Windmill Brixton – 29 Aug 2021
Bank Holiday Bonanza from South London Punk Collective.
It was a temperate if not all together sunny bank holiday Sunday. The location was the Windmill Brixton, a small independent venue that consistently puts on some great events. On this occasion it was the South London Punk Collective's annual bank holiday barbecue gig, a date that I reckon is always worth marking down in the calendar. Fortunately it seemed that there were a large number of people in agreement on this, as I arrived maybe 5 minutes into the first band's set and the place was already bustling. It's always encouraging to see a good crowd from the first band until the last and considering there were eight playing, this was no mean feat.
Opening the bill were two bands making their live debuts; not that you would have guessed this from their stellar performances. Kicking things off, Anymal Function set the tone for the day with some reasonably heavy punk, that drew on some faster, hardcore elements and some powerful vocals. It was an accomplished first gig, as was the one played by the other first timers Swaraj Chronos. They had an interesting dual vocal set up drawing on a more post-punk aesthetic. Their incorporation of spoken word style delivery worked well too. Their songs leaned to the political with topics such as George Floyd and the subsequent protests covered.
Chain of Panic are a three piece with a big, thrash punk sound. They rattled through a blistering set, all frantic drumming, with a liberal share of blast beats, metal leaning guitar tones and some shouty vocals. Fourth on the bill it was Slow Faction, who favour a more '77 inspired punk aesthetic. They've had a couple of changes since I last saw them, drafting in a new drummer and replacing their bassist with Charlie, formerly of more bands than there's time to list but who I knew from Underclass UK. His bass playing was a high point and with his frankly disconcertingly large tongue he may just have a claim to being the Gene Simmons of the UK punk scene. It was an excellent set. For my money John is one of the most accomplished lyricists on the DIY circuit, check them out.
Backstreet Abortions were another new act to me but their slightly snotty, attitudinous set mixed a solid pub rock feel with some riot grrl sensibilities. It felt as if there was an air of Amyl and the Sniffers in the approach and that is definitely a good thing. A highlight was the amusingly titled “Suck a Dick”, which lyrically went more or less as the title suggests. Overall it was another exciting set and the crowd had begun to loosen up a little more by this point.
P.I.G are a band that I've now seen twice in two weeks. Both times the trio have played an affecting bass driven set, with some tight breakdowns. As a band their sound melds the somewhat scuzzier faster strains of punk with a hint of Vice Squad. I also had the chance to talk to their singer earlier in the day about the challenges of staying sufficiently sober to play at an all day event. I can confirm that she managed this, even if my notes began to look increasingly like hieroglyphics by the end of their set.
I've seen the penultimate act Anarchistwood a couple of times now and their colourful, larger than life sets are consistently strong. It's a testament to their infectious madcap style that my associate managed to put aside her fear of clowns and was dancing along within a couple of songs. Musically they include some brass and a violin in a punk derived sound that feels in part like a Dadaist happening. Whatever you want to call it, it makes for a highly entertaining and original performance.
Finally it was the turn of Sick on the Bus to bring things to a conclusion. Their full on approach was reciprocated by what it would be fair to say was by now a well oiled crowd. Certainly this was the case at the front, which judging by the live footage I've seen and the collection of new bruises I've amassed was also where I was. Fast paced, no nonsense punk mixed with a hard rock edge was the formula here and it worked a treat. As a three piece, they bring to mind the high octane attack of Motorhead, which is no bad thing.
All in all it was an excellent day of music, with a congenial crowd. I did notice one slight altercation but I'd attribute that more to overinnebriated exuberance than outright animosity. On a day when there were quite a few similar events on there were 170 paying punters through the door. These are great numbers and a really heartening indication of the current state of the DIY scene. There was an excellent spread laid out in the pub garden, so thanks must also go to the staff on cooking and bar duty. Long live the South London Punk Collective.