Boomtown Fair 2012

Boomtown Fair. Home to freaks, weirdos, punks, crusties, hippies, pillheads, rockabillies and people who look a bit lost. This was my third year in a row attending the festival, held in the same place for 2 years running in the first time of it's history, and it's my favourite place on earth. I still have festival blues a week after it all ended, and this review is an attempt to make some sort of sense of everything that went on over the course of the weekend.

Compared to other, more mainstream, festivals that I've been to, Boomtown maintains it's own spirit and atmosphere unlike anywhere I've been before. There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes creating the 'town' and acts that I would like to personally shake everyone involved by the hand and give them a pint. Unfortunately, I have neither the time or the finances but I sincerely hope they carry on to do the work they do!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, with the sun beating down, having successfully snuck in our 'illegal' cider, beer and rum supplies and trekked across the campsite to find fellow Boomtown veterans and some Boomtown virgins. Surveying the campsite (we were in a similar place to the year before) we could see that the site was much, much bigger. We set up the tent, had some beers and got a bit merry, then before we knew it it was evening. We ventured into the town to see (I think) the end of Roughneck Riot and then we saw Faintest Idea, who, if you've read earlier reviews, we're pretty psyched on. They were brilliant as always, although perhaps not yet ready for such a big stage. I'm not really sure what happened after that to be honest, due to consuming Janet's Jungle Juice (make of that what you will).

Friday soon came around and was met with cider, beers and sensi in the warm sunshine. I'm not really sure where Friday went but I remember wandering around near the Bad Apple Bar and wandering around the site in general seeing what was about. We were sat near the main stage and heard what sounded like some insanely catchy music. This was the Movits from Sweden, and served to reinforce my belief that this country provides some of the best party bands around (this has been proved to me every year at Boomtown so has now become something of a tradition).

We hit the Boombox to see Balkan Hotsteppers, who play a mashup of balkan, gypsy and hiphop. Dancing around not really in control of what I was doing is perfect on a Friday afternoon in the sunshine with rum in hand. I remember seeing a bit of Gentlemen's Dub Club who were alright, and then we went to the Hidden Woods stage to see The Skints, who I'm pretty sure played the best set I've ever seen them play. However the end of the set was marred by my smoking too strong a spliff and needing a little lie down staring at the trees above. Nevertheless, I picked myself up, and after some more wandering I remember seeing a bit of The Peacocks set, who were pretty awesome, and then we stuck around for The Meteors. I can't describe how big of a letdown The Meteors were. The singer was a bellend of epic proportions and they just didn't really seem arsed. We left midway through the set and passed out at the tent to Arcadia's heavy bass vibrations.

By Saturday I was fully in the festival swing and welcomed morning with a swig of water and a can and plain bagel. We headed to the Hidden Woods early on and saw Black Star Dub Collective, who were amazing. I've loved the tunes I've heard by them but was yet to see them live, but they didn't disappoint. Perfect for chilling under the trees whilst giving you something to think about. Hopefully they will be playing south at some point again soon. 

Again, not really sure what happened on Saturday. I know I saw some bands and they were good....but the only things I remember with any great form of clarity were Random Hand, who slayed it as always (I will never get bored of them live) and Slamboree, a circus/rave/balkan mashup of extreme mayhem. It was chaos on a stage! Probably one of the very best highlights in a weekend of amazingness and a band I would encourage everyone to see. Their cover/remix of Zorba the Greek (a traditional Greek classic) is truly inspired and worth seeing them for alone. Insanely brilliant band!

Saturday evening we decided to investigate this weird, noisy metal spider thing known as Arcadia. Every night there was an Arcadia show. I honestly haven't seen anything like it before. Acrobats! Fire! Lasers! Bass! More fire! More lasers! Fireworks! Fire! Fire! Smoke! More fire! The shots of fire were so intense you could feel the heat off them from several metres away. The Arcadia show coincided with a massive controlled propane explosion on the hill behind the 'town' and it lit up the whole site. IT WAS AWESOME!! Looking back at photos of it now it looks like it's from a film or something. Pretty sure I'm never going to see anything like that again in my lifetime. It's no wonder there was so many acid casualties with that shit going down every night. I thought it was complete madness and I was relatively in control of my mental faculties. Even though it probably didn't look like it as I stared at the display as if I'd never seen fire before.

On Sunday I was feeling a little the worse for wear and everything seemed like a challenge. I had some rum and some cider and that didn't do the trick. I was in a state of despair. I was near the main stage. The sun came out. The Skatalites came onstage. Everything was good in the world again! Like the Selecter last year, I firmly believe that if everyone had an injection of ska in the mornings there would be no problems or worries. For that 40 minutes, nothing else mattered. True legends and true heroes. 

Sunday seemed to be the day that loads of bands I wanted to see were playing, and the day I felt most haggard. I saw about half the set of The Slackers, then moved over to the Lion's Den to see Mungo's Hi Fi who were sweeeeeet. I knew there was only 1 way to get through my personal hell and that was to hit the rum, and hit it hard (and get some vegan food along the way - of which surprisingly there was plenty). We then saw some of Bootscraper, who were amazing! Everything I wanted in a piratey-esq band, especially when swigging rum. A band I'd like to see lots more of! We then chilled outside for a bit and went to see Tyrannosaurus Alan. Unfortunately the power went out midway through the set, however they carried on for a bit with the brass section and the drummer, and eventually the power came back on and they played a blinder of a set. 

Unfortunately we missed most of Jimmy Cliff's set but heard some of his sweet sweet reggae/ska classics. We rocked back to the Devil Kicks Dancehall to find mates throwing themselves around to Jack Rabbit Slim. We threw ourselves around too. They were wicked! We headed back to the mainstage to see a bit of Caravan Palace who were lovely! I think I'm growing to like this electro swing business. We saw some fireworks, then we saw the Wall of Death (which amazed everyone I think) then saw the last band of the weekend, The Filaments. It wasn't the best I've seen them play but they never disappoint! And really, I think everyone loved flinging themselves round the tent to Bastard Coppers.

I've had such a severe bout of festival blues since Boomtown ended! Couldn't have asked for better weather, better company or a better mix of music. This year taught me that I can get out of my comfort zone and enjoy genres in a way I never thought I could - although the bands I knew before the festival were (largely) amazing, this year for me the highlights have been things I wouldn't normally listen to - Slamboree were so enjoyable I can't wait to see them again, I could've danced at the Boombox all day, and if rave and jungle is played on Arcadia it's the best thing on the planet.

Here's hoping the rumours aren't true and Boomtown isn't sold off to someone with less passion and creativity and are just bothered about the money. Keep Boomtown as it is, I love it too much!

Jimmy Cliff - Rebirth

One of the musical high points for me last year was the release of Jimmy Cliff’s ‘Sacred Fire’ EP, an ebullient reminder that one of the biggest names in Jamaican music’s history was still riding high. The follow up full length, again produced by Tim Armstrong and backed by the same musicians, lives up to the hype built by the EP and has been put out just in time to become the soundtrack to my summer, transporting me away from this rain drenched rock in the sea to somewhere much sunnier. From the first track ‘World Upside Down’, also on Sacred Fire, Cliff lays out his position as a purveyor of reggae and ska with a social conscious whilst never sounding downbeat about the issues he is addressing. In fact, the upbeat ska which makes up the majority of the album feels barely contained by the speakers I am listening to it through and hits from the ears straight down to your feet – which, if not immediately afflicted by movement, may be a sign that you should see a doctor. The album includes two covers, Rancid’s ‘Ruby Soho’ and the Clash’s ‘Guns of Brixton’, both of which Cliff makes his own. This is clearly not going to be an easy task with the songs chosen but both sound completely in keeping with the rest of the album. The album only briefly strays from the ska format, with the slow, soulful ‘Cry No More’, but this is no bad thing. With the album coming in at just over 40 minutes, Cliff has clearly decided to stick with the music which made him famous, and it has worked out perfectly. I tried to pick out some highlights, but ended up just typing out the tracklist; so all I can really say, is go out and get a copy!

5/5

Jono

Choking Victim plus support @ The Haunt, Brighton

Choking Victim are synonymous with anyone who has come across a crusty, dreaded, pierced individual, with songs about scabies, drugs, media and how rubbish it is being in a capitalist society. They're also a crack rock steady band through and through, and I've loved them to pieces since I first heard them.

Brighton is not my favourite place in the world. So after taking the afternoon off work we headed down to the coast nice and early to get some rum drinking in on the beach, hiding away from any hipster types. Of course it didn't take too long to get into the rum-hole and starting being a bit of a cunt to Wetherspoons barstaff and generally staggering around near the seafront looking lost, dazed and confused. And this was before the gig...

We got to the Haunt, which wasn't really like anywhere I'd been before. Mid size, with a balcony, and a weird little seating area close to the front of the stage. Naturally, we'd missed all the support bands, apart from the last one and I don't even know who they were. They were ok, playing ska punk with enthusiasm so we got our feet moving. The place didn't seem that full at this point, and you knew everyone just wanted to see one band. Or should I say one man...

Stza took to the stage and it became apparent that this was his show. There were no other members of Choking Victim present apart from him. It's always great to hear Choking Victim songs live, and they played everything I wanted to hear, and what the crowd wanted to hear too. I'm not saying it was bad, I threw myself about all over the place! I loved hearing Infested, Money, Crack Rock Steady, Fucked Reality, 5 Finger Discount and 500 Channels. Those songs will always be amazing live so although it was disappointing that this was the Stza show, it was still good to hear those tracks. I left the gig with broken glasses, a wrist and hand that didn't work and was incredibly disorientated. Best Monday night in a while, if a bit of a disappointment.

3.5/5

Faintest Idea - The Voice of Treason

I first came across Faintest Idea on an extremely drunken night at Rebellion 2009. I was in the process of shoving my extremely inebriated and somewhat concussed mate into the back of an ambulance, when I was accosted by a man brandishing CDs in my face. I later discovered he was throwing his bands CDs at me. I said I would have one, he gave me five. I managed to leave 4 of them in various places around Blackpool, but I took one home with me and gave it a listen. It was good. Really good. Easily one of the best ska punk albums I'd heard since maybe What's Next by The Filaments. Faintest Idea's latest album, The Voice of Treason, is the best thing they've done to date. It's angry, it's fast, you can dance to it, you can shout to it, and parts of it get stuck in your head for days on end.

The opening track, Back to the Asylum, is one of the songs that has been circling round my mind like a lost driver in Milton Keynes. Opening with some spoken word and introducing brass and guitars into the track gradually, it gets faster and faster and is impossible not to enjoy. I caught myself singing it at work today, even when I hadn't listened to the track in well over 12 hours. The track blends into Rattling the Cage, a much faster and noticeably angrier song. If the first track was for the ska heads, this is for people who like their more traditional street punk and like it fast and loud. It's still catchy as fuck. It slows right down again to get you in a mental state of confusion - but House of Cards lulls you into a false sense of security and before you know it you're transported into a skanking mass of bodies again (if you're listening to it live and not in your room). 

Those you follow TNS Records will be familiar with the next track, Bull in a China Shop (not to be confused with Leeds based TNS favourites China Shop Bull) and will have seen the video. I'll tell you now this track sounds even better live, and if you loved it the first time you'll love it even more amongst all the bounty of tracks on this album. Mutual Aid is another skank-worthy track with shout-a-long vocals at the end, followed by Defy & Demand, aka the band's "thrash song". Good job it's so short as at their live show the drummer looked knackered after playing it! It's an interesting addition onto the album though and works a treat (for those of us with short attention spans who favour tracks under 1 minute long). 

Separation of Corporation & State follows the track almost perfectly, then These Words are our Weapons, another track that's been stuck in my head for the past 5 days. 36 Barrells sounds like it could have stumbled off a Filaments album, followed by No Gods No Money which has made me dance every time I've heard it, whether I'm sat down, stood up or trying to do anything remotely productive. I just listened to it when writing this and had to turn it off because otherwise I wouldn't have typed anything...It's not the best track on the album, but it's impossible not to move some part of your body to it (unless you're Stephen Hawking). It's followed by Youth, another track that's been doing the rounds on the internet lately. It's fucking wicked. I can't wait to hear it live again! The album closes with They Drew First Blood, a fitting end to the album, starting with more spoken word and a sinister sounding chord progression before launching into heavy yet slow guitar and pounding drums. It's totally different to anything else that has been heard on the album till you get to this point, but is a certainly interesting way to round off the album.

I would like to finish by saying that Faintest Idea are the best thing to come out of Norfolk in a really long time. This album, with it's insane catchiness, could easily make the need for iPods and other music players obsolete, as it will be in your head forever, tattooed onto your brain. God bless TNS for another amazing release, and roll on Boomtown so I can hear this album live again!

5/5

Kathy

Weekend Nachos, The Afternoon Gents, Dry Heaves, Shoot The Bastard and The Flex @ The Brudenell

Hardcore music has always been an integral part of the Leeds music scene, bubbling away in basements and sweaty rooms above pubs for many years, and judging by the turn out for last Friday’s show at the Brudenell Social Club, it is showing no signs of going on the defence. Rather, it is grabbing your throat in a Somalian death-grip and sheering off your corneas with nothing but aural force. First on the bill were newcomers The Flex, whose approach to music is intense, raw and heavy in the best traditions of UKHC (think Vorhees, Walk the Plank). After a late start to the show that saw some flagging, this got people’s attention in a fucking hurry! They even got some people moving at the front, a rarity for the first band of the night but something which was fully deserved. They were followed by Shoot the Bastard, a band slightly on the Spazz-y, screaming side for my liking; but it was hard not to be drawn in by their flailing approach which reeked of cheap cider and dusty squats.

      After a further wait, which we filled with smoking and cheap booze, we found ourselves in front of the Dry Heaves. I have to make a conscious effort sometimes not to go on about the same few artists who I appreciate, but fuck mine this band are good, tempering their 80s hardcore approach with a scuzzy guitar sound; like a wild animal with a sedative dart not quite yet taken effect in its side. They were followed by the Afternoon Gents, who I hope I don’t offend, but to my drink-raddled eyes they seemed to be Shoot the Bastard after an instrument swap. Possibly a one member difference? Anyway, accordingly their music was in the same vein. Not my cup of White Lightning, but undeniably enjoyable and successful in getting people moving. The headliners on the night were Chicago hardcore mob the Weekend Nachos. Not a band that had crossed my path before this show, I was mildly unprepared for the assault to my system…this band is fucking heavy! Gnarly as fuck hardcore in the vein of a freight train heading toward you while you’re tied to the railings, they finished off the night in fine, ear melting form. After a long day battling with the British public transport system, a night of the hardcore scene’s finest was what I needed to let me go home with a smile on my face and a ringing in my ears.

5/5

Jono

Flogging Molly @ the Kentish Town Forum

Flogging Molly @ HMV Kentish Town Forum

      If you keep track of older Shot in the Foot articles, you’ll know that I thought the new Flogging Molly album ‘Speed of Darkness’ was amazing. Being in London anyway that weekend I decided to go and check out what the new songs would sound like live, knowing that the band always put on a good show. Unfortunately I also know that they have a penchant for awful support bands, having seen them on numerous occasions topping the bill on a line-up that I would normally avoid like the plague, if it wasn’t for them. This gig was no exception, and although I have no idea what the two bands in question were called, suffice to say that both their sounds lay in some kind of aurally hellish middle ground between indie and stadium rock...middle of the road isn’t even the half of it! A good couple of hours spent drinking ruinously expensive beer in the entrance area, and moaning like a champ. However, after a brief period for the audience to fathom out what they had just witnessed, the band people had come to see took to the stage and soon swept away the lingering aftertaste of mediocrity with their blinding mixture of folk, punk and rock that had me forgiving all support-based transgressions. Pulling out a selection of classics spanning their career, they had the crowd jumping and shouting along from the start – and the new songs sounded right up there, it seems like everyone already knows the words to tracks like ‘Don’t Shut ‘em Down’, ‘Revolution’ and ‘Speed of Darkness’. Other highlights included ‘Salty Dog’, ‘Drunken Lullabies’, ‘Devil’s Dancefloor’ and ‘Tobacco Island’; there isn’t much need for a track-by-track account though, if you’ve seen them you’ll know how much material they can get through, and if you haven’t then you’re missing out! I woke up the next morning with a crippling hangover, no voice, but a massive grin on my face, because this band live are up there with the greats!

4/5 – one point less than it should have been due to the support.

Jono

Sick on the Bus - If It Ain't Broke...Break It!

What I have in my grubby little hands is the new album from the UK’s loudest, fastest and hardest punk band! Sick on the Bus are not some cut and paste punk band with their synchronised jumps, shit as fuck harmonies and perfectly sculpted ‘hair dos’ , Sick on the Bus have been going for some twenty odd years and know a thing or two about creating a hard as fuck, raw record which is pumped full of blood, guts and venom!

     ‘ If It Ain’t Broke… Break It!’ Is an awesome 13 track journey where the songs barely scrape through 2 minutes long, covering all a growing boy need; Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll! You can clearly hear the influences of Motorhead and GBH scratching through but in a vein few bands have managed to make their own with Sick On The Bus standing head and shoulders above the rest.

      The album has 3 re-recorded tracks from the ‘Tormentum Insomniae’ split EP -  ‘Slut’, ‘Whores Not Wars’ and ‘Some Kinda Idiot’ which are 3 break neck speed punk gems with some savage solos. ‘It Won’t Suck Itself’ is another song aimed at sexual exploits which is a common theme in SOTB albums. ‘Won’t Stop’ is pretty much an anthem for all British people and their love of getting utterly fucked up and being general menaces to society! Anyway, I can’t be arsed to go through every song but I can guarantee that once you’ve listened to this album you’ll be injecting speed into your eyeballs and fucking anything with a pulse… in fact the pulse isn’t mandatory!!!

Buy this record! 5/5

Dan