Hackfest #5

Back to our regular home of (a somewhat unexpectedly refurbished) The Belvoir, and our traditional post-Christmas slot, all was going well without disaster or pull outs until the night before the gig itself. First up we got a shout out from Dead Sheeran telling us that his missus had gone down with Covid - ordinarily this would have been too much of an issue, but as they were in France at the time it meant that they couldn't hop on a plane and get home as expected. Shame! But almost immediately after poor Fluff dropped us a note explaining that he'd had a family emergency and would have to go on first and do a runner immediately after his set. We worked out the logistics and it would have been impossible for him to catch his plane, so let him have the night off.

This left us with two slots to fill with less than a day to go, so thank heavens for regular Hackfest punters Simon Larcombe from Space Tourettes and Count Beardo from somewhere behind the bins who stepped in at almost no notice at all to start the day off with a bit of an unexpected jangle. Beardo especially got everyone's feet tapping with his endless song about a cookie jar, while Simon's delicate musical poetry wasn't your usual Hackfest fodder, but it was pretty lovely all the same!

Here's Count Beardo doing his business…

And here's Simon Larcombe giving it some loveliness.

The rest of the bill was thankfully still intact, and Polish punkers L.U.M.P. proceeded to ramp up the noisy with their bouncy stylings.

Buttplug Babies from Plymouth kept things rolling along at a hefty pace too. Sadly we've not got a lot of video from Hackfest #5, so if any of you have any clips, please do let us know. But here's what these little beauts looked like on the night!

Next up, from the deepest Welsh Valleys were the rampaging metallic hardcore of System Of Slaves, who tore practically everybody a new one with their enormous sounds!

Then it was time for your favourite funny uncles Hacksaw to make their traditional third-from-last racket. And good heavens, here's a new one!

The part was in full flow by the time Pop Junk came on, with their raucous punk covers of well known Disney songs and TV themes. The first five minutes saw the punters not entirely sure what they were watching, but when they twigged it was actually like a massive pop quiz with silly dancing involved they piled right down the front and began to sing along wildly. Nice one Merv and the boys!

And it all finished off with a very rare sighting out of Kernow of a band we've been trying to get on Hackfest for bloody years, those rustic party boys from Die Spangle. And what a get down of joy and nonsense they dragged up from the peninsula with them. A perfect end to what turned into a cracking night out after Christmas.

A big shout out must also go to the Young, Loud and Snotty DJ crew, who stood in when our regular tune blender DJ Panter was unable to attend. Be sure to book them for all your Bath area punk rock disco needs!

So we're back in the post-Covid swing of things again - so who do you reckon we're going to book for next year? Stay tuned for even more nonsense!