rebellion20141

Rebellion 2014 – Day 1

Living in ireland means there has to be an annual journey to Blackpool for rebellion. There are many ways to get there including a direct flight but finances directed me to fly to Manchester from Dublin and then get the train north west.

bitchin bajas
I Started the day listening to bitchin bajas, most definitely punk rock. I don’t think they will ever get to play rebellion but their take on Eastern instruments  belongs more in a punks mind than the Indian pop charts of which it will never reach. Drone music is a descriptor often used for repetitive sound and this is most definitely repetitive.  It’s not for the dance floor but can embrace you with a trance like sound. I never heard them before this self title release but wish this was the sound in Indian restaurants when sitting down to my authentic experience.

It flows for 76 minutes taking  you aurally on a dreamscape, I’m walking through manchesters bustling strets and am lost in the soundscape of bitchin bajas. I can think of few better ways of avoiding the crowds. It reminds me of a raw food diet. It is something I have no intention of participating in but the idea of it makes perfect sense.

Speaking of raw food, v revolution is not raw but it is 100% vegan like its relatives in Birmingham and London. Vegan junk food that’s not really junk but is processed. I love it here, veg burgers and hot dogs to beat the doom hardcore band. They sell zines and records too. What more do you want.

My soundtrack whilst in here was amistad. Had I had roughneck riot to hand they would have been given a blast as their next album is out on manchesters tns records.  Kept under by a generation of ghosts is amistads wordy album title. passionate hardcore is their sound, not quite up there with bear trade and dauntless elite but that’s a pretty hard standard to meet. I love the tunes and it helped my train journey too.

And so rebellion starts. Blackpools annual homage to punk rock  and all it’s glory. Earlier this year i put out a fanzine and asked 20 people one  question, what does punk rock mean to you?  The answers are as broad as the music on offer at rebellion. Punk rock covers such a diverse range of people and sounds. We have a common bond of a small number of bands from different eras and for many that is the clash, sham 69 or crass. Of course there’s tons more but crass politicised  punk in a way that joe strummer may have wished for but wasnt in a position to implement. They were fully independent with no reliance on a music business that had more than music in its heart. Penny and eve from Crass  opened up the largest venue in the winter gardens as part if this eclectic festival. The empress wasnt at its maximum 3000 people but there was a great crowd for 4 pm on a Thursday afternoon. For penny and eve this was not a chance to appease the crowd looking for their crass classics they grew up on but was a performance, a challenging one that would have been better suited to a smaller venue but the respect the crowd have for this band is immense. They could have done 45 Minutes of silence and we would have been happy.

After Yes Sir I will the manic explosion of noise continued as I raced around trying to soak as much of it in as I could.

4130s have no stylists as their invisible band member. Musically the style is more us than uk hardcore and they graced the new band stage with aplomb.

Billy liar was rocking the acoustic stage with singalong and all. Full of energy, slightly erratic and edgy which keeps you hanging on

Jona Lewie was an interesting addition this year. He made three different appearances. I got the end of his spoken word / interview where he spoke of Levi’s. this was a world away from the Yes Sir i will performance I had just witnessed. I the saw some of his acoustic set. In a word, awful. Not even quirky just bland.

Artur Kitchener. Blues based foot tapping acoustic.  Nothing objectionable.

Back to the empress so, where Infa riot had 1000 people singing along. I have the in for a riot album since its releases nearly 30 years ago and those basic three chord songs haven’t dated as well as I’d hoped. Still that 1000 seemed to enjoy themselves.

Goldblade had us singing along screaming we re gonna riot tonight. Great energy from brother john who hasn’t lost any of the enthusiasm that endeared him to me in 1997 when our paths first crossed. Great singalong songs with a stage show to boot these days!!’

Cyanide pills played garage speed fuelled songs. Tunes with an attitude. Damaged goods always seem to unearth gems and they’ve done so here. 35 mins on and off. Brilliant

I only got a glimpse of the duel due to scheduling but enough to see two tracks of rock and roll punk with a synth

Speaking of synths which are in short supply here i had a quick ging at autopsy boys, 4 men clad in white t-shirts playing horror hardcore that suddenly bounced into electro pop. Synth and hardcore, a new mix

I know this isn’t gonna be too accurate but sometimes you’ve got to say things as you see them. Street dogs remind me of 7 seconds but an oi version. It’s got something to do with the tuneful vocals and crowd interaction of lead singer mike McColgan. Where infa riot seemed to leave their songs on stage despite the best efforts of the band street dogs sound fills the empress. Street punk, heartfelt and meaningful.

Rory McLeod finished off the acoustic stage with a bit of calypso beat to his acoustic along with harmonica. Upbeat way to finish off

I just didn’t have the stamina for more so have to apologise to selector, the dickies, demented are go and tragedy. I missed you, but it’s gonna be a long 4 days

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