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22nd August 2009, Cross Kings, London
An all day gig featuring over 20 acts and 2 stages for a mere fiver was far too good an opportunity for me to pass up. Although billed to start at 2pm, this is very much a DIY gig and things perhaps inevitably run a little late. Most punters sit happily in the sunshine of the small beer garden until proceedings start around 3. The Cross Kings is an interesting venue. There are comfy sofas and benches strewn around, and shelves full of ageing books makes the main pub feel much like an old coffee shop, albeit one whose walls are decorated with the pages of comic books. The front of the pub is a pretty small area, but there's a 'back room' with yet more sofas and a small stage. The bar straddles both the front and back, and there's no door separating the two, meaning they don't feel entirely disconnected (certainly you can still hear the music from the back when you're sat out front). There's also a basement, low ceilings and walls painted up to make it look like you've descended into the fiery pits of Hell. Although the 'main stage' for today's mini-fest is upstairs, there's actually more room for a larger crowd down in the basement, although the taller among them would do well to wear hard hats...
Anyway, taking to the main stage early is The Leano, a rapper / guitarist duo. It's light-hearted indie-rap (much as I dislike that terminology) but I don't think the audience felt that engaged with it. Perhaps to be expected when most other acts (especially those on the main stage) are in the punk/ska vein. Some free-styling on which the audience suggested topics (Politics, Cheese and London) did raise a few laughs though. Heading into the basement, Torn Out were playing, another duo, although this time it was acoustic guitar and acoustic bass. They're clearly punk influenced and sport snotty vocals which unfortunately feel a little too high in the mix, drowning out the guitars at times. They're energetic though and had it been late enough for a larger crowd to have formed I'm sure some of them would be shouting along (assuming, of course, they knew the lyrics already they were pretty hard to discern from the live set alone).
Back upstairs Wonk Unit are on. It would be easy to dismiss them as a generic punk band, and there's some truth in that. There's a slight edginess though owing to their frontman he keeps talking between songs about how he's calm and chilled (implying that usually this isn't the case) and he'll usually intersperse each song with a short poem. I use the term poem loosely, they aren't the standard pretentious prose you'd hear at a hip spoken word evening, one such piece went something like The city is grey, like my Dad's hair if he had any, the bald ****. Some of these deranged ramblings meet with a smile, others with an uncomfortable silence. The music itself is alright, raucous enough to keep the punks happy, but the vocals are sometimes quite pop-punky, occasionally reminding me of early Green Day. The fact that the odd poetry was more memorable than the music should indicate that these guys didn't blow me away.
The first act of the day I make a conscientious effort to see is PJ & Gaby, an act I've seen a number of times before at house parties and small acoustic shows. They are friends of a friend and have always been entertaining when I've seen them before. PJ plays acoustic guitar and sings, while Gaby plays a variety of instruments including keyboard, guitar and recorder and also provides vocals. There's not a 'main' singer as it changes song to song and the male/female dynamic works well. Today they have a 'full' band, having recruited the two members of Apologies, I Have None to play drums and bass. Unfortunately this means the vocals sometimes get drowned out, especially Gaby's which are sweeter and more fragile. The music is catchy folk-punk with plenty of sing-a-longs for the crowd to get into, and this is the first act I've seen today where there's a reasonably big crowd and everyone seems to be getting into things a bit more.
Staying down in the basement, and Perkie is up, an act I've seen once before at the Cross Kings and she was very good, prompting me to buy her Demo EP. Although it's a short set today (a mere five songs) she plays well to a bit of a sparse crowd, playing keyboard and singing, and occasionally backed by an acoustic guitar. The vocals are very tender, heartfelt and fragile, but there's a couple of instances of hitting the wrong chord on the keyboard which she recovers from with a slight embarrassed smile. Perkie is still a young artist but has a very impressive voice and some really good songs, so is sure to be melting the hearts of bigger audiences given some luck. Next is Livers and Lungs, another acoustic act with a full band and three vocalists including Kelly Kemp, who also plays solo acoustic stuff and formerly fronted the punk band No Comply. They're pretty good, drawing a fairly big crowd down to the basement and are obviously enjoying their time on stage. The basement thins noticeably before The Ruby Kid takes to the stage, today he's alone with only a laptop full of backing tracks for company. Perhaps a bit out of place on the line-up, but variety is the spice of life and he's certainly a change to the punk and acoustic acts. Opening with 'Art Versus Industry' berating music journalists trying to dissect everything into neat genre pigeon-holes as well as taking aim at mainstream hip-hops machismo and infatuation with cash. Another highlight is a song with guest vocals from Al Baker examining our school system and the worth of exams and grades. It's a confident and impressive set, albeit quite short.
Apologies, I Have None, comprised of two members who take turns on the drums and guitar while both belting out vocals, create a lot of noise for an acoustic two-piece. This isn't polished music, it is stripped down, catchy and honest, designed to be sung along to at the top of your lungs. And it works, with members of the crowd often stepping up to the mic to help out with vocal duties on the chorus'. This is energetic and above all fun. Up at the main stage I'm expecting to see The Arteries, but a change in the running order means Portsmouth's You Me and the Atom Bomb are up first, playing fast melodic punk with passion that impresses me enough to think I should check out their album (now several years old). I quickly pop downstairs and catch a few songs by Resolution 242, a political ska/dub band whose songs are chilled out and catchy without veering into cheesy territory, before heading straight back up again. The Arteries now take to the main stage but some of the five piece spill onto the floor, the stage not big enough to contain all the members. Playing fast, raw punk with some great sing-along hooks and some songs that wouldn't seem out of place being played by more famous pop-punk peers they certainly impress live with a sound that feels heavier and more chunky than on record. Definitely a great band to catch live and their recorded material is pretty damn good too.
Unfortunately due to this switch in timings I miss some of Clayton Blizzards set. He plays acoustic guitar but he generally raps rather than singing, creating an interesting blend of syles. Folk-hop? Anyway, this is damn good music with entertaining, intelligent lyricism. Maybe big fans of hip-hop would criticise his rapping, I won't claim to be an expert, but I think it's witty, fun and definitely different with some lines even managing to raise laughs from the audience. Dirty Revolution are the final act in the basement, and they're good but the music is a little too two-dimensional for me. It's quite generic ska-punk, and although some of the lyrics are above par for the genre (the amusing '50p' taking on gangster rap and celebrity worship) the music itself just seems too happy-go-lucky and doesn't seem to have much depth. It's the kind of ska-punk I may have enjoyed when first discovering the genre, but nowadays I need something more than chirpy songs to really grab my attention.
With the basement acts finished there's nothing left except for The Skints to take to the main stage. At this point I must admit to some musical prejudices I've heard of The Skints on multiple occasions but the name of the band always made me think of a stereotypical generic punk band, all mohawks and obscure patches sewn onto their jackets, something I'd probably quite happily listen to but not really be very impressed with. This didn't turn out to be the case, the band heavily influenced by ska and reggae. There's some straight up punk influence there, but every song is tempered heavily by their other influences and vocals are seemingly contributed by every member of the band including their front woman who also plays keyboard, saxophone and an assortment of other instruments. I wouldn't say they were the highlight of the night for me, but they were much better than my prejudices had led me to believe and are a good band to check out live.
It's a day well spent, some new music discovered and a haul of new CDs tucked into my pocket as I leave. I can only hope we get another mini-fest next year!
An all day gig featuring over 20 acts and 2 stages for a mere fiver was far too good an opportunity for me to pass up. Although billed to start at 2pm, this is very much a DIY gig and things perhaps inevitably run a little late. Most punters sit happily in the sunshine of the small beer garden until proceedings start around 3. The Cross Kings is an interesting venue. There are comfy sofas and benches strewn around, and shelves full of ageing books makes the main pub feel much like an old coffee shop, albeit one whose walls are decorated with the pages of comic books. The front of the pub is a pretty small area, but there's a 'back room' with yet more sofas and a small stage. The bar straddles both the front and back, and there's no door separating the two, meaning they don't feel entirely disconnected (certainly you can still hear the music from the back when you're sat out front). There's also a basement, low ceilings and walls painted up to make it look like you've descended into the fiery pits of Hell. Although the 'main stage' for today's mini-fest is upstairs, there's actually more room for a larger crowd down in the basement, although the taller among them would do well to wear hard hats...
Anyway, taking to the main stage early is The Leano, a rapper / guitarist duo. It's light-hearted indie-rap (much as I dislike that terminology) but I don't think the audience felt that engaged with it. Perhaps to be expected when most other acts (especially those on the main stage) are in the punk/ska vein. Some free-styling on which the audience suggested topics (Politics, Cheese and London) did raise a few laughs though. Heading into the basement, Torn Out were playing, another duo, although this time it was acoustic guitar and acoustic bass. They're clearly punk influenced and sport snotty vocals which unfortunately feel a little too high in the mix, drowning out the guitars at times. They're energetic though and had it been late enough for a larger crowd to have formed I'm sure some of them would be shouting along (assuming, of course, they knew the lyrics already they were pretty hard to discern from the live set alone).
Back upstairs Wonk Unit are on. It would be easy to dismiss them as a generic punk band, and there's some truth in that. There's a slight edginess though owing to their frontman he keeps talking between songs about how he's calm and chilled (implying that usually this isn't the case) and he'll usually intersperse each song with a short poem. I use the term poem loosely, they aren't the standard pretentious prose you'd hear at a hip spoken word evening, one such piece went something like The city is grey, like my Dad's hair if he had any, the bald ****. Some of these deranged ramblings meet with a smile, others with an uncomfortable silence. The music itself is alright, raucous enough to keep the punks happy, but the vocals are sometimes quite pop-punky, occasionally reminding me of early Green Day. The fact that the odd poetry was more memorable than the music should indicate that these guys didn't blow me away.
The first act of the day I make a conscientious effort to see is PJ & Gaby, an act I've seen a number of times before at house parties and small acoustic shows. They are friends of a friend and have always been entertaining when I've seen them before. PJ plays acoustic guitar and sings, while Gaby plays a variety of instruments including keyboard, guitar and recorder and also provides vocals. There's not a 'main' singer as it changes song to song and the male/female dynamic works well. Today they have a 'full' band, having recruited the two members of Apologies, I Have None to play drums and bass. Unfortunately this means the vocals sometimes get drowned out, especially Gaby's which are sweeter and more fragile. The music is catchy folk-punk with plenty of sing-a-longs for the crowd to get into, and this is the first act I've seen today where there's a reasonably big crowd and everyone seems to be getting into things a bit more.
Staying down in the basement, and Perkie is up, an act I've seen once before at the Cross Kings and she was very good, prompting me to buy her Demo EP. Although it's a short set today (a mere five songs) she plays well to a bit of a sparse crowd, playing keyboard and singing, and occasionally backed by an acoustic guitar. The vocals are very tender, heartfelt and fragile, but there's a couple of instances of hitting the wrong chord on the keyboard which she recovers from with a slight embarrassed smile. Perkie is still a young artist but has a very impressive voice and some really good songs, so is sure to be melting the hearts of bigger audiences given some luck. Next is Livers and Lungs, another acoustic act with a full band and three vocalists including Kelly Kemp, who also plays solo acoustic stuff and formerly fronted the punk band No Comply. They're pretty good, drawing a fairly big crowd down to the basement and are obviously enjoying their time on stage. The basement thins noticeably before The Ruby Kid takes to the stage, today he's alone with only a laptop full of backing tracks for company. Perhaps a bit out of place on the line-up, but variety is the spice of life and he's certainly a change to the punk and acoustic acts. Opening with 'Art Versus Industry' berating music journalists trying to dissect everything into neat genre pigeon-holes as well as taking aim at mainstream hip-hops machismo and infatuation with cash. Another highlight is a song with guest vocals from Al Baker examining our school system and the worth of exams and grades. It's a confident and impressive set, albeit quite short.
Apologies, I Have None, comprised of two members who take turns on the drums and guitar while both belting out vocals, create a lot of noise for an acoustic two-piece. This isn't polished music, it is stripped down, catchy and honest, designed to be sung along to at the top of your lungs. And it works, with members of the crowd often stepping up to the mic to help out with vocal duties on the chorus'. This is energetic and above all fun. Up at the main stage I'm expecting to see The Arteries, but a change in the running order means Portsmouth's You Me and the Atom Bomb are up first, playing fast melodic punk with passion that impresses me enough to think I should check out their album (now several years old). I quickly pop downstairs and catch a few songs by Resolution 242, a political ska/dub band whose songs are chilled out and catchy without veering into cheesy territory, before heading straight back up again. The Arteries now take to the main stage but some of the five piece spill onto the floor, the stage not big enough to contain all the members. Playing fast, raw punk with some great sing-along hooks and some songs that wouldn't seem out of place being played by more famous pop-punk peers they certainly impress live with a sound that feels heavier and more chunky than on record. Definitely a great band to catch live and their recorded material is pretty damn good too.
Unfortunately due to this switch in timings I miss some of Clayton Blizzards set. He plays acoustic guitar but he generally raps rather than singing, creating an interesting blend of syles. Folk-hop? Anyway, this is damn good music with entertaining, intelligent lyricism. Maybe big fans of hip-hop would criticise his rapping, I won't claim to be an expert, but I think it's witty, fun and definitely different with some lines even managing to raise laughs from the audience. Dirty Revolution are the final act in the basement, and they're good but the music is a little too two-dimensional for me. It's quite generic ska-punk, and although some of the lyrics are above par for the genre (the amusing '50p' taking on gangster rap and celebrity worship) the music itself just seems too happy-go-lucky and doesn't seem to have much depth. It's the kind of ska-punk I may have enjoyed when first discovering the genre, but nowadays I need something more than chirpy songs to really grab my attention.
With the basement acts finished there's nothing left except for The Skints to take to the main stage. At this point I must admit to some musical prejudices I've heard of The Skints on multiple occasions but the name of the band always made me think of a stereotypical generic punk band, all mohawks and obscure patches sewn onto their jackets, something I'd probably quite happily listen to but not really be very impressed with. This didn't turn out to be the case, the band heavily influenced by ska and reggae. There's some straight up punk influence there, but every song is tempered heavily by their other influences and vocals are seemingly contributed by every member of the band including their front woman who also plays keyboard, saxophone and an assortment of other instruments. I wouldn't say they were the highlight of the night for me, but they were much better than my prejudices had led me to believe and are a good band to check out live.
It's a day well spent, some new music discovered and a haul of new CDs tucked into my pocket as I leave. I can only hope we get another mini-fest next year!
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22nd August 2009, Cross Kings, London
An all day gig featuring over 20 acts and 2 stages for a mere fiver was far too good an opportunity for me to pass up. Although billed to start at 2pm, this is very much a DIY gig and things perhaps inevitably run a little late. Most punters sit happily in the sunshine of the small beer garden until proceedings start around 3. The Cross Kings is an interesting venue. There are comfy sofas and benches strewn around, and shelves full of ageing books makes the main pub feel much like an old coffee shop, albeit one whose walls are decorated with the pages of comic books. The front of the pub is a pretty small area, but there's a 'back room' with yet more sofas and a small stage. The bar straddles both the front and back, and there's no door separating the two, meaning they don't feel entirely disconnected (certainly you can still hear the music from the back when you're sat out front). There's also a basement, low ceilings and walls painted up to make it look like you've descended into the fiery pits of Hell. Although the 'main stage' for today's mini-fest is upstairs, there's actually more room for a larger crowd down in the basement, although the taller among them would do well to wear hard hats...
Anyway, taking to the main stage early is The Leano, a rapper / guitarist duo. It's light-hearted indie-rap (much as I dislike that terminology) but I don't think the audience felt that engaged with it. Perhaps to be expected when most other acts (especially those on the main stage) are in the punk/ska vein. Some free-styling on which the audience suggested topics (Politics, Cheese and London) did raise a few laughs though. Heading into the basement, Torn Out were playing, another duo, although this time it was acoustic guitar and acoustic bass. They're clearly punk influenced and sport snotty vocals which unfortunately feel a little too high in the mix, drowning out the guitars at times. They're energetic though and had it been late enough for a larger crowd to have formed I'm sure some of them would be shouting along (assuming, of course, they knew the lyrics already they were pretty hard to discern from the live set alone).
Back upstairs Wonk Unit are on. It would be easy to dismiss them as a generic punk band, and there's some truth in that. There's a slight edginess though owing to their frontman he keeps talking between songs about how he's calm and chilled (implying that usually this isn't the case) and he'll usually intersperse each song with a short poem. I use the term poem loosely, they aren't the standard pretentious prose you'd hear at a hip spoken word evening, one such piece went something like The city is grey, like my Dad's hair if he had any, the bald ****. Some of these deranged ramblings meet with a smile, others with an uncomfortable silence. The music itself is alright, raucous enough to keep the punks happy, but the vocals are sometimes quite pop-punky, occasionally reminding me of early Green Day. The fact that the odd poetry was more memorable than the music should indicate that these guys didn't blow me away.
The first act of the day I make a conscientious effort to see is PJ & Gaby, an act I've seen a number of times before at house parties and small acoustic shows. They are friends of a friend and have always been entertaining when I've seen them before. PJ plays acoustic guitar and sings, while Gaby plays a variety of instruments including keyboard, guitar and recorder and also provides vocals. There's not a 'main' singer as it changes song to song and the male/female dynamic works well. Today they have a 'full' band, having recruited the two members of Apologies, I Have None to play drums and bass. Unfortunately this means the vocals sometimes get drowned out, especially Gaby's which are sweeter and more fragile. The music is catchy folk-punk with plenty of sing-a-longs for the crowd to get into, and this is the first act I've seen today where there's a reasonably big crowd and everyone seems to be getting into things a bit more.
Staying down in the basement, and Perkie is up, an act I've seen once before at the Cross Kings and she was very good, prompting me to buy her Demo EP. Although it's a short set today (a mere five songs) she plays well to a bit of a sparse crowd, playing keyboard and singing, and occasionally backed by an acoustic guitar. The vocals are very tender, heartfelt and fragile, but there's a couple of instances of hitting the wrong chord on the keyboard which she recovers from with a slight embarrassed smile. Perkie is still a young artist but has a very impressive voice and some really good songs, so is sure to be melting the hearts of bigger audiences given some luck. Next is Livers and Lungs, another acoustic act with a full band and three vocalists including Kelly Kemp, who also plays solo acoustic stuff and formerly fronted the punk band No Comply. They're pretty good, drawing a fairly big crowd down to the basement and are obviously enjoying their time on stage. The basement thins noticeably before The Ruby Kid takes to the stage, today he's alone with only a laptop full of backing tracks for company. Perhaps a bit out of place on the line-up, but variety is the spice of life and he's certainly a change to the punk and acoustic acts. Opening with 'Art Versus Industry' berating music journalists trying to dissect everything into neat genre pigeon-holes as well as taking aim at mainstream hip-hops machismo and infatuation with cash. Another highlight is a song with guest vocals from Al Baker examining our school system and the worth of exams and grades. It's a confident and impressive set, albeit quite short.
Apologies, I Have None, comprised of two members who take turns on the drums and guitar while both belting out vocals, create a lot of noise for an acoustic two-piece. This isn't polished music, it is stripped down, catchy and honest, designed to be sung along to at the top of your lungs. And it works, with members of the crowd often stepping up to the mic to help out with vocal duties on the chorus'. This is energetic and above all fun. Up at the main stage I'm expecting to see The Arteries, but a change in the running order means Portsmouth's You Me and the Atom Bomb are up first, playing fast melodic punk with passion that impresses me enough to think I should check out their album (now several years old). I quickly pop downstairs and catch a few songs by Resolution 242, a political ska/dub band whose songs are chilled out and catchy without veering into cheesy territory, before heading straight back up again. The Arteries now take to the main stage but some of the five piece spill onto the floor, the stage not big enough to contain all the members. Playing fast, raw punk with some great sing-along hooks and some songs that wouldn't seem out of place being played by more famous pop-punk peers they certainly impress live with a sound that feels heavier and more chunky than on record. Definitely a great band to catch live and their recorded material is pretty damn good too.
Unfortunately due to this switch in timings I miss some of Clayton Blizzards set. He plays acoustic guitar but he generally raps rather than singing, creating an interesting blend of syles. Folk-hop? Anyway, this is damn good music with entertaining, intelligent lyricism. Maybe big fans of hip-hop would criticise his rapping, I won't claim to be an expert, but I think it's witty, fun and definitely different with some lines even managing to raise laughs from the audience. Dirty Revolution are the final act in the basement, and they're good but the music is a little too two-dimensional for me. It's quite generic ska-punk, and although some of the lyrics are above par for the genre (the amusing '50p' taking on gangster rap and celebrity worship) the music itself just seems too happy-go-lucky and doesn't seem to have much depth. It's the kind of ska-punk I may have enjoyed when first discovering the genre, but nowadays I need something more than chirpy songs to really grab my attention.
With the basement acts finished there's nothing left except for The Skints to take to the main stage. At this point I must admit to some musical prejudices I've heard of The Skints on multiple occasions but the name of the band always made me think of a stereotypical generic punk band, all mohawks and obscure patches sewn onto their jackets, something I'd probably quite happily listen to but not really be very impressed with. This didn't turn out to be the case, the band heavily influenced by ska and reggae. There's some straight up punk influence there, but every song is tempered heavily by their other influences and vocals are seemingly contributed by every member of the band including their front woman who also plays keyboard, saxophone and an assortment of other instruments. I wouldn't say they were the highlight of the night for me, but they were much better than my prejudices had led me to believe and are a good band to check out live.
It's a day well spent, some new music discovered and a haul of new CDs tucked into my pocket as I leave. I can only hope we get another mini-fest next year!
An all day gig featuring over 20 acts and 2 stages for a mere fiver was far too good an opportunity for me to pass up. Although billed to start at 2pm, this is very much a DIY gig and things perhaps inevitably run a little late. Most punters sit happily in the sunshine of the small beer garden until proceedings start around 3. The Cross Kings is an interesting venue. There are comfy sofas and benches strewn around, and shelves full of ageing books makes the main pub feel much like an old coffee shop, albeit one whose walls are decorated with the pages of comic books. The front of the pub is a pretty small area, but there's a 'back room' with yet more sofas and a small stage. The bar straddles both the front and back, and there's no door separating the two, meaning they don't feel entirely disconnected (certainly you can still hear the music from the back when you're sat out front). There's also a basement, low ceilings and walls painted up to make it look like you've descended into the fiery pits of Hell. Although the 'main stage' for today's mini-fest is upstairs, there's actually more room for a larger crowd down in the basement, although the taller among them would do well to wear hard hats...
Anyway, taking to the main stage early is The Leano, a rapper / guitarist duo. It's light-hearted indie-rap (much as I dislike that terminology) but I don't think the audience felt that engaged with it. Perhaps to be expected when most other acts (especially those on the main stage) are in the punk/ska vein. Some free-styling on which the audience suggested topics (Politics, Cheese and London) did raise a few laughs though. Heading into the basement, Torn Out were playing, another duo, although this time it was acoustic guitar and acoustic bass. They're clearly punk influenced and sport snotty vocals which unfortunately feel a little too high in the mix, drowning out the guitars at times. They're energetic though and had it been late enough for a larger crowd to have formed I'm sure some of them would be shouting along (assuming, of course, they knew the lyrics already they were pretty hard to discern from the live set alone).
Back upstairs Wonk Unit are on. It would be easy to dismiss them as a generic punk band, and there's some truth in that. There's a slight edginess though owing to their frontman he keeps talking between songs about how he's calm and chilled (implying that usually this isn't the case) and he'll usually intersperse each song with a short poem. I use the term poem loosely, they aren't the standard pretentious prose you'd hear at a hip spoken word evening, one such piece went something like The city is grey, like my Dad's hair if he had any, the bald ****. Some of these deranged ramblings meet with a smile, others with an uncomfortable silence. The music itself is alright, raucous enough to keep the punks happy, but the vocals are sometimes quite pop-punky, occasionally reminding me of early Green Day. The fact that the odd poetry was more memorable than the music should indicate that these guys didn't blow me away.
The first act of the day I make a conscientious effort to see is PJ & Gaby, an act I've seen a number of times before at house parties and small acoustic shows. They are friends of a friend and have always been entertaining when I've seen them before. PJ plays acoustic guitar and sings, while Gaby plays a variety of instruments including keyboard, guitar and recorder and also provides vocals. There's not a 'main' singer as it changes song to song and the male/female dynamic works well. Today they have a 'full' band, having recruited the two members of Apologies, I Have None to play drums and bass. Unfortunately this means the vocals sometimes get drowned out, especially Gaby's which are sweeter and more fragile. The music is catchy folk-punk with plenty of sing-a-longs for the crowd to get into, and this is the first act I've seen today where there's a reasonably big crowd and everyone seems to be getting into things a bit more.
Staying down in the basement, and Perkie is up, an act I've seen once before at the Cross Kings and she was very good, prompting me to buy her Demo EP. Although it's a short set today (a mere five songs) she plays well to a bit of a sparse crowd, playing keyboard and singing, and occasionally backed by an acoustic guitar. The vocals are very tender, heartfelt and fragile, but there's a couple of instances of hitting the wrong chord on the keyboard which she recovers from with a slight embarrassed smile. Perkie is still a young artist but has a very impressive voice and some really good songs, so is sure to be melting the hearts of bigger audiences given some luck. Next is Livers and Lungs, another acoustic act with a full band and three vocalists including Kelly Kemp, who also plays solo acoustic stuff and formerly fronted the punk band No Comply. They're pretty good, drawing a fairly big crowd down to the basement and are obviously enjoying their time on stage. The basement thins noticeably before The Ruby Kid takes to the stage, today he's alone with only a laptop full of backing tracks for company. Perhaps a bit out of place on the line-up, but variety is the spice of life and he's certainly a change to the punk and acoustic acts. Opening with 'Art Versus Industry' berating music journalists trying to dissect everything into neat genre pigeon-holes as well as taking aim at mainstream hip-hops machismo and infatuation with cash. Another highlight is a song with guest vocals from Al Baker examining our school system and the worth of exams and grades. It's a confident and impressive set, albeit quite short.
Apologies, I Have None, comprised of two members who take turns on the drums and guitar while both belting out vocals, create a lot of noise for an acoustic two-piece. This isn't polished music, it is stripped down, catchy and honest, designed to be sung along to at the top of your lungs. And it works, with members of the crowd often stepping up to the mic to help out with vocal duties on the chorus'. This is energetic and above all fun. Up at the main stage I'm expecting to see The Arteries, but a change in the running order means Portsmouth's You Me and the Atom Bomb are up first, playing fast melodic punk with passion that impresses me enough to think I should check out their album (now several years old). I quickly pop downstairs and catch a few songs by Resolution 242, a political ska/dub band whose songs are chilled out and catchy without veering into cheesy territory, before heading straight back up again. The Arteries now take to the main stage but some of the five piece spill onto the floor, the stage not big enough to contain all the members. Playing fast, raw punk with some great sing-along hooks and some songs that wouldn't seem out of place being played by more famous pop-punk peers they certainly impress live with a sound that feels heavier and more chunky than on record. Definitely a great band to catch live and their recorded material is pretty damn good too.
Unfortunately due to this switch in timings I miss some of Clayton Blizzards set. He plays acoustic guitar but he generally raps rather than singing, creating an interesting blend of syles. Folk-hop? Anyway, this is damn good music with entertaining, intelligent lyricism. Maybe big fans of hip-hop would criticise his rapping, I won't claim to be an expert, but I think it's witty, fun and definitely different with some lines even managing to raise laughs from the audience. Dirty Revolution are the final act in the basement, and they're good but the music is a little too two-dimensional for me. It's quite generic ska-punk, and although some of the lyrics are above par for the genre (the amusing '50p' taking on gangster rap and celebrity worship) the music itself just seems too happy-go-lucky and doesn't seem to have much depth. It's the kind of ska-punk I may have enjoyed when first discovering the genre, but nowadays I need something more than chirpy songs to really grab my attention.
With the basement acts finished there's nothing left except for The Skints to take to the main stage. At this point I must admit to some musical prejudices I've heard of The Skints on multiple occasions but the name of the band always made me think of a stereotypical generic punk band, all mohawks and obscure patches sewn onto their jackets, something I'd probably quite happily listen to but not really be very impressed with. This didn't turn out to be the case, the band heavily influenced by ska and reggae. There's some straight up punk influence there, but every song is tempered heavily by their other influences and vocals are seemingly contributed by every member of the band including their front woman who also plays keyboard, saxophone and an assortment of other instruments. I wouldn't say they were the highlight of the night for me, but they were much better than my prejudices had led me to believe and are a good band to check out live.
It's a day well spent, some new music discovered and a haul of new CDs tucked into my pocket as I leave. I can only hope we get another mini-fest next year!