Start Today

You know you’re at a hardcore gig, because the singers of hardcore bands at a hardcore gig have between song banter like “this is a hardcore gig” and yell out “HARDCORE!” during instrumental breakdowns.

Everything Went Blackpool

I’m a bit late with this year’s review because, well, I had to spend a week piecing together the fragments of a drunken weekend like a 1,000-piece jigsaw with five pieces missing and where 90% of the remaining parts are near-identically-shaped pieces of blue sky.

Sleazy Does It

Morecambe is grim. Let’s not pretend otherwise. Despite the sunny day when I arrived and the lovely view of Cumbria across the bay which has claimed the lives of many a Chinese whelk-picker, it is still an absolute rectum of a town.

Built to Last

London was apparently founded in the year 50. Curiously this is now the exact price in pounds for a pint at the Kentish Town Forum. More or less.

Deth Before Christmas

It’s nearly Christmas. I know this because there are lights and trees and all manner of other festive crap adorning the towns, cities and villages of this country. I also know it’s nearly Christmas because Lawnmower Deth had scheduled a one-off gig in London tahn.

Best of the Fest

The yearly punk festival in Blackpool has a tendency to come around quickly, although this could in part be to do with the fact that I’m not getting any younger and the hands of a clock now seem to spin faster than the dials on an Npower customer’s electricity meter.

Satisfaction is the Death of Desire

It’s nice to get to your first gig of the year in January and a cold, dark, winter’s evening is the perfect time to go and see a line-up of seven hardcore bands.