All good things must come to an end, so as the last performers appeared on each of Rebellion Punk Music Festival's stages, Punktuation's Herman de Tollenaere and Ruth Rae were there until the final notes were played!
Rebellion 2024 has been an absolute blast, but who did our intrepid reporters, Herman de Tollenaere and Ruth Rae see on day four? Let’s dive in to their final report from Blackpool!
The organisers and staff at this four-day Rebellion Festival, with over 300 punk and alternative groups performing across seven stages, must be heartily applauded for their efforts once again. It was wonderful seeing festival veterans of decades and first time attendees enjoying themselves equally across the long weekend, with bands garnering additional fans and new friendships being made at the UK’s biggest punk festival. We can’t wait for next year – lots of exciting bands are lined up already!
Day four - Herman de Tollenaere's Report
Almost Acoustic meant for their set that Joseph played only one drum, pre-tied to his belly. His daughter Annie Hatcher played keyboards and also did some of the singing. The others were a bassist, a guitarist sitting on a chair, and a violinist. Many of their lyrics were about British history.
Over to the Literary Stage to hear Rhoda Dakar speak about her experiences playing an important role in the 1970s ska revival, with her band The Bodysnatchers, and as a punk music DJ. She talked about her song ‘The Boiler‘ and about racism in north east England while touring with The Bodysnatchers. Racism became even worse when she joined
The Specials, and fascists did the nazi salute during concerts. Rhoda’s co-interviewee was Daniel Rachel, author of the book ‘Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism and the Soundtrack of a Generation‘.
Next I went to see Rumkicks on the main Empress stage – the Korean women; Jeong Yeawon, guitar and vocals, and Dorothy aka Choi Seeun , bass have hair like colourful Statues of Liberty. Blonde Kim Daewon aka MJ looks less conspicuous, but drums very well. They challenge the drawbacks in the position of women in South Korean society. Jeong Yeawon frequently spoke with the audience; ‘The Korean government gives all money to rich people. Fuck the Korean government!” And; “My mother told me: you’re so clever. You should be a doctor. But I said: ‘No, I want to be a punk rocker’. (Applause) ‘Sorry mama, I cannot make your dream come true. But I did make my own dream come true.” The band then played their song Punk Rocker.
Jeong Yeawon said “Afrer my five years in a punk band, i have discovered what is the
most important thing in punk. The most important thing in punk is Oi!” She said that with her Cockney Rejects T-shirt on. Even though the fast, melodious punk of Rumkicks sounds more like the Rezillos than like Oi! Another reminder that all kinds of punk in all their variations and individuality should stick together. Rumkicks have improved since I saw them at Rebellion 2023, when they were already good.
At the Literary Stage, there was an interview with Arthur Kitchener, ex-bassist of The Last Resort. He told how Alcoholics Anonymous had stopped his cocaine and alcohol addiction.
At 18:00, the Literary Stage showed the film ‘The Day The Country Died. A History of
Anarcho Punk 1980–1984‘. The maker of this 2007 film about the UK in the 1980s said that he did not use a fixed definition of ‘anarchopunk’. “If I asked 100 people to define anarchy, I got 100 different answers..”
Then, at 20:20 my final event of Rebellion 2024 – the Anarcho Punk Panel – part II, a lively discussion between Joseph Porter of Blyth Power, Colin Jerwood of Conflict, Andy T who was in the ‘Bullshit Detector‘ album on Crass Records, and Kay Byatt, singer of Youth in Asia. Kay was the only woman in the panel. Most anarchopunk bands were all-male. I asked a question about anarchopunk in an international perspective. Joseph replied that anarchists were better organised in Hamburg, Germany than in the UK. When, nazis attacked a squat, within minutes 200 people came to defend the squat. After Colin and I did a fist bump goodbye greeting, then Rebellion 2024 was over for me, I have so many good memories. See you at Rebellion 2025!
Day four - Ruth Rae's Report
It’s been a long three days, running from stage to stage with a camera, seeing loads of brilliant bands, then getting up early to write up and publish the previous day’s reviews. I’m running on sheer adrenaline now, but day 4 has so many performances I want to see, so I’m still cheerful.
First stop is Cherry & Peesh on the Almost Acoustic stage, as my tired legs carried me up the stairs once more to the Spanish Hall. Cherry B the Harlow Punk Poet teamed up with guitartist, singer and songwriter Peesh from the Northumberland band LoGOz back in 2017 to create a unique blend of both their talents. Cherry’s poems are witty, winsome and wonderful, always raising more than a few titters from the crowd, and having them set to Peesh’s inspiring music brings an added dimension. Perennial favourites ‘Punk Mum‘ and ‘Yesterday’s Kids‘ always go down well – so many of us can relate – and the duo also included a cover of John Cooper Clarke‘s ‘TWAT‘ with everyone loudly shouting out that last word!
I saw On The Huh in Club Casbah last year, and they made a very welcome return to its stage in 2024! They were amazed at the size of the crowd in 2023, and this year the Norwich street punks were chuffed to have attracted another large audience. Singer Sloss was all over the stage like a dynamo as usual, while the band tore through their crowd pleasing numbers, including ‘Glory Days‘, ‘Peepshow‘ and one of my faves ‘All Talk‘. As last year, multicoloured footballs were thrown out into the crowd for ‘Put Your Boots Away‘! Guitarist Chris Lloyd told me they’d be playing a new song at end, which I was sad I missed, as there was an overlap with the next band I wanted to see..
Fresh off the back of their first UK ‘ElectrAcoustic Tour‘, Ruts DC must be buoyed up by their success, playing to many highly appreciative audiences around the country. With new album ‘ElectrAcoustic Volume 3‘ out last month, featuring wonderfully reimagined versions of their hits, plus stunning new song ‘Bound In Blood‘, it was no surprise that they were back in the Opera House again to accomodate the expected turnout! A few technical hitches slowed down the start, but Ruts DC are seldom put off their stride, and of course filled two tiers of the venue easily. It was awesome hearing a lively favourite from the new album ‘Human Punk‘, ‘Staring at the Rude Boys‘ was met with cheers and much dancing, ‘In A Rut‘ featured a bit of Neil Young‘s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World‘, before they finished with the beautiful ‘Pretty Lunatics‘ and a rousing and very topical ‘Babylon’s Burning‘.
Next I headed up to the Literary Stage, to catch Steve Drewett from Newtown Neurotics telling entertaining stories and playing some of his solo songs. He explained that he wrote ‘Fools‘ because of the right wing bias of the press – not much has changed.. All of the Neurotics started out with little money, being either unemployed or low wage jobs. In 1980 they changed to become a political band due to Steve’s friend and flatmate Attila the Stockbroker (who was in the audience and added to Steve’s anecdotes!). Attila and the Neurotics played several miners’ strike benefit gigs with Billy Bragg, then they all headed to East Germany, the Neurotics being the first punk band to do so! Apparently the warning signs saying You Will Be Shot freaked out the guy driving their translator and escort George to meet the band at the border so much, he refused to go any further, despite being ressured the papers were in order.. He exclaimed “Paperwork won’t stop bullets!” Arriving in a Transit van, sitting uncomfortably on their equipment in the back, the band were glad to stop and have a few beers with a friendly family once into the GDR. Learning about the country from ordinary people gave them a true perspective of life there, and also their first experience of having roadies! Playing to a crowd of 8000 at a the first state organised music festival signaled change, and the eventual fall of the wall – punks were imprisoned usually! The Stasi went for George as the band smoked & drank on stage and the crowd went crazy, photographers taking pictures of the beer, as this was strictly forbidden! George explaining the meaning of the song to the throng, the Neurotics opened their set with ‘This Fragile Life’, which vividly describes the reality of poor working class in the West. Steve most certainly has a book in him about all of these amazing experiences; I’m eagerly anticipating reading it!
The hard working Ruts DC stood in during an unexpected gap on the Literary Stage, interviewed by Richie Tomlinson. They started by saying how much Rebellion Festival motivates them to choose songs for their sets. A lot of their songs come from jams in the studio, and they often play ideas down the phone to each other. Drummer Dave Ruffy explained the need for good support from audio engineers and producers who will actually be honest about improving the sound. They all felt they captured the sound on ‘ElectrAcoustic Volume 3‘ perfectly. Moving on to discuss yesterday’s events which caused disruption and damage in Blackpool, bassman Segs said “You can’t beat ignorance with violence” – he’d seen impressionable young teens invloved on the right wing side – the same as it ever was. The Reggae influence upon the band came about through sharing weed in their community space in West London with Misty In Roots. The Ruts felt kinship with the Rastafari, being working class lads. Guitarist Leigh Heggarty was there as an audience member at the time, and felt that their collaboration affected a positive change – People Unite is all about music to bring folk together. Ruts DC started own record label Sosumi (So, sue me!) as they didn’t want others to keep ripping off their music and never seeing any of the money themselves – clever move!
Across the pond from Las Vegas, The Dollheads were my next new discovery. An all-sibling band of two 16 and 17 year old sisters on bass and guitar plus their 14 year old brother on drums, they totally rocked the Introducing Stage and drew in a massive crowd from the surrounding Pavilion, filling the space. They are incredible musicians for their ages, their songs are superb, and they honoured one of their influences by playing a cover of Circle Jerks‘ ‘Wild In The Streets‘. After their show I made sure to congratulate the band, and encouraged them to keep doing what they’re doing – make sure you check them out!
Not so new, but with a newly arranged lineup, The Duel are now a duo with Tara Rez on vocals and guitar plus Paul Laventhol on lead guitar. DIY punks and free spirtits, their music combines many elements and has no rules! Their lyrics make strident social commentary about the state of the world, and how we must strive for better. Tara dedicated ‘Camden Town‘ to the memory of legendary music producer and friend to many here, Pat Collier, who worked with The Duel on their first album. New old song ‘Drifting‘ also made it into the set for the first time, and several of us had a great time dancing in the middle of the crowd! It was good to see Segs from Ruts DC down supporting his partner Tara and dancing with us!
Back to the Pavilion again for Twat Union, my favourite new discovery of the day, a 7 piece all female punk band from London. These party animals have written some amazing, catchy and comedic songs with a serious feminist message; ‘UTI‘, about the higher risks women run when having sex with men, a good case in point! Red Flags were handed out to the crowd to wave during the hilariously accurate song of the same name, while ‘Singer of the Band‘ tackled the inherent sexism in the music industry, where men assume that women can’t play any other instruments.. The props came out in ‘Little Pink Drill‘ – that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a vibrator used as a guitar slide..! I absolutely loved their music, their messages and their attitude – “Stay hairy GET LAIRY!” Hell yeah!
Another band I saw in 2023, Syteria, were on during a much more forgiving time slot this year! Sound issues had plagued them last year due to a malfunctioning amp as they opened the Opera House stage. Fortunately all was well in 2024 having a later slot and they played an absolutely kick-ass set! Unfortunately for them, glam rockers Sweet were making an appearance in the Empress Ballroom at the same time, which had attracted many of the crowd and they didn’t get the audience numbers they genuinely deserved. Syteria are a tight band with amazing vocal harmonies and meaningful, catchy songs. I only caught the first half of their set – I wish I could split myself in two or three sometimes! I did however capture the excellent ‘Sheeple‘ on video:
I then whizzed back to the Acoustic Stage to catch the second half of Attila The Stockbroker‘s set. Poet, ranter and multi-instrumentalist, he’s always got a lot to say, and doesn’t hesitate to say it! The brilliantly amusing ‘Libyan Sudents from Hell‘ went down very well with the crowd, as it’s not been played live for many years – please keep it in your set Attila! We were also treated to ‘Forty Years‘, his autobiographical song. Attila was proud to have his Rebellion poem featured on the inside cover of the programme this year. The edited out the line he wrote about temporarily suspending the street drinking laws (they don’t, just turn a blind eye for the festival!) was of course put back in, before he recited two more of his poems, then finished with his musical ode to new year in the town he grew up in – ‘Airstrip One‘.
Then, closing the 2024 Festival, headliners Stiff Little Fingers kept the energy in the room at fever pitch with a storming set, starting with ‘Suspect Device‘. A band including original 1977 members Jake Burns on guitar and vocals and Ali McMordie on bass, guitarist Ian McCallum, and drummer Steve Grantley, it’s no surprise that these guys packed out the main Rebellion stage in the Empress Ballroom.
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In 1978 Herman co-founded Dutch Rock Against Racism and was a founder of Pin punkzine. He’s vocals/saxophone for Cheap ‘n’ Nasty and in 2021 co-founded the Punk Scholars Network, Netherlands.
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