Essential Logic / HotWax / Gina Birch & The Unreasonables / Big Joanie / The Up Yours! Supergroup at Electric Brixton, London, 16th October 2026
If you’ve ever thought that ‘little girls should be seen and not heard’, well you’re in the wrong place tonight! Nearly fifty years after Poly Styrene turned those words into one of the most defiant statements of the original Punk era, they still provide a rallying cry and pack a punch. With Punk’s extended 50th anniversary producing an endless procession of reunions and nostalgia trips, God Save The Queens could easily have been another exercise in looking backwards. But this was different.
Firstly, it was personal. Organised by the Up Yours! Collective, led by Poly’s daughter the film maker Celeste Bell, music press legend Vivien Goldman and art curator Lauren Jones, tonight’s God Save The Queens celebrates fifty years of women in Punk in a very distinctive way, with a special tribute to the much loved and much missed Poly Styrene. It’s an impressive if rather eclectic bill, bringing together original Punk pioneers and younger genre and culture-hopping bands, culminating in an all-star performance with Celeste at the centre of a revolving door of special guests.
Essential Logic get things underway, fronted by Lora Logic, who was just fifteen when she joined X-Ray Spex, adding her distinctive saxophone to the band’s earliest recordings. Of course, she had she had been unceremoniously sacked by Poly before X-Ray Spex‘s debut album ‘Germfree Adolescents’ was released, forming Essential Logic in 1978 and taking her music into more experimental territories, but she had already been instrumental in making the sax a tool of Punk rock.
Tonight, Lora reminisces about “sitting in a kitchen not far away with Poly and pulling the name X-Ray Spex out of the ether”, as a stripped-down trio of Essential Logic with a rather overcompensating backing track bring their angular rhythms, offbeat melodies and Logic’s unmistakable saxophone to a very short 20-minute set. This provides what was a rather unconventional and low-key start to proceedings. But I guess they were all saving themselves for what was to come…
As our host for the evening, journalist, commentator and ‘Professor of Punk’ Vivien Goldman introduces our next act. The average age onstage drops down considerably as Hastings trio HotWax blast in to deliver a storming set of what Goldman would refer to as ‘bang up to date She Punk’. Tallulah on guitar and vocals, Lola on bass and Alfie on drums deliver a fabulously noisy mixture of punk, grunge and alternative rock. There’s something of The Breeders about them, mixed up with Riot Girrrl and Nirvana references. Tallulah switches effortlessly between laid-back drawl and full-throated scream, while Lola wealds her bass like a menacing machine gun, and at times plays it like a grand piano! With fabulously catchy tracks such as ‘Rip it Out’, HotWax is a terrific young band who are going places.
Next comes Gina Birch & The Unreasonables. Ms Goldman reminds us that as co-founder of The Raincoats, Gina Birch has always been a She-Punk innovator and helped create one of the most original bands to emerge from the late seventies post-punk scene. Kurt Cobain was famously a fan. And Birch, who released her first solo album ‘I Play My Bass Loud’ in 2023, remains as cheerfully unconventional and scatty as ever.
Tonight, delivering a set of new(ish) experimental post punk – at one point, the instrumentation consisted of just three bass players and a drummer – showing that her creativity and songwriting is a sharp as ever. Gina tells us this is “the first major live outing for the band”, but with much to inspire her this evening we have themes ranging from; ‘shoes, causing trouble, and happiness’. It’s clear that the ideas and tunes will keep on coming – and that’s a very good thing.
London’s Big Joanie complete the individual band sets. Described by Vivien as ‘Afro-Punk’, Big Joanie were formed in 2013 by singer and guitarist Stephanie Phillips. The band emerged from the Black Feminist Punk scene, combining Riot Grrrl influences with the DIY spirit of early Punk. Alongside bassist/guitarist Estella Adeyeri, Phillips delivers stripped-back guitars, strong melodies and lyrics with something to say. Their acclaimed 2018 debut ‘Sistahs‘ established them as a band worth keeping an eye on, and tonight, although their music is not classically in the Punk rock mould, they somehow fit comfortably into the company of their musical predecessors and the vibe of the evening. After haunting versions of tunes such as ‘Cranes in the Sky’, the band switch instruments and the set goes up the gears to build to a more rocking climax.
Then comes the main event!
The Up Yours! Supergroup brings together an extraordinary collection of musicians, with the wonderful Celeste Bell sharing lead vocal duties throughout, to deliver a set taken from the catalogues of X-Ray Spex, The Slits and The Raincoats. Holding down the bass is original X-Ray Spex member Paul Dean, back playing the songs he helped record nearly fifty years ago. Alongside them at various times are original sax player Lora Logic and a ‘for one night only’ band, made up of members of bands from tonight’s bill, as well as ‘special guest’ vocalists Hollie Cook, Gina Birch, Rhoda Dakar, John Robb, Bishi, and even Vivien Goldman gets behind the mic at one point!
There’s much anticipation in the room as the large screen behind the stage shows archive footage of Poly in her prime and the set opens with the familiar statement at the beginning of ‘Oh Bondage Up Yours’: “Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard, but I think…” The room is hopping as the band run through some X-Ray Spex classics; Hollie Cook and Celeste Bell leading the charge, and Lora Logic blasting out the familiar sax riffs of ‘Artificial’, ‘I’m a Poseur’, ‘Identity’ and ‘I Live Off You’.
Tears are shed; mosh pits are formed.
Hollie Cook brings her own style to the songs without attempting to imitate Poly’s extraordinary voice and she does it brilliantly, while Paul Dean’s driving bass provides a direct connection to the original recordings. These songs still sound remarkably fresh, particularly ‘Identity’, whose observations about consumerist self-image and its use as a tool to control women are more relevant than ever.
John Robb and Vivien Goldman join in for what is frankly a rather surreal version of ‘Let’s Submerge’, before the set moves into The Slits and The Raincoats territory. Unsurprisingly, Hollie Cook takes the microphone for a storming version of ‘Typical Girls’, with Gina Birch joining on bass. Cook, of course, joined the reformed The Slits in 2006, playing alongside the late Ari Up, who, by Hollie’s own admission, taught her much of what she knows about music. Although one suspects her father, Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, might have contributed the odd tip along the way? Indeed, Dad even played on the reformed Slits‘ early recordings.
Birch then steps up to the mic herself and delivers The Raincoats’ ‘Fairytale in the Supermarket’, followed by Rhoda Dakar taking on The Slits‘ wonderfully unconventional version of ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’. Dakar, who made her name with The Bodysnatchers and The Special AKA, is an inspired choice for a song that owes as much to Reggae as to Punk. Gina then fronts up another classic cover version from back in the day: The Raincoats‘ version of The Kinks‘ classic ‘Lola’.
Lora Logic returns with her daughter Malini and long-time guitar partner Phil Legg for an Essential Logic interlude, performing ‘Aerosol Burns’ and ‘Prayer for Peace’, the latter recorded with Poly Styrene during another musical collaboration in the early eighties. There’s a nice and moving touch as Lora attempts to sing it “without crying”. The mood remains chilled as London based singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bishi joins the band to deliver ‘Germfree Adolescent’, accompanying herself on electric sitar. Not your everyday Punk rock instrument, but an interesting take on one of Poly’s finest songs.
Then things ramp up again.
Hollie Cook returns the belt out the classic ‘The Day the World Turned Day-Glo’, which suffers unfortunate technical issues as the guitar cuts out from the start, so the crowd miss out on that famous riff, but we do get to hear what an important contribution Paul Dean made to the driving sound of X-Ray Spex back in the day. Nobody seems to care and the crowd are in full voice anyway! And, in a flash, that’s it. Just over an hour of iconic female fronted Punk rock tunes. Just enough time for everyone involved tonight to return to the stage to reprise a riotous version of ‘Oh Bondage Up Yours’ – and there’s one final surprise – Mick Jones of The Clash joins the already crowded stage to belt out this much-loved classic – and with Don Letts also in the audience, this is turning into a party!
it’s a cracking finish and fitting finale. Nearly fifty years after its release, the song is worthy of being heard twice, and hearing Poly’s daughter singing it in a voice more than a little reminiscent of her mother gives the occasion particular significance.
Punk anniversary events can easily become exercises in nostalgia, but tonight’s combination of original performers and younger bands who share a deep appreciation for what these early ‘She Punk’ pioneers did to inspire their own journeys, combined with genuinely great songs and playing, make for a thoroughly entertaining evening.
More importantly, 15 years after her untimely death, it’s a fitting tribute to Poly Styrene, one of punk’s most original voices and sharpest songwriters. Fifty years on, the love in the room for her and her songs is palpable, and hearing them again performed live, her songs remain fresh, funny, and angry, if occasionally rather strange.
So, RIP Poly and Ari, and God Save The Queens old and new!
Follow the Up Yours! Collective for more events coming up soon at the Museum of Youth Culture in London!
Main Photo Credit: LORA LOGIC
Live Videos: TED WEDGBURY
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Writer, lyricist, and guitarist with The Viral Breakdowns, radio presenter and passionate protagonist of Punk! From teenage rocker in the seventies, to playing my own original music in far flung parts of the world, I have a love for fast, loud, short sharp tunes with attitude and edge. Based in Chelmsford, you can find me out and about on the Essex and London music scene or rooting through the racks of record fairs, markets and car boot sales, looking for hidden punk rock treasures.
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