PUNK DIY TOGETHER – MILTON ARMS AND BARN, PORTSMOUTH 7th and 8th June 2013

When last years’ Punk by the Sea festival collapsed less than halfway through, the Milton Arms stepped in and along with new promoters, local bands and the power of the internet something special was created – after all, it’s not often the original line-up of Sham 69 along with the likes of the UK Subs turn up to play a free gig in the front bar of your local pub!

So a year on, and to celebrate the first anniversary of the aforementioned non-event, DIY Together at the Barn bring us two days of well organised punk rock.

As with many festivals, there are always going to be bands you like more than others, some you forget about and some you just miss altogether so apologies if you’re not mentioned but these are just some of my own personal highlights from a great weekend.

SATURDAY

Openers Second Hand Citizen had already played when I had arrived so it was down to Radioactive Bones to be my first band of the day with their mix of punk rock and heavy metal orientated guitar solos.  Lineside followed with more traditional punk rock, their singer/bass player determined to get the crowd moving as they blasted their way through instantly classic sounding tracks such as “I Don’t Wanna Know” and “Spirit in the Street”.

In the front bar it was acoustic acts, and where a recently reformed Cool Banana played stripped down versions of “Seventeen” and “the Pink Burger Bar”, along with a handful of covers such as Velvet Underground (which worked surprisingly well).  Their set may have been interrupted by band leader Matt having to briefly return to landlord duties but this just made it more punk rock than usual…

…so back out to the Barn and where The Vulgarities from Brighton provided us with punchy guitars and cigarette infused vocals with lyrics aimed mostly at specific individuals known only to themselves, although all I can say is unless you want some quality punk written about you for all the wrong reasons then be sure not to mess with these girls (although they were lovely really)!

Returning to the front and to rest the eardrums the Lone Groover mixed it up a bit with some good solo folky tunes, but it was soon back to the classics with Crash Course and their UK Subs tribute.

Tribute bands can often fall short of the mark but for Crash Course this is far from the case, and with the Subs often having a revolving door of musicians I’m sure any of these boys from Bognor would quite happily step in – plus if Charlie Harper himself were to ever hang up the microphone frontman Alan Calver could quite easily become a natural replacement.

Dangers Close had made the trip down from Ipswich and their front woman had a great voice and stage presence as they ripped through a psychobilly infused set with some quality riffs, which were soon followed by another great frontman in the singer from Noise Agents who featuring ex-members of 1970’s/early 80’s punks Demob must have many a gig under their belt.  It seems every punk band need a song about riots, and Noise Agents have theirs in “Riot in the City” – I had intended these guys to be my album purchase of the weekend but alas I missed the moment…

Talking albums, “Any old Trollop, Same Old Port” by Folk Grinder is a fantastic blend of pirate sea shanties and Urban Voodoo Machine/Gogol Bordello style gypsy punk, and playing the album tonight with an acoustic guitar and accordion these two were one of my favourite acts of the weekend with “England’s Dreaming” and “Lungs Guns & Hot Knives” being the stand out tracks.

So having bailed before the Duel came on, it was Dun2Def that were in effect the headliners to my night and they didn’t disappoint.  Having celebrated over ten years on the road, they are a great live band, and tunes such as “Generation Nowhere” very much standing the test of time.

SUNDAY

With Reactor 1 having pulled out and all the acts being moved into the one room, Sunday started off at a more relaxed pace than the day before with only a handful of people lucky enough to hear the beautiful voice of Skin for a Canvas, the solo project of Ian Mortimer.  It was good to see the intimate crowd respect Mortimer playing without any amplification, and hanging on every word as he introduced his songs played from the heart.

Featuring members of hard core act Black Anchor, Caught in a Crossfire filled the room with their more pop-punk orientated tunes, although some of the lyrical content was far from Radio 1 territory.  Highly charged and full of energy you couldn’t help but enjoy their set and it certainly didn’t feel like a gig on a mid-Sunday afternoon.

In contrast to the acoustic acts and those of well-rehearsed bands before them, Pussy Revolver were a thrown together covers band comprising of promoters and other local band members blasting through a set of punk rock classics, it was messy and good fun, we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Avondale 45 had a decent size audience to play to and put on a great set as always, but today was always going to be about headliner TV Smith.

Having played last years non-event, TV Smith was the biggest name on the bill to return again this year.  His acoustic versions of the Adverts classics along with newer solo material came with great delivery interspersed with comments about life, the government and all things punk rock.

The Adverts biggest hit “Gary Gilmours Eyes” works really well acoustically and with some of TV Smiths solo tracks, such as the all to true “Expensive being Poor” also having instantly sing-a-long choruses the atmosphere in the room summed up that of the weekend and brought the two day punk festival to a close.

The weekend may well have been the first anniversary of last year’s spur of the moment event, but having been a mighty success all round and having hopefully raised a substantial amount of money for a good cause (all but minor expenses going towards local cancer charity the Rowans Hospice) who’s up for doing it all again next year?

Mr Teeth