This Is Proper Punk Music... Bra$$ick At Rebellion Festival
Published
Blackpool's Rebellion Festival throws up a surprise every year for me. With hundreds of bands to see, you pick your choices and then spend the time in-between favourites watching bands that normally wouldn’t whet your appetite or avert your gaze.
Occasionally though, something special happens and a band you haven’t seen before, in this case ‘BRA$$ICK’, take to the stage and deliver in spades. They, quite simply, took the ‘Arena’ stage by storm, living up to their reputation, with the experience of tireless touring immediately apparent.
Formed in the midlands area, as a four piece, back in 2012, they may have a petite blonde vocalist (Nicola Hardy), but don’t confuse them with former punk darlings Blondie, and don’t expect sweet, melodic pop songs either. This is hard, brash, in-yer-face, honest, punk rock music at its very best. It’s raw, it’s high energy, and it’s very loud and impressive in the extreme.
Throughout a beautifully crafted, lung busting and vocal cord shredding set. The crowd, full of energy this early in the weekend, were high on the energy spilling from the stage they bounced and jumped along reveling in the polished performance from start to sweaty finish, a non-stop party, where being in the right place at the right time is something of an art form and this was definitely the place to be tonight.
A 10-track set containing "Same Sound", "Media Faces", "Fall", "Drown", "Let us go", "Cynical", "Broke and Restless", "Leeches", "Pelt" and "Vagabond" smile passed in what seemed like an instant. A heady mixture of styles ranging from raw punk to laid back heavy bass-lines and ska-influenced rock. The rest of the band, Peter Macbeth on Guitar, Jay Jay Khaos on Drums and Jake Cunningham on Bass are the perfect foils for Hardy, keeping the set at a manageable level in pace, texture and honest toil, supporting and cajoling, toying with the crowd and delivering a spectacular sound from an auditorium that, truth be told, isn’t the easiest or friendliest to most bands.
With a recently released, self titled album under their belt in 2015, they are busy throughout the festival season and definitely on my ‘must see’ list for next year here in Blackpool. I would suspect that following this performance and the reaction of the crowd as they left the arena, a bigger stage and a more favourable appearance time will be arranged by the time that comes around.
To find out more about Bra$$ickclick here.
To visit the Bra$$ick Facebook page click here.
Words & pictures by Mark Eastwood
