Live Review: The Great British Alternative Festival (Saturday) Butlins Minehead

  • Mark Cartwright posted
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Great British Alternative Music Festival (Saturday)

Butlins Minehead - 29th February 2020

So day 2 begins, the morning starts with a very eerie walk to the food hall for breakfast, silence and a clear sunny sky greet us on our way through the complex, obviously the previous days drinking and music has taken its toll on so many of the Butlins visitors, not so many can be found and the ones we do encounter are looking a little fragile.  Now comes the part that every poor soul that has awoken with the head of a sore bear and the mouth full of yesterdays late night food tastes, Breakfast and what a life saving breakfast it is, all perfectly satisfying and served with that Bultins smile that is always welcoming and helps make your day start beautifully.

A reasonably late start to the day in festival terms sees us after a morning spent watching the weather go from bright sunshine to pouring winter rain just as we are to leave the room and head out, Knock Off introducing stage winners from last year hit the stage at 1.30pm and the people that have managed to drag themselves from the comfort of their warm rooms and brave the cold, are ready to start the proceedings of the day off.

Getting this bands brand of loud anthemic style punk and Oi played with all the energy you can probably take at this early hour, is just the job to shake the morning blues and get the musical head into top gear. The trio’s sound is full of early 80’s influence and songs that shout about disaffected youth and disillusionment with the country in general is still relevant today and maybe even more so, tunes that stick in your head and leave feeling energised.

The afternoon is fairly slow and the next band up are for all intense purposes and with all the alternative will in the world, Nine Below Zero seem to be an odd addition to the line up, not to take anything away from the fans that love them, we believe that maybe they would be better served on a blues weekend, and for this reason alone it gives us time to catch up on much need down time to ready for the nights frivolities.

4pm comes around and its now time for the introducing stage to kick off again in Jaks, this had to be one of my personal favourite things at this festival, you get to see so many new and old bands that maybe have not been given a break elsewhere,  First up today are The Itch a band that play to an audience full of groupie style fans and have a strong mod sound that seems to be modelled on The Who (band t-shirts modelled on the Who logo say it all), The Jam and maybe a touch of The Chords (who are on the line up for Sunday), melodic songs that leave there mark and give the eager crowd something to dance to, they rattled through the set and left you ready for the next act.

Not one for cover bands we give Complete Clash a wide birth. We understand that people want to hear those classic songs from back in the day and they always draw a big crowd that undoubtedly have a great time but, well, I’m stuck in a rut with my opinion of covers bands, especially at a festival such as this (so many great original bands out there that could be given the opportunity …. blah, blah, blah). Fortunately there’s some cracking, original tunes in Jacks where Headstone Horrors tear the Introducing Stage apart with their blend of speed freekish, pacey punk rock. With the ability to blend street punk with a bit of melody the band grab the crowd within seconds and belt out a set of songs that see vocalist Nat screeching words out as she pounds around this small stage. But it takes more than a decent tune and this lot captivate us with their stage presence. Playing as if their lives depend on it Headstone Horrors put in a performance that, eventually, sees them worthy winners of today’s Introducing Stage.

After a decision to miss out the 3rd introducing stage band Monkish and the stand in for the now disbanded No Thrills due to the need to fit food in and deal with stomach issues that arise from a weekend of drink and over indulgence (we are human you know lol).  

Lets get this in again though and it can’t be said often enough, every single member of staff, from the lovely happy and always remembering man at the reception to the food hall, to the very hard working table staff and cooks were all amazing, friendly and yes always smiling!  All deserve our praise and a pay rise, well we think so.

Snide Remarks are now almost ready to take to the introducing stage, the crowd has thinned a bit and maybe being that it is 7pm the call for food has gotten the better of most.  

Having had a very long journey down from the Middlesbrough area the night before and a stomach bug, this however didn’t dampen any of the enthusiasm  and need to entertain the crowd, lead singer Barry Walker as always straight into his deliverance of their 70’s style punk rock songs with a modern feel, energy is one thing that is not lacking with all the band, a really heavy full on Bass line, drumming that falls into the category of almost animal proportions this set against the wonderfully technical lead guitar makes for a tight sound, songs that you can dance to, songs like “Apologies” that you can bounce to and songs like “Millionaire” and “Dead Pop Stars” that just scream punk rock, all in all the crowd warmed to and enjoyed every minute of the crowd prowling front mans sweaty all energy performance. 

Tonight’s main stages see the first clashes of the weekend. Choices to be made. Glen Matlock/Jeramiah Ferrari, The Adicts/The Undertones, The Members/Hung Like Hanratty. We understand why it’s necessary but that doesn’t make it any easier.  Deciding to try and see half a set by everyone, a plan that quickly goes tits up, we start with Glen Matlock and Earl Slick.  

Not quite sure what people were expecting from someone, who, quite rightly is a legend of the punk rock scene. But things move on, Sex Pistols were back then and this is now. Anyone expecting to see a set of old Pistols songs or some rousing punk rock will have been sorely disappointed – and a few Facebook comments back this up. Remember – ‘Alternative Music Festival’ not “Punk Festival”. Glen Matlock delivers a set that includes covers of songs from the 60’s and some classic blues as well as songs from his days with the Phillistines. Bordering on a country blues set the guitar work of Earl Slick is superb, mesmorising and effortless. Matlock and Slick complement each other perfectly but after 35 minutes or so we dive downstairs to Reds to catch the second half of Jeramiah Ferrari’s set and we’re glad we did. 

Ferrari has the crowd in the palm of his hand with his blend of reggae, funk, ska and dance. And it’s a good job the stage is large because he uses every inch of it jumping around. Clearly enjoying every second Ferrari at one point seems a little perplexed, but well pleased, that he’s generated such a positive vibe in the venue. He almost apologises for the fact that he isn’t punk and probably isn’t what people expected but that’s where he’s wrong. This mixture of music, none of which is mainstream drivel, is exactly what these weekends should be about. Ferrari’s influences ooze out of his pores – Marley, Two Tone, heavy bass riffs – chilled, danceable, good time songs.

Jeramiah Ferrari finishes in time for us to dash back to Centre Stage and see Glen Matlock finish his set with ‘Pretty Vacant’. It’s not perfect, Pistols aficionado’s will have been disappointed, but it’s probably what people expected him to do.

Staying in 

Centre Stage there’s a palpable buzz in the air waiting for The Adicts to appear. The Undertones playing downstairs at exactly the same time has clearly drawn huge numbers away – not necessarily a bad thing as those that stay are dedicated Adicts fans here to have a good time. The Adicts
don’t disappoint. No matter how many times you see them it’s impossible not to be hooked into what is, essentially, a show not a mere gig. Being limited to an hour means they hammer out all the classics. ‘Joker In The Pack’, ‘Horrorshow’, ‘Troubadour’, ‘Fuck It Up’, ‘Who Spilt My Beer’ and more. With confetti, streamers, a hat full of beer, playing cards, water, vocalist Keith Warren’s shredded shirt, bracelets and more all thrown to the baying crowd who lap it all up no one who was here for this tonight will have left with any doubts that The Adicts are pure punk rock entertainment.

Downstairs there’s barely an inch of floorspace left for anyone, a much reduced level of oxygen in the air and a simply joyous atmosphere as The Undertones do what they’ve always done to a rammed Reds venue. Song after song of punk pop classics. Songs that even if you weren’t a lifelong fan, and couldn’t actually name the band, you’d recognise (and probably mutter those words “Oh I like this song”). ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, ‘Teenage Kicks’, ‘Here Comes The Summer’, ‘My Perfect Cousin’, ‘Family Entertainment’, ‘Dig Yourself Deep’. Every one of them a perfect slice of what a joyous punk rock party should be filled with. Little wonder the place is packed out and that this band get asked back to play  both here and in Skegness year after year.

Almost at the end of another very long day and so far we have been totally entertained by a great Bultins line up and looked after by all the staff, The Members are our penultimate band of the day, playing to an almost full Reds they start a little early, but I’m sure some of the crowd won’t complain when they hit the pillow ahead of time tonight.  JC Carrol still has the knack of playing to a punk crowd, with his little anecdotes and insights into the writing of songs cleverly told whilst the obligatory tuning of guitar happens.  Having presumably played “Solitary Confinement” a small number of times over the past 40+ years, you could forgive them if they just banged it out, but no, it still holds all the meaning and is played as if it was the first time round. Looking round you can see that the majority of the crowd are probably life time Members fans, but not all, some will most certainly have never been born when JC wrote his first song, let alone played his first gig.

Hung Like Hanratty draw Saturday night to a close on Centre Stage. Great fun? Yes. Entertaining? Yes. Politically correct? No. Hanratty live by their principles that so long as no-one gets hurt (physically or emotionally) then “fuck it”. They do, and say, what they like. Simple, but wickedly clever lyrics, social commentary in every line Hung Like Hanratty rant about dog shit, cats crapping on your garden, Jimmy Saville, Oscar Pistorius, living your life in your pyjamas or as a human pig, and, with new song off a forthcoming album, Harvey Weinstein. Various masks appear and stage visits by an overweight ‘Fat Cunt’, a Jimmy impersonator and more together with a fan base that grows year on year it’s easy to see why, at 11.30pm after a day’s drinking Hanratty appeal to so many. 

 

Co-Written by Steve White. 

Photos by Steve White & Mark Cartwright all can be found HERE & HERE