2012
JANUARY
January 3rd: Back to work hi de ho, this year however wasn't quite as gloomy as last, despite the hurricane winds blowing down me fence panel. I'm in a productive mode (web wise) having just finished some long overdue fanzine reviews, so I wanna strike while the irons hot with some record reviews. And getting the diary back up to speed is usually first. Objectives this year are to add the much missed 1977 punk calender to the site with all those missing months and a gigantic load of new facts and images to litter those halcyon 365 days. And of course to get the Punk Images mega section of the site back online with new and better quality imagery, its been a long time gone. Got loads of books to read too and review thanks to Stu at work for kindly donating some rather nifty punk items, and Paul K. in Bristol for the PIL book. Oh and this years backdrop was inspired by a new boozer in town which goes by the name of Billy Wright... Cheap beer, wolves memorabilia what more could ya want!
January 5th: Receive an External Menace 45 today that features long lost early demos from them being just kids. But you can
sense they had somert special to offer even then. Its out now on New Yorks Loud Punk Records. Cheers to Welshy for posting
this to me review up soon!
DECEMBER
December 8th: Gawd time flies don't it blink my eye and ten months has gone scary! First gig I been to since Adam Ant and it
was one of those big Rebellion festivals with loads of bands in Brum. I wanted to see Rancid, Street Dogs, Criminal Class
and the Pork Dukes. As it happened didn't see any of the above. What I was confronted with was £3.90 a pint and £45 quid
in on the door which I could just about live with, but I certainly couldn't live with "no outside access after 7!" arrgghhhh! And I'm
sure everyone else found this really crud too. But you know what punks are like, they accept it. Have to own up I only managed
to last fer 4 bands and by that time I'd certainly had enough.
ANWL were on when I come in having just missed the Street Dogs grrrr. I gotta say they the League are virtually a 'metal' band
these days,and very pantominish!
The Subs with Alvin Gibbs on bass were the best band of the evening that I caught. But ain't old Charlie looking jaded these days.
'Warhead' got the best reaction with mass audience participation, but a red faced Alvin Gibbs who looks like he's been hitting the
wine big time, can certainly handle a bass from past experiences. But strangely just couldn't play Paul Slack's bass intro, no
matter how hard he tried, it was way too trebly lol.
In the smaller room Peter And His Test Tubes were rocking the place but I couldn't actually get to hear 'em coz it was packed
solid to the door and personal space is a requirement with these poxy plastic glasses.
The Exploited were on the main stage next and shocking for all the wrong reasons. I thought it was someone else when the
band shuffled on and looked like a Metallica covers outfit with long hair? Then Wattie came on and the crowd dispersed leaving
only a few die hards singing along. I think he noticed. Wattie still had his pink mohican but it was strangely offset by a chunky
gold chain and some designer t-shirt. No more Dr Martins tonight, instead he had camouflaged knee length trousers, complete
with white trainers and he looked more Chav than the cunts who dwell on the local Low Hill estate. The music was relentless and
hardly extinguishable from the next number. His delivery was never the most persuasive even in their heyday, but in 2012 its
downright embarrassing they seemed like a band who were on to get the set over as fast a poss, take the money and score!
The big hits like 'Dead Cities' gave us a little peak into the past and their best track 'Alternatives' got the crowd singing along,
but his stage presence is very cold as he was wired like some deranged dog in a compound running up to the monitors feet on
the top barking, then back to the drum riser and so forth all the way through. The lyrics are totally unfathomable. I'd been in
here 3 hours by this time and I couldn't be arsed to do another bar reckie and walk round the joint to kill time for the umpteenth
time, amidst lots of posturing boneheads by the bar with European accents, so fucked off out the hole!
Apparently Rancid were good and Cock Sparrrer were poor. I felt cheated and ripped off. Gimme a Diy punk gig in some back
street boozer any day of the week, at least you can go outside if the bands are crap. Production line punk on this scale is an
endurance test not a pleasure. I even think the punters who go to these things regularly must have very shitty lives if this is what
they settle for entertainment? MERRY XMAS!
