Live Review: Incisions / Aerial Salad / The Kimberley Steaks / Kringer & The Battle Katz – The Spinning Top, Stockport, UK, 22nd March 2019

Tonight’s show takes us to Stockport on the edge of south Manchester, this is town I grew up in and it wasn’t always a pleasant experience, looking different from the norm back then often to led to verbal abuse and occasional assaults, it was small town England at its worst and there was no live music or punk scene to speak of, in the nine adult years I lived there there were two concerts to go to, and one of them was cancelled, and live music meant travelling to Manchester and risking life and limb on the night bus home. So that’s my past experience of Stockport, now onto the present, finding out that there is now a venue in my former hometown that features two of Manchester’s finest up and coming punk bands means that I’m heading back to Stockport for the first time in a long long time.

We find ourselves at The Spinning Top for Aerial Salad and Incisions short and sweet joint headlining Freak Mode Tour, they are joined tonight by Kimberley Steaks and the intriguingly named, at least for any self respecting ailurophile or fan of vintage cartoons, Kringer And The Battle Katz. “Ladies and gentlemen we are Kringer And The Battle Katz” precedes a metal fuelled punk rock noise from a band that resemble the Sons Of Anarchy on acid, this is a band that can’t be pigeonholed, thrash, punk, grindcore, hardcore and metal are merged into an almighty crossover. Their start is hampered by a broken drum kit, impressive after one number, but they keep the crowd entertained and finish their beers before launching back into their set. Kringer And The Battle Katz are a chaotic start to a Friday night, and I mean that in a good way, they are a hell borne mash up of everything that matters, I’ve never met a cat I didn’t like and Kringer and The Battle Katz are no exception.

I’ve wanted to catch The Kimberley Steaks for a long time, they regularly support the finest punk bands north of the border, finding them in Stockport is a somewhat unexpected bonus. From the off this raw fast punk rock that hits the spot nicely. This is Kimberley Steaks first time in Stockport, although this probably applies to most bands on tonight’s bill, and their furious good natured punk rock goes down a storm in the intimate surroundings of The Spinning Top. There’s no introduction or 1234, songs stop and the next one starts and already the ghosts of my past experiences of Stockport are being exorcised. The Kimberley Steaks are fast and furious hardcore punk that really should be on your playlist, and from now on they’ll be on mine.

Aerial Salad are no strangers to The Punk Site, the young Mancunian upstarts raw punk rock is always welcome and tonight they play with the same fervour as when I’ve caught them playing to a packed stage at the Rebellion Festival. Despite the raw punk that lies at the heart of their sound there’s a pop sensibility buried under there that makes them one of Manchester’s brightest prospects. Although this is not the first time I’ve caught this youthful trio something about tonight’s short sharp set gives me the feeling that the best is yet to come from this annoyingly young and talented trio. Manchester has a long established history of producing influential and energetic punk bands and Aerial Salad are amongst the best of the current generation.

Finally we get Incisions, their self titled debut album was one of the best of last year, can they cut it live? I’ll give you one guess. Incisions deliver a furious set of hardcore punk that is everything you could ask for and is the perfect end to a quartet of bands that showcase the underbelly of Manchester’s punk scene. If you thought that Incisions debut full length was impressive you’d be right, but live they are a different prospect, this is hardcore punk just as it oughta be, short, fast and intense songs that capture the original spirit of the hardcore scene, but more importantly they bring it bang up up to date. Tonight showcased four bands that demonstrate that punk is alive, well and has no intention of going anywhere anytime soon.

Tonight The Spinning Top has been the host to a perfect storm of punk and hardcore in a town that previously had no live music and no punk scene, if nights like tonight had been on offer when iu was younger I might never have left, It’s too late for me now but the next generation have more than I ever had and they loved every minute of it. The quartet of bands on offer tonight hand delivered a perfect evening that confirms that punk is not dead, it’s as sweaty, anti social and enjoyable as ever and I can’t fault tonight’s show on any level from the informal friendly venue, the crowd present tonight, the impressively drunk old friend who turned up and especially the four bands that composed tonight’s impressive line up and delivered perfect show.

Live photography is by Dean Unsworth, his Instagram account is located here and you can click on any of Dean’s photos to view a slide show of the images

Incisions‘ Facebook page can be found here and their Bandcamp is here

Aerial Salad‘s Facebook page is here and their Bandcamp is here

The Kimberley Steaks‘ Facebook page is here and their Bandcamp is here

Kringer And The Battle Katz Facebook page is here and their Bandcamp is here