Can you Play?

Stoke bands in need for new members! Oral Asphyxiation is looking for a bassist: if you're interested, band practices every Monday in Fenton. A drummer is needed for another really good local punk group, The Slashers. So can you play?

Rebellion 2009

This event sadly does not take place in Stoke on Trent, but it's way to big not to be mentioned. The Rebellion Festival 2009. Four days long, between August the 6th and the 9th, plenty of great, more and less known punk rock bands will be playing at Winter Gardens in Blackpool. We'll get to see, among others, such brilliant bands as The Exploited, The Business, Subhumans, The Adolescents, English Dogs, Agnostic Front, The Damned, Abrasive Wheels, The Addicts, UK Subs, Mad Sin, Anti-Nowhere League, Killing Joke and many many more...  Some of local bands are in the lineup as well, for example Section 5 on the first day of the festival. See the website for more details and updates.

The tickets are:

£80 - Nov 1st up to April 30th 2009

£90 - May 1st 2009 onwards

DAY TICKETS :

Thursday £20

Friday, Saturday, Sunday £30 per day

New Place for Alternative Clothing

If you're having trouble trying to get youself a new pair of bleached out jeans or a spiked tartan jacket I've got some good news for you: a new punk shop, Mad Rags, has recently been opened in Newcastle. They've got a collection of new, vintage and recycled alternative clothing and accessories for you bOIs and girls. And they said they are getting new stuff every day so be sure to pay them a visit. They are located at Liverpool Street, ST5 2AX. The business hours are: 

Monday - Friday: 9.30 - 4.00

Saturday: 10.00 - 4.00

Disensitise: Deny, Remove, Destroy

Discharge is one of those groups that are always sure to provide their fans with just what punk music lovers expect of them: pure, oldschool punk rock with strenght and passion that do not compromise to anything. The band, formed in Stoke by Terry 'Tez' Roberts and Roy 'Rainy' Wainwright, has been around since 1977 and punk listeners around have already got used to the band serving a healthy doze of decent punk music with every single release they do. It is no different this time and you surely won’t be disappointed when you get to listen to their latest album that just came out last month, called “Disensitise”.

The first thing that came to my mind after puting the CD on is simply that the band sounds angrier than ever. With rough vocals, sharp guitars and the style floating between hardcore punk, D-beat and crossover thrash, the album brings to you a wonderful wall of raw noise.

What’s important, there’s undoubtely some sense hidden, not too deeply, behind that wall, as the lyrics describing simply the crazy and pretty brutal world we live in are truely meaningful and brilliantly honest.

The tracks that soon became my personal favourites are “CCTV”, with really nice guitar work and outrageous drums; and “Persuasion=Power” that brings a bit of a melt down to the tempo but offers some thought-provoking lyrics instead.

Discharge managed to rise above expectations again. So if you are, unlike me, temporarily not skint, don’t waste your money on just any punk album and don’t waste any more time, go and get yourself a copy of “Disensitise” as soon as you can. For example at a gig, because the band's currently on tour promoting the album, the dates are to be found below:

24. April, Friday - The Angincourt, Camberley

25. April, Saturday - Engine Room, Brighton

14. May, Thursday - Trillians, Newcastle

DISCHARGE - NEVER AGAIN

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Gig listings - April and May

In order to create a bit more optimistic mood after my last post, today I’m going to concentrate of what will be going on around Stoke in the next few months. There is not much of it, but still something.

Today, on Friday the 17th of April, the Sex Pistols Experience is playing at the Limelight in Crewe. If you don’t know the band let me explain: it’s a really good Sex Pistols tribute band, I have already written about them not long ago. The tickets are £9.

Next week, on April the 23rd which is obviousely St George’s Day, there will be quite a bit going on. The Duel and The New Subterraneans will be playing at the Norfolk Inn at 8pm, tickets are £4. There will also be another punk gig on that day, and this one is for free. Wasted Life will be playing at the Bennetts, at 8pm as well. There was supposed to be one more band playing with them, Anglo Saxon, but it’s just been announced we won’t see them then. O well then.

 The Duel

On the 27th of April, Rising Strike and Shot Baker will be to be seen at Harry’s Bar at 8.30pm, for £5. Rising Strike are, according to their myspace profile, a punk/ska/metal band from Stoke, Shot Baker are a punk/hardcore group from US. I haven’t heard much of those bands to be honest, but I think it might be a pretty good night anyway.

Rising Strike will be playing in the area again, on the 16th of May at the Rigger in Newcastle, along with a rock/metal band Exhibit A. Cost is to be confirmed yet.

And there will be one more punk gig in Stoke in May, on the 22nd Wasted Life will be playing, together with The Fortunas, at the Green Star in Smallthorne, Stoke, at 8pm.

So that’s it for now. Hope I see you at the gigs.

Where to Go, What to Do

The Glebe might be re-opening. This is what all punkers and rockers in Stoke have been talking about recently. Even though it is hard to say now what the chances for it are, I really hope that the best venue for punk rock gigs around, which the Glebe certainly was, will open its door again soon. There is, unfortunately, not much going on around Stoke at the moment and it is really hard to find a place to enjoy good live punk and rock music. The Underground may be an option for indie rock fans, but not for those wanting to hear some decent punk music. The Sugarmill sadly doesn't seem to have much on offer for them either. So where can we go on Friday evening?

Simply sitting in a pub and having a pint tends to be the only entertainment available around, but still it is not easy to find a decent rock pub anyway. The recession seems to be killing everything and pubs and clubs are closing one by one, like it happened to The Full Moon in Newcastle for example. The only ones left are Black Friar in Newcastle, which fortunately still gets quite busy on Saturdays, and the Stage Door in Hanley. So it's not much of a choice, is it?

Let's hope we'll get to see some bands playing at the Glebe again. Let's hope we'll get to see some decent bands playing around at all, because at the moment the situation is not looking too good. Discharge, probably the greatest punk band that originated from Stoke is on a tour now promoting their new album "Disensitise", a review of which I'll try to post shortly. Stoke is however not on the list of places they're playing at. Is punk dead around here? Long live punk!

 The Glebe

DISCHARGE - CORPSE OF DECADENCE

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

Free Punk Gig feat. the Members

Get ready for the first ever punk all dayer in Crewe, at the M club on the 24th of May. It's for free and you get to see the Members plus a variety of local and named bands. For over 18's only.