A punktastic party filled with lively music and a whole lot of fun in Camden town!
London played host to several excellent Punk gigs last weekend, including the Buzzcocks‘ boat trip; there are many bands celebrating their golden anniversary this year! I chose to party with the mighty Menace at their special 2-nighter held at Camden’s legendary Dublin Castle on 5th and 6th of June.
Menace-in-Chief Noel Martin put together a superb selection of bands to support his own. We had a range of styles and ages across the two evenings, with a very lively and appreciative crowd attending both!
Friday 5th June
Opening proceedings were Daddy Those Men Scare Me, gallantly stepping in last-minute to replace another band who couldn’t make it. These ‘eccentric men of a certain age’ have been part of the London Punk scene since 1994, entertaining us with their punky-folky-pop-rock’n’roll and a plethora of humorous lyrics!
Tonight’s set included hilarious favourites ‘Magic Mushroom Man‘, ‘Teenagers‘ and ‘Staggering‘, and Daddy Those Men Scare Me also played their homage to punk, aptly titled ‘Punk Song‘:
Continuing the night’s party atmosphere, The London Sewage Company played a well-received set of their home-grown punk, with a few twinges of nostalgia for days and places of old…
Guitarist Pete played heartfelt harmonica in the bluesy ‘Palm Trees in Peckham‘, and we were treated to unrecorded number ‘You’re Not Better‘ with its earworm of a chorus. Singer Mark ‘Barnet’ led us all in The London Sewage Company‘s rendition of ‘Three Little Birds‘ to noisily conclude their slot on the stage.
Menace had promised some surprises in their set – but it was the audience who had a surprise in store for guitarist Pete! Seeing his own face multiple times throughout the crowd, as ‘Pete masks’ were donned, caused much hilarity – although Pete wasn’t sure at first whether to laugh, or flee in terror! “I didn’t realise I was such an ugly fucker!” he exclaimed…
Fortunately it didn’t put him off too much, and he, along with Noel, Dave and Si launched into ‘The Truth‘ from Menace‘s latest studio album ‘Death and Taxes‘. Crowd favourite ‘Insane Society‘ had us all singing along to a song that’s even more relevent now than ever:
There was a set list, beautifully designed and printed out by Noel as usual, but with a call for unlisted ‘C&A‘ to be played, the list became more of a rough guide! Anybody who has been to a Menace gig before knows that the crowd are as much a part of the show as the band; a blurring of lines that is the best example of true punk spirit in the live music experience.
Several lesser-played songs graced the set, including ‘I Don’t Care‘ and ‘Carry No Banners‘, much to our delight. Of course no Menace gig feels complete without the stage invasion, as we attempted to bend the laws of physics to fit as many bodies onto the stage as possible for final numbers ‘So Fuck You’ and ‘GLC’. Nobody wanted to go home after that, so Noel decided they’d play ‘Monkey’ as an encore… much confusion ensued amongst the rest of the band, until it was clarified that he meant the Ska song ‘Monkey Man‘, not Menace‘s own Oi! song ‘Monkey‘… Chaotic but tons of fun!
Saturday 6th June
The weather had turned very wet, so it was somewhat humid when I ventured inside the Dublin Castle. Fortunately, the venue’s TARDIS-like ability to accommodate six bands and all their kit, plus a substantial audience never ceases to amaze me! Starting at 4.45 – so everyone could play a decent-length set – were Johnny Moses & the Electric Motherfuckers. Johnny used to play guitar in Menace (2005 – 2009), and his current band draw very much upon the ’77 Punk tradition.
I love seeing all the members of a band contributing vocals, and this band utilised each members’ voices during their toe-tapping set! Paul on bass sang lead, with Pat on drums never missing a beat as he added backing vocals, along with Johnny. There are new Johnny Moses & the Electric Motherfuckers songs in the offing, including this one, ‘Outta My Head‘, so keep your eyes and ears peeled, punk kids:
A band we love here at Punktuation! – Wipes tore our ears off from the very first note! Their 2024 debut album ‘One Shot’ was well represented in this afternoon’s set, and guitarist and singer Clive also led his merry men (Steve on bass, Si on drums – who also plays for Menace) through some newer material, including forthcoming single ‘Don’t Know Why‘. This was Punk rock as it should be played – loud, fast and with real meaning – a fantastic set! Si did his best to finish off the in-house drum kit, to much piss-taking from his bandmates!
Youngest band on the bill Debts brought a younger crowd along – and some of their parents! Vocalist Dan used his incredible voice across its full range in a stunning performance, while the varied set showed the entire quintet’s talents to the max. Dan was inspired to follow Menace upon recommendation from his dad, a big fan of the band!
In an endless and energetic whirlwind, Debts played a modern indie-punk mashup with added hip-hop and a touch of Hardcore, inspiring feet to move and hands to reach into the air. Absolutely brilliant! Here’s their song ‘Drunken Madness‘, about, well, overdoing the alcohol!
Kent punk band Anabollic Steroids brought their mischevious sense of humour to the party. These original punk rockers still have a lot to say, and there are no holds barred! There was plenty of on-stage banter and friendly piss-taking between band members, and to be frank, any band who can end their set with a song called ‘Tell The Band To Fuck Off‘ – with huge grins on their faces – is alright by me!
Anabollic Steroids are still writing new music, and played ‘Do It‘ from last year’s album ‘Happy Nightmares‘ – not band for a band that started out essentially as a joke in 1978!
Penultimate band of the evening, Paranoid Visions, had travelled furthest to join the celebrations – all the way from Dublin. These Irish anarcho-punks need no introduction, having been around since 1982, albeit with a revolving door of band members! Originals Deko on vocals and Peter Jones on lead guitar still front the band, which tonight was 7-strong, packed together on the small Dublin Castle stage.
Self-confessed outsiders, it was a real coup for Noel to have brought Paranoid Visions over for the Menace celebration. The huge crowd enjoyed hearing classics such as ‘Egomaniac‘, ‘Strange Girl, ‘I Am The One‘, and ‘Politician‘, in addition to newer numbers. Co-lead vocalist Aoife Destruction was all cool smiles and in perfect voice beneath her bright yellow dreadlocks, while drummer Jay Bagnall hammered up a storm from the back. It’s not all pure anarchy – this band can play sensitively too – here’s ‘Across the Holocausts’ from ther 2015 release ‘Cryptic Crosswords‘:
Now Menace had to try to top that..! Their back catalogue has plenty of options, so this evening’s set was completely different from Friday’s, aside from the final two songs. Opening with perennial favourite ‘Screwed Up‘ (I wore the T-shirt the previous night!) we all sang and danced along. They also threw in ‘Electrocutioner‘ and ‘Monkey‘ (the Menace song this time!), before their superb cover of the UK Subs‘ ‘I Couldn’t Be You‘ allowed Noel to whip out his harmonica!
Lesser-played songs on the Saturday set list included ‘Punk Rocker‘, ‘Rocks and Dust‘ and ‘Live For Today‘, which all went down extremely well with the audience:
Just after the halfway point, I decided that I’d taken more than enough photos and videos, so I left my camera with Menace merch-man extraordinaire Martin and jumped into the fray for ‘Party Animal‘! Down the front at a Menace gig is THE place to be, especially when you want to sing along to ‘Death and Taxes‘ and ‘I’m Civilised‘ – and of course to join the gang onstage for the finale. We all agreed that it had been an exceptional 2 day celebration with the best of music, and the bonus ‘Live At The 100 Club‘ 12″ LP with bonus insert and poster we 2-day attendees received is indeed a thing of beauty – there are only 300 of them, so don’t miss out, order yours HERE!
The Menace 50th Anniversary celebrations will continue with a very special one-off show at London’s 100 Club on Friday 2nd October, which will feature all the surviving members of the original band, plus guests WitchDoktors and 16 Guns – get your tickets from promoter Human Punk HERE. Your friendly Punktuation! team will be reviewing the show, of course, and we really can’t wait!
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Usually found jumping around down the front at gigs, I also relish taking photos and videos, singing, speaking with fellow music fans, and asking musicians the questions nobody else does. Writing about my favourite bands and connecting with people who love music too keeps me more-or-less sane! I’ve worked for over 25 years at a video production company, mainly filming live music events, therefore I have an additional backstage perspective on the scene.
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