It was the best of times.... that is all

Goddamnit! So where do I begin to start? Well let's start with expectations. Anyone who read the write up of the last show will know I was kind of a fan of the original More Of This! Fest punk rock all dayer which was back in the distant pasts of November last year. Having a huge of selection of great bands was one part of what made the day so amazing. But the thing that really got me in the heart strings was the community that was created. I made new friends that i genuinely liked and still keep in contact with and we all had so much fun over the course of 12 awesome hours of punk rock that coming into this day I was just a little worried that it wouldn't be the same. The sense that some intangible element would be missing from the day that I could only think of as the magic glue that held it all together.

Of course I was entirely unjustified in my concerns it seems. More Of This! II was in my opinion one of the greatest days I've had, barring the birth of my child and my wedding day. Not only were all of the elements

that made the first day present but they seemed amplified, more potent and just as exhilarating. From meeting more new friends to listening to such impossibly high quality music I was almost brought to tears, this took what was an incredible one off event and turned it into a real culture, a movement. A chance for those sick of their home town scenes to say "IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY". For people used to being outcasts to find a place where belonging isn't just a chance occurrence, but the motto on the door. This is Thirteen Stitches, this is our vision, this is what we wanted our whole lives and collectively we made it happen. A lot of love went out to 13SX godfather Steve Todd on the day and all of it was heartfelt and entirely warranted, as he managed to organise yet another blinder of a day. But equal amounts of praise can be bestowed on all who attended, because it takes all of us to make this so special and by the nine we did make it special. Here's to our little revolution, the one where we allow anyone and say if you're a good person then you're alright by me.

Anyways, onwards, lets talk about bands since we have some time to kill, I'll go along chronologically, so it's easier to find a particular act if you don't want to listen to my waffle. As before I unfortunately had to go and eat at some point in the day so I only caught the last chorus of Chapter Eleven, but I know Asher is the nuts and would have been as awesome as last time.

Sam Moloney

What do you do when your band decides it doesn't want to go on tour? Do you sit in a corner and cry about it or do you say screw that, grab your guitar and go play by yourself because you love what you do just that fucking much. If you're Sam Moloney you opt for the latter and give a beautiful opening to the day. There may have only been other acts in the New Cross Inn at half twelve but all of us in attendance love every second of Sams set. Playing Mixtapes Saints songs by himself you couldn't tell that there should've been a whole extra band behind the songs, Sams melodic style and slightly haunting vocals had us all bowled over in a way that probably wouldn't have happened with a full backline.

Luke Godwin

I'm not going to lie. I google stalked Luke for a few weeks before the show and slightly fell in love with his

album. A fully produced effort with Luke on everything it meant that I had some pretty high expectations and maybe just a tiny guy crush. I wasn't let down for a second either as even though he was on the point of exhaustion (mostly through constant outbursts of awesomeness) he delivered an incredible set on his own with nothing but an acoustic guitar. Luke has a beautiful voice and can do that thing I've seen somewhere where he can actually play his guitar really well and and top of that writes catchy tunes that get the words red wine stuck in you head for a week after!

Red Rag Front

It's a shitty thing when you are about to go on stage and the preceeding act was phenominal. I was suddenly wracked with self doubts and loathing and didn't think anything was good enough anymore. On top of that this was the first show I've played without Drew doing all the good bits for 9 months and the carefully rehearsed set I had handily stored in my head went right out the window. Despite all that I think the set went well enough, I especially enjoyed playing a Demon Smiles cover which is now the best number in my set. Afterwards I was told I reminded a few people of a young Brendan Kelly which is the absolute highest praise I have received in my adult life. So I'll chalk this up as a win.

The Real Quaid

Terrible. Awful in every sense!! Not only did they attempt to shatter my delicate eardrums with melodic pop punk at three in the afternoon, they sung about vulgar topics such masturbation!! Not content with a single voice ruining my earl grey quiet time they had quintuple booming gang harmonies assaulting me and left me with hooks that to this very moment wont leave my head!! There were screaming solos and hardcore songs and not one song with contrived lyrics about some romantic thing. I suppose if you love that sort of thing you
could have said that they were exceptional and that they were one of your new favourite bands. I guess.

East End Riot

East End Riot look awesome. East End Riot sound awesome. East End Riot can be found next to the dictionary definition of awesome! They are a band that wears their influences on their sleeves (tattoo sleeves, awesome tattoo sleeves) but when those influences are Hellcat esque hardcore and Lars Frederkison and the Bastards you can hardly go wrong. The guys had a lot of variety to offer despite hardcore/oi/old school crossovers often sounding samey after a while. Choked with super cool charm, irony and all of the punk rock not-giving-a-fucking-shitingness you'd expect from a band with hellcat inspirations/aspirations they kicked all of the asses despite it being early enough in the day for it to not to be silly wearing sunglasses inside!

On A Hiding To Nothing

On a Hiding to Nothing were my favourite act of the day, despite the fact that I thought the same

thing about every other act as they came on. It's so hard to say that because I don't want to take away from just how incredible the other bands that I could also easily say were my favourite were, but if someone put a gun to my head and said "Dan, judging on your taste in music, who was the best of the day" I would be siding with these guys. They are everything I like in a band musically and they were tight as shit and everything sounded crisp and perfect and apparently the lead singer was ill but now I'm worried about seeing them on a good day because it might make my head explode!! Jack Wiseman (no relation to Demon Smiles Joe - I think) also gets the award for absolute most charismatic person on the stage all day and possibly for ever.

DROP THIS

Damn. I already used my "favourite" badge up. Well also in that category were Drop This. If you had to ask them what music genre they want to be pigeonholed into they would probably say up yours and kick you in the nuts till they turned purple. After that they might say 90's So Cal, Fat Wreck hardcore. That's the type that is Blisteringly fast, melodic and better than all other hardcore ever invented. I literally loved every second they played and could've just watched them play for the rest of the day. If these guys are new to you and you haven't seen them then your world is just a little darker than mine.

The Holiday Plan

It's a dangerous thing eating cheap food before playing a show because you never know when that crap is going to repeat on you. However if you're lucky or excellent or both then you will still be able to crank out massive tunes and bust gorgeous harmonies and keep everything sounding sweet like bosses. This I learnt from The Holiday Plan who may well have had a run it with Weatherspoons crap but didn't let that interfere with bringing the place down with probably one of the most popular sets of the evening.

My Third Leg

I love a bit of ska, as long as it's mixed with generous amount of punk rock and that is what was delivered

during My Third Legs set. Everything that is right about ska-punk was there, it was catchy as hell, had breakdown and speeds up and enough variety to make every song interesting and a joy to listen to. A special mention here should go to Dave the bass player. Not because I have a bass player fetish, but because I freaking love ska walking bass lines done well and he knocked out belters everytime, he also seemed to have his own fan section which is awesome because all bass players need their own fan section!!

Shooting Fish

Sometimes a band with a beautiful lead singer spends too much time worrying about how hot their singer is and forgets to kick ass at the same time. Throughout the history of bands with hot female leads (or at least the ones I'm thinking of in my head) they've always seemed to end up a little more watered down than fully male bands. I'm not sure if this statement makes me a pig or an awful human being but the point of all the pre

ramble is that Shooting Fish haven't let the fact that I fancied the lead singer interrupt them being totally kickass.....

God that sounds bad. Let me start that one again. I loved Shooting Fish, they were all awesome, their songs rocked and I especially loved the Rise Against cover at the end. They all seemed like totally excellent people and the reason I was too nervous to go and chat to them properly is only down to that fact that I am a tool.

Dynamite Dynamite

Dynamite Dynamite may very well be the best band in the UK right now. I challenge anyone to find someone better, and whoever you come to us with as your suggestion will immediately be shown the door as we down at 13SX HQ believe this with extreme prejudice. I do not pretend to be a particularly good reviewer of bands, and it is painfully obvious to anyone who reads these blogs that I'm not good at it. In this case I really think it's a shame because I wish I could find the right words to explain the unadulterated joy I felt watching these guys in musical terms. Were they tight? Yes. Am I still singing all their songs? Yes. Were they the coolest

people in the world? Yes. Did they own the stage like fucking bosses? Yes. There's something good and right and perfect about their sound and I'd spend all of the money I have (which is like £3 right now) making sure I could see them play every day if I could. I dunno what else to say except go listen to them right now and make your life complete.

Demon Smiles

I did a calculation the other day, this calculation determined that I have seen Demon Smiles play a minimum of once every month for the last 8 months. That's a lot of times and I guess that mere fact is testament to how much I love them. Recently they had had the odd technical difficulty here and there but there was no such distraction this time. This was the pure DS experience. When they play on a good day planets move into position and Khonshu smiles on the world. Demon Smiles are just exciting to watch. They love what they do so much that you can't help but become affected by their enthusiasm for super fast melodic punk rock. This was the best I've seen them, and it was humbling. Watching them tear up the room made

that small detail of them fast becoming one of the number 1 punk bands of this generation that much more obvious. Their potential spills from every chord and every beat as they storm through a set on pure balls of steel.

SEEHEARSPEAK

Sweet Jesus. I expected nothing from this band, them having been one of the unknowns (for me) of the evening and from this low vantage point I had my soul torn out my lungs and shown to me in all its glory. That probably made no sense so let me try and elaborate. See Hear Speak are as close to musical perfection as I would dare to guess. I can't begin to find the right amount of positive adjectives to describe them so instead I'm going to go use a thesaurus to help me out. Mind Blowing, astonishing, hallucinatory, staggering, stunning, wonderful, over-whelming, breathatking, wonderous and stupefying. These don't even come close. I wouldn't dare to put them  in a category such as melodic hardcore because the images that may conjure up wouldn't do these guys justice. Every note, syllable and snare crash spoke to me in a thousand languages and all of them told me that this was the greatest moment in existence. My entire outlook of life shifted after listening to See Hear Speak and now my

main goal in life is to try and feel that again. They are my new heroin and I will throw away my pride to seek that hit again.

N.B. I do not, nor have I ever taken heroin and was meerly being poetic and not publically admitting to a drug addiction!!

Real Life Version 

How much can one man give to a show. If you are the drummer of See Hear Speak then that answer if one fucking hell of a lot as he didn't move and stayed to kick out the beats for Real Life Version. Whilst not the all consuming powerhouse that is SHS, Real Life Version do the other half of music with as much precision and excellence as the previous band. And that is writing incredible songs that stay with you and leave you wanting more. All at once they are soulful and powerful and deep and

carefree with a dash of technicality in their melodies recalling such other standout bands such as Thrice and Alexisonfire when they are at their most melodic and not just screaming into a mic. Even without being in their own country and in a dive on the outskirts of London they still had the whole venue jumping and were a perfect climax to the evening.

And there you have it. If you were there let me know if you agree with my roundup of your favourite acts. If you weren't hopefully you can see the unbelievable amount of quality punk rock that was squeezed into one day and you'll bee a part of the next one. If you've made it this far down the blog then thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm just a guy with a guitar who says what he sees when out at gigs and it honestly make me happy to know people read and/or care about what is written on this screen. 

As I'm not the only person anymore who helps with this blog I'd like to thank and give to links to the following:

Chris King who took the incredible pics of the first half of the day. You can find his projects here.

Steve, who presides as king over 13SX promotions. He's my best friend but also now an exemplary business partner. You can see what we're up to on our website.

Don't you dare quit your band!

So I read this blog.

In essence this is basically in my horrendous opinion everything that is wrong with the music industry today so for the first time ever I'm going to write a counter point to this stupid  bunch of words I just had the misfortune of reading.

I have no idea exactly what this guy did in a band before but I can't imagine he really got the idea. He seems to think that being in a band means you just stick three people with an instrument each together and out pops what you assume is the beatles and away you go. The fact that he seems to think that the idea of meeting bands you like is novel makes me think that music for him was only ever a get rich quick scheme. He had some idea that just picking up an instrument and playing without any other effort would propel him to Bon Jovi like stardom and then got disenfranchised once he found out there is just the tiniest bit more to it all than that.

Well screw that guy. Here is why being in a band and sticking to it over the years was the greatest thing

I've ever done:

I'm not in it for the money. I play music because I genuinely love to do it. So I guess yeah if you're whoever wrote that article and seem to hate music for the sake of it then yeah, quit now. Because I love to play music I'm generally attracted to friends to also love to play music and I have probably at some point either played in a band with them, played shows together with them or both. Through playing shows and naturally befriending people through a mutual love of the music we make - not through forcing myself to "network" - we have created our own sub scene within the punk community and that is a wonderful thing. Because we all respect the music we make and encourage each other to stick together and evolve organically we have the fun of seeing each other get better and expand our ranges. We have so many people now who enjoy the music we all make that we have too many acts to put on all at once! This we created not by finding better deals and dumping previous groups and not by going out with the express intention of talking to someone who may be able to further our goals but by actually enjoying the things we love.

I haven't gushed about Demon Smiles for a while but now seems like a perfect time to pick up that mantle again. The three Demon Smiles guys don't play music together for gain or profit. The idea to form a band came before they had even decided on a style or even a complete line-up. The group dynamic isn't one of profession, but of friends from years back and of lovers and overwhelming passion for listening to great music and wanting that to be a part of their lives. That's what makes them special, and no amount of technical prowess or blisteringly fast drumming or beautiful vocals will top that chemistry between them. They sacrifice only what they don't expressly need in their lives to play music. They have day jobs, but music comes second only to the bottom of Maslov's triangle. They don't deliberately go out in the hopes that someone will "notice" them or to scout out opportunities to get into a more commercially viable band, but instead bands and labels and promoters are drawn to them as something truly awesome. If you're really lucky and spend time learning all their songs they'll even let you play songs on stage with them!!! Never throughout all of the successes and welcoming of newer acts is there ever a shred of egotism or vanity either and I think they would disband themselves on the spot if they ever found themselves shunning other bands or talking down to a single person they meet.

And there you have it. Don't ever quit your band. find your bestest friends and be fucking awful and then make friends and then get better and above all fucking love doing it every step of the way.

Demon Smiles
More of This! Fest II
13 Stitches DIY punk promotions

That one time I was at the 12 Bar

I really should stop trying to review gigs. The calamity this time being I gave my camera to some drunk dude who not only didn't bother to stay for the set but disappeared to some bar down the other end of oxford street! cheers for that random guy.Also I couldn't stay to the end so I can't even talk about Top Buzzer!!

Anyways onto another round-up. So I've miraculously never been to the 12 bar before (or if I have I was far far too wasted to remember) and was certainly shocked coming through to what seemed like a murder room in the back only to be told this is where we'd be playing. It was fine though and actually turned out to be an awesome stage to play on. The place is a shithole, but deliberately so. Although the place looks rundown upon further inspection there's not a spec of grime or dust and the toilets are in good nick and each haphazardly stuck sticker on the walls and doors helps to build the character of the place. so good work 12 Bar you've built quite the monument to counter-culture there and it shows.

After a quick sound check and a chicken legend at the maccy D's round the corner things were ready to start. Oddly enough we weren't first on this time so I'll run though the show in order:

  Seek Destroy

You know those guys who whinge about punk being dead and that bands like the ramones and pistols don't exist anymore etc. Well those people need to stop watching MTV whilst crying and come and meet Seek Destroy. This is the punk rock royal guard. slamming out tunes about cunts and other cunts and famous cunts and royal cunts with nothing so trite or unoriginal as a mohican or a studded leather jacket in sight. This is punk as it was meant to sound for the purists. Dirty, shouty, and loud as fuck but with catchy as hell hooks in the choruses and enough solo riffage to show that the music is a choice and a way of life rather than an inability to play more technical stuff. If you're annoyed because Elliot Minor are considered a punk band then get off your high horse, come down and watch a guy in a dress and knee high boots and fabulous hair scream that you're a cunt through a mega-phone and admit that this is were punk went.

Red Rag Front

I honestly thought we'd end up playing to the sound guy again on Saturday and was massively surprised and extremely happy to see a bunch of people not only watching but also enjoying the set. the songs are pretty much second nature now and although Drew swears otherwise I think everything went really goddamned well and I had a lot of very nice people pay me a tonne of compliments afterwards. Getting that kind of feedback is just such a rush and has pretty much set up my entire 2014 to be a good one now. So thanks to anyone who had something good to say. You are the people who keep me caring about the music scene I love.

Slow Faction

I was totally determined not to miss Slow Faction after letting them down a little at More of This! Fest in November. So this time I caught the sound check as well as the set! These guys are another band who like to rock things old school. They wear their influences on their sleeves and I think Joe Strummer would have been mighty happy to give them a listen. I love watching a band who are obviously good friends playing on stage because it always shines through and even on a tiny stage that barely had room for a shimmy Slow Faction had the energy to kill it. You know a song is well written when you're still humming the melody the next day. They didn't like to just kick you in the face with every tune either and the breakdown reggae tinged tunes were just as awesome as the balls out belters. I can't wait till I have a chance to catch these guys again and anyone who hasn't had the pleasure yet should make sure they keep an eye on their tour diary.

The Role Models

So due to some sort of timey wimey hiccupy shenanigans The Role Models went on at the ungodly hour of 11:30 which meant that I wasn't going to be able to watch Top Buzzer. Which sucked because I already know I love Top Buzzer. That meant that this bunch of guys that I was going to watch instead had a lot of making up to do. Luckily they were able to do it in spades! Managing to get a brilliant sound out of the tiny room, I had the pleasure of being able to clearly hear the vocals which were some of the best vocal harmonies I've heard outside of major label bands. The music I wouldn't call punk, more like melodic pop rock but there's nothing wrong with playing a melodic tune with a great hook in the chorus that has an awesome energy behind it too. The Canadian front-man had charm and charisma enough to woo a thousand angry football fans and the band were tight as hell despite being crammed into a space the size of a single bed!!

So although I lost my camera and missed the last band and couldn't hear anything but my own guitar whilst playing I had an incredible time breaking my 12 Bar cherry. Once again meeting new people and making friends took a front seat to actually playing a set and that's what I really love about shows like these. Bring it on 2014! I'm fucking good to go!

My tiff I had with Billy Bragg

Have you ever had a relationship where things ended on a pretty bad note. There was an incident and it was the deal breaker for you. They cheated, you cheated, they thought Star Wars Episode I was an ok movie. You know, stuff that you couldn't find your way back from. You split up and go your separate ways and life seems to move on. But then you both find your self at some social gathering and things seem really good again and you're flooded with all those amazing memories of the good times and suddenly you can't quite remember why you were ever so angry with them, they smile at you and suddenly you wish you were on the best of terms again. But things can't be the same and even if you think you might be able to forgive you can never quite forget.

So where do you go from there?

This is the situation I have created inside my head with Billy Bragg. Of course he has no idea about this, or who I am asides from another random goon in a crowd who he smiled at. But this has been a raging issue for me since yesterday lunchtime. For the sake of writing a blog I'll start at the beginning and the good times.

Billy Bragg has been an idol and an inspiration to me for the best part of 10 years. Tazz and I used to listen to him whilst recovering from whatever shenanigans the preceding days had thrown at us and he gave us both the idea of picking up acoustic guitars, renaming CJD to Red Rag Front and doing it acoustic style. To Have Or To Have Not has been one of our regular renditions (as much from loving the Lars Frederikson and the Bastards cover as the original) and one of the last videos of Tazz and I together is us walking down a street in Shoreham singing that song. Billy Bragg has always been a part of that side of my life and he is one of the people that I looked to when I thought that I couldn't pick up an guitar and do this whole band thing again. So all in all he is a pretty big deal in my life.

But then the deal breaker came. He writes articles these days for The Guardian and the breakup article in particular was about the South Bank undercroft. Writing pro demolition of the spot, Billy Bragg took

something I hold dear to my heart and took an awful (in my eyes) view on the situation. Saying that catering to up and coming (mostly rich) entrepreneurs rather than saving 40 years of British counter-culture history was the right thing to do. WHAT! How could someone I look up to so much have such a jarringly "wrong" opinion on something I have an opinion on too!! What an arse
hole. He clearly doesn't deserve my admiration or respect for being just so wrong about this! etc etc. Basically this is how I felt (feel) about what he wrote, and I'm not the only one. So there you have it. How totally irreparably damaged is that? Billy Bragg was unliked on Facebook (SHOCK!) removed from my Spotify playlists (TERROR!) and spoken of badly to all within earshot when discussing the South Bank situation (ERMARGERD!)

Which brings us to the present (or very near past since I'm talking about yesterday). So I'm reading stuff on
Frank Turners profile and it just so happens that he's been hanging out with Billy Bragg. Not only that but they are both campaigning on behalf of Shelter UK. So here is another folk/punk idol of mine and he's hanging around with this celebrity I totally despise right now. but they are both getting involved with another cause that I care about, and this time on the same side as me. Not only that but they were doing a spontaneous busking session in Kings Cross just fifteen minutes from my office at lunchtime. A quick trip to Franks twitter for the location and I was set on going. Let's face it, these are two artists that sell out arenas and they were about to play totally unplugged on a street corner, I'd be mad to miss it.

I got there a little late because of work commitments and only got to see them perform about four songs but goddamn it was awesome. Frank taking a bit of a reverent back seat to Billy whilst belting their own songs and some more generic covers for the hundred or so crowd to sing along to. Watching Billy up on the crudely erected stage singing away brought back all those great memories of when I thought he was the greatest and watching him and Frank being such genuinely good friends, laughing at each other and the
oddness of their current situation made my brain think that Billy wasn't actually the total waste of space clunge trumpet I thought he was a day before. The clincher came when I was about to walk away whilst Frank was singing one of his hits off Tape Deck Heart. Billy had snuck away to have a little strum away from the crowd and I looked over at him and he at me. He gave me a nod, wink and smile and carried on playing away to himself and in that moment I was the ultimate Billy Bragg fanboy all over again. Forgetting whatever trivial thing I might have been annoyed about and just wanting him to autograph my forehead so I could go get it tattooed on me.

And so here I am, the morning after. I don't really know what to do about the fact that actually I'm still pretty mad about the whole south bank thing but also pleased to have seen him perform in real life in such an awesome capacity and more than that for a billiant cause that I can totally get behind. Watching him have fun with Frank Turner and wow a crowd thirty years after his heyday makes me feel like maybe I was the one who was an arse hole for judging him so harshly on one topic we disagree on without taking into account the ten years of history we have had together. and so once again I liken it to a relationship. I think I may just forgive him and put New England back on my folk/punk playlist. Does that make me a bad person? maybe. Will people look down on me for once again being a Billy Bragg fan? probably. But I don't care as long as it make me happy. Every one deserves a second chance.

Once again for clarity this whole situation is entirely in my mind and Billy Bragg has no idea whatsoever who I am or the way I feel or ever will know me other than as a generic fan he nodded at one time.

A space we all created.

FUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!

So I know I kind of said I wasn't going to do gig roundups anymore and I know I wasn't going to go on about how great shows are going anymore and probably some other things but it's my blog and if me from the other day doesn't like it he can jog the goddamned hell on because punk bloody rock that's why!!

So this may get a little long because it's a little difficult to squeeze 12 hours of punk into less than 500 words

but again, my blog, my ever changing rules!!

I am of course getting overly excited about the More Of This!

Fest all dayer that I recently had the privilege of being a part of. The New Cross Inn was the venue and basically everything that is good and right with the world was the order of the day. As punk rocker we have (probably) all been subject to prejudice, abuse and negative judgement before and it always strikes me as odd that in turn parts of the punk rock community is equally as elitest and judgmental. I guess it just goes to show that those kids with mohawks 30 years ago really did grow up to be just like their parents and they inspired a whole new generation to think it's ok to act harshly to someone because they are wearing the right band shirt or have enough studs on their leather jacket.

That scene was no where to be..um, seen, at New Cross. Instead a huge group of friends assembled (some past, some met brand new on the day) and set about sharing their love of punk music with each other in the best way possible - By smashing glasses on the dance floor and throwing people onto it (but picking them back up afterwards). No, well sometimes, but mainly just by being totally super awesome people and getting along without any of the aforementioned judgement or bad attitudes. This feeling of friendship is an awesome thing to find at a show, but for it to be there for a whole twelve hours (some people managed the whole day!!) is pretty much unprecedented and a wonder to behold.

Of course nothing would or probably could have been possible

without the monumental efforts of one Steve

Todd (aka CEO and founder of Thirteen Stitches) and the Demon Smiles crew (and affiliates). He was the keystone to everything and really the entire day was a beautiful reflection of his personality. Showing him to be in equal parts an awesome friend, a thoughtful and caring person, total epic punk rocker and completely destructo batshit insane. Good mix for a great guy.

So onto the bands I'll try to be brief, also apologies now to

Slow Faction. Unfortunately I had to eat at some point in the day and my try to the greatest knock off chicken pizza joint in the universe had to come during their set. I caught about 30 seconds of the end of it and they did sound totally awesome but that's about all I can say.

First up were Kraft Check and Flow (spelt with crazy capitalization). I love bands that break from the tradition of doing acoustic folk rock in the "Bragg" manner and these guys certain threw that stereotype out the window. Using a mix of hip-hop/folk/punk/country they made something that I can truly call unique and I really dug it. in parts Professor Green, others New Model Army, others Janis Joplin, all cool. At the same time they fit in no-where and everywhere stylistically and every different style complimented

the others. Also helps that they were awesome guys too!

Well what can be said about act number two? nothing really because it was us. I will say though that it was one of our best sets, I think because of everyone watching being totally into the songs. It was an uplifting experience and if I could do MOT! all dayers for the rest of my days I would be a happy man indeed. We got a lot of very kind feedback from all who spoke to us which is pretty much the life blood of the band so that was totally brilliant.

After us came Chapter Eleven. who is in the main part Asher Baker, a fellow blogger/acoustic punker/Demon Smiles fan boy that I can't believe I only met on the day!! Turns out he's a bit of a legend, and his songs are really great, whether he's being poignant, or comical, or angry or happy he can really capture an emotion of a crowd by picking topics we can all get behind and creating poetry to plant the

perfect images in our heads. I'm really looking forward to being in the crowd when he's playing again.

Number four was Harrison Wilde, an odd case in that he was an unknown act who everyone knew and was playing a set of brand new

old songs!! A veteran of the punk scene he played tunes that, I think without exception, covered a misspent youth partying the way everyone should while their sanity and liver can withstand it!! Having shared what seems like a pretty similar past I really connected with all the tunes and greatly enjoyed the set. laughing my ass of at the cleverly worded lyrics and the memories of eviction parties and living with Tazz that he gave back to me.

After that the acoustic start to the day was over and we were onto the the loud stuff. and loud it got when old friends Recluse

Club got down to business. I have a particular love of these guys, having played with them in Worthing before and man if anything they've gotten faster and tighter!! I love me a bit of blisteringly fast punk rock and these guys deliver in spades. One of the funnest (is that a word) bands of the day for me

and a joy to behold.

Another set of friends came on stage after, and Not Pennys Boat once again knocked it out the park. There's this amazing likeability to everything about them, their songs are tight and catchy, the tunes all rock, the vocals are awesome, the whole band looks like their having the greatest time on stage and also

their are all excellent people to have in the vicinity. I had an even better time rocking out to them this time since I had the benefit of checking out their songs first and could have myself a bit of a singalong. although I've only seen them the once before this was their best performance mostly, just belonging on the stage. I was a little sad when they finished.

I know I'm basically gushing about my friends bands right now but that was the beauty of the day, and The Vulgarities are pretty much gonna get the same treatment!! They were down a guitarist

but to be honest I hardly even noticed because I think Hannah was turned up to 11. They have brilliant energy on stage and kick the screaming hell out of their tunes in the absolutely best way possible. Out of all the bands playing they could so easily have been the ones who might fit into the elitest crowd, straddling the gap between straight up Oi and more melodic street punk but they never once seem aggressive or highly strung at the crowd or the eclectic assortment of music fans in the crowd, quite the opposite. Their aggression is finely channeled into their songs where it belongs and made for a brilliant set. They owned the stage too like no one else!!

--- Interlude ---
Seriously everyone should go to the chicken shop round the corner

from the New Cross Inn, even if you aren't seeing a band there. Two 9" pizzas with four toppings each for a fiver!!!! just brilliant. and they sell turkish Mountain Dew. That place rocked my mouth!!

after missing Slow Faction and being a little sad I got to witness something even more unique than the KC&F set from the start of the day. If you've not seen an aquatic themed hardcore band before with 40 second songs, all of which are bad sealife puns ("Shamu and conditioner") then I don't blame you because i think

Mussels are one of a kind. I'm not normally a fan of hardcore

stuff but I certainly am a fan of hilarious music in anyform and these guys definitely delievered there. The front man had a fantastic moustache for a Movember attempt and his trusty sidekick (or is it the other way around, I couldn't be sure) managed to make skipping on stage cool and possibly a little bewilderment at being on stage made funny songs off the charts great.

The Apostates are not your typical punk rock band, if they can really be called punk in the strictest sense. Instead I'd try to label them as melodic, post progressive, post hardcore....something, fuck it, they can't really be put into a bracket, what they are is incredible. They make beautiful, powerful, moving music that had me in a trance from start to finish. I wish I could have jumped around and danced more to them but honestly once each song started my mind ran away with me and I had to recollect myself at the end and remind me what the hell was going on. Their music affects some deep and childlike and lets imaginations sore as they effortlessly rock the stage. They have the biggest sound I've heard off a three piece act and I could spend all day watching them own a stage.

I really seriously have the biggest punk rock

music boner for Demon Smiles. I love them, plain and simple. I know all the words to all the songs they have recorded and I'm love with every new track they play. Despite some technical difficulties their set was every bit as energetic and fun a I've come to expect and of course it was made even better with a bit of crowd participation (myself and fellow DS connoisseur Asher doing the "Joe" bits for S.O.S.) and all the round excellent reception for the stars of the day.

I went through a stage in my younger years of not liking Ska-Punk. If any of those feeling still existed Lead Shot Hazard took them and beat the crap out them and left me skanking like it was

the only function my body knew!! I wish I could write something more about their musicality and the kickass vocals (from Asher Baker, checking in his second set of the day) but to be honest I was just too busy dancing my freaking ass off to the best ska-punk I've heard since I saw Capdown play the Brighton Conchord 2 about seven years ago!!

Since being lucky enough to share a stage with Mug back in July they have become one of my favourite UK punk bands as well as a great set of friends. They totally killed it during their set,

replete with odd looking dancing drunks, plenty of skull duggery (drinking from a skull named Dug, not actual skull duggery), crowd surfing front men and epic tunes from beginning till end. Mug know how to get a crowd going (feed them alcohol) and how to deliver a tune (fucking loud and fast) and
they along with many other acts gave the best set I've seen so far. They make it seem like it's the easiest thing

in the world to play so well so consistently and once again it was my great pleasure to have been on the same bill as them.

When I decided on a whim to check out the Top Buzzer album out last month before the show I never expected them to become one of my favourite new bands. They rock my world pretty hard (so hard

in fact there was blood all over the bass!!) and were totally brilliant entertainers. Maybe the least known of the top three acts, that didn't stop them from having everyone going berserk and jumping around (even up on stage with them) and at one point pretending to be animals!! Great bands can hold an audience in the palm of their hands and Top Buzzer manage that without seeming to even try.

Oh Jesus Drones CRUSHED IT!!! The crowd was pretty much shell shocked for the first couple of songs, probably from disbelief at

the quality of hardcore punk they were witnessing and then went absolutely arse over tits ballistic for the rest of the set, there was destruction and crowd surfing guitarists and more moshing than you could shake a stick at (whilst ducking a windmill fist coming for you) and all throughout Drones just kept piling on the power and the quality. This was getting pretty late and a lot of people had been rocking out for more than 10 hours when Drones came on stage but they absorbed every last bit of energy left in the room and let it out in wave after wave of awesome tunes.

What comes up, has to come down and come down it did. Not the quality of the punk rock, which was still up in stratosphere when

Middle Finger Salute took the helm but by half eleven even the hardcorest punk rockers were pretty shattered! The good thing though was that MFS got to take over much more of the room (even tables) to end the night with a nuclear bang!

All in all the day was a success in even more ways than anyone had originally thought. Not only was an incredible line up put together and not only did every band give incredible sets and not only was everyone well received and enjoyed but we did some bigger in scale that day that can't be quantified. A new scene was born, free from prejudice and judgement. A counter counter-culture where a shared love of the people making music in front of you is all that's needed to be a part. the drunk in the bomber

jacket and the metal-head who didn't leave the dance floor for 12 hours were equally at home with the punks with giant mohawks and the burgeoning hardcore superstars. collectively we made a place we all belong and now it belongs to us, but all are welcome. It's a honour and a privilege to have been there to see it happen and I hope it keeps on unhindered for generations to see how people should react to each other.

A year and running

The new EP has just landed, but I don't want to talk about that, and we had a pretty stonking gig recently in Harrow but

I'm not much of a gig reviewer and I'm sure no one cares that everything went as well as the last show. The shows themselves are going pretty well these days and as much as I'd like to gush about how great I'm doing it's not very fitting with the point of this blog, which is looking at what isn't working so well and trying to improve upon that.

It has occurred to me though that it has been a year now since the ASBO Retards played their "last" show. Two things of note

other than the ASBOs farewell happened at that show. The first was that it was the sparking point which created the irredeemable Demon Smiles. The second is that it was the first time I had ever stepped up on stage by myself and played guitar to a bunch of people in earnest. I had previously played at Tazz's funeral  but that was just a couple of covers and a reworking of an old CJD song so it didn't count. The show a year ago was the real first for me. There is even a blog about how it went, and reading it back, it really didn't go anything like how well these recent ones have. I've managed to reach a level of confidence that I haven't had since being in "proprer" bands. I think in part it's because Drew in on board now and I'm not so totally exposed but also it's just that I kinda got my mojo back after a difficult first few months.

Things have come a long way since that show. Of the 15 minute set i played nothing is left in the set today, I hadn't even started to write the more "classic" RRF tunes like punk police and 99%, let alone anything we play now.

Adding Drew to the mix seems like a no brainer these days but that was the biggest decision I think I've had to make so far as Red Rag Front. I listen to a lot of acoustic punk, and everytime I hear of an acoustic act I  check out whether there is something I can listen to online. The thing I've noticed about Red Rag Front now compared to other acoustic acts is that we are so much more than other acts that could be lumped into this odd little genre. That's not to say that we're better, because that isn't really the point, but we have progressed beyond the billy bragg esque thing and become our own sound, which is something I never imagined doing. I find it hard to say who we sound like because I genuinely don't know of another band right now, pro or unsigned that sounds the way we do. That is probably what I'm most proud about for the band, the

band is just a perfect reflection of both mine and Drews personalities and I wouldn't want it any other way.

So a year on I've managed to control my nerves and hold together a professional sounding set and write songs I really enjoy listening to, I've also found my place in the punk scene right where I always wanted and I'm perfectly happy there, so now I need to think about what's next? Well I still need to learn more of the management side of things, my booking skills are still fairly dismal and I'm heavily reliant on friends to put us on, Drew and I have also taken our first step into the world of promotions and I'm pretty sure that the nothing we know about it all so far will need to be vastly improved to keep it alive. Now we've got the playing songs bit down ok I'd like to try and start up a collection of merch too which means learning how to be a

salesman too. Maybe act a little in a video. These are the higher level skills I'll be looking to build now that I've gotten back with the basics of it all.

There's some pretty exciting plans on boil for next year already but that'll have to be a blog for another time.

I should also say that this blog is now a year old too and with thousands of page views I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who takes time out their busy days to read about the evolution of one scared guy with a crappy acoustic guitar to the acoustic punk-pop troubadour I think I am today. So cheers, and here's to a much more exciting and more
readable second year.