Out of the blue one of the most famous and long-running rock'n'roll venues in the land, Moles, announced that it was shutting up shop two short weeks before it was due to happen. Bah! Unable to find another Bath venue that was available at Christmas, we thought all was lost for Hackfest #6 - until we decided to have a New Year's holiday to Bristol for one year only!
Our good friends at Moor Beer (before the dodgy investor incident) were glad to help out, and we went proper industrial in the wilds of The Dings. Sadly, some of our original line up couldn't make the new date, so we had to lose the terrific Cornish noise warriors Rash Decision, the then still pretty new rock'n'roll punk of Split Dogs, and the amphibious Gods of metal Froglord from the line up. And once again, we had to lose Dead Sheeran from the bill - which was by now becoming something of a tradition.
(Let's have a look at what you could have won...)
But we did manage to rope in at very short notice the fabulous festival ska of Fidget & the Twitchers, spunky young locals Zpangled Henz, the slowest gothickest prog metal of Warrior Pope, and the gloriously unhinged South American (via London) hardcore tornado that is Jawless. Sadly the Marvellous Mutilated state had to bail because of work commitments at the last minute, but George's other band, T.A.T. (There's Always Time) stood in at the last minute - as they were all going to be there anyway.
So how did it all go down? Pretty decently, as an entirely different kind of crowd joined all the regulars to make one heck of a mix up bill.
First up were Bristol's Zpangled Henz, a punky, ska-filled bunch of brilliantly bouncy tunes to start the day. And much to our surprise, the dance floor filled the moment the first bass note got twanged. Extra points for the amazing high-pitched wails that spewed out from time to time in utterly random places. Great openers!
Next up, from Western-super-Mare was the splendidly noisy Nettle. Ludicrously young, and sounding like bands that even most of us elderly punks have never heard of, they spewed out an infectious guttural stomp that turned a heck of a lot of heads. I hope we see loads more of them in the future!
Stepping in at the very last minute to plug a Mutilated State shaped gap was our George's other band T.A.T. (There's Always Time), who went to prove that you're never too old to finally get that punk rock band going. Brilliant punk rock stuff that got the older kids grooving!
I don't think I've ever seen such a digital reaction to a Hackfest band as when Warrior Pope took to the stage with a robed incense ritual and an attendant wizard. Three bars into the first song nearly all the elderly punks streamed out to the bar, leaving the youth nodding their heads and getting down to the impossibly slow metal grind. And when the trombone came out the kids nearly fainted. A classic Hackfest moment of the kind that still makes it all worthwhile!
Next up were them West Country hardcore punkin' stalwarts Bad Blood, who ripped a proper noisy big hole in the night. We've known all of these lads for years, and they're all terrific geezers, so go and see them when they play by you!
Hacksaw were their usual bumbling selves, of course, but you wouldn't have expected anything else, and you don't really need to see a pic to understand their dreadfulness. But we also forgot to take a photo of the most skanksome Fidget & the Twitchers, who set both the youth of today and the old puns of yesteryear into a skanking frenzy. We must have been too busy dancing to get the phone out!
And last but very much not least were the incendiary Jawless. Theresa Vendetta is surely one of the most intense singers in all punkdom, and she had us all hanging from the rafters and punching the air at her every instruction. To be honest, we'd probably of all hijacked a bus from the yard up the road and gone to invade Thornbury if she'd asked us, we were so much in her thrawl. A brilliant end to an unexpected, but very well received trip down the road from our usual location.
Full marks, as always, to the splendid DJ Panter who pushed out his usual blend of cracking tunes, and equal propers to everyone at Moor Beer who got us a date at the last minute, and looked after us perfectly.
Now what the heck are we going to do next year?
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