Rebellion Festival Preview: The Attack

Ahead of this year’s Rebellion Festival we’re asking a selection of the band’s who are appearing about what we can expect, and for their advice on surviving the four day festival. In the ninth of The Punk Site‘s Rebellion Festival previews we speak to The Attack‘s guitarist Brad Palkevich, the band recently released their new single, Bad Guy, that is taken from their upcoming split release with UK punk band No Thrills, and they will be on tour in the UK with The Queers this summer. The Rebellion Festival will be taking place at Blackpool Winter Gardens between the 2nd & 5th August 2018, you can view the full line up & purchase tickets for this years festival here. You can read about what to expect from The Attack at the 2018 Rebellion Festival below

Is this your first experience of the Rebellion Festival or have you played before?

This is our first time performing or attending Rebellion and simply put, we can not be more eager. It’s a difficult festival for a band new to the UK to get booked, we’re thrilled they have taken a chance on us and invited The Attack to perform.

What can we look forward to from your set?

The Attack plays a mix of old school punk and hardcore, we’re heavily influenced by early English punk and East Coast punk from the states, like The Bouncing Souls, H2O, and Bigwig.

What makes the Rebellion Festival special for you?

There is always something very special about a seaside resort being taken over by 1,000’s of punks. I’m from the Jersey shore in the states, which is exactly like Blackpool but with better weather. For the past decade or so there have been more and more big punk shows and festivals near the seaside in Asbury Park, I have loved seeing punks and skins and hardcore kids take over the beach and boardwalk for a weekend. It’s a spectacle at home, and I can not wait to see the British version.

Will you have the chance to catch anyone else whilst you’re there and is there anyone else on the bill you’d recommend people go and see?

For American bands don’t miss The Vandals, Lagwagon or the Mad Caddies we just played with them all on Flogging Molly’s Salty Dog Cruise and they were all fantastic. I will not miss The Angelic Upstarts, I first heard them on Oi! The Album, I can’t believe I can finally see them live, also don’t miss our new friends in the UK band No Thrills, we have a split EP out with them in a few weeks, they have been amazing to work with. We can’t wait to meet them and catch their live set.

If you could pick one band to appear at the Rebellion Festival who would it be?

Generation X, I don’t care if I catch a load of crap for it either. Generation X was the first introduction to punk for me, and a lot of other Americans. As far as I know they have not played Rebellion, they should do a re-union show in Blackpool while all the members are well.

Do you have a favourite memory from a previous Rebellion Festival?

Even though we haven’t been to Rebellion we do have a cool memory. Years ago, mine and Charlie’s American screen printing business Enemy Ink printed some screen printed posters for Jen in The Punk Art Show. We hope to meet her this year, now we have a print shop for bands in the UK, maybe someday we can be lucky enough to print something for Rebellion again. Giving a shit about what you get to print is what makes standing behind a press tolerable.

Are you currently on tour if so where else are you playing this year?

We’re on tour with The Queers in the UK, everyone should come out as a warm up to Rebellion. We play Bristol 29/7, Northwich 31/7 and London 1/8 with The Queers and a bunch of great British bands like DSA. We play our home away from home The Arches in Coventry 27/7 – Steve and Tony sure know how to welcome a band from overseas. We also have a cool festival in Nottingham with some great bands that are also playing Rebellion like Chron Gen on the 28th July too.

What can we look forward to from you in the next twelve months?

As mentioned we have the split EP coming out shortly, we plan on coming back to the UK late October, the fall (haha autumn) is always busy for us. In addition to supporting the EP we still have some promoting and touring to do for our last album ‘On Condition’.

Do you have any festival survival tips?

To ensure the absolute best sound and visual experience, stand on the side of the guitar player with your fists in the air for each and every set. Seriously, you only have one set of eyes, don’t try to hard to catch every last thing, you’ll miss some of the best parts hurrying around too much.

Is there anything else in Blackpool you’d recommend people experience whilst they’re in the town?

Funny you should ask. As mentioned, I love this town, so meet me at the merch for various tacky tourist excursions. I will be giving a roulette seminar and arcade game class at Treasure Island (all wining tickets go to the instructor of course), we’ll also visit the pub at the end of the pier for a pint as the wind took half my pint the last time I was there. I will also be giving carnival game and game of chance instruction at the base of the pier. In all seriousness, I will likely stay ’til Monday and visit Pleasure Beach. Not just to ride the Pepsi Max, I’m certain I will not be ready to leave Blackpool or Rebellion festival. I want to be the last punk in town.

Finally when and where are you appearing?

Arena Stage 3 PM Saturday

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us, we’ll see you down the front.

The Attack‘s website can be found here