First off to the literary stage and listen to John Robb interview Gary Bushell. I kind of went off Bushell after he left Sounds and started writing for the Sun but there is no doubting his positive contribution to the punk and Oi movement over the years. It was an entertaining interview and he told an hilarious tale of when CID turned up at his house looking for Motorheads stolen Bomber stage prop.
Then it was down to the acoustic stage to see Louise Distras. Louise seems to have come so far in such a short time and seems to be on the road more than the Subs. Her voice seems to vary from melodic to a gravelly roar, sometimes in the same line and she has got a great batch of songs, sometimes political and having a pop at appropriate targets (Sam for some reason seems to think her final song about the creepy men from the internet was about me!?). Her debut album Dreams From the Factory Floor is out at the end of September and is top of the most eagerly awaited albums of the year. I urge you all to buy!
We caught a little bit of Anthrax in the Pavilion before going down to the Olympia to see Dirtbox Disco. They played on the smaller stage and we were a nit nearer the front so the sound wasn’t actually that bad. I’d never heard DBD until the Christmas Rebellion and was shocked at how big a crowd they drew then and the fact that everyone was singing along so we’d made an special effort to see the whole set at Blackpool. They are definitely at the more light hearted end of the punk rock spectrum but have some catchy as hell tunes that get everyone joining in and I would recommend catching them if they play in a town near you. (they are playing at the Birmingham Punx Picnic weekend at the end of August).
Next were King Prawn in the Empress. I love watching some of the ska bands as very often they present a bit of lighter relief amongst the punk rock mayhem but King Prawn are a bit different offering a ska tinged set with a tougher edge than most and I will make an effort to catch them again.
We saw Terveet Kadet on the Arena stage. A Finnish hardcore band from the 80’s they played a tight wall of sound 20 minute set and left. Brilliant. It’s this variance in styles that keep this festival interesting.
A quick dash to the Pavilion to catch the second half of Citizen Fish, another politically tinged ska band but so different to King Prawn but still great. It really was now becoming like a mad episode of Runaround (without Mike Reid) rushing from stage to stage to try to catch as many bands as we could.
We decided to drop in on Chas N Dave as we might never get another chance. They played to a pretty packed Empress but after 20 minutes we decided we’d seen enough. Don’t get me wrong they were good, but they would have been immense if they had taken a leaf out of Terveet Kadet’s book and done a heads down 20 minutes romp through the classics and cleared off.
Quick drop in on Zounds at the pavilion who sounded great and hopefully I will get chance to see a full set at some stage then it was down to the Arena again to see Hardskin. As Fat Bob proudly announces when they came on stage, Hardskin are an anti-fascist skinhead band. With tongue slightly in cheek they belt out a serious of classics and crowd pleasers and I’m so chuffed they are at the Birmingham Punx Picnic.
Soon as they are finished quick dash next door to the Empress to complete the London town knees up with the Cockney Rejects. At times suffering with slight sound problems they still belted out the classics and threw in a couple of tracks from East End Babylon album and Power and The Glory
to boot. Great set and always worth checking out.
We’d missed so many great band tonight but next up was the possible high light of the weekend. Managed to catch the Ruts DC a couple of times last year and they had been brilliant on both occasions so tonight was going to be tough to match it. Firstly they played the Pavilion where the sound had been good all weekend. Secondly Dave Ruffy and Segs both seemed really relaxed and were enjoying themselves. And those songs. A great mix of tracks from the excellent Rhythm Collision Vol 2 album, Ruts DC back catalogue and tunes from the mighty Ruts. Where do you start? It Was Cold, Backbiter, Dope For Guns, Something That I Said, Babylon’s Burning, Staring At The Rude Boys, West One, Love In Vein, In A Rut, H Eyes, Jah War. Say no more. On a day where highlights were great (Louise Distras etc) Ruts DC stole the show and maybe it’s because I’m a sentimentalist and they were one of my favourite bands but I don’t care because I fucking loved every moment.
Finally, went to see the Misfits in the Olympia, truly awful sound meant it was hard to distinguish between the songs at times but still sang along to Skulls and was that really a cover of Rise Above I heard? Best day so far!
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