An international punk special courtesy of Shake Some Acton and three ace bands!
Shake Some Acton is unstoppable! Crazy to think that it was seven years ago that the first ever SSA gig took place, and now we’re fast approaching the big one hundred – with about thirty gigs in the last year alone. Here’s to many more from Mannie, and make no mistake, with bills of this quality, we’ll always be back.
This is only the second time we’ve seen Family Of Strangers, but we feel like we’ve known them for ages – an appropriate band name indeed! Lou and co are dyed-in-the-wool punk fans with plenty of stories to tell, and plenty of great tunes to back them up. They blast through the likes of ‘Predator’ and ‘Shoot Nazis’ (the latter introduced with a heartfelt dedication to the sadly recently-departed Colin Jerwood of Conflict) to the delight of a crowd that really should be bigger, but who ultimately recognise a band who still very much believe in what they do. A triumph.
Hmm, what praise can we heap upon The Phobics that we haven’t already? Well, our favourite Phobic (tonight, anyway) is bassist Tony, for various reasons. He has the longest hair; he seems to favour Ramones-style downstrokes; he kind of leans over his instrument as if it might suddenly sprout legs and run off; and despite being the only member without a microphone, he sings along anyway. Mate, we salute you!
Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that his band play some of the finest punked-up rock n’ roll these ears have heard in a long time; with the Stooges-esque ‘Brand New Jag’ and a rollicking ‘Get Your Act Together’ sounding especially formidable tonight. Do we really need to tell you to check out new album ‘Gimme Cyanide’ AGAIN?!
South Korean trio Rumkicks are armed with short, fast and infectious songs, plus an amusingly deadpan sense of humour. All good punk bands should be pissed off about something, and in Rumkicks’ case, it’s the price of British cigarettes. Dismiss them as a novelty at your peril, though, because they’ve set themselves one of the most punishing tour schedules we’ve seen in ages, and frankly, we’re in awe as to how they deliver gloriously snotty-nosed mini anthems like ‘Mosquito Fighter’ and ‘Drinking Everyday’ with such energy after so many shows. Shame we couldn’t manage a semi-decent pogo-pit in response, but the sea of grins and raucous applause are testament to a job well done.
Another great reason to have got off the sofa midweek, then, and at what is arguably THE great London punk pub! Cheers to all involved, and check out the details of future Shake Some Acton shindigs on the links below.
All Photos: ALEX GOOSE
Follow Shake Some Acton on Their Socials:
Need more Punk In Your Life?
Album review: Ultrabomb’s third LP ‘The Bridges That We Burn’
Punk rock power trio UltraBomb are based in Minneapolis, with the members having been in well-known bands beforehand – Hüsker Dü, Social Distortion, Agent Orange,
EP review: Already Buried – ‘Bad Things Happen And People Get Hurt’
In truth, you wouldn’t guess that this is the band’s debut release, so self-assured do they sound on the likes of ‘Cult Of Breath’ and
Album review: Gottlieb – ‘The Far Fallen Fruit’
From the moment the alarm-like guitar line of the opening ‘Pipe Bomb’ kicks in, the sense of urgency is almost palpable. Imagine the anarcho-punk sound
Album review: ‘Red Alert’ – a breathless blast of garage punk from Troubles
Already tipped as Radio Helsinki’s Album of the Month, this debut LP from Finnish trio Troubles has us all on ‘Red Alert’! Crashing onto the
Album review: Onlooker – ‘Cleveland’
Imagine if you took most of what passes for garage rock these days, and took it back to the bare essentials, with maximum passion and
Ronker, London The Lexington, 25th April 2026
There’s never a dull moment at a Ronker gig, and from the moment the Belgian quintet take the stage to a grin-worthy intro tape of
I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
Did you know that we are 100% DIY? We run our own game. No one dictates to us, and no one drives what we can or cannot put on our pages – and this is how we plan to continue!
