necks too as their debut ‘Legends’ is easily one of the best UK punk rock records of all time in my book, yet somehow, they’ve managed to dodge that metaphorical debut bullet, largely because they have consistently released strong follow up records ever since that astounding album first appeared back in 2012.

Here in 2023 with the imminent release of the band’s eighth studio album, ‘Rokapokalips’ what strikes me now, perhaps more than ever, about the “almost veteran” Dirt Box Disco, is that (to my ears at least) they have more than just a proclivity for atrocious spelling in common with a certain 70s/80s rock band from the Black Country known as Slade.

Okay granted the opening word from singer/guitarist’s Spunk Volcano masked mouth to introduce ‘# Bollocks’ is never going to be viewed in the same endearing way as Noddy’s immortal “Baby, baby, baby” holler, but there is just something about this all new ten track record from the Dirt Box gang that immediately makes me think of Slade’s early 80s renaissance, and I’m not exactly sure quite what it is.

Perhaps it’s the fact that the band (by their own workaholic standards) have been a bit quiet of late, or that whilst the terrible musical chemical laboratory experiment that helped create Dirt Box Disco will forever be embedded within the band’s musical DNA, here on ‘Rokapokalips’ they’ve broadened their sound palette to include a touch of ska during the verses of ‘Kill The Music’ (just like Slade embraced the Celtic jig to once again attain chart success) and in ‘Land Of Hope & Glory’ Spunk, Maff, Danny and Chris have a song that could very easily sit on a Cockney Rejects or Cock Sparrer album (and Slade were of course as equally at home playing to punks and skinheads as they were heavy rockers back in the day).

Granted these are only very tenuous links though, largely used to bring an album you’ve yet to hear fully to life and I should add that this is still very much the Dirt Box Disco we all know and love, albeit there are just enough new things going on to keep us all thinking, whilst also singing along, and of course smiling, as one listen to ‘Up The Dirtbox’ (fnarr, fnarr) will no doubt prove.

After the knockout punch that was ‘TV Sex Show’ the band’s 2020 debut Weab-less record, it was always going to be tough to follow the likes of the glorious ‘Unstoppable’ and anthemic ‘Barebones’ where the band had sounded revitalised, but when you have the songwriting machine that is Spunk Volcano revving his engine and penning such instantly memorable tunes as this album’s title track, the insanely hummable ‘Cinderella’s Motorhead Tattoo’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Without You’ (yup I had to read it more than once too) you’re never going to be a shortage of amazing songs with which to fill your next record. Just give top sing-a-long-a-Dirtbox ‘Happy Pills’ a play and tell me I’m wrong. It’s a song chock full of the band’s trademark “Woah Oh” gang vocals, albeit here the underlying lyrical theme does appear to be a little darker than usual.

For those of you who have pre-ordered ‘Rokapokalips’ from Avenue Recordz directly you should be getting your CDs and LPs anytime soon, and for everybody else the album is being released on July 21st, but you can also hit THIS LINK and get the masked menaces to send you your copy pronto!

And remember, “We’re strong, together we are stronger, and we don’t quit, Dirt Box Disco Armageddon, Rokapokalips”

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Author: Johnny Hayward

Rebellion Festival – Blackpool, Winter Gardens – 4th-7th August 2022

Rebellion Festival – Blackpool, Winter Gardens – 4th-7th August 2022

Thursday – WE R BACK.

Three years on from the last Rebellion Festival and we are finally back at our spiritual home, and there’s a few things that have changed. The Winter Gardens has opened a new Conference Centre main entrance, and the old backstage area where we’ve done so many great interviews with bands over the years is no more, so sadly bang goes any chance of doing any of those for you this weekend folks…. sorry! Then of course there’s the new outdoor stage going by the name of R Fest that you can attend on its own if you so wish, at £50 a day, or its free to those with Rebellion weekend wristbands and then finally there’s this sense of freedom in the Blackpool air, something that I certainly haven’t felt in quite some time.

What hasn’t changed though is the fact that Rebellion is still the number one punk and alternative festival here in the UK, returning with another knockout bill (that a few cancellations aside) has the RPM team arriving a day earlier than we have done previously, just so we can ensure we don’t miss any of the bands playing early on the first day of the festival. It wasn’t that long ago that I remember Thursday being the kind of “warm up” day for the event, now it’s the surrounding pubs and clubs that provide that, and we find ourselves crammed into an uber sweaty Tache watching Suzi Moon, when really we should have been getting an early night preparing for the weekend ahead, but fuck it, we really are back, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

THURSDAY

Arriving early doors at the Winter Gardens to catch Janus Stark opening the Empress Stage line up, the first thing that hits me is the size of the queue outside the conference centre waiting for the wristband exchange. We’d followed the festival’s advice online and got ours the night before, so we sailed through, but I can understand some of the anger vented within Facebook groups if you did get caught up in this and missed a band you wanted to see. As it is Gizz Butt and the Stark guys get to play to a smaller crowd than they might have given these circumstances but this doesn’t bother the quartet one iota as they deliver an outstanding performance that proves once again that every little thing does in fact count.

“Alright you English cunts, I bet you wish you’d been stuck in queues too rather than watch us,” is certainly a risky opening gambit from Pizzatramp frontman Jimbob Theodore Logan, but having risen from playing a slot at the festival’s Introducing stage just a few years back to now playing the flagship Empress Ballroom, he’s a man on a mission, and if he can make you laugh, or indeed cry (more of that in a moment) then what the hell? Jimbob’s other half Tia is in the line-up today on bass and backing vocals and that female voice does add a new dynamic to call response element of some of the band’s back catalogue, but then when you have songs as insanely catchy as ‘CCTV’ and ‘Ciggy Butt Brain’ within that canon of work how can the Chepstow pizza crew possibly go wrong? There’s even a touching moment when Jimbob calls his son mid-set just for the crowd to sing “Happy Birthday” to him, something that sees the frontman getting “sweat in his eyes” before the obligatory ‘Bono’s A Cunt’ closes a resoundingly successful set for the trio. You know, when people say you have to be “in the know” to get on the Rebellion bill, I always say “well Pizzatramp did it and they are fucking clueless.” There’s really no come back from that one is there….

I first saw Suzi Moon take to the Rebellion stage twelve years ago, playing one of the two stages they then had over in the Olympia, when she was a member of the Hellcat signed Civet. I have to admit I wasn’t that enamoured with the set I’d witnessed at the Tache the night before, largely due to a muddy sound, but Suzi seemed to love it, and for her set in the Pavilion this afternoon, it’s the almost absolute opposite. Here right from opener ‘Special Place In Hell’ the sound out front is stunning, thus ensuring that tracks like the strutting ‘Sonic Attraction’, the glamtastic ‘I’m Not A Man’ and the sultry set closer ‘Animal’ rip through flesh to get their hooks in you. It’s up on stage where Suzi is having guitar problems, that she doesn’t seem quite as in her special place as she did just twelve short hours earlier, and smashing the offending article into the Pavilion stage, you can feel the frustration she must have had boiling up inside. Rest assured though Suzi (If you are reading this) this was a great performance, and pretty much everyone around me seemed to think so too. I mean a bit of mid-set tension never hurt Texas T at Rebellion now did it?

Heading back to the Empress for some Wonk Unit, it’s now a decade since I first witnessed Alex Wonk live (that being at Slugfest 5 back in my hometown of Abertillery) and boy how things have moved on since those early(ish) part spoken word/part grunge/part punk rock days of the band. Only the main man and bassist Pwoison remain from that gig, but once again within this performance today the spirit of vaudeville is still there for everyone to delight in. I’ve often referred to Alex as the “Ian Dury of his generation” and here in the same hall that so many tortured geniuses have played over the years he seems in his element, conducting his glorious-sounding band through the likes of ’Pathetic Merry Go Round of Existence/Heroin’, ‘Day Job Wanker’ and a furious sounding ‘Nan Is Old’. It takes a pitch-perfect ‘Awful Jeans’ to get the sprung dancefloor bouncing for the first time this weekend, and just as ‘Go Easy’ tears out the PA we have our first band clash of the weekend, as we hop, skip, and jump over to Club Casbah in time for the arrival of Dirt Box Disco.

It’s also a decade since I first witnessed the mighty Dirt Box Disco deliver their slamdunk debut at Rebellion, and today they return to the Olympia, now retitled Club Casbah, playing perhaps their finest set since that jaw dropping debut. Some might argue that this is because the set list draws heavily from the ‘Tragic Roundabout’ EP and ‘Legends’ album, but when you have a song as strong as ‘Burning’ that can immediately get the whole of the packed-out Casbah singing as one, you just need to make sure you don’t lose the audience, and then when you can follow that anthem with the likes of ‘Peepshow’ ‘I Don’t Wanna Go Out With You’ and ‘My Girlfriend’s Best Friend’s Sister’ you really are ‘Unstoppable’ and even when Spunk calls his band “rock ‘n’ roll dinosaurs” towards the end of their set, I’m sure he means it in a “Jurassic Park” Alan Partridge kind of way. “Back Of The Net!!!”

After a quick pitstop for some food (we do have to eat too you know) we move back to the Empress for Anti-Flag, or as they like to pronounce it An-tie-Flag, and I have to admit that I’ve never been a huge fan, thinking them to be a band consisting of more style than substance. Tonight, however even an old cynic like me can’t help but get caught up in the moment and singalong with the likes of ‘You’ve Gotta Die for the Government’ and ‘Fuck Police Brutality’ and whilst these tunes might now be over 26 years old they still sound as relevant today, maybe even more so. I do find it odd that in amongst their strongly politically driven setlist that they still have time to do a ‘Stars on 45’ kind of run through some cover tunes like ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’, ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘If the Kids Are United’, but the Empress faithful lap it up and send Anti-Flag off into the night like all conquering heroes. Me, I’m properly distracted by what’s about to follow.

Drawing the largest crowd of the day so far, it’s LA hardcore punk legends Circle Jerks who are up next in the Empress. Originally confirmed for the 2020 Rebellion Festival for what would have been the 40th-anniversary celebration of the band’s seminal debut record ‘Group Sex’, tonight, two years on it’s also the 40th-anniversary celebration of the band’s second album ‘Wild In The Streets’. Guiding us through tonight’s 32 (there may have been more) song battering of the senses that the band like to call a set list there’s the ever-convivial Keith Morris to relay the background story behind each of the blocks of songs the band, made up of bassist Zander Schloss, guitarist Greg Hetson along with guest drummer (the man who makes it all possible according to Morris) the monster that is Joey Castillo, deliver like men a third of their age. From ‘Deny Everything’ through to ‘When the Shit Hits the Fan’ via ‘Red Tape’ there’s even a point towards the end of their set where Castillo has to ask Morris to keep talking just so he can get his breath back, and if you remember that his day job is currently laying down the backbeat for The Bronx then that is surely some feat indeed. With the crowd thinning a little towards the end I do wonder how much of this is down to the relentlessly intense nature of the Circle Jerks set or if it’s just another one of the weekend’s many stage clashes, and as I’d actually forgone a long overdue chance to watch Hawkwind down on the R Fest stage for this Circle Jerks reunion set I for one was certainly glad I made this choice here tonight, as this was something I really would have hated to have missed.

Another potential stage clash was taken out of my hands literally a few days before Rebellion started when Bad Religion were forced to cancel all of their remaining European dates, including their headline slot in the Empress Ballroom, due to a family emergency back in the US. With The Skids stepping in to save the day and me having never been a fan of the band I instead headed over to Club Casbah to catch The Boys once again ploughing through a 19-song set that covered most of the hits from their back catalogue as well as a few deeper cuts to keep the diehards on their Cuban heeled toes. Singer/bassist Kent Norberg may lovingly refer to Boy’s songwriting machine of Matt Dangerfield and Casino Steel as the “Lennon And McCartney of punk rock” but through squinted eyes, Dangerfield would certainly pass more for Keith Richards these days, and not just in his looks either. There’s also the clang of his tight yet loose guitar proving to be the perfect counterpoint to Honest John Plain’s stand in Chips Kiesbye and with Steel closing down the set keyboard-less for ‘Sick On You’ he was giving us perhaps a rare glimpse of his inner Mick Jagger, albeit a slightly reluctant one. Oh, and here’s a footnote to the organisers of Rebellion too regarding this performance, because as The Boys have for some time featured two members of the fantastic Swedish punk rock band Sator. How about asking them over to play as well especially given they’ve just scored a number 1 album back home with their ‘Return Of The Barbie Q Killers’ record?

With just a couple of bands left on my must-see list it’s during the changeover between The Boys and The Bar Stool Preachers that I rechristen my RPM travelling compadres for the weekend, the Goldfish Brothers as everything I seem to tell them they immediately seem to forget. It’s no wind-up either, and never mind how many times I tell them I want to watch Bad Nerves at the ungodly hour of 1 am over in the Arena they instantly forget and ask me “who?” and “where?” time and again. In the end I have to put it down to the cider visors they have both been wearing for most of the day and the fact that one of them left home at 4 am this morning to get here, so instead I just settle in to watch the return of the mighty BSP as their career takes yet another stellar upwards turn.

Having recently announced that they have signed with Pure Noise Records on a two-album deal Brighton’s favourite ska-punk sons can seemingly do no wrong at the moment. Granted, a couple of band members do resemble extras from Nick Love’s The Business as they take to the Rebellion stage with a drum and bass intro tape booming out over the PA, but as soon as ‘Choose My Friends’ kicks in there’s no disputing this is the sound (and look) of The Bar Stool Preachers at the very top of their game. There’s also a smattering of new tunes given a spin around the Club Casbah block tonight and if this is the sound of what is to come then this is probably the last time we’ll be seeing TJ and the lads playing small venues here in the UK. This new stuff is essential listening, and I can’t wait to hear what the third album will sound like when it does finally get released.   There’s only one downer tonight and that’s the fact that the band’s signature tune ‘Bar Stool Preacher’ doesn’t get to be played as the lads are on a strict curfew, but that tiny set list blip aside, this is the sound of the future of punk rock, bold, ballsy and most of all, absolutely brilliant. Look out for them across Europe and UK as the support for The Interrupters tour, things are about to go major league for these guys, you just mark my words.

So with that performance still ringing in my ears, it’s at this point I give up on ever getting the Goldfish Brothers to ever hang around to watch Bad Nerves, but as the weekend progresses I actually find myself not regretting missing them quite as much as I was fearing, but more of that to come.

Adios for now I’m off to bed for some much-needed shut eye. “Woking turn that fucking phone off!” Ha!

Author: Johnny Hayward

SV & The Eruptions – ‘Knackers Yard’ (Avenue Recordz)

SV & The Eruptions – ‘Knackers Yard’ (Avenue Recordz)

Initially formed back around 2011/12 as a vehicle for Dirt Box Disco guitarist and songwriting supremo Spunk Volcano to air the tunes he’d written that didn’t really fit with the day job (although some might argue some actually do fit – especially after Weab made off to pastures new) I now find myself in possession of Eruptions’ album number SIX, and I’m left thinking, where did the time go eh?

That’s because this time around we’re all going down the ‘Knackers Yard’ as the band prepares to take a well-deserved break after their decade long burst of creativity and insanity. That’s right, it’s a break, they’re not splitting up, just pressing pause on the ‘TV God’ remote control whilst Spunk and Maff concentrate on the next Dirt Box Disco record, Joey goes off to work with MeMe Detroit and Scott “allegedly” goes back to being a full-time serial killer and Faxe drinker. It’s certainly been a prolific (and most excellent) run of releases to date though (let’s not forget the 5 EPs the band also released during this time too) with many stone-cold Eruptions classics written along the way. The bazillion dollar question I guess your wondering though, is does ‘Knackers Yard’ provide the fitting finale (for now)?

Well, the immediate thing that hits me about ‘Knackers Yard’ is that after the more melodic leaning ‘Barry Milner Is Thick’ album from 2020 this time around a large proportion of the tunes once again lean more towards the darker/heavier side of Mr Volcano’s songwriting portfolio and there are a few tunes on here that could have easily been part of the hard as nails ‘Double Bastard’ album, with opener ‘I Am A Capsule’ complete with its UK82 guitar riff and “Fuck Off Leave Me Alone” gang vocal as good a place to start as any. Likewise, ‘Madhouse’ (or should that be “Fooking Madhouse”?) which whilst not being a cover of a certain tune by a legendary NYC thrash band, could very easily have come out of that scene, complete with a monster chugger of a riff and mid-section that flies off in all directions and is held together by a potty mouthed Spunk chorus that somehow also manages to twist and turn its way into a super catchy second chorus too. Genius stuff!

And therein lies the real appeal of Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions for me though, because whilst ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ and the sublime ‘My Tears Get Washed Away’ (which somehow manages to make me think of both Wolfsbane and Showaddywaddy in the same 3 minutes run time) are the type of “sing your heads off” top-quality tunes that Spunk has become renowned for penning at a truly alarming rate. It’s the polar opposites of the vicious ‘Manky Man’ and the sombre ‘Dead And The Mirror’ (yes that’s keyboards you can hear) with its almost murder-ballad feel where The Eruptions truly stand apart from Dirt Box Disco.  Likewise clock the the flawed brilliance of ‘Mordrake’ (which you have to hear to fully understand what I’m on about) and then try and second guess what is up next? How about the kick in the coin purse that is ‘Pit Bull Facelift’, a song GBH would have been proud of writing back in their early Clay Records days.

With ‘Knackers Yard’ Spunk Volcano takes the life experiences and the heart and soul that a decade of songwriting and touring offers a band and once again turns them into a dozen tracks that pack a punch so fierce, they will shock you to the core, and is that a little tear I feel welling in my eye as the forementioned ‘Dead And The Mirror’ segues into the CD only final track ‘Shit Stirrers & Scaremongers’?

With five final live shows booked running through June to September, which also see The Eruptions back to being a 5-piece once again as Tom returns on guitar, it’s no time to be down in the mouth, as its time to party and get yourself down the ‘Knackers Yard’ when it’s released via the band’s own Avenue Recordz label on CD only (no vinyl this time) on July 1st.  You can also pre-order your copy right now, along with a rather wonderful-looking limited-edition T-shirt from the link below.

There’s only one way to give SV & The Eruptions a proper send-off, and that’s by booking your trip to the ‘Knackers Yard’. We’re all going, are you???

Buy Here

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Author: Johnny Hayward

Dirt Box Disco – ‘TV Sex Show’ (Avenue Recordz)

Dirt Box Disco – ‘TV Sex Show’ (Avenue Recordz)

So here it is boys and girls, the seventh (or eighth if you include the ‘Hooray! Hooray!’ compilation) studio album from those lovable punk rock anti-heroes Dirt Box Disco and it’s also their first since the departure of singer Weab.

With news of the frontman’s decision to leave the Disco sending shock waves through the punk rock community back in early 2019 masked guitarist and songwriting dynamo Spunk Volcano decided (with the help of his bandmates; Maff Fazzo on drums, Deadbeat Chris on bass and Danny Fingers on guitar) that the time was right for him to step forward and grasp the microphone with both hands and ‘TV Sex Show’ is the result.

I guess some of you will probably be thinking, “oh it’ll just sound like Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions now”, and yes, on one of two occasions like on the foot to floor mosh pit fight starter ‘VDTV’ and (the first of two bonus tracks on the CD version) ‘Tizwatitiz’ you might have a point, as both of these tunes could (to my ears at least) very easily have been written as Eruptions songs. But, and this is huge BUT, within the context of the fourteen songs (there’s twelve on the vinyl) on ‘TV Sex Show’ this is still very much a Dirt Box Disco record.

Kicking off with ‘Unstoppable’, this a song that is destined to be an immediate live hit. It actually reminds me in many ways of ‘Rum & Cola’ from the band’s ‘Are You Ready?’ EP released back in 2011. It’s a rousing call to arms, a song of solidarity, and a clear message that Dirt Box Disco are not going to be messed about with almost a decade into their career.

‘Insomniac’ which is up next is where ‘TV Sex Show’ really shifts up through the punk rock gears though, and coupled with the trademark Volcano/Fingers six string chugger that is ‘Barebones’ I have to admit that after thinking I might well me doing a Judy Collins by now and asking “where are the clowns?, send in the clowns”, I’m not, and this has to be down to the strength of the songwriting with the likes of ‘I Want Out’, ‘Reminisce’, ‘3 Bottles Down’ and ‘Bitch Full of Stitches’ being some of the catchiest songs the band have ever recorded, and I’m not joking when I say that the Disco sound positively supercharged during the likes of ‘Dickhead And Hype’ and album closer (well if you have the CD anyway) ‘Wake Up’.

There are a couple of tunes that I’ve still yet to fully get my head around, namely ‘The Count of Monte Cristo Lives in San Francisco’ which whilst insanely catchy still has the ominous spectre of ‘Reminisce’ looking over its shoulder, and the same could be said of ‘Ain’t Life Grand’ which is the LP closer that has me thinking I’ll have to buy the CD too just to hear ‘Wake Up’ which really is this set of songs very own ‘Dirtbox Days’.

It would have been all too easy for Dirt Box Disco to have called it a day after Weab left, but it is to Spunk, Maff, Danny and Chris’ credit that they have risen to the challenge by releasing their strongest set of songs since their err.. legendary 2012 album ‘Legends’. So, my advice to everyone is get off your arses check it out sharpish. Pre-sales for ‘TV Sex Show’ are live right now via and if you want to secure one of the mega limited 500 only vinyl LPs you best get your skates on and get clicking the linky.

 

Buy ‘TV Sex Show’ Here

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Author: Johnny Hayward

RPM ONLINE March Playlist

RPM ONLINE March Playlist

OK, so we’re flying into March 2020 already? Hell, this year is roaring for sure so this month Spotify playlist is as follows.

First up we have Sick Bags and the track ‘Boys Bleed Too’ from the awesome NFT/Spaghetty Town Records EP ‘Only Thee Young Die Good’ if you love a blast of Punk Rock with plenty of Roll and a howling attitude then check it out.

Next up we have the magnificent Jeff Dahl and ‘The Violence Squad’ taken from his recent album ‘Electric Junk’.  A sparkling track from an equally sparkling album  – Worthy of any Spotify playlist.

Green Day slipped a brand new album out there as well recently and it seems to have shaken a few as to their expectations for what a “punk Band” should sound like.  Well, ‘Stab You In The Heart’ sees the band rip it up old school and what an excellent job Butch Walker did on the production front.  We love it.

Deathtraps make a noise and we love that. With a brand new album out right about now we dig into their back catalogue and bring you the awesome ‘The Death Of Rock And Roll’ taken off their second album ‘Gotta Get Some’ but you can check out the review of the new album here.

With the brand new album scheduled for release in April we got excited that a new long-player from new yorks Wyldlife was on the way so we added the last single ‘Neon Nightmare’ Can’t wait for ‘The Year Of The Snake’ to drop as I think you’ll be hearing a lot more from these boys this year.

Another band I caught up with recently is Empty Suits and their EP that blew me away,  We recently welcomed Dave Prince to the team and he delivered a review of the brand new Brian Fallon album ‘Local Honey’ so here’s the mellow tune ‘I Don’t Mind’.

Ben reviewed the new offering from Stone Temple Pilots ‘Perdida‘ so we’ve included the track ‘Miles Away’.  Also with a new album coming out soon is Dirtbox Disco so here’s a reminder of what they were all about and with Spunk Volcano now handling the vocals you can find out soon enough but we’ve heard it and you have nothing to worry about.

Having just landed the support on the Status Quo winter tour of the UK Rich Ragany & The Digressions also released a video for the title track so we’ve added it to this months playlist.

Also heading out on tour this month are The Bar Stool Preachers so why not warm up to ‘8.6 Days (All The Broken Hearts)’.

Bang Records are releasing the ‘In Heat’ album by The Fuzztones as it was intended so of course, we’re reviewing that in the coming weeks. It would be rude not to include the title track off that.  Continuing along the Garage Rock line Thee Hypnotics are treading the boards again so here’s the classic ‘Shakedown’. 

Finally, for March, we’ve got the lead track off the Biff Byford solo album ‘Me And You’.  A true legend of hard rock Biff has decided than now was the right time for a solo album.  Good luck to him we all have a bit of Biff in our hearts of that there is no doubt.  Enjoy our mixed bag kids and we hope you find something you like.

Give us a like or a follow or whatever you do on streaming services and hey buy an album and support the bands they deserve it. Thank you.

Spunk Volcano Interview Exclusive

Spunk Volcano Interview Exclusive

First things first, this interview was conducted during the Rebellion Festival on the afternoon of the band’s performance.  Spunk and his Eruptions are about to head out on some dates around Europe so what better time to get the blood pumping and get you up for some loud punk rock n roll.

Considering how many times you’ve been asked back to perform at Rebellion in Blackpool would you know consider yourselves to be one of the fixtures and fittings along with the likes of the UK Subs?
A regular, um yeah I can’t argue with that so yes (ha ha ha)  Before I came here people said oh if you play two years in a row your going to get a gap and if you do three years in a row then your lucky so you’ll get that gap but Dirtbox will have done eight in a row including this year and SV are on number six so if that’s considered fixtures and fittings then yes I have that haha like the Subs and Nowhere League…
Out of the newer bands, Dirtbox has to be at the top.  there isn’t another band like em or loathe them Dirtbox has pretty much surpassed any other for festival callbacks and SV are getting there and it has to be said on merit as well and output.  I’d wager that of any band started in the last decade you guys are requested more than any other right?
I guess thanks, haha us knock off Bar Stool Preachers, wonk Unit they all do incredibly well for the so-called newer bands so can’t fault them…Wankers Ha Ha!
SV  pulling a fantastic crowd and the new double album are you phasing out Dirtbox?
Phasing out?
Well taking precedence over Dirtbox?
well due to the turn of events of weab leaving and none of us speaking to him since I’m sure people will have their own opinions and that’s fine it is what it is.  We were going to have a break anyway say have six months off just for everyone’s sake to see if we wanted to make another record.  I’d already demoed another album and an EP ready for the band. when Weab left we had sort of five minutes of absolute panic and we were like for fuck’s sake like when your frontman leaves it’s not a trivial thing is it? After a couple of texts went around the lads said well they’re your songs why don’t you do it.  We don’t want to stop it doesn’t matter let’s carry on for now and a lot of promoters and people who had booked the band were going well look we’ve booked you to play here and here etc are you going to do these gigs.  A lot of these people also presumed that I would just sing it wasn’t just the lads in the band.  Everybody just presumed that I would do it.  some bands you’d never find anybody capable of pulling it off and a guitar player doesn’t normally take over from the singer…
 
You did it before when Weab was ill though didn’t you?
Yes when he didn’t turn up
Did you find that an easy transition to go from the singer’s foil and guitarist in the band to fronting it?
It’s sort of harder to fuck about when you’re the guitar player. I spent ten years playing some of those songs playing the guitar and pointing and saying something but not the mindset of being the singer it is different.  Being stuck to the mic and singing all of it its harder trying to do it automatically.  I think I’m getting there but transitioning from one role to the other is hard you get what I mean, don’t you?
To be fair there was a chemistry between you both on stage. The Dirtbox thing of you two bouncing off each other worked really well.  Anyway SV. A Double album.  Who’s idea was a double album? Its a lot of music was it always planned as a double or did it just turn out with the number of songs you were writing feel you just couldn’t cut it down?  Was there a temptation to hold a bunch over and do two single albums or EPs over a period of time?
Yes, Initially it was going to be two separate albums. We started recording then family matters took over when we were about 80% through recording and when we got back to it a load more was written so we recorded that and found ourselves without a label and after shopping around we settled on doing it ourselves with Avenue Records set up by Maff. it is what it is and was the easiest thing to do at the time. these things you can sit on for ages as you know and shop around forever trying to sort a deal out that suits everyone so we were sat in a rehearsal room and Maff came up with the idea and we went with it and its done really well and we already have another recorded. That will come out next year  Its different from ‘Double Bastard’ which is good maybe the best way to describe it is ‘Double Bastard’ was what people would expect whereas this next one is a bit different…
(JH) – I thought Double bastard was quite angry in places as well.  Was that a reflection of where you were at the time? 
I don’t know to be honest because it was written over a period of time maybe.  I think a lot of that was prepared before we got to the studio because we knew we were going to do the double then…
(JH) you’re just an angry man aren’t you?
I can be Ha Ha Ha It depends where the mood takes me on that day haha
Last year we chatted about some of the songs on the first album and I said ‘Purely Medicinal’ was a great track and not at all what I was expecting to hear and you said you had a lot of material you’d written that you didn’t know what to do with.  Is any of that going to see the light of day as a project?
Yeah, I’ve got a whole album of about sixteen songs, It wouldn’t come out as an SV album.  I’ve recorded fourteen I think so far demoed I’ve called it Skeletons or spelt like a kid would spell it Skelingtons it’ll be like stories and thoughts a bit like that and I’m hoping to get that recorded over the winter.  It’s not Dirtbox and its not SV just stories of things I’ve seen and heard no names no people just memories and thoughts…
(JH) you’re the master of that though pulling stories or memories about stuff like XR3  you just pull out those ideas that a generation can relate to.
It’s like scared of needles.  All that came from was a visit to the dentist and my first thought of dentists was fuckin hell needles. and it got me thinking I can’t be the only one can I? So i started scribbling  like TCP that was me dad I did a gig and got a really sore throat and me dad said I should gargle with TCP and he said when we were kids he used to make us gargle with it and then thirty years later I read up and it said you have to dilute it first (Ha ha ha) How fuckin dull as kids just downing it out of the bottle! Ha Ha Ha  My dad then just smirked at me and that for me was hilarious and that’s where the words came from.
 
Do you have a favourite lyrics you’ve written from all these stories?
There’s a lot I like um I think there’s a lot on ‘Gatecrash’.  that was all true. haha pissed out me head eating the toilet blue.  I remember that and XR were based on two parties that stayed with me.  I also like the lyrics on ‘Spare Room’  it might be kind of cheesy but it does reflect real shit. On some of the faster songs like you think you are rock and roll but your not, based on knobheads you see sucking up in places like this and then behind your back, they say something different.  the people who walk in a dressing room and help themselves to your beer and you might think who the fuck are you? you’ve never seen em before.  That’s not me being rude but I’m thinking what you are doing, who are you? haha
When you’ve written with other people like you wrote with Ginger Wildheart do you get a lot of people asking to collaborate?
Well, with ginger he just came down to the studio and sang on the record and I said to him, here’s my guitar and he just freestyled he didn’t write as such he just played.
So on that is there anyone you’d like to write with or get to play on your album?
There are a few things happening which I can’t mention…
(JH) You were always a fan of Cowboy Killers and Bad Sam…
I can honestly say Beddis made me want to be a punk rocker and I know he wouldn’t give a shit about me saying this but for me when people say oh the Damned or the Buzzcocks are great for me He’s great I saw him going mad  in his songs and that was punk rock to me not chart hits or anything but when you’re an impressionable teen and music becomes everything else can go fuck itself he was doing Cowboy Killers and I was consumed by his madness and always giving it some…
(JH) Could you work with that then? Is he someone you’d work with if that could happen?
I don’t think so.  anything I do wouldn’t be conducive to how he works or what he does I love everything he does if I lived near Newport I’d be at every show he does.  when I was a kid just going to gigs and seeing the Cowboy Killers I’d be transfixed and it would be like fuck me that’s punk rock and I always think back to those times because as you guys know that was a real catalyst for me and at the time all that punk rock madness it was for me I mean I’m a massive Leatherface fan and listening to Frankie again, he sang about real things you know rather than dreaming or bands like Kiss who sang about birds and being famous and the punk stuff was real and thought fuck me you could write about things that are real to you and what you know about rather than all that other stuff.
What was it like when you got to tour with Wolfsbane what did you think of those dates?
I couldn’t think because I was so dead excited.  All the time I just stood there every night …
(JH) like a kid in a candy shop for the first time?
Yeah ha ha ha
You made them aware of that obviously?
Oh yeah, they knew it alright haha   I think they were like how old is he haha what an idiot. But, I keep in touch with Jase and I’d met Jeff before , but to answer the question it was great they were dead nice and I was like  Woah – howling mad shithead haha it wasn’t that he’d been in Iron Maiden because it was wolfsbane for me  – again going back to being a kid. I knew they were doing a tour and so I asked can I play with them and they said yeah which is great.  there was no more to it than that for me I was dead excited and it was the same for every show
Who else is on your bucket list then? Showaddywaddy?
Well, funnily enough, last week we did a show that was owned by an original member of the band. It was Mick the duke.  He gave me some CD’s and I told him I was genuinely a massive fan and he told me about the history and a few stories and again that was brilliant for me.  this is great – I know people would laugh at that you know Showaddywaddy but he’s got fuckin gold disks all around his office haha 500,000for this one 600,000 for that you know that’s respect right there he’s done it.  that was a man who’s had proper success.  for me that’s fantastic I’d love to be able to dream I could achieve a bit of that success.  He like 78 and he was chuffed watching us and we got a good crowd in and after he put a load of his songs on the jukebox it was brilliant.  You don’t have to be playing Wembley to go home with a massive smile on your face just because you’ve met somebody you admire and they were great.
Sticking with live shows you’ve been over to Germany a fair bit recently, Headlining? 
sometimes.  On the continent, it’s pretty much neck and neck some places its been more for SV and others Dirtbox.  At the moment Dirtbox pulls in the festivals which is fine.  Its dead well received and we get treated really nicely around Europe.  It’s never a bad place to go we get some really good turnouts and not so good in others that’s just the way it is.  You’ve got to break new territory and the main thing is we enjoy it.  we went over with 999 for three dates with SV and that was brilliant. You know us, We’re on on time and were off on time and we were really well received every night and it was great.
How do the songs go down in places like Germany?  Do they get the humour or the stories like XR3?
No
Ha Ha Ha 
I guess its if they already know Dirtbox or SV then they know what to expect so its a given they probably know about XR3 or ‘Crossfire’ but when we were out with 999 it was like 500 people looking at me like thinking what the fuck is this but the are dead appreciative when you put in the effort and sure I wouldn’t expect them to get ‘Hanging round The Shops’its hard to explain the British culture.  ‘Ram Raid’ it’s all alright here people know what a ram raid is.  there were other things they did get like ‘TV God’ with the riff and TV! I suppose ‘Teenage’ everywhere will get that and it’s great when you hear them sing along.  We go out with Electric Six for two weeks (starting next week as it happens ED) 
 
 
It’s great that you can cross over and play with wolfsbane then 999 then electric Six the Cock Sparrer…
Do you not find that weird though?
No not really it’s a reflection of what you listen to and I think we’re all like that a bit nobody just likes punk or metal or indie.
I think there’s a period in your life when you’re trying to be so cool and you turn your back on all those songs you loved as a kid because they are not cool anymore but its all just bollocks isn’t it? Like I said last night on stage we play punk and metal because boundaries just aren’t for us.
going back to last night did you hold an enquiry as to who fucked up the song?
It was Maff.  We skipped a song and he started playing the next one and I didn’t and it was like what the fucks happening…
I thought you were playing a new song
Ha Ha Ha I started laughing and said what are you doing and he said I missed it so I said let’s play the right one then so everybody plays the right song Go! haha how do you cover it?
you can’t its a fuck up everyone does it haha 
 
We did it in Leeds with Dirtbox supporting The Skids, me n Maff just went off playing one song and the others were like what you doing it was like two five-year-old kids just picked up instruments and started playing and so I started laughing and Maff said just fucking stop! and then everyone was laughing and I turned to the audience and said did you fucking just hear that and it won people over and sort of broke the ice and people were laughing with me  which was great its not embarrassing if you make light of it because it is what it is you’ve fucking gone now so stop laughing just stop! haha
what about last night?  (SV & the Eruptions played the casbah stage)
I really enjoyed last night I remembered getting to the top of the ramp and the crowd was fucking massive and that was great, I mean who’d complain when you’ve got a crowd like that coming to see you.
(JH) It reminded me when you played in here when the stage was on the side and us two were stood next to the stage and you were a bit nervous and then when you walked out it was like – fuckin hell! it was a similar moment this time for the Eruptions.
We did the Empress last year and I was really nervous and you never know how it’s going to go.  The thing is with Rebellion there are so many people and so many good bands all the time you can’t make people go in to watch you, you have to earn it.  they’ve always got that choice.
That year when Dirtbox first played the Empress I went up on the balcony to take a picture if was fucking mental in there from the front to the back it was packed.  It was one of those moments from when we first saw you play the Railway in Abertillery to twenty knobheads who knew every word to fill the Empress was a bit emotional.  It’s no small feat and something you should be immensely proud of.  There are bands who’ve been going decades who would love to have an audience like the one you’ve had at Rebellion and would be envious of it…
I’ve had bands come up to me face and say it.  After that initial rise we did get a lot of respect from a lot of bands but at the same time a lot of ridicule.  A lot of people to this day just don’t get it.  I’m like you can’t get everything you don’t have to like every band that’s fine.  there’s loads of band I never got.  There are loads of bands I never got growing up I’ve played with and have since listened to and got – you know what I mean.  Touring with the skids, they passed me by when I was younger but now having watched them I get it.
I think drawing your influences from a lot of bands that weren’t shit helps – I love the bands I’ve mentioned and bands like the Kinks Or Motorhead or songwriters like the Hollies and people say how do you like the Hollies and I’d say they write great songs with catchy choruses or melodies it good stuff.  I think if you listen to good songs from a good gene pool then it should help you write better songs.  Sure I blast out Lemmy but the Kinks were ace as well.  If you only listen to Extreme noise terror all your life how the fuck will you be able to write a great chorus or melody?  Hopefully having a wide and varied but good gene pool of influences hopefully will help me to be a better songwriter and will help me appeal to a wide audience even if its a little bit.  You can learn to be a better writer.  I never take playing places like Rebellion for granted it’s never a given you still have to work hard to earn what you get and hopefully you get the rewards.
I think that’s why yourselves and The Bar Stool Preachers and Wonk are getting invited back year after year you all have eclectic influences and you all write great songs that win people over. and you’ve earned your stripes.
A lot of people don’t see that we’ve played Halifax on a Monday night and then Southampton and Nottingham followed by Leeds.  A lot of people here probably don’t even know we slog it around Europe playing loads of shows.  I doubt if no more than a handful of people on the Wolfsbane tour knew who we were but now I see people turning up at SV gigs wearing Wolfsbane shirts and patches and that’s great. that makes me smile. I’m proud of that and the band I’ve got they’re all good lads I’m really happy with Scott, Joey and tom and Maff obviously.  they’re all steady and reliable…
Do you think that’s the best you’ve been?
It’s hard to say,  I feel really good about it it’s a different beast to the first line up but they were good but they approached it differently.  Now it just feels right.  I don’t have any concerns at all, I just feel like we’re all right into it and like Scott gives it a bit of a grunt and I like that. Even with Dirtbox, I think we’d run out of a bit of steam and now with Weab going there might have been all the internal issues that people never know about but now all that’s gone it’s like we’re on the same page again.  What happened, happened and I think everybody is happier weab has Kid Klumsy and I hope he’s happy and we can all move on with our own things.  we’re going to have a break then next year we’re going to play a few dates we’ve got pencilled in for April and a new album as well.   We had started some but I’ve got a load of new material with my voice in mind and not Weab so it’s different styles and demoes some and the lads were chuffed they had a real live feel and you could see the boys felt the same again which is great. The songs have a raw feel maybe more like ‘Legends’  but that might be just at the moment.  We’ll see how we approach it in the studio because we love the songs and think Dirtbox has still got legs it would be a shame for me to see the name disappear because the singer left. We don’t want to hang up the Dirtbox flag, it’s not just about us four in the band and you know how hard we’ve worked because you boys have been with us from the start, we’ve worked really hard to get noticed and people seem to like us so we owe it to them as well.
There you have it folks the one and only Mr Spunk Volcano saying it as it is.  We actually chatted for an age with some really exciting things happening for both SV & The Eruptions and Dirtbox Disco so strap yourselves in and get your fix as I’m sure all will be revealed as and when and we’ll try our best to keep you up to date with what’s going on in both camps.  Thanks to Spunk for taking the time and indulging us and making us bloody laugh every time we cross paths.

Rebellion Festival – Blackpool Winter Gardens – Sunday 4th August 2019

Rebellion Festival – Blackpool Winter Gardens – Sunday 4th August 2019

“Easy Like a Sunday Morning” (like Fuck it is)

Three down and one to go and Sunday is a pretty big deal around RPM HQ as our mates are playing on the Introducing stage later but everywhere we look its clash city.  At one point we wanted to see four bands all playing at the same time across the complex so it literally came down to the toss of a coin where we would go and who we would see. With the venue opening at midday we needed to be in the Empress to catch a band we’ve covered a lot lately and who’ve impressed everyone whos seen and heard them.  Hands Off Gretel take the stage to a really healthy crowd considering the day and time and proceed to entertain with a really tight performance as the band really locked in like their lives depended on it and the audience was right there with them. After catching the first 30 minutes of the set we then had to cross the divide via Almost Acoustic where Ratboy was performing his magic to a full room we managed to catch him driving swords through someone’s arm and a more gentle coin trick but we couldn’t stay as all roads lead towards the Introducing stage where Trigger Mcpoopshute took the stage looking rather splendid in their religious outfits.  I even heard some punter comment that Shovel had a decent set of pins in his sheer stockings! I did turn to see what depraved human had such thoughts on the lords day. To be fair Trigger knocked out a rather impressive set of Welsh hardcore fuelled by late-night kebabs and strong cider whilst entertaining and putting a smile on peoples faces with their tales of everyday folk and cheeky charm.

Having seen the band turn in some loose sets this was a different Trigger with a much tighter sound with Bam at the drum stool.  Songs like ‘Skidmarks and Spenser’, ‘Sheep’ and ‘Drinking With The Big Boys’ were going down a storm in front of a very impressive audience and it was only 1.15pm but the only question people were now pondering was ‘Fish Or Bird’? Fuckin’ loons.  Who writes songs about penguins? Bloody entertaining though.

Right that’s three rooms already and it’s not even 2 pm so it must be time to head to Casbah to see if Dan Banger has turned up this year and low and behold he’s bloody made it and finally, Pizzatramp are in the house and what a fuckin’ beautiful noise they make live.  Regardless of if its some tiny venue in the bowels of South Wales or the cavernous Club Casbah at Rebellion Pizzatramp are on fire right now as Sammy plucks that thunderous bass and locks in with Dan they are a formidable force and their Hardcore is a beautiful thing they open with ‘CCTV’ and its brutal ‘Claire Voyant’, ‘He’s Gone Full Mitchell’ and the quite brilliant ‘Millions Of Dead Goffs’ pretty much make up the opening salvo of their set and I’m happy and it seems like half of Blackpool have gotten the memo and decided to turn up to see Pizzatramp with ‘Grand Relapse’ getting a decent airing their (Brown puckered) Star(fish) is burning brightly. We cut the set short and dash over to the Opera House for Johny Skullknuckles Kopek Millionaires who have just gone on by the time we catch our breath.

‘sometimes (Love Just Isn’t Enough)’ sounds fantastic and the change of pace from hardcore Sunday to power pop punk rock was just what I needed. I love Johnys style of writing and a lot of his material reminds me of early Hanoi Rocks and ‘Tell Me Baby’ sounded great as did ‘1981’ from ‘Dirty Beef Hands’ but the ray of sunshine in what has been a difficult time recent for Johny was his touching tribute to Kathy which touched everyone in the Opera House and got a standing ovation and the track of the set ‘Punk Girl From Another World’ an exceptional set from The Millionaires.

After recently seeing Suede Razors in Bristol Johnny and Darrel urged me to pop into the empress and catch the set so if it’s good enough for those two, of course, I was going to be there. so grabbing my spot on the barrier more for something to lean on than anything else the band duly took the stage and Darrel Wojick fresh from checking out Trigger McPoopshute takes the stage and proceeds to ram down some sweet boot boy rock and roll mixing the best of Slade with Rose Tattoo with a bovver boy take on the Four Horsemen.  ‘My city’ kicked off proceedings and for the next half an hour and some they rammed it down the Empress ‘TV175’ going down a storm and the punters flooded in. ‘Passion On The Pitch’ was dedicated to Blackpool fans and their fight for their club and it was nice to hear some Americans and a Canadian knowing their shit and fuck the Oystens would have gone down well.  ‘Bovver Boy’ was a particular high point of the set.  a band who have the chops and know-how to rock and roll and will always be welcome over here if the USA still won’t let them ply their craft.

One of the must-see bands on the introducing stage had to be Rotten Foxes who turned up looking rather splendid in their double denim, cut off nut huggers and wrestling belts. They really put on a show for those gathered in the sweatbox. As for what they played fuck knows, it was absolute pandemonium and punk as fuck with Charlie Harper whistling on the sidelines whilst members of Zero Zero, Pizzatramp and Trigger knew where the only place to be at half three on a Sunday afternoon was and that was in this very room sweating like Ian Krankie in a wardrobe. The songs came thick and fast, fuck, make that very fast as bodies flew around, Hardcore as fuck. An absolute pleasure to witness such beautiful chaos done so well. True to their single ‘Arrive Raise Hell Leave’ Rotten Foxes absolutely killed it.  I wish it had gone on longer and it would have been awesome to see these boys tear somewhere like Casbah a new one with this racket. Don’t quit it’s only just begun. Rotten Fuckin’ Foxes!

We needed to grab some food so Svetlanas were forfeited as was our planned peek at Teenage Bottlerockets (next time for sure). Dirt box Disco are up next and with a quick pint, we head for Club Casbah. Having Weab quit the band to go his own way it left Spunk Volcano to take over lead vocals and this being the first opportunity for us to see the band we first caught way back when they had no more than a couple of shows under their belt this was going to be interesting but seeing so many people turn up and stay til the end must have put wind in their sails as they knocked out classic Dirtbox after classic dirt box with ‘My Life Is Shit’ seeing a frenzied pit chanting the chorus back to Mr. volcano must have felt good that they decided to carry on post Weab. Something of a Rebellion fixture it wouldn’t be the same without them.

Empress is beginning to heat up again as CJ Ramone takes the stage and for the next hour we’re treated to a whole bunch of classic Ramones tunes and some choice cuts from CJ’s solo records all that was missing was a track or two from Bad Chopper. ‘One High One Low’ from the new album slipped in comfortably alongside classics like ‘Bonzo Goes To Bitburg ‘, ‘Rock n Roll High School’ and ‘Rockaway Beach’. ‘This Town’ also off the new album sounded huge but was the aperitif for Blag The Ripper who entered the fray to creepy crawl around the Empress knocking out ‘KKK Took My Baby Away’. CJ then gave a wonderful tribute to his former bandmate Steve Soto who had been performing with him and who died only little over a year ago as last year Adolescents gave a tearful tribute to Soto ‘Rock On’ was apt. the next special guest happened to be Blags bandmate Nick Oliveri.

as if the Empress wasn’t hot enough ‘Warthog’, ‘Commando’, ’53rd’, ‘Sedated’, ‘Blitzkreig Bop’ and to wrap it all up why not go over the top with a sparkling version of ‘R.A.M.O.N.E.S’. Thank you and goodnight.  Fuck me that’s how to do a festival – No bullshit – no fucking around just bish bash bosh!  It reminded me of Buzzcocks who were mentioned several times over the weekend and amusing stories were regaled they were a band who got festivals and usually just blitzed it – well, CJ Ramone just did that – 29 songs in an hour, Smart!

We’re in the home straight now and it’s still pretty full-on We toyed with the idea of going into Empress for The PRofessionals but it was too hot so we went for a wander around the bizarre and dipped in to catch the start of The Skids who weren’t mucking about and once they’d put up the correct graphic giving away the fact that The Damned were indeed playing the Machine gun Etiquette set later gave the game away, oh well the rumours were true. Doh!. ‘Of One Skin’ followed by ‘Charade’ it looked like they were playing the same set they were dishing out around Europe which is fine I’ve not seen the band since they reformed and by the sounds of it they were bang on form. Knowing I had one last lap to complete the heat upstairs on the balcony was almost unbearable and it literally felt like the ‘Saints Were Coming’ if I’d have stayed up there so back to Club Casbah for a glance at Conflict and DOA then settled for a few tunes from King Kurt a band I’d not seen for over twenty years hoping to catch some ‘Destination Zulu LAnd’ but alas it wasn’t to be as I had to venture via the backstage bar for some refreshments before making my way down the front for one final hurrah.

The Damned doing ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ although I’d seen them several times on the last MGE Anniversary tour this time it was with added Paul Gray who always did justice to the Algy bass lines.

As the band took to the stage and Captain offered up the introduction of “Ladies And Gentlemen, how do?” the place seemed to be absolutely rammed and didn’t need an invitation to go nuts as the album was unfurled in sequence well,  up until ‘These Hands’ that seemed to have been left off.  Again not quite its entirety but it would have been fun to hear it for us anoraks. Man The Damned are on fire at the moment and seem to be really enjoying their time on stage. Vanian being quite animated tonight taking the lead with amusing anecdotes whilst Sensible being, dare I suggest it, quite restrained.  Maybe the Wintergardens heat was taking effect whereas we all know Vanian has spent the day relaxing in his air-conditioned crypt so would be fresh as a daisy.  Once they wound up MGE also missing ‘Liar’ as well I might add. They then proceeded to indulge a few extras like ‘Street Of Dreams’ and a rather splendid ‘Ignite’.

I guess they had to play ‘Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow’ before hitting the home straight with ‘Wait For The Blackout’ followed by the anthemic ‘New Rose’,’Neat Neat Neat’ and ending the set with ‘Jet Boy Jet Girl’ and the curtain was brought down on another exception headline set from the original punk rockers and still the best there is. Don’t let Hayward and Sutton tell you otherwise 😉 (DD)

With Dom over in the Empress watching The Damned for the bazillionth time it was left to yours truly to witness rock legends The Dwarves, big dicks swinging, give Blackpool’s punk rock community the bloodiest nose of the weekend. With HeWhoCannotBeNamed back in the fold, there is that added sense of danger and anarchy about the band as they launch straight into ‘Way Out’ and the Club Casbah mosh pit goes suitably apeshit. ‘Sluts Of The USA’, ‘Devils Level’ and ‘We Only Came To Get High’ follow like repeated punches to the face and just when I thought it couldn’t get any crazier a minor drunken skirmish breaks out in front of me during ‘Speed Demon’ and the sight of a topless female pit member sends Blag and the boys off into a world where there ‘Better Be Women’ and ‘Free Cocaine’. ‘We Must Have Blood’ sees He Who and Blag demolish the drum kit, and in a shower of beer, they are gone. Wow! Band of the weekend for me and many others. Don’t agree? Go fuck yourselves. HA! (JH)

Rebellion Sundays are real hardcore as the body is usually wondering why it is being subjected to continued alcohol, dehydration and stairs, stairs and stairs. So having an unbelievable line-up makes it all worthwhile and following playing another set I shot across to the acoustic stage to catch Catlow (of the Poly Esters) set the afternoon on a great footing. A Pizzatramp, Suede Razors 1-2 gets me right in the mood to swing by the Arena to catch Birmingham’s utterly brilliant The Liarbilitys.  Their Antagonisms record sounds fantastic live and Birmingham’s Bleeding is surely one of the best punk rock songs of recent times.  I made a point of popping into the Introducing Stage at numerous points throughout the weekend, sampling some really excellent bands (that Rotten Foxes set was something else!!) but one that really stuck with me was Tequila Mockingbyrd. The female quartet were devastating and really should be checked out, as their Hanoi Rocks meets L7 swagger is infectious.  This led me nicely into catching something very familiar but no less good in the shape of Welsh stalwarts Foreign Legion. Marcus Howells might have led the band in its many forms for decades but they show no signs relenting in any way and are on top form with a set of old standards are spot-on new songs.  With the finish line in sight, I head back to join the hordes watching the Professionals before watching The Dwarves deliver the ultimate coup de grace.  What a weekend?  When can we do it again? (DS)

 

 

Rebellion 2019 was an absolute pleasure from the superb company to the many bands I met shook hands with, had conversations with to the work colleagues also covering the festival to the incredibly hard-working and always smiling staff keeping the bars stocked to make sure everything was hunky-dory.  The bouncers who did their jobs well especially the guys n gals in the Empress who did amazing jobs and always with a smile to the catering staff and stallholders to the people like Darren Russell Smith and Jeannie Russel Smith, Stu Taylor and Daryl for putting this incredible Festival together keeping the prices real. Dod and the photographers who do such an excellent job in capturing it all, the stagehands and sound and light guys for doing such an amazing job under so trying circumstances and the good people of Blackpool for being so welcoming time after time and all the band we saw turn in such awesome sets and the bands we didn’t get round to seeing maybe next year. The PR people for running such a smooth operation you all make this festival lark look like a piece of piss.  The artists upstairs along with the people who were interviewed and interviewers and finally all the punters who love alternative music and keep the scene ticking over buying the music and the merch.  I have a list of bands who should play next year who would go down a treat if anyone wants to know.

Rebellion is always a pleasure and never ever a chore. Now can I go to bed and get some sleep please?  Same time and same place next year? Fan-Fuckin-Dabi-Dozy!

Authors: Dom Daley, Johnny Hayward & Darrel Sutton

Rebellion Preview – Sunday – Lazing on a sunday afternoon (Not)

Rebellion Preview – Sunday – Lazing on a sunday afternoon (Not)

Well, we’re almost there folks its Sunday on our preview and by now there will be sore heads, aching limbs, sunburn, and ringing ears and aching jaws from having such a good time and laughter that’s usually how Sunday pans out but not necessarily in that order. By now you will have got the hang of how to best navigate your way through the Winter Garden and how best to avoid the heat and there will be some who are only now getting into the swing of things and only just warming up.  We’ve already opened a book as to what state our friends Trigger Mcpoopshute will be in before they hit the introducing stage.  I just hope Blackpool has enough Special Vat on tap because they will find it and the Karaoke bar.  Anyway, I digress.

On with the show.  first up will no doubt be a very early start for many as Hands Off Gretel hit the Empress Stage between 12:50pm – 1:30 pm. With their recent album and live shows, they’ve had plenty of praise around these parts and it’ll be great to catch them on such a big stage and big room compared to the tight confines of Clwb Ifor Bach. But wait, get your time warp daps on because there are more clashes than outside a Swansea v Cardiff derby.  1.55 also sees our mates the wonderful Kopek Millionaires return to the festival in the Opera House and hang on those Welsh herberts Trigger McPoopshute are also kicking up a shitstorm over on the introducing stage at 1.15 and if you shout loud enough I’m sure they’ll play ‘Sheep’ and my favourite ‘Skidmarks & Spencer’.

It’s just not fair because Pizzatramp will be causing offense and singing songs about Goths at 2 pm over at Club Casbah or whinging about having their fuckin’ backs being fucked and calling Bono names but I can guarantee they will be entertaining and totally crushing the room.  Next up for me will be those filthy garage punk noise bringers Rotten Foxes again on the introducing stage where double denim hot pants will no doubt be the order of the day and songs about Danny Dyer will be belted out for the gathered masses. Around the same time, The Svetlanas will also be delivering the noise over in The Ballroom and they went down very well last year. You could stay put and chill because up next is the pop punk of Teenage Bottlerockets in the Empress. Or no doubt like many will head over to Club Casbah for your annual fix of Dirtbox Disco at 5.10 pm. If you haven’t had enough Hands Off Gretel frontwoman Lauren Tate will be putting on an Acoustic performance in Almost Acoustic but I’d imagine you’d have to get there early as it will be busy.

It’s still very early evening and hopefully, you should be just warming up by about now and pacing yourself.  You’ll hopefully have just taken in a bunch of new bands on your radar and awaiting some more established bands who will be along later.  There are a dozen bands playing the Introducing Stage on Sunday many of whom I’ll admit to not having heard but will always dip in because its stages like this where the future headliners might come from and who knows, your new favourite band.  Isn’t that the beating heart of what Rebellion Festival is all about?  You can stay in one venue all day long and come across a whole gambit of bands some you’ll love some you’ll know the name of but have never heard them and others will blow you away and all indoors under the same roof alongside friendly staff who make it such a special place to watch alternative music night after night after night. Anyway, I digress.

The Witchdoktors play their garage punk rock n roll just before Foreign Legion kicks in with their Oi! infused street punk.  Weaving around the stages takes some skills that you should no doubt be a Jedi master at by this point so negotiating Conflict, DOA and then King Kurt will be a piece of piss right?  Yeah right.  and if you’re still in one piece The Motherchuffin’ Dwarves are taking the Casbah stage home tonight and will no doubt devastate what’s left of the audience.  I see they’re down for a 55-minute set so it looks like they’re playing twice then kids 😉

Anyway back in the Empress the final curtain call sees CJ Ramone knock out a whole bunch of classics from 7 pm and lets face it he’s never let us down and his new solo album is a bit tasty as well so in fairness throw your laminated stage finder timetable out the window buy yourself a Dark Fruit and just follow your ears and you’ll be taken to a stage that will put a big smile on your face.  The Professionals follow CJ then The Skids follow the Professionals but its top trumps time for me because the Damned close the festival that is as long as The Dwarves haven’t raised the Winter Gardens to the ground from the Casbah at the same chuffing time!  it’ll be a flip of the coin no doubt or we will have to split review duties and by witching hour it will all be over – done and dusted.  Back to our hotels and B&B’s with our pathetic bruised and beaten carcasses dissecting our weekend – our long lost weekend down the musical wormhole that is Rebellion festival.  If you’re still in with a chance of going but can’t decide to take it from us you won’t regret it – not for a second (well that might be a lie – your legs might be saying otherwise)  There is no other festival quite like it in the UK and we love being a part of it year after year.  I’m packed and ready to rock n roll now where did I leave my kiss me quick hat?

Roll Up Roll Up tickets available Here

Hot Sauce From Your Dirtbox

Hot Sauce From Your Dirtbox

Hot on the heels of the release of their ‘Spunk Volcano Bastard BBQ Sauce’ a few months ago, (200+ bottles sold and counting!) those rock and roll freaks in Dirt Box Disco are now preparing to launch yet another hot sauce!

In association with the legendary Chilli Pepper Pete, Dirt Box Disco is proud to announce the release of their ‘Freaks Hot Green Salsa’.

Drummer Maff Fazzo says “Our Bastard BBQ Sauce was received incredibly well and I don’t think that any of us expected it to be quite so popular. The only criticism we heard was that it wasn’t hot enough, so we thought we’d best come up a hotter version. In my favourite colour green!”

Clocking in at 5/10 on the heat scale, ‘Freaks Hot Green Salsa’ is a delicious green sauce with a bit of a bite and a whole lot of zing! Perfect as a dipping sauce with nachos and vegetables, or as a salad dressing. Or just poured all over your chips! The sauce was created using all natural ingredients, is suitable for vegans and is wheat, dairy and GM-free.

The sauce was officially launched at this year’s Rebellion Festival in Blackpool and is now available to order online from the Dirt Box Disco/Spunk Volcano website.

 

After another awesome weekend at the Great British Alternative Music Festival and before SV & the Eruptions head out on the road with Wolfsbane Europe can catch them at these dates throughout Rocktober and the by fans for fans video for ‘My Life Is Shit’ – Enjoy!