Thursday 9 April 2015

Album Review: Manchester Punk Festival Volume 4


The Manchester Punk Festival is now only nine days away and the organisers have now released the fourth instalment in a series of compilation showcasing more of the amazing acts playing on the 17th and 18th of April.

The compilation begins with festival head-liners The Filaments. This punk/ska/hardcore troupe from Essex have been going since the early2000's and are now seen as legends in the scene. The song Once In A While is taken from 2013's excellent album Land Of Lions and I'm looking forward to seeing many of the songs from this release live for the first time as well as classics from The Filaments back catalogue. Blackpool's Boston Manor are one of the newer bands on the scene and are rising fast. The song Peach State has the pop punk/emo sound that is getting more and more popular with the kids these days, even though I'm not a massive fan of the sound it's clear that Boston Manor do it better than most of their contemporaries. One band that's sure to draw a massive crowd are Warrington folk punks Roughneck Riot. This group of superbly talented musicians have been a band for ten years now and have spread their own brand of punk and folk all across Europe, earning legions of fans along the way. Sure to be one of many highlights from the festival. For some reason Vanilla Pod's song Best Intentions makes two appearances on the compilation series. Not a bad thing as the song is a cracker but I am far too lazy to review it twice. They are awesome, check them out!


In my humble opinion Apologies, I Have None are the very best band in the UK. Combining massive choruses with smart and brutally honest lyrics I'm pretty sure it's impossible for them to write a bad song. Live, there aren't many bands that hold a candle to them either, passion and energy pours out of their performance which will make the Manchester crowd lose their heads. Great Cynics front man Giles Bidder is playing acoustically at the festival. Weirdly I have seen him perform solo more times than I have seen Great Cynics live and I always come away feeling upbeat and smiling. Playing a mixture of GC songs as well as his own Giles performance is filled with infectious enthusiasm as he shows why he is one of the best songwriters in the scene. From the ashes of Hated Til Proven come new hardcore band Jenkem from Warrington. The song Internal Warfare is a politically charged hardcore onslaught. Playing the after party at Joshua Brooks Jenkem are definitely a band to watch out for. Creeper are having the year of their lives, after forming after the demise of Our Time Down Here they have become one of the most talked about and fastest rising bands in the scene. The song Gloom comes from their debut self titled EP and the video for the song recently got some airtime on Kerrang TV. Live the band are superb with front man Will being the one of the most watchable and charismatic people I've ever seen take to the stage. Creeper are headlining Sound Control on the Friday night.


AcidDrop are another band high on my list of must see's at the festival having been a fan for a number of years now. Mixing together the best parts of skate and street punk with a hint of ska Acid Drop have put out some fantastic releases over the past few years, the latest being the excellent The End Of Days on TNS Records. If you like The Briggs you'll love Acid Drop. The Human Project are another band really making a name for themselves throughout the scene. This Leeds based brand on skate punk and hardcore has seen them rightfully become one of the most highly respected acts in the UK's underground. Technically they are superb, playing some of the most complicated guitar riffs in punk rock combined with some huge fist in the air choruses. Fair Do's are another technical hardcore punk band, this time from Manchester. Musically they will draw many comparison's with The Human Project, but this is by no means a bad thing. Musically they are quite similar but vocally Fair Do's are more aggressive compared to the Human Projects more melodic style of singing. The song innuendo is taken from their debut EP Trying Times. The compilation is ended by folk, blues and punk singer Sammy H Stephens. This performer from Cheshire offers something slightly different to many of the acts at the festival. Performing with an acoustic guitar, harmonica and stomp box Sammy will thoroughly entertain the audience at the acoustic stage. 



Buy tickets and get all the information you need about the festival here: http://manchesterpunkfestival.co.uk/site/ 

Now listening to Still Remains by Buck-O-Nine 

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