I must apologise to the earlier bands for not seeing them as I was otherwise engaged in band activity but I’m sure they kept the punters happy and Adam Ward seemed to be enjoying the day when I arrived. I think there are some good videos on the Facebook pages of the earlier bands so check them out.
Covid 21
I first met a number of the members of this band from Telford at the Three Chords Festival in Penzance in 2012. We have kept in contact ever since and guitarist Bic gave our band slots on his now legendary Degeneration festivals at the Haygate in Wellington which Martin, Covid 21 bass player played the tunes at. It’s cool they decided to form a band in lockdown and can only apologise for taking this long to see them live.
They rip through their anarcho punk set, moving between break neck speed and slower tempo tunes with crass sounding guitar, heavy bass, tight drums, and some clever sounds effects. This creates a wall of sound that support the vocal brilliantly and I suggest you check out their ep/album on bandcamp.
They are an angry band with lots to say and start their set with the excellent ‘Quid Game. This is quickly followed by the mesmerising ’Puppy Killers,’ ‘Dirty Barry’ and ‘Murder Burger’ which moves between fast and slow vibes and I doubt will be appearing at an NFU conference any time soon.
They cover some great subjects and continue with ‘Stand’ and ‘2022’ with the singer leaping around and the drummer singing along with the other members focused on creating a manic wall of noise and sounds. This band have something different, like a crazy shared creative artistic intent that is about overall effect and they do it well.
‘Under the Jackhammer’ has a great message and is played like its title suggests. The guitar is almost hypnotic. ‘Trigger Happy PC’ has a great recorded opening and tells an interesting story – the slow opening is cool and they move between this and an high-speed angry rant with ease. They end their set with ‘NH Mess’ about the current state of the NHS played at a vicious pace and the bass line is really effective. Classic stuff.
This band are well informed and clever. This was a well delivered set and they went down a storm which was no surprise to me. Must catch them again soon I can wear my tshirt next time.
Omega Tribe
Headliners Omega Tribe have a rich history and were one of the original anarcho punk bands. They hit the stage and inform us that tonight they have no bass player but ask the audience to imagine a bass player and this way we can imagine whatever bass player we like e.g. funk, metal etc
With Hugh on guitar and Emma on drums they make an amazing noise as they blast into ‘Anti-government forces’ which sets the standard for the rest of the set. ‘New Peace Movement’ is a rocker of a tune that the drummer drives along and
‘Dandara dos Santos’ is tuneful against the serious subject matter like all their tunes.
Next track ‘When I’m With You’ is folky in delivery with complex rhythms and you can see many other bands have taken influences from this band. ‘Is This a Future?’ also from compilation album ‘Make Tea Not War’ brings a total contrast with its skipping, driving beat and catchy guitar riffs.
They hit us with the class trio of ‘Sorry’, ‘The Rain’ and the ultra-catchy ‘Out of my system’. Great vocals and backing. The last leg starts with ‘Free for All’ and ‘Peace, Love and Harmony’ with the assembled crowd singing along to ‘it’s gonna be fuckin crazy’. Final track and classic punk tune ‘Profiteer’ brings an end to this crafted headline set.
Considering they had no bass player the playing and tight delivery was first class for a two piece and they made one hell of a noise. Losing founding member Daryl Hardcastle earlier this year must have been hard on the band. He would have been proud of their performance as they brought the afternoon to a frantic conclusion.
