On a rainy Saturday that had seen the streets of Manchester swarmed with Britain’s finest faux-patriots, waving their flags and spreading their usual brand of hate and misery, this gig felt like a much-needed return to sanity.
As people slowly started to make their way through the doors of Manchester’s iconic Star & Garter, Leeds’ Nervous Twitch warmed the crowd up with their infectious, upbeat sound. Their short, sharp pop-tinged punk is perfect to dance to. I’ve been a fan of theirs for a few years, but this was my first time getting to see them live. I definitely came away an even bigger fan, and it was bittersweet as they left the stage; I wanted to hear even more, but I was also looking forward to Brassick‘s set next.
Midlands-based Brassick are no strangers to the DIY punk scene, though frontwoman Nicola shares that they haven’t played Star and Garter for years, and she’d actually had her sat nav set to the wrong venue for most of her drive to Manchester! While Nervous Twitch got us warmed up and dancing, Brassick made sure any latecomers were well and truly awake and paying attention.
Nicola is a fantastic vocalist, she has an intensity on stage that’s impossible to ignore. At time her vocals reminded me of Walls of Jericho‘s Candace Kucsulain, while the rest of the band provide an impenetrable wall of sound to bounce off from.
Next, it was time for our headliners. With a Palestine flag proudly displayed behind them, Scottish punks Bratakus started their set with Final Girls, the opening track from their new album, Hagridden. Breagha introduced the track as being about the rules society place on us when it comes to being a woman, and dedicated it to transwomen.
What followed was a set filled with raw rage, passion, and intensity, as the duo sped through more tracks from Hagridden, interspersed with their earlier material, including a song Breagha wrote when she was 13.
Part way through their set, Breagha asked if there were any horror fans in the crowd, before playing a couple of their horror-themed songs, from their back catalogue of Halloween releases. For the record, yes, I am a horror fan, and these songs were great to hear live!
If you like your punk loud and fast, then you owe it to yourself to see Bratakus live. Everything I love about their music is turned up and intensified on stage – think Lambrini Girls mixed with The Distillers.