Street Voice UK

The time had arrived to set off to Stafford on a hour long trip on the bus to party with the punks! There was a method to my madness as the bus came past my front door and it was only £3.80 return rather than £20 on the bus and a long walk to the train station!

Walking through Stafford town centre no one seemed to know where the Red Rum venue was so it was lucky to spot Karen Cockerton and her fella amongst the crowd to get me there.

To be honest on arrival at the venue I was surprised to find the venue half empty and that shocked me considering the strength of the line-up which included Ferocious Dog and Tony Wright of Terrorvison.

People you really do need to try harder to support independent gigs!

Here’s my memory of the day though I could have gotten then line-ups in the wrong order. Sorry Luke!

After a delayed start the first band were ready to kick the party off and Lennox And The Flawed delivered a great guitar driven sound that really grabbed my attention. It was a shame that they were a member down as they would have blown almost every band away. Fantastic set!

Next up were Meth Club 7 who I’ve seen around three times now and really do the business. In fact they’re one of my favourite bands on the West Midlands Punk / HC circuit. Their vocalist is a nutter who can’t stand still and really is a fun artist to watch. Their style of HC is catchy and a bliss to to the ears! One band to watch out for!

After a couple of drinks and a chat to PK it was time for Jif Not Cif to hit the stage. I’d heard of the band but never seen them and they delivered some pretty cool fast punk rock. Not too thrashy either so they didn’t lose the tunes. Thirty minutes of coolness. A band I want to see more of!

Next up was Tony Wright of Terrorvision fame doing an acoustic set. Some of this set was amazing but after 60 minutes wore a little thin with too much talking which at that point I’d lost interest. Having an acoustic attack after three kick ass bands was lost on me. Oh well!

Templeton Pek are a name I hadn’t heard in years and I was pleasantly surprised they’re still about playing catchy HC and for me the best band of the night. Just over thirty minutes they delivered some high quality songs oozing with power and tunes. How that drum kit never punched the drummer back after the beating he gave it I’ll never know!

Next up were the hosts of the beach party. The Skate Punx. They play both covers and originals song and pretty much the UK version of Green Day. These guys deliver some decent catchy punk / rock tunes that really get you in the party mood! And party people did with beach toys being thrown about then the delights of a bubble machine really had party going! Great band! You really need to check these out if fun and catchy punk is your thing!

Last band of the night was a stripped down Ferocious Dog who I really wanted to see but sadly wanted to see but with the delays I had to miss out as I had a bus to catch. Others were in the same boat too! What I did see were a three-piece FD delivering their songs in style even if they were acoustic.

All in all a great day though for punters in future I’d go for one less band as public transport from Stafford ends at 10.40pm or even go keeping one band for an after show party so people can see the headline act in full!

Sound was great and the bar prices ok so please do support these shows!

The entire day was great and big thumbs up to Luke who had the foresight to make this wicked day a day to remember!

Also a big thumbs up to Marco Ren who was the DJ in between the band who played some wicked tracks. Some I hadn’t heard in years!

See you at next years Skate Punx Beach Party.