Wonkfest 3
By rule of
thumb, ALL DAYERS suck! The sound is shoddy because the sound engineer is
working for too long and underpaid, the early bands tend to be shoddy local
bands, all the bands start to sound the same and by the time the main bands are
on you are usually too pissed to enjoy them. Not at WONKFEST!
What we got
from start to finish is quality bands from all over the country, playing a
different range of styles, with perfect length 25 minute sets, a free buffet
& BBQ, and shit hot sound throughout. The beer was expensive, yet that’s
just London – at least they had a range of bottled real ale on offer. This was
how to do a mixed bill and it exposed the mundane nature of other established
punk festivals who always stick to the same formula. The Wonkfest quite rightly
labels itself as “21st Century Punk” – great keyring by the way! All
in support of friends of the Wonk Unit, a local foodbank, and highlighting the
plight of bees.
The Dome is
a great venue. It has a large square hall with a wooden floor. The sound is
loud, the set up means you can hear the music perfectly from everywhere in the
room, and the lighting gives it a nice big show feel.
The first
band we saw was BLACK VOLVO, a three-piece fast & heavy punk rock act, who
had a singer seemingly sporting dyed blonde hair, and a drummer that enjoyed standing up.
Then it was the turn of THE FUR COATS, one of the few bands from outside the UK,
playing infectious pop punk. Back upstairs and it was time for Leeds’ TOSSERLAD
playing fast rock n roll punk. It was great to hear some strong Yorkshire
accents, and the guitarist had an amusing t-shirt that read: Curry makes you
shit hot – appropriate Wonk humour. BOSCO ROGERS cancelled, so then it was 7
DAY CONSPIRACY, who shredded through a mix of mid 90s epifat riffs and skankable
numbers. They had a good song with a catchy chorus about someone being a cunt.
Their set was an important milestone for us, as we managed to keep up with our
promise of not starting drinking until 2pm so that we could get through to the
end of the night.
MEANSTEED
then brought a welcome break from the punk-rock by thrashing their way some
party metal hits. At one point the guitarist was being carried round the crowd
on someone’s shoulders whilst still playing riffs: A great fun band. Then we
were treated to a bit of Oi!/Classic Punk from THE REVERENDS, and it always
heart-warming to see people in their 50s still rocking out on stage. Then it
was the turn of SHEEPY playing some emo style pop punk. They had a song that
only used the words relationship and no, which was quite amusing. Cute guys.
Then it was the time for REVENGE OF THE PSYCHOTRONIC MAN who got the mother
fucking party started. They blitzed through loads of songs, and managed to get
the crowd doing circle pits, walls of death, and human pyramids! It wasn’t even
4pm and it was kicking off big time. BILLY LIAR didn’t play in the end, he was
probably stuck somewhere writing another song about being in love with a crazy chick.
PETROL GIRLS were a great discovery, a bit anarcho, a bit hardcore, and a bit
Rage Against the Machine heavy awesomeness. The singer had a great homemade
shirt with the words: Women Wonk Too, which had an anarchy sign inside the o of
wonk. Things then started to wind down with an acoustic set from SIMON WELLS.
Southport couldn’t play because the drummer couldn’t get any time off from his
job a Pizza Hut. We got to hear three Southport and two Snuff songs, including
the awesome ‘Martin’, which had a great back story about some dude from Leeds
who used to hang out with the band and ended up being thrown in prison for
selling drugs. I love it when punks go acoustic and during the spoken bits, go
into more depth about the meaning / context of songs.
That brought
about our designated half time break. We took a breather and went for a walk to
the SOUTHAMPTON ARMS, which is the best ‘Ale, Cider, Meat’ pub in London. On
the way back we stopped for a strategic piece of chicken and a can of Gin &
Tonic with the crusties sat outside the local off licence.
MING CITY
ROCKERS walked on stage looking like the bastard children of bad hair metal and
the Libertines, yet treated us to a set of quality MC5 style, fast rock n roll.
Then it was BEAT THE RED LIGHT who were playing one of their last ever shows,
and they gave us some great ska-punk to boogie to. THE DEAD CLASS from Ireland
reminded me of Alkaline Trio for some reason, they were really humble about
being asked to reform for the show. WACO suffered from some technical
difficulties which unfortunately lost the momentum of their set, they were good
though. I have wanted to see THE ROUGHNECK RIOT for some time now and they were
fucking class! Great celtic punk with celtic instruments and a raspy vocalist.
They even played a cover of ‘You’ by Bad Religion, which pleased me no end. THE
MURDERBURGERS were as class as ever, and then it was a nice novel surprise to
see that the SLAVINKO WARRIORS was actually just a name for the secret set by
SLAVES, who are adored by the music industry at present. They were really good,
and appreciative to the Wonk for supporting them before they got big; so much
so they are taking them on tour in big venues later in the year. Of course,
WONK UNIT killed it and everyone was going mental for them. I somehow managed
to stage dive and miss everyone completely, splatting my body onto the floor.
We were both way too drunk by this stage, so unfortunately had to miss CULTURE
SHOCK in order to head on back home, which was a shame.
All in all,
it was a fantastic festival, with a range of quality bands and positive people.
Long live the Wonk! 10/10
@Schwarzbrennen
http://wonkunit.com/