After an amazing first day, it was time to head back to Manchester for Day Two of Manchester Punk Festival.
Like yesterday, I start off in the Yes! Basement, this time for Manchester’s own The Empty Page. Their grungey, angular punk delivers an intensity that is definitely worthy of a much larger venue – as they play, I can’t help but feel lucky to be able to see bands of this quality in such small, intimate rooms.
Cock of the Fifth Year, an anthem against toxic masculinity, has people dancing along as they immediately relate to Kel’s smirk-laden opening line of “Here comes Johnny taking over the pavement…”. Let’s be honest, we’ve all met a Johnny who’s a knobhead, haven’t we?
Also in the Basement today is Death Trails. Normally a trio, they’re down to a duo today after drummer Muss had an unexpected family emergency. Rather than pull out, Catlow (vocals, guitar) and Luke (bass, vocals) have instead thrown together an acoustic set. Given that they had less than 24 hours to put this together, it almost feels like an understatement to call the results impressive.
They also throw in two cover versions – the first being Agent Oranges’ Bloodstains, a regular in their sets. The second cover was a punked up version of Pump Up The Jams, and ended up being one of the highlights of my weekend. Luke introduced the song, explaining how they “wanted to take a song about nothing and make it sound like it meant something”.
I feel lucky to have been able to catch the band in this unexpected setting. The stripped-back vibe really allowed the strength of the bands songwriting, and Catlow’s vocals, to shine.
Over to Gorilla now for Newcastle punks Fast Blood, whose whole set was a highlight for me. I’ve been listening to their debut album Sunny Blunts a lot over the past few months, and I was looking forward to seeing how well those songs translate to the stage – I wasn’t disappointed.
The four-piece take to the stage, and immediately begin to tear through a set of wall-to-wall bangers. Vocalist Abi Barlow barely stops for breath as she sings and screams her way across the stage (at one point towards the end of their set, she does admit to being “fucking knackered”!). Feeding the crowd with their infectious energy and enthusiasm, you’d have been hard-pressed to find even one person who wasn’t feeling every impassioned word that left Abi’s mouth.
Derry’s CHERYM brought their pop-punk perfection to The Union. Their bouncy, hook-laden songs are perfect for filling the festivals largest venue, and provide a fun energy boost after an already-packed day. Every song feels potentially anthemic, somehow sounding even more powerful live, and impossible not to fall in love with.
I did want to catch a few other bands tonight, but unfortunately, my body’s limitations kicked in, and I had to be sensible and make sure I was able to come back for Day Three – what a fantastic note to end the day on though!