Live Review: 2019 Rebellion Festival (Friday)

Rebellion cognoscenti know that the Introducing Stage is the place to be, particularly early in proceedings before the more established bands make their appearances. Sure enough, there’s already three-quarters of a room full before Petty Phase take the stage. No preamble, it’s full tilt into some ballsy power pop. This is a band that despite their slightly coy stage demeanour , know their shit and can rock like bastards. As seems to be the pattern earlier in the day, the mix doesn’t do them many favours but fuck, they’re good. Tearing ourselves away from Petty Phase we head over to the Pavilion Stage to catch Kiss Me Killer at the second attempt as we missed them in 2018 and we’re not making the same mistake twice. Their raw driven garage-fuelled punk is the perfect opening jolt for the second day of the Rebellion Festival, they may tip their hat to the class of ’77 but they avoid becoming mired in the past. Kiss Me Killer deliver their set with a disarming charm and it seems that already we’re on course for another perfect day.

It’s 2.20pm on a boiling hot Friday afternoon in the Casbah Stage. The room is packed to near capacity with people from all over the world wearing ‘football, beer and punk rock’ t shirts. They’re all here at this early hour to see Knock Off, a band releasing their fourth album ‘You Get One Life‘ today. If you’d pre-ordered the album, you’d have got it a week ago and judging by the amount of people who will be singing along to the new songs this is exactly what’s happened. After a few brief problems with the bass sound (or lack of) the band launch into ‘One Life‘ the opening track on the new album. From that moment onwards, the whole crowd sing along to songs that include ‘We Are Proud ‘ (which name-checks the late Micky Fitz), ‘You’re Nicked‘, ‘Football, Beer and Punk Rock‘ and their biggest hit so far ‘This Ain’t No Love Song‘ – “We’ve got 1minute 27 seconds left, so let’s do it,” says singer and guitarist Andy T and the band launch into ‘Jack The Ripper‘ their final song of the set. This is the second year running that Knock Off have pulled a bigger crowd than other bands playing at the same time. Hopefully next year they’ll be further up the bill and judging by the crowd’s reaction, it’s only a matter of time.

You’d think it wasn’t already volcanically hot in Club Casbah with the amount of energy DragSTER are pouring into this. And yet, even with this amount of fire, they make it look easy. Mountains of charisma and as tight as fuck, DragSTER are the perfect mid-afternoon lift for anyone with early onset Rebellion fatigue. Hard, fast and mighty with attitude to spare, this band command the Casbah Stage and there’s a lot of love in the room. It thunders, it’s mesmerising and just when you think it can’t any more intense, there’s a new level beyond 11.

Over at the Arena Stage and having suggested at last year’s Rebellion that The Raging Nathans, after their Introducing Stage set, would suit a bigger stage, I am happy to report that the transition has been wholly justified. The manic energy has translated well to this bigger Arena Stage and the band are perfectly at home in this substantially larger venue. There is a good crowd and they’re well into it and appreciative. Ironically, the sound is not the best, but it’s good enough to let the band’s brand of energetic power punk shine through. Afterwards we head over and catch the end of Turbulent Hearts. Take Joan Jett‘s spirit and marry that with that with the attitude of The Distillers and you’re about there, last year their set was mired by technical issues, in 2019 they let fly with a set that leaves me wishing we had been here from the start. 

Interrobang?! is what would happen if The Fall had recorded with Wire. The much vaunted outfit are determinedly art-rock and it’s appropriate that they’re playing this venue because polite applause seems to be the right response. That said, this idiosyncratic and intimate show isn’t really suited to this cavernous hall. Clever – yes. Entertaining? Undoubtedly. A palate cleanser if you have been exposed to brutal punk rock for a day and a half. I like it, but I’m not sure I get it. But plenty do. Over to another rammed Introducing Stage room for Pussy Liquor, whose feisty punk stylings are clearly going down well with an appreciative crowd. Fluffy they are not. This is angry and loud and, frankly, pretty damn good. No Barbie girls these. One to watch for a bigger stage next year.

Feels kind of wrong to be in a seated venue for this master class in original Californian punk. There is absolutely no clue that The Avengers had been away for all of the 80s because this sounds as fresh and vital as it must have, if we must say it, back in the day. Influential and still vital. There are younger bands here in Blackpool that could take some notice. Original and still pretty special. Support band for The Sex Pistols (along with The Nuns on the final date of their ill-fated American tour), The Avengers, fronted by singer Penelope Houston, with guitarist and other original member Greg Ingraham and joined by later recruits Joel Reader on bass and Luis Illades on drums. They play most of their one and only record (commonly known as ‘The Pink Album‘) which includes songs such as ‘We Are The One‘ , ‘Car Crash‘ , ‘Open Your Eyes’, ‘The American In Me’ and the Steve Jones/Paul Cook penned ‘Second To None‘ (which would appear again as ‘1,2,3‘ by The Professionals. Penelope’s voice sounds exactly like it did back in 78 and if you close your eyes you could easily be transported back in time to that fateful night in San Francisco. The final song of the evening is their amazing cover of the Rolling Stones classic ‘Paint it Black‘. And there you have it, a band from 1977 that we never thought we’d see, sounding absolutely stunning in 2019. God save The Avengers!

At this point everything is becoming hazy, Pretty Addicted‘s mix of rave, punk and industrial only helps this process along. They stand alone in Rebellion, both visually and musically, dark, intense, chaotic and visually compelling, if Harley Quinn fronted a punk band this is exactly what you’d get. Rebellion stalwarts and perennial favourites Ruts DC have packed out the Empress Ballroom, as you would expect. This is a band that has pulled off the near impossible – surviving the loss of two massively influential members and being born anew without losing the love and goodwill of a spectacularly loyal audience. Because of their long hiatus and relatively modest catalogue, you’re guaranteed the crowd pleasers. But this is no greatest hits set, with rambling, bass-driven interludes that keep the sweaty Empress pit heaving. Still important, still putting in 100%. Satisfaction guaranteed.

I guess this site is preaching to the converted – the wider punk family know that some of the more common prejudices directed at ‘punks’ are misguided and simply wrong. I’ve never attended a more good-natured and polite gathering. I’ve seen no friction between guests and locals, or within the festival community. It’s a shame that those old preconceptions still exist. Rebellion is a brilliant ambassador for our music. To amplify this, today something happened that would melt a stone heart. The utterly brilliant Millie Manders went above and beyond to bring joy to a special fan. The details are not important other than to thank Millie and her band for taking the time out from a busy weekend and going above and beyond.

Leftover Crack are a band we’ve tried to cover before but for various reasons beyond our control didn’t happen, I kinda wish this had happened earlier: perfect anarcho ska punk chaos, from moments of calm to intense hardcore and everything in between. There is no one else quite like them, the  crack rock steady machine has rolled into Blackpool and I wish we’d caught it earlier at a smaller more intimate venues that they’ve previously played, they still deliver an exhilarating ‘fuck you’ set. Rublla Ballet, and band I neglected to see In my youth, are delivering the kind of post punk gothic tinged set that a teenage me would have killed to have been present for, and I’m not that far removed (at least mentally), everything about that Iraq that I adored is present and I feel like I’ve slipped back over three decades. 

Yes, there was the Pistols and the punk rock Big Bang, but before that there was a thriving pub rock scene that proved a fertile breeding ground for some of the bands we consider punk forefathers today. This scene morphed into punk and venues like the Hope & Anchor and the Marquee hosted an eclectic mix of bands through the back end of the ’70s. Eddie and the Hot Rods were one of that cohort. Were they punk? I don’t know. Flashforward to 2019 and here they are playing a packed Opera House. A far cry from, but as sweaty as, those venues of yore. Their intro music is ‘96 Tears‘, itself covered by their contemporaries The Stranglers, also in the complex tonight. Eddie And The Hot Rods play straight ahead R&B. And even though this version of the Hot Rods is the equivalent of a broom with five new heads and four new handles, it’s still authentic and still rocking. They’re also joined for a number each by Ruts DC‘s Leigh Hegarty and by the excitable Duncan Reid. And yes, they did play that song.

The last time I saw Guitar Gangsters was in the late eighties supporting Stiff Little Fingers, weirdly time appears to have stood still for their brand of old school punk rock. This is not a negative, everyone needs something in life they can rely on and Guitar Gangsters are that, unchanged by the decades. This is a welcome throwback to punk’s yesteryear. As with the previous band, the company and environment are throwbacks, I’m not one for lurking in my past, but this has been a welcome flashback. There’s no Friday fatigue down in the sweaty hell of the Casbah Stage. The Ramonas are becoming Casbah Stage regulars and their thundering Ramones set gets a rapturous reception from a massive room. There’s no let up, no pausing for breath, just a relentless barrage of songs that includes that rockin’ version of the Spiderman theme. This is tight and confident stuff from the Rebellion favourites. A tremendous way to round off day two.

Live photography of Turbulent Hearts and Ruts DC courtesy of Dod Morrison, his website can be found here. Additional Photography by JEM Wallace and AJ Phink. You can click on any of the photos to view a slide show of the images. 

Review co-written by AJ Phink and Dean Unsworth

The Rebellion Festival‘s website can be found here