On Sunday the 25th of May Slam Dunk Festival did
its annual invasion of Hatfield University. Slam Dunk Festival is a punk and
metal festival that happens every year on the second May bank holiday weekend.
It started out just in Leeds but over the years has expanded to Hatfield and
Wolverhampton. This was my second year going and after last years I was beyond
excited for this year’s festival. The line up was one of the strongest I had
ever seen at a UK festival. No line-up will ever be stronger than The Fest’s in
Gainesville Florida. I wanted to see nineteen different acts this year. They
were The All American Rejects, Motion City Soundtrack, The Skints, Less Than
Jake, The Ataris, Capdown, Zebrahead, I Am The Avalanche, Gnarwolves, Jesse
James, Fandangle, Real Friends, Neck Deep, A Loss For Words, Modern Baseball,
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Vinnie Caruana, Chas Palmer Williams and Rob Lynch.
Obviously there was no way I could see all of those fantastic acts in one day
so some hard decisions would have to be made.
At the start of the day I met up with my friends Smurf,
Scouse, Moles, Emily, Charlie and Marilyn before setting off to Hatfield. I was
in Scouse’s car with Smurf whilst the others were in Moles car. It was great to
hang out with Smurf and Scouse; they are two of my closest friends and had been
easily over a year since I’d spent any proper time with them.
The first band up for me was Camberley’s recently reunited
ska punk heroes Fandangle. This was one of two bands I was especially excited
to see as they split up before I got to see them the first time round and never
expected to get the chance to see them live. Moles, Scouse and Smurf all came
with me to see them I have to say it had been a while since I had been so
excited to see a band. I’m sure not a whole lot of the crowd really knew much
about them but Fandangle certainly won them over in a quick fashion. This was a
fantastic start to the day.
The second band of the day was the band I was the other band
I was especially excited to see, it was Jesse James. Jesse James were one of
the first underground bands I loved when I first began to properly get into
punk and ska music and their first album Punk Soul Brothers is one of my all
time favourites. When they were announced as playing the festival I actually
let out a little girly scream out of excitement. I had never even contemplated
Jesse James playing any shows again. The time came but sadly the crowd was a
bit small. Smurf, Moles and Scouse hung about to see what I was so excited
about but sadly didn’t get into it quite like I did. I started a little skank
on my own at the front as soon as Jesse James started playing. Eventually the
boys decided they would go and see what else is happening throughout the
festival. I didn’t care too much as I was having a great time. I looked around
behind me to see a dozen or so people, mostly older people were also having a
good skank and had massive grins on their face. The song Shoes drew the biggest
reaction from the crowd; the video for this song had received television play
on the old p-rock channel. This was nostalgia at its finest, even if the rest
of the day was a bust I as on cloud nine, I had just seen some of my childhood
heroes.
After Jesse James finished and briefly chatting to one of
the other Jesse James skankees (may have made that word up) I went to find
Moles and get some food. I tried for a while to ring him but was hard to get
through, when I did eventually get hold of him and try and arrange a meeting
place I bumped into my friend Sam. I say bumped into what actually happened was
I walked straight past her and stopped when I heard someone shout Colin. In my
defence this was my first ever time meeting her in person. After briefly saying
hello I eventually found Moles and along with Charlie, Emily and Marilyn we got
some food.
After some not very well cooked chicken Moles, Charlie and I
wondered over to the main stage to see some of The Skints set. The Skints were
a late but very welcome addition to the main stage. Their ska reggae style is
the perfect soundtrack to a beautiful summer’s day and today, like everyone
other time I’ve seen them they did not disappoint. Today they treated the crowd
at the main stage with a selection of brand new songs mixed in with some old
classics. The latest single “The Cost Of Living Is Killing Me” especially sounded
fantastic in a live setting.
Sadly Moles and I had to cut seeing The Skints short to go
and see Gnarwolves. If you have read by blog where I talk about Gnarwolves
you’ll know how much love I have for this band. This would be my first time
seeing them in a little while. I was supposed to once already this year but
couldn’t get there because trains were all messed up. When Moles and I got back
into the room they were playing in we were amazed by the size of the crowd;
Gnarwolves have become so incredibly popular in the past eighteen months since
I first saw them. Gnarwolves began their set and the crowd went absolutely
crazy. This was definitely the rowdiest crowd of the day so far. Like The
Skints before them their set was mixed with new songs and fan favourites. I
don’t like to say classics because they are not really old songs. The new songs
sounded fantastic and they give me very high hopes for their debut album.
Hopefully it will be out very soon!
Gnarwolves finished and Moles and I went out to one of the
smaller outside stages where we met up with Marilyn and Charlie to watch MC
Lars. MC Lars is a veteran of Slam Dunk and was playing his fourth one in a
row. I was surprised he was on such a small stage as the previous year he had
had a pretty sizeable crowd on one of the bigger stages. This didn’t affect his
performance though and gave a highly entertaining show featuring all of his
laptop rap hits. The biggest highlight for me was his ode to ska punk This
Gigantic Robot Kills.
After MC Lars we went back indoors for Orange County’s
finest Zebrahead. Scouse and Smurf were due to meet us there but we couldn’t
find them and couldn’t get through on our phones due to bad signal. I knew they
were in the room somewhere so made sure I kept an eye out for them. As per
normal Zebrahead came out to the Team American theme – American Fuck Yeah which
drew a massive sing along from the room before launching into Sirens and then
one of my favourites Hell Yeah! Something seemed off with Zebrahead today
though; due to illness lead singer Matty’s voice wasn’t its best. This didn’t
matter to us though, as the energy and enthusiasm Zebrahead are known for was
oozing out of them in abundance. For the song Postcards From Hell they got the
crowd to sit down ready to jump up when the song kicks in. Due to the lack of
room I ended up sitting on a friendly mans lap. Only at a punk show would this
be acceptable behaviour. Soon Zebrahead opened up the biggest circle pit of the
day. I’m not really one for circle pits; I don’t really see the fun of running
round in a circle. I stood back as the people ran past me, Moles had gotten
very excited and jumped in and was running round, then all of a sudden I saw
Smurf and Scouse go charging past me. Without a second thought I jumped in to
say hello. Finding two of your best friends in the middle of a circle pit is
officially the best way to meet people. I found the circle pit itself good fun
as well and I sort of understand why people do now, you get quite a buzz from
it. The rest of Zebraheads set flew by as I skanked, moshed and sung as loud as
I possibly could with my boys. Zebrahead finished like they always do with
Anthem, by this time Moles had made his way back to Charlie and Marilyn. As an
outro I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston, without thought Scouse, Smurf
and I had a big hug together. This was my highlight of the whole day, the only
way it would have been better would have been if Moles was there with us.
Up next was another blast from the past from the UK ska punk
scene, the kings of skacore – Capdown. Capdown were another band I never
expected to see again after seeing them at was supposed to be their last ever
show at Koko In 2011. Marilyn and Charlie wondered off to see someone else
whilst the rest of us stayed to see Capdown. Capdown played through a couple of
songs and I was thinking how much more aggressive they seemed tonight than they
did a couple of years ago. Scouse and Smurf decided to go see another band so
it was just Moles and I left. Capdown ripped through another set filled with
nostalgia for the ska kids of Hatfield. I had spent the set watching from the
sidelines as I was exhausted from Zebraheads set. Then as soon as my favourite
Capdown song Ska Wars came on I found myself skanking along in the pit. This
wasn’t the best set of the day but it was pretty damn good.
When the first wave of bands were announced for Slam Dunk
one of the stand out bands was 90’s ska punk legends Goldfinger. I was super
excited to see Goldfinger because I had never had the chance before. Sadly a
few weeks before the festival they had to pull out due to one of their members
needing an operation. I was gutted. The Ataris were announced as a replacement
and despite being an Ataris fan I was left feeling slightly underwhelmed. Despite
feeling underwhelmed by their announcement I still went along to see them,
mostly because they were the only band I wanted to see at that time of the day.
I talked Charlie into coming to see them as well as I thought he would like
them. We took out place in the crowd and I noticed by friend Sam who I had
bumped into briefly earlier in the day stood next to us, I quickly said hello
as the music started. To my delight The Ataris played a set mostly comprised of
songs from fan favourite album So Long Astoria. They played well and I was surprised
at just how well I remembered the words to most of the songs. For me it was an
enjoyable set but not really a stand out one.
Now it was time for the headline act, my favourite band on
the planet – Less Than Jake! Everyone had left me at this point to go and see
the other headline acts on the other stages. I wasn’t too worried by this though;
I’m too used to seeing bands by myself. I was absolutely shattered by this
point of the day; I had been standing and dancing for close to ten hour. I
decided to stay back and just watch the show rather than get too involved with
the crowd. This lasted for about five songs when they started playing All My
Best Friends Are Metalheads and the next thing I knew I was skanking in the
middle of the pit. I stayed here for the rest of their set (which lasted
another hour, another fantastic hour) and did not care just how knackered I
was. I was having the best time, dancing with random strangers, hugging and
high fiving everyone and singing along to every word. There is no other way to
finish a festival but to go and party with Less Than Jake.
The festival was finished and I was a sweaty mess. It had
been a great day, I had seen some of my favourite bands but my biggest memories
of the day will definitely be the time spent with some of my best friends.
Now listenting to: Radio #2 by The Ataris
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