If you're reading this, I've finally seen my thousandth band. Little did I know when I started my infamous spreadsheet back in September 2004 that I'd still be using it 17 years later to document hundreds of acts per year. Heck, in 2004 I was so green I don't think I even realised there were more than a thousand bands! It's been a long road, in the last 17 years I've seen some truly bucket list sets and musical greats, I've seen history being made and stages being destroyed. I've seen legendary bands, terrible bands, unexpected reunions, countless album shows, three "last ever" Capdown shows and six or seven different line-ups of Reel Big Fish. I've made life-long friendships, smashed three cameras, been bruised, muddied, scarred and soaked. I have, without a doubt, loved every second of it.
So, what's left to do now, I hear you ask? After 1000, who's left to see that's worth seeing? Well, I guess the short answer is, there's always more bands! But thanks to time, deaths, career changes and break-ups, my spreadsheet will never be as full as I'd like. Below are eleven bands that I really want to see but probably (and, in most cases, definitely) will never get to add to my list.
Queen (with Freddie Mercury)
Let's get the obvious ones out of the way first. Queen. Over the years I've managed to catch a few surprise appearances from Brian May and Roger Taylor but never (and obviously) the full ensemble. When I was first introduced to classic rock music by my parents as a child, I had plenty of acts to choose from – Thin Lizzy, Dire Straits, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, to name a few. In those early days, no car journey was complete without a blast of ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ or ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, but what really set Queen apart from the other classic rock bands was Freddie's powerful voice, charisma, and the sheer theatrics of his performance. Seeing videos of Freddie perform in front of the Live Aid audience and watching the crowd eat from the palm of his hand was mesmerising – this was what it was like to be in the presence of a true Rock God. I'm not normally a fan of big stadium acts but I'd have loved a chance to have experienced that for myself.
Nirvana
I think everyone of a certain age that listens to alternative music has a soft spot for Nirvana. When I was first discovering modern rock as a teenager my neighbour gave me a bootlegged copy of Nirvana's "best songs" which I listened to obsessively until the CD died. Compared to the classic rock that I'd been used to, Nirvana felt heavier and hit harder whilst also feeling more personal and intimate. The story of Kurt's life as the reluctant rock star and conspiracy theories surrounding his death only added to my intrigue. As a fellow lefty, Kurt was a big influence on my guitar playing with a DVD of MTV Unplugged becoming my go-to training resource when I first started learning – almost 20 years later I'm pretty sure I can still play all of Nevermind. My first ever music festival was Reading which was well known to have been host to the largest (and last) UK performance the band ever played back in 1992. In front of the main stage, I could only imagine what that last gig would have been like. If anyone ever figures out time travel, that'd be my first stop on my way back to the Jurassic Period.
Avril Lavigne (Early 2000s, before they replaced her with Melissa)
When I was at college between 2002–2004, I lived close enough to class to be able to spend my free periods (and sometimes lunches) at home. I used to put on the Freeview music channels like The Hits and TMF and watch what was current whilst eating instant noodles. The channels were mostly filled with terrible pop (like Atomic Kitten's awful cover of ‘The Tide Is High’) so I'd switch between them trying to find rock songs or fun music videos (like Jr Senior's Move Your Feet). It was during this time that I discovered Offspring, Muse, System of A Down, Incubus and a whole bunch of other bands that in the years following I would see at various gigs and festivals. It was also during that time that I discovered ‘Complicated’, ‘Sk8r Boi’ and eventually the album Let Go which I absolutely loved. Unfortunately, I had to keep that love a secret because back in those days it was uncool to admit to liking Avril Lavigne. Thanks to that, I never saw her live when I had the chance, which I now really regret. I haven't really kept up with many of her more recent songs or albums but whenever I hear anything from that first or second album, I'm instantly transported back to those college years.
Crush 40
I imagine this is probably the most obscure band on the list. Crush 40 play high tempo, technical hard rock. After discovering that I'd been listening to Bad Religion and Offspring for years in Crazy Taxi without realising, I decided to revisit other video game soundtracks from my childhood and discovered Crush 40 – the band responsible for all the Sonic Adventure songs. Crush 40 are a musical partnership between Jun Senoue a composer for Sega video games (as far back as Sonic the Hedgehog 3) and Johnny Gioeli, the vocalist of 90s hard rock band Hardline. They originally formed to record the main theme for Sonic Adventure but have subsequently gone on to record most of the music for all following Sonic video games and spin offs. Thanks to Sonic fandom, they've performed live on a number of occasions, and I was lucky enough to see Jun Senoue play a full band show at the Garage in late 2019 (which was amazing but it only covered their instrumental tracks). Hopefully one day I'll get to see them both together.
Ten Foot Pole
Of all the bands on this list, Ten Foot Pole probably feels like the one I'm most likely going to see at some point – I've been begging Paul Smith of BeSharp Promotions to book them for years! Back when I was first discovering punk was my favourite type of music, I spontaneously bought Punk-O-Rama Volume 3 (mostly because of the word "punk") and through it I was introduced to my first batch of Epitaph bands. I really loved the song 'A.D.D' towards the end of the comp and soon afterwards purchased the Ten Foot Pole album, Unleashed. I loved the tempo and the album's themes of loss and alienation but mostly the fact I had a new favourite band that no one else knew about. I soon tracked down more Ten Foot Pole albums but they never really grabbed me like the first, and not long afterwards I discovered the Descendents so that was the end of that. I might not listen much anymore, but they'll always be my gateway to less mainstream music and I'm surprised that after twenty years I've still not seen them.
The Weakerthans
The first Weakerthans song I heard was called ‘A Plea From A Cat Named Virtute’ on the Epitaph comp Punk-O-Rama Volume 9. A song about a person dealing with deep depression told from the perspective of their adoring but confused cat – I'm pretty sure I cried. I instantly bought two albums, Left And Leaving and Reconstruction Site but was left pretty indifferent by them. I put this down to discovering them quite early in my musical taste's evolution, at a time where all I wanted to hear were fast, overdriven guitars – The Weakethans were just a little too peaceful for me. Fast forward to my mid to late 20s, a random conversation with someone lead to me discovering that Virtute had a sequel song called ‘Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure’ – probably the most depressing song ever told from a cat's perspective. I listened to it and cried again. Now with a more developed taste I was able to listen to Weakerthans again with fresh ears and damn, they're such a great band. ‘Aside’ from Left And leaving is absolutely one of my favourite songs ever and I'm so cross with myself that it took so long to appreciate them properly. As far as I can tell, they haven't toured since 2013 and are on indefinite hiatus. I do hope I'll get to see them one day.
Farewell Continental
To those that know me, it's no secret that Motion City Soundtrack are my favourite band. Imagine how happy I was in 2012 when I discovered that their vocalist, Justin Pierre had a lesser-known side project called Farewell Continental. A far less poppy outfit than Motion City Soundtrack, FC play a style I can only describe as experimental, sonic garage rock. Justin is joined on vocals by the band's keyboardist Kari Gray and the two duet together with lyrics far less personal but more metaphorical than MCS, covering a range of topics from dreaming to war. Farewell Continental don't seem to have performed together since February 2012 and with Justin working on his solo career and a reunion tour with Motion City Soundtrack, I don't see them reforming again soon, if at all. I was lucky enough to catch Justin perform two or three Farewell Continental songs on his solo tour a couple of years ago, but I'd love the opportunity to see them tackled by the full band.
Dance Hall Crashers
I believe the Dance Hall Crashers were one of my last CD purchases before I moved away from solid copies to streaming. I'm not really sure how I discovered them either, maybe it was an early Spotify recommendation? Either way, when I heard the dual harmonies of Karina Denike and Elyse Rogers over high energy, joyous ska punk I was sold. After a little research I also discovered that the band was started at the famous Gilman Street venue in Berkeley California by none other than Operation Ivy and Rancid members Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong. I have to admit I prefer the horn accompanied songs from their earlier albums to the more punk rock inspired songs of their later releases but as a whole their music is solid, catchy and pretty unique thanks to the aforementioned vocal harmonies. I absolutely love the song ‘Skinhead BBQ’! It makes me wonder why they never took off to the same extent as some of their Gilman contemporaries. DHC haven't performed together since 2008 with no sign of a reunion on the horizon, though you've probably heard Karina sing and play keys on some of the more recent NOFX releases.
Mixtapes
I remember back in 2014, Paul Smith was adamant that I listen to his latest musical discovery Masked Intruder, and after seeing them live at Groezrock in 2015 I was completely hooked. One of their songs, Heart Shaped Guitar, incorporates vocals from guest singer Maura Weaver whose voice I instantly loved. After a little YouTube search I discovered their band Mixtapes, and the songs 'Hope Is For People' and 'Bad Parts'. Mixtapes began in Cincinnati, Ohio, as an acoustic musical partnership between Weaver and Ryan Rockwell before expanding to a full pop punk band with acoustic elements. I enjoyed the duets between the two singers and the stream of consciousness, introspective almost conversational lyrics about all manner of subjects. Despite being quite literal, I always read the lyrics as learning to be ok with yourself whilst accepting the rut you've found yourself in, something I heavily related to in my late 20s. Mixtapes went on indefinite hiatus in 2014 (though they've definitely played some reunion shows since) with little hope of there ever being another UK performance. Ryan and Maura have since moved onto other musical projects, one of which, Ogikubo Station, I was lucky enough to catch at the New Cross Inn a few years back. If only I'd discovered Mixtapes a couple years earlier, I could have seen them play Hevy Fest 2012 (which I was at!).
Atom And His Package
During lockdown I moved in with my partner, Kate. Without gigs, or anything social happening, we spent much of our free time building Lego sets, like, a LOT of Lego sets. It was while building Lego that she began to introduce me to lots of old bands she loved. Eventually our main Lego soundtrack would become Hair:Debatable, the live album and final show by synth punk legend (and possibly the godfather of Nerdcore) Atom And His Package. Atom, also known as Adam Goren, has played in a number of punk bands over the years but is best known for his one-man-band, Atom And His Package. As Atom, Goren plays synthesisers and guitar and produces music that sounds a bit like punk played through a SNES or Megadrive. Lyrically he's clearly very intelligent but often chooses humorous subjects, like ‘I'm Downright Amazed At What I Can Destroy With Just A Hammer’ and ‘Lord It's Hard To Be Happy When You're Not Using The Metric System’. He occasionally touches on politics, and regularly highlights the faults and hypocrisies of less self-aware members of the punk and metal communities, with choruses like "Oh, I get it. Anarchy means that you litter". Atom stopped touring in 2003 and has since become a Physics and Chemistry teacher in Pennsylvania. Although he's played a couple of reunion shows at Fest, it's pretty doubtful we'll ever see him play the UK again.
Minor Threat
Thought I'd save a big one until last. Over the years I've been lucky enough to see all manner of bands from the early years of punk, The Damned, Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys to name but a few, but one band I'll never get to add to that list is Minor Threat. Forming in 1980 in Washington DC and only lasting for three years, the band built upon the emerging hardcore style pioneered by Bad Brains and Black Flag by combining the aggression and high energy of the two with an incredibly strong moral code and DIY ethic. The band produced some of the most influential hardcore songs of all time and even spawned the Straight Edge subculture thanks to singer Ian MacKaye's lyrics, in the song of the same name, about his personal abstinence from drugs and alcohol. Eventually, MacKaye's moral code would lead to the break-up of the band, citing the violence at hardcore shows (as well as disagreements in musical direction) as his major reason for disbanding. The members of the band would end up continuing their musical careers in a number of other influential bands, such as Fugazi, Bad Religion and Dag Nasty. I've seen plenty of fuzzy videos of Minor Threat playing live on YouTube, it's probably the closest I'll ever get to being in the pit – it’s probably safer that way.
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