It’s been close on 3 years since Punk 4 The Homeless (P4TH) had its first every gig. . Tonight it is back on the same turf which is Centenary Methodist Church, Boston, Lincs. It has always had an unwritten rule that if any band wanted to help out by doing a gig to help the cause then P4TH would try and use them. P4TH has always adopted the attitude that punk is an attitude not a music genre. A vast majority of the time the proceeds go to street children charity Casa Alianza (http://www.casa-alianza.org.uk/). Raising awareness as to the plight of street children is also a large part of what P4TH does.

Tonight’s gig brought Boston, a right mixed bag of punk related stuff.

First up is The Poor Geezers. Tonight they had doubled in size and saw Tony and Rob playing keys and flute respectively. Yes I did say flute. We seemed to go down well and sounded good from where I was. Deano Riches playing guitar, drums, gob iron and singing in usual top form. Myself, carrying a tune round in a bucket and shouting at people. The usual Patchwork Punk set about the state of the world, spirituality, the plight of native Americans and decking your girlfriend on the patio because you’ve misunderstood what she’s said. The punk passion with ethereal bits. Everybody liked us, nobody hated us. No worm supper tonight. People even danced, most disturbing.
Next up was Chris Lowry. A talented young punk chap who stood in and did 4 acoustic songs and a spoken word bit. Quality punky edgy type stuff. He used to be in a band called Free For All, now he’s not.

Tomorrow Come The Wolves have a name which might suggest they are influenced by Rancid, which although I love Rancid I am pleased is not the case, because THIS is something other. The first number, ‘Doom Jam’ could have escaped from a Wagner Opera had the opera become stuck and beautifully repetitive. Loud, dark, intense and droney. Think Swans, Slint, Big Black, Killdozer and you are somewhere near. They have revamped the mentioned bands and thrown in a healthy helping of Black Flag. I love this stuff. Song titles included ‘Doom Jam’, ‘Torn Thin’, ‘Meat Scarf’ and ‘Hanging Head’. They better not tell me they don’t like Sonic Youth cuz I won’t believe em’.  There was no clapping or applause between songs because there was no between songs. The intensity just merged and blended together. Although they did manager to chuck a GG Allin cover in the middle of it, ‘War Now’. They also finished with a GG classic ‘Bite It You Scum’. If like me you think the late 80’s produced some of the most exciting, punky type music ever, then you may well love Tomorrow Come The Wolves.

Next up is the first Thrash Metal band ever to play P4TH. Constant Source of Disappointment got me listening to metal when they played Cheap As Chips Fest for us last year. Now Back Pocket Prophet have turned me on to Thrash Metal. I have spent over 30 years telling people how naff metal is. Now I have to echo the words of Mike Ness, “I was wrong”. I spent the next 30 minutes banging my Mohawk head alongside boys and girls with masses of hair, unnatural but true. The vocalist was a giant who stomped around, ran across balconies and squawked in a scary metal manner.   Edgy, excellently played songs with titles like, ‘We Stand As One’, ‘Pain And Suffering’, and ‘Hypocrypt’. I have no reference points for this band but may well have in the future. I don’t know much about metal but I know what I like…

TRIOXIN Cherry were up next and they kicked off with ‘Good Day To Die’, when actually it wasn’t. It was a great day to be alive. I was watching some horror punk at its best. Horror punk with a great Punk N Roll meets The Cramps feel. Next number was ‘Children Of The Damned’ and the lass’s vocals reminded me of Mel from Leather Zoo, which is no bad thing. Throughout the set there were elements of some great bands, The Rezillos, Man Or Astro Man, B52’s (probably due to the amazing bass lines), The Cramps, Bonsai Kitten, to name but a few.  There were many highlights in their set, basically because every song was great. From the dark swampy blues of Bad Company to the dark, twisted dialogue between a predatory male and his victim on ‘Sideshow Molly’. Don’t worry, Molly wins. ‘Don’t Look Back’ has nothing to do with Bob Dylan unless he was the secret lover of Link Wray. Surf and garage, horror and punk, this is what the Trioxin Cherry beast know, love and create wonderfully. Even the thrash metal geezers were extolling their virtues. Hey! We are all minorities, gang up and fight back. Billy Childish peeped through on the odd occasion of this 3 piece set but Thunderbirds and Stingray were more in evidence than the garage man who gave Tracey Emmen the clap. I was most impressed to say the least.

So overall every act was top notch. Everyone pulled together. The smallish audience were immensely appreciative and some children were fed - RESULT.

review by Gary Eagling (2 September 2012)