International Punk 4 The Homeless All Dayer

The day started with me waking up in London round Colin B Os pad after seeing Test Dept. the night before. A great gig by the way by a band who give a toss. But that's another story. So I got to The Sumac Centre (Nottingham's Volunteer run, vegan, anarchist centre) with 30 minutes to get the place set up in time for the gig. Dave Bilson was supposed to have been on first but his missus had given birth the day before so I guess that's a fair enough excuse to pull out. So it was down to Activistas to kick the show off . To be inclusive I asked Alan Morgan of Cockney Dog Lady and Skintones fame to say a few words about us:-

“Activistas is as grass roots punk as it gets. Songs from the street about life as it is - without the rose tinted gloss. Some smiles where you find them. Keyboards and guitar delivering a hurdy gurdy of sound while four out of five Activistas deliver the vocals”. I will have to add that we finished our set with a cover of Killdozer's “Knuckles The Dog” in which we add barking. A punters dog got carried away with joining in the barking and bit our keyboard players boyfriend. I think we will finish all our sets in that manner-rock n roll.

Luddite Collective took the floor next with a fine set of industrial, anarcho, electro punk with fun and purpose. Flavoured with queer and anarcho politics they punch you in the face whilst making your feet move. This duo leaked compassion and passion from every pore.

7AM from Slovenia bring to the table a blend which is extremely difficult to define and I think that's the way they like it. Think punk being put through the shoe gazing blender then rethink as the show progresses. A loud set from this female vocaled 3 piece which has the audience bewitched and mesmerized. Splendid stuff indeed.

Just before we have our vegan dinner Inequality Street serve us up a large helping of meat and veg punk rock. Damn tasty it is too. I was brought up on this stuff. It is in my blood. However it has to be done well. Inequality Street do a grand job. This band obviously really enjoy what they are doing. The enthusiasm grabs the attention of the punters and feet dance

I had never seen Who Killed Nancy Johnson? before so didn't really know what to expect. They hit many excitement zones in me. For me they took stuff I love and took it in a different direction. I saw 80's punk mixed with the post-punk bands of the Lung, Big Black, Killdozer ilk but with a groove and rhythm seldom found in the world of punk. It might sound like arse licking but fuck it. I fucking loved their set.

From Cincinnati comes Decide Today, a one man rage against all that is wrong in the world. Its time to get off your arse and get involved in the revolution before we are all fucked. Anarcho industrial breakcore saying it as it is. DIY as fuck with a passion for justice, animal rights and anarcho politics and an anger against fascism, police oppression and borders. Musically think Atari Teenage Riot, Ultraviolence and hip-hop. If Decide Today is not your cup of tea then drink strong black coffee and wake the fuck up. The world needs outfits like Decide Today.

Slow Faction show us how good and relevant old school punk rock can be. Drawing from the likes of The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers they put their own spin on things, add socially appropriate, politically charged lyrics and drive. This is no nostalgia trip. Slow Faction have a lot to say and back it with the music they love. And because the band love it the audience love it too. They might be drawing on music from 40 years ago but Slow Faction sound as fresh as fuck.

The penultimate outfit today are Radioactive Rats from Poland via Nottingham. Metal tinged punk with musicianship second to none. There should never be an energy crisis in the world as
Radioactive Rats chuck it out a plenty. Tight as a fat object squeezed into an incredibly tight thing. This band blows The Sumac Centre a new arsehole and the punters lap it up. The fact that the female vocalist sings in Polish is no barrier. The audience want on this high speed train whatever the destination. Fuck it. Lets ride.

Ahia from Italy finish this fine days proceedings in fine style. Hardcore punk with traces of grind and a couple of Epitaph bands. They whip the audience up into an active mosh pit. The band give it all they've got and the audience show their appreciation by chucking each other about (good humouredly I must add). This is an exciting set done for all the right reasons. Loud, noisy, energetic, fun. What's not to like?

So that's it for the International Punk 4 The Homeless day and what a day it was. Every band was spot on and the venue was pretty damn full. The grub was great and the bar cheap. We raised £465 for the work Compass Childrens Charity do with street children in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. There are over one hundred million street children in the world which is depressing but today we helped a few. So a major thank you to all the bands, the Sumac volunteers, the Punk 4 The Homeless volunteers and anyone else who helped in any way. “Stopping cops killing kids is punk rock”.
(Eagle Spits).

review by Eagle Spits (28 April 2019)