Me and Punk4Life Tim Davis decided to flex our drinking muscles and set about caning several cans of Fosters in the Thatched House car park prior to Noize Anoize Andy picking us up.  Banjo (Thatched Landlord) highly disturbed by the drinking shenanigans invited us into his gaff to finish our beer and have a natter about this and that.  Cheers man.  Andy arrived and off we set to Retford with more beer, a calming joint, a bottle of QC and several pisses all thrown in for good measure.

Slightly ballooned I entered The Broken Wheel to be met by various band members and top landlord Ted.  Great guy this with a real understanding and enthusiasm for good live music.  Anyway after waiting for Kamikaze Sperm to arrive this lot kicked off the day with a reasonable punk rock showing.  Fairly tight and energetic this was typical Sperm and started off another great day on the SAS tour.

A chippy excursion was completed and with full guts it was back to the action.

Next up were late inclusions Red Necked Zombies.  An awesome set was dished out here with excellent timing and execution by all concerned and some great punk ‘n’ roll songs played for a fairly impressed crowd. This lot seem contented with what the racket they are making and so they should be.  Very tuneful but with a nice rawness that compliments all aspects.  Good stuff and ones to watch.

Headclinic next and the usual high tempo, tight, adventurous set was rattled off with Natalie in good boisterous form.  Musically this is spot on and with the right direction these 4 ‘erberts should go far and transcend punks boundaries and expand the genre for the better.  ‘Vortex’ was a great high in a solid set with ‘Running Riot’ and ‘Babylon’s Burning’ 2 examples of how to play a cover.  Excellent.

Lowlife UK burst on and turned in a complete cracker as one would expect from an established band of this quality.  A no-nonsense performance this with emphasis on controlled aggression and high octane energy.  A very fuckin’ good band these and surely they must reap their rewards after years of hard, true spirited punk rock gigging.  Always a pleasure and for once I wasn’t too pissed to see them.  Great.

The day was going exceptionally well with all in attendance enjoying the crack.  Only Mr Davis missed out on things due to his 3 hour sleep in the carpark.  Revitalised he reappeared and we both watched Suspicious Stains crack out another excellent performance despite a few niggles with the sound.  The sign of a good band is one that can overcome acoustic difficulties and still do the business.  The Stains are now of that standard.  True I’ve seen them better but this was still a belter and ‘Rockstar’ was a gem.  The final song ‘500 Miles’ by the Proclaimers was delivered in usual lunatic style by yet another of Eddie Starr’s Frankensteinian creations.  This time it was the turn of scotch deviant Phil McCrackin who pinged about in true drunken jock fashion.  Anne took over the drums and did a darn good job and basically this finale encapsulated the fun and talented approach the Stains have.  Fantastic.

Lastly Boredom who with the same dodgy sound still managed to play a pretty competent set which displayed a marked improvement over the last few months and is starting to sound like the Boredom of old.  ‘Lowlife’ was again the pick but this was a fine end to a good day.  The Kamikaze Sperm dig was justified and gave hint of Boredoms commitment to the tour – cheers lads.

With banging head, aching legs and tired eyes we set off home and after several wrong turnings arrived there at four in the morning – shagged out but happy in the knowledge that there’s some good punk bands out there if only the lame arses realised it.

A great day out at a great venue with great music and great people.   Now that’s SAS!

by Fungalpunk/OMD