As the year starts to draw to a close there was still time for another punk night at the Milton Arms Barn, a venue itself that’s closing its doors for one last time in the New Year… or at least in the manner in which we’ve grown accustomed to in recent times.
The end of the year also means a time for Xmas songs, which co-promoter Jon Lamb got out the way early on in his acoustic set, before breaking out sing a long classics such as the Ramones “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” and reggae favourite “Police and Thieves”… Jon may have been blagging it, but who’s supposed to be organised at a punk gig?
Next up were Second Hand Citizens, who for one night only re-branded themselves as Second Hand Christmas (see what they did there) and in their own words were planning on ruining Xmas, but in actual fact they provided the nights comedy element – taking their regular set and rewording the lyrics with anything Christmas related such as “Harry is a Nazi” being turned into “Santa is a Nazi” and the chorus for “Christmas Excrement” (with the re-working of “Human Excrement”) being all rather amusing in its new context.
How do you follow that, well It wasn’t long until Archive 45’s frontman was stripped down to his boxers, an occurrence that seems to happen far too often, but this aside and with plenty of banter Archive 45 always deliver some entertaining raw punk rock and have a number of good old fashioned Clash influenced songs such as “Brixton Riots” within their back catalogue whilst somehow managing to cheekily squeeze in two more numbers when advised their allotted slot on the bill was almost finished.
When it was time for Bullybones to start up many of the crowd were either still out in the garden or purchasing beers from the front bar, although it didn’t take long until the boys had a decent crowd with those down the front struggling to stay on their feet amongst the pogoing and dancing.
Initially Bullybones come across as a rawkus 60’s mod outfit but the moment singer Charlie Pullinger put down his guitar he became a man possessed, more reminiscent of garage rock band the Hives rather than the Who or the Small Faces. Pullinger was also a great visual aspect to the band, moving around like the Hives leader Pelle Almqvist as guitarist Aaron Lee struggled with the feedback coming from his amp during frantic tracks such as “I Feel Sorry for You” and “Dead Flower Girl”.
They may have needed to make a quick exit back to catch the last ferry home to the Isle of Wight, but as their set ended with Pullinger rolling around on the floor it had certainly been well worth the trip and one that I hope Bullybones make again in the not too distant future.
As with many a punk night at the Milton Arms, most run to what has become affectionately known as “Barn Time” in that they run off schedule and line-ups are often subject to change, however this evening had been running unconventionally smoothly, the later start for the headlining act being down to what had gone ahead of them rather than things getting too messy.
So it was down to Bamboo Vipers to finish the evening, not a group that I was familiar with until this show but it’s always a pleasure to experience someone new and after some great music in the band before them, anything just as good was to be a bonus… and Bamboo Vipers were just that, combining the anarchy of the UK Subs with the energy of the Buzzocks making them justified headliners in what had been a successful night for all involved.
It may soon be the end of an era where the Milton Arms and Barn are concerned but here’s hoping that with the landlord taking a well-deserved break hopefully there’s an opening elsewhere and the punk scene in Portsmouth continues to stand proud, in what’s sure to be an exciting 2015 for the city in which we love to rock n roll.
