Rebellion Day 4
It all started off on the final day with Joseph Porter from Blyth Power asking was there any aviation nerds in the crowd? The deathly silence in reply was not just a sign that us old punks were wilting. They sing English folk songs of rail ways and history and on the acoustic stage they went down very well..
Cherry and Peesh were on next. Nice punky new wave sound. Cherry B has had a busy Rebellion, she has just launched her new book, interviewed Steve Ignorant and many others on the literary stage. The songs are electric guitar with Cherry B ranting along with her poetry.
The introducing stage is the place to hang out today it starts off for me with Arch Femmesis and their electro bop. The takeover of the stage by Loud Women really added to the day.
I popped my head into the arena to see Convict Class. I haven’t seen a bigger crowd queueing for merch, seeking the elusive Convict Class t-shirt. For me they were middle aged men playing aggressive songs and after the introducing stage it felt a bit wrong.
I like On The Huh which again is 4 older men singing aggressive songs but more about comradeship and community. Sing along street punk can be good. Along with Hard Skin they were the best of the weekend in this genre
Ruts Dc were back in the Opera house for an acoustic set. What a way to spend Sunday afternoon. Watching Leigh play guitar that he is almost having a conversation with it while Segs and ruffys rhythm carry us along. It’s so good. It’s almost cathartic going into a room and seeing how much people enjoy this. Years ago it was a case of play the classics and sing along but now it’s new and old songs with equal acceptance.
Then it was Steve Drewett songs and stories. Cherry B gave a lovely introduction in poetry.
Steve gave us the story of the neurotics and meeting Atilla The Stockbroker. He spoke of politics, miners strike, Billy Bragg and how their lives changed spiritually and politically. Their world then changed as people started liking their music. Steve, as part of the Neurotics and then solo was the first western punk to play what was then East Germany, North Korea and Albania. The stories he told us today are ones of countries deprived of live music and how the audiences were just happy to have someone play for them.
A quick breath of air and then back in to the introducing stage for the Dollheads. Like a young Green Day full of energy and tunes and a bit of sparkling attitude. My guess is these will be on a much bigger stage next year.
The punks always liked a bit of ska and reggae so Rhoda Dakar from the Bodysnatchers had a big crowd skanking in the opera house to that lovely dancey sound. She did a fine Nick Lowe cover made more famous by Elvis Costello, “What’s so funny about peace love and understanding”. Here as we skank along in the winter gardens wondering aloud about yesterdays events bred on hate and fear wondering what is so funny about peace love and understanding. There were lots of covers from Rhoda including skanking versions of The Buzzcocks “I don’t mind” and David Bowies “man who sold the world”.
Meryl Streek confronted the Casbah crowd in a way that benefits did the day before. Meryl has some tunes as his backbeats and wants the noise to have some melody while he rants angrily and there’s a lot of anger. The crowd appreciated it and clapped and sang along as Meryl spit out his words.
Back to the Loud women stage to catch some of Baby Teeth. Three people making a grungey racket on stage. Full of confidence and the exuberance of youth, unlike me at the moment, as the final leg of the festival kicks in.
Miles Hunt played a full blooded set of Wonderstuff songs full of acoustic energy that had everyone singing along. It typifies the full range of music on offer under the loose banner that is punk rock. It certainly isn’t a style of music as every band I’ve seen today offered something different with their take on guitars, bass and drums with the odd extra thrown in. For now the people in the audience with T-shirts as varied as the dickies, GBH, knock off, Murphy’s law and stray cats are all in the Spanish hall enthralled, smiling and singing along.
Twat union were on in Loud Women stage. All six of them with an assortment of instruments. Mixing free jazz with the slits this was some assortment of noise on the stage and again a sign of a stage doing something different.
Up for the anarcho punk panel on the literary stage expertly hosted by P.A. from Paranoid Visions. P.A. has lived this and has been active right through it all so didn’t need any notes for his questions. This was a man knowledgeable about his topic. As for the panels existence these are snippets of our history and the organisers really are missing out on something by not recording them. These memories won’t stay with these people forever but the document needs to happen.
Colin Jerwood from conflict didn’t agree. he seemed very cagey and uncomfortable with it right from the start. He doesn’t think we should live on the past. As he said himself “It’s not about records it’s about taking things back.”
Andy T spoke of his poetry and how it all started by him jumping up between bands. He has been playing music too and is working on some stuff. Still political and still trying to drive change.
Kay from Youthanasia and Decadent few talked of her bands and pulling out of record releases when they weren’t happy with what they were about to put out on Crass Records. Kay is still playing and will be on the rebellion stage next year.
Joseph Porter from Zounds, The Mob and Blyth Power’s interjections were very articulate and on point. He spoke of Blyth powers first album being pulled by Corpus Christ. He feels too much credence was given to people in bands at the time. There were people around the bands that were more important. His memory is that most anarcho bands stayed inside a bubble and didn’t try and engage with the public. Looking back they were more concerned with the price of records than what was happening on a larger scale.
Bands don’t change lives people change their own lives. Politics isn’t just slogans it isn’t you do with your everyday life which really is the influence punk rock has Had on many. There was a butterfly effect of anarcho punk which turned people into activists and the people on the panel were taking no credit for this.
There was a strong level of humour throughout to show how these bands don’t take themselves too seriously and to realise they were just people playing in a band.
I can’t explain how much punk rock means to me. The words on the page don’t do it justice but it became a way of living. Not thinking what would the punks do just what feels like the right thing to do. This weekend epitomises it. It’s a huge family and like any family gathering there are some you like more than others. I’d say 20% of the bands were of a passing interest to me. The rest, for me, had either past their sell-by date or become a replica of what was once average. And that’s ok. If you were to line all the Irish people who travelled over you would get very different festivals for each person. You would also get a different understanding of what punk is or means and that’s part of its beauty but deep down there is a connection. I left the winter gardens early, I decided not to go near the cockney rejects, SLF or conflict. I had seen enough on the introducing stage that Loud women curated to give me hope. As always leaving Blackpool I felt sad. It was my go to holiday as a kid with people who are no longer hear. I left the venue and burst into floods of tears. It was a celebration of memories from the past but excitement for the future after what happened this weekend. I’m raging you missed it.
niallhope
