"SENTENCED TO LIFE OF ALIENATION, THE FIRING SQUAD WOULD BE A FUCKING VACATION!"

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on Swedish hardcore punk/råpunk band ANTI CIMEX, performing live at the infamous Mermaid pub in Sparkhill, Birmingham, UK (the equally infamous wallpaper gives it away), on July 5, 1986. 📸: Jenny Plaits.

"You better look twice before you look my way, We all know I'm guilty there's nothing more to say! Guilty of not doing what you do, Sentenced to life of alienation, The firing squad would be a fucking vacation! Guilty of not being just like you."

-- "Criminal Trap" (1986) by ANTI CIMEX

Sources: http://victimsofabombraid.blogspot.com/2013/06 & Negative Insight.

Extreme Noise Terror - Are You That Desperate? - 1991

Live EP from the legends of UKHC, on the aptly named label - Crust Records. You know the score!

UK QUEERCORE LIVES

0121 Queercore is a Birmingham based zine by Lexi of band Transistrrr and promoter collective outcaststompbrum

The first issue is a great read and includes a page on my spreadsheet!!

You can get one via the IG: 0121queercore_zine

Rat Cage - Savage Visions LP 2023

flyer i made for a hardcore show i booked in january :)

this was the first time i've ever promoted a show or made a flyer !

135. STIFF MEDS. 2023-11-29 @ Venster99 (w/ Dice Throw).

Part 3: British powerviolence and grindcore C2006-2008.

Bonus 7” split EP with Scottish band The Process on one side and my all time favourite hardcore band (besides Bad Brains) Iron Lung from the US.

"YOUR GOD IS YOUR CHAINS... DO YOU REALLY WANT YOUR FREEDOM?"

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on Rob "The Baron" Miller, bassist/ vocalist/ lyricist/co-founder of English crust punk band AMEBIX, performing c. 1983, during the band's "Who's the Enemy" era. 📸: from the collection of "m. thorn."

PIC #2: Spotlight on show flyer for AMEBIX (during the band's "Arise!" era), plus UKHC acts LEUKAEMIA and THE DEPRAVED (supporting), performing live at the Hand & Heart pub in Nottingham, UK, c. mid 1980s.

Sources: www.flickr.com/photos/mikedthorn/3125622210/in/photostream & Pinterest.

Chaos UK - Stunned To Silence Rehearsal Cassette - 1985

Cider-I-Up Landlord! Bristolian crust.

The Annihilated - Submission To Annihilation LP

gig pics from my digital camera

- Had to go back and check I hadn’t already post some ‘Chubby’ on this thing already and I’m surprised to see I hadn’t. I love both Chubby albums, and was paying pretty close attention when they were dropping visuals and generally building a lot of buzz around their tours and shows last year. 

- I caught them opening for Turnstile, my first live gig post-covid lockdowns last spring / early summer. I’ve gotta say they probably weren’t at their best. Charlie looked a little lost on a stage the size of the Kentish Town Forum. The fact he necked a good half a bottle of JD during their 20 minute set probably indicates a degree of nervousness about being up there, and fair fucking play, I’d probably do much the same. That said, it was a great show. Turnstile killed and the kids went off. I certainly left happy. I similarly left happy after seeing Big Cheese play with Fucked Up a couple weeks ago in Kings Cross. The connection here being that two members of CATG play in BC also, and Meg played with Fucked Up on the recent tour too. Once again proving that irrespective of however many great punk bands and records come out and how big a scene might seen from the outside, it always the same small handful of very creatively motivated people doing 80-90% of the work!

- I don’t think Chubby and The Gang tend to play I Hate The Radio in their live sets. Although it might technically be regarded as ‘the slow song’ on their second album, ‘The Mutt’s Nuts’, it would be wrong to dismiss it as somehow less good than their usual oi-phetamine anthems. What I particularly love about this song is the chorus, and particularly the wicked vocal melodies between Charlie and Meg. It gives me very sixties melancholic Motown, girl group vibes, which, when think about it, still connects back to the band’s wider Rock’n’roll, proto-OI, bovver rock aesthetic and sound on this record. It might have blended a bit less well on Speed Kills, mind you. Aside from the killer vocals, there’s some low key fire drumming from Joe that stops the rhythm section from feeling a ploddy and pedestrian background beat to the harmonies.

- The video itself makes the band and central London look very cute. It’s a simple, vibes based vid and that’s ok. Maybe it was coming of age in the early 00s, the era of the DSLR democratisation, but I’m still a sucker for len’s flare and over exposure which the directors use a lot of here, to very good effect. And hat’s off also for taking full advantage of the much less busy streets of London a year or two ago to have fun with this video in an area of London you’re best avoiding any time after 5 in the evening.

- I’m sure there must be hundreds of music videos that have been filmed inn around Piccadilly circus (not a bad idea for Youtube Playlist!), but off the top of my head the only other one that springs to mind is Devlin’s ‘London City’. Although sonically quite different to ‘I Hate The Radio’, both artists shared a strong distaste for radio: Devlin was a member of infamous lyrical grime crew The Movement who filmed some of their most famous freestyles on a DVD series called Fuck Radio. The visuals on both videos share a similar late night central London wooziness and melancholy. They low key communicate that strange feeling of disconnection or loneliness in the busiest part of a city, at the busiest time of the week. What Dostoevsky say, eh?

- Anyhow, existential ramblings aside. This tune and video are very cute. I look forward to seeing Chubby play live again soon.

60. MASTERMIND. 2022-07-28 @ Venster99 (w/ Combust)

feeling very I don’t want to go outside