UK SUBS - Auld Lang Syne

Cheers!

Best and Worst of 2013 (The 1,2, Fuck You List)

I believed last year that 2013 should be the year of many good punk rock records. And in some ways it went that way. Dropkick Murphys. Asta Kask, Bad Religion, Vänsternäven, Alonzo Fas 3 and Gatans Lag did release rather good records. But THAT record wasn´t made, the one that stood out a bit more than the other, the undisputable, already classic, record wasn´t made. As many band that didn´t got their shit together and released theirs, there was as many that didn´t. Most notable the failure of the next Rancid album. Do they work on their version of Chinese Democracy or what?.
Tim Armstrong did however set some crazy record in releasing most singles or something?


Live, there were few surprises, the West Coast Riot was taking a pause, which made the summer a bit dull. Antisocial stepped out of the shadows and became the best live music punk club in Stockholm.

The sad news was that Lou Reed died and DERBY STHLM drummer Turbo have to quit because of illness. And that Ligisterna was spending more time in the crowd than on the stage.

Best ConcertTopper at Snövit (Jan)
Strawberry Blondes at Tegelhögen in Vällingby (Nov)

Runners up; DERBY STHLM, Ligisterna, Stiff Little Fingers and Sham 69, Hyper Actives and The Manics

Best Concert Promotor/Festival/ClubAntisocial (Club)

Best AlbumVänsternäven – Välkommen Hem (Swe)
Gatans Lag – Från Fest Till Arrest (Swe)
Alonzo Fas 3 – Alonzo Fas 3 (Swe)
Asta Kask – Handen På Hjärtat (Swe)
Booze & Glory – London Skinhead Crew (UK)

Best Single/EP (Vinyl, CD or Digital)
Saturday´s Heroes – Don´t Tear it Down (Swe)
Vänsternäven – King Of Störd (Swe)
Head Ons – Head Ons På Svenska (Swe)
Smash It Ups – Billy and Rudy (Swe)

Records of other interests???

Best bands (Different reasons)Topper
DERBY STHLM
Ligisterna
Gatans Lag
Alonzo Fas 3
Asta Kask
Troublemakers
Booze & Glory
Vänsternäven
Strawberrry Blondes

Positive new discoveriesBastards on Parade (Spa)
Jeunesse Apatride (Can) 

Best SingalongsDERBY Psybryt
Topper
Sham 69
Stiff Little Fingers
Asta Kask
Köttgrottorna
Dropkick Murphys
Alonzo Fas 3 

Best Revivals
Tredje Könet
Klägg

HeaviestStrindberg  Som Tortyr

Hardest

Ultimate Punk HerosPussy Riot (Rus)
Lou Reed (US)

Worst DisapointmentThat I fucked up attenting Pretty Shitty Kjell for free.

Worst Let Down
Bad Religion at Gröna Lund

Worst Fuck Up
Dislocated booking a nazirelated band. (Canceled by the pub owner.)
Worst Pseudo Happening

???

Lita Ford and Cherie Currie of the Runaways will be onstage together!

http://www.daysofthedead.net/atlanta/

 

 

Lita Ford and Cherie Currie will sing together at the Days Of The Dead convention in Atlanta, Feb 7-9 2014!

As Close to a Runaways reunion as possible at the moment?

 

 

 

 

...

 

 

We are not Pussy Riot now

http://www.nme.com/news/pussy-riot/74613


As a result of the imprisionment of the three women of punk activist gtoup Pussy Riot, the band and art Project is put on halt.
As an result of the degrading treatment they experienced in the Russian prisons they will now work for better and more fair conditions in the Russian prisions.

What ever the ruling dictators in Russia thought, it will not shut up the cause.

The Punk might been silenced but hopefully not their voices.


FREE PUSSY RIOT FOR REAL
AND GIVE THEM AN APPOLGY!

Lemonade is for Pussies

Pussy Riot out of jail but not free

All of the three members of the punkband/art group Pussy Riot that got sentenced to jail acording to Russias Holigan laws applied on any political protests or try to perform fredom of speach that is granted in the civilized world is being released from prison.

It is all part of a strategy for the authoroties in Russia to avoid the question of political oppression and lack of democracy in Russia. Especially when the Olympic games will be held in Sotji in Russia.

The women of Pussy Riot might got out of jail, but are in reallity not free.

Now Pussy Riot want's us to boycott tha games. And I will.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2013/dec/23/pussy-riot-nadezhda-tolokonnikova-free-prison-video

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2012/aug/14/pussy-riot-trial-russia-video


...

Julpunken 2013 Doberman Cult, Ligisterna and Psykbryt a Review

Julpunken 2013 at Kafé 44

The place and Doberman Cult

The annual Christmas Punk at Kafé 44 was held in Friday Dec 20. A great line up, but gosh how early they started. I arrived at 8pm and found that I missed two acts already. Matriarkatet and Reidar Assine, too bad.

So my starting point was Doberman Cult, a Hard Core band that I can stand. It happens that I go to the Loo or hit the bar when the hard Core bands play. Not when these geezers played. In my mind they let enough old school punk and rock vibe into it so it won´t be ridiculous. Fair sound and one of a hell energetic singer, that literary was climbing on the walls and being all over the place, that did set the standards for the night.  And the rest of the bands didn´t dare to go below that. Unfortunately didn´t the crowd go wild to it, maybe they was to busy watching what the singer was going to do next?

The place and event

The night was due to Swedish alcohol laws a no beer event. That didn´t stop people drink their own beer outside the place. I got a vibe of my youth from it. But because the no alcohol policy young punks could see it as well. Not just old farts like me.
The crowd was a mix of very young skins and punks and the punk and skins regulars where some of us are closer to our fifties.
It wasn´t packed but fair enough with people to get a good atmosphere. Boy, did I miss a cold beer between the acts?


Ligisterna

Ligisterna haven’t been onstage that much this year so they was really fueled up for a rocket ride.
To make it short, I was a true mayhem onstage. The sound was far from perfect, partly because the amps of Kafé 44 have seen its better days, partly because Niklas the singer and rythm guitarist was playing around with the volume knob in between the tunes. Playing the songs, he was like the Doberman Cult singer, all over the place.  Mostly old material was played, mostly to satisfy my taste, haha, I can´t get enough of their older tunes. But bass player Cabbe did sing a new tune that was a bit different than the other tunes. Time will tell if it survives on their set list.
Ligisterna did live up to their reputation as an unpredictable, entertaining and wreckless band.  If you want a mainstream comecial band for your wedding, don´t call Ligisterna. For a moment it looked like they were going to wreck their equipment as well as the whole stage. But that was just an artistic statement or a moment of divine inspiration. Ligisterna did get the young and old in the crowd to get going in a violent mosh pit. And in the encores they had turned both the stage and crowd into a mess of chaos. This was old school punk in it´s prime. Actually on of the most entertaining gigs all the year.

Psykbryt

Closing the event was the youngsters in Psykbryt. I never seen them better. And they had to be. There were no room for a shamble then. They didn´t wreck and jumped around as much as the previous bands. But they got the crowd going. Wildly and madly punk dancing that might been remembered in the Saturday morning as bruises all over the young punks. Well, the old ones might certainly have a few bruises as well.  The sound was better than Ligisterna´s sound. Their wit and charm did reach out when the sound system was fair enough for us to hear their lyrics. They have developed alot as performers this year. They were so focused on what they did so kick drum problems was fixed in a moment.  They crowd seemed to love every second of it and so did I.
As an encore Psykbryt, Ligisterna as well as DERBY STHLM (try to keep them off stage if you can) did cover KSMB´s “But We Have No Bananas”, together with the crowd. How many can sing in the same microphone? Call the Guiness Book Of Records, this might make it.

WOW! Is my only reaction, what a start on the night. It ended too early though. Then we deserved a beer to make the rest of the night as good, so we went to a place for some of that and lost DERBY STHLM on the way. God knows where they disappeared.
Keep looking for the lost geezers of DERBY STHLM, we just lost them. Call 112 (199)!

So
I don´t remember what I did pay to get in, and it was irrelevant. It was great in all the ways it could be, even if they didn´t served beer.

The Great Rock n Roll Swindler Ronnie Biggs dies at age 84

The British train robber Ronnie Biggs, notable for the "Great Train Robery" in Britain in 1963 , have died of illness at the age of 84.

After Johnny Rottens departure in 1978 from the Sex Pistols, manager Malcolm McLaren worked for train robber Ronnie Biggs in his Brazilian exile to replace Rotten as the new singer. All this in the Julian Temple´s Movie the Great Rock n Roll swindle. Of course this was a publicity stunt aimed to provoke the British public.

However Mr Biggs did record a tune with what was left of the Sex Pistols, Steve Jones and Paul Cook, "No One is Innocent".

He also recorded a track with the German punk band Die Toten Hosen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25426914


.,,

Artist - Josefin Rasmuson

 

Josefin Rasmuson (Swe)
Ball pen on paper.

The Wheelz - Wanna Get Drunk

The Wheelz - Wanna Get Drunk (US)

Taken from the compilation - Music In The Streets vol. 1 (2013)

...

The Punk Rocker Vs The Christ Democrat over Jesus

http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/hagglund-i-brak-med-punkare-om-jesus/
Swedish punk singer Johan Johansson have gotten into a Twitter feud with Christ Democrat leader Göran Hägglund over Jesus. The punk singer claim that Jesus would bitchslap Hägglund because how his politics treats the poor in Sweden.
Hägglund have now blocked Johansson. The feud have however reached the news paper that have asked Hägglund for an statement.

Attentat - Skyltsöndag i GBG

Attentat - Skyltsöndag i GBG (Swe)

EP (2013)

...

Strawberry Blondes, Stiffy Jones at Snövit and Tegelhögen

Strawberry Blondes, the Wales answer on Rancid, was in Stockholm for three gigs in three days. I came to see two of them and was impressed with what I saw. To support them Stiffy Jones came along from the Stockholm suburbs.

Wedenesday, November 27at Snövit

The Crowd

Wedenesday at Snövit, not much people. As I written before, if there is a dedicated crowd at a gig, it doesn´t matter if it´s not a big crowd, because most punk clubs in Stockholm are so small it seems crowded anyway. The people gathered in the Snövit basement on wedenesday was mostly Strawberry Blondes fans and they were there for a good time. Some told me that SB been one of their favorite bands for some time and the support band Stiffy Jones thought it was surreal to be playing on the same stage as their favorites.

The Bands

Stiffy Jones

As I written before I promised to give the lads a chance that I didn´t gave them while I impatient was waiting for Topper some weeks ago. This time I gave them the chance to prove themself as a band to be counting on. In many ways they did. Good songs and a good show. But it all drowned in a massive treble noice that did cast a shade on the songs. It was hard to hear the vocals and even the bass guitar most of the time, it affected my imprssion of them. I have often noticed the same phenomena, the support band doesn´t pay the same amount of attention to all the details as the main band, wich often is the main difference between being the headline and not. Lower the volume a bit, especially the treble and you will stand out as much greater. Besides that they were quite good, with good tunes. If I should put them in a genre or compare them with some others, then it must be the Civilians but with a bit more indy touch.

Strawberry Blondes

The only thing that I can hold against the Wales band (with a Canadien bass player) Strawberry Blondes, is that, on the records they are a bit too much Rancid, Dropkick Murphys, Stiff Little Fingers and the Clash. Even if they do really good records.
Live the band played it a bit harder, a bit more playful and with their own touch, which made quite an impression on me. I didn´t expect to see such a living band. Frontman and singer Mickie Stabs was all over the stage, jumping, dancing and singing so the saliva showers anything around. The intensity was striking. Live, they didn´t have the double guitars with its fat sound like they can have on the records. But that made them more Strawberry Blondes than anything that they can be compared with. They used the dynamics of ease it down a bit before the songs erupts into loud punk rock for instance. A throbbing bass, played by Stew Page, and a drummer, Jay Rebel, that seemed convinced that his drums was something that deserved a good beating.

It was a hard working band leaving nothing to chance in the stage apearance. 100% pure punk energy that was amazing. Sorry I meant 110% punk energy.

Any band that will improve their stage presence, go and see Strawberry Blondes, watch and learn! And even when the strings broke on both the bass and the guitar they went on as the high class band they appeared as.

On Wednesday night the crowd responded with singing along in the songs and spontaniously jump on stage and grabs the mic´s and help out. The band seemed a bit surprised over it and very pleased. The crowd did go, aaaaoooaawwhh etc.

Best songs? It´s hard to pick some of their songs because the high quality of all their songs. But my favorites were ”Fight Back”, ”No Pasaran”, ”Goodbye Inspiration”, ”Social Control”,
And the genius of having a real trumpet, played by Emma Jones, in some of the songs like ”Manners and Respect” was adding on to the good feeling I got from it. The trumpet that cut in between the distorted guitar and the bass, that made them stand out in their own way.

I can truly say that I got a hole in my heart when there wasn´t any Rancid record this years as promised or any West Coast Riot festival in the summer. Strawberry Blond pretty much filled that hole in my heart with their two shows that I witnessed in Stockholm.

So

Worth the money? I paid 60+20 SEK for this and are more than pleased. Even more pleased over the fact that I was going to have another chance to see them next day.

 

Thursday November 28
at Tegelhögen, Vällingby

The Place

For once I just had a 7 minures walk to the gig.
Tegelhögen is a youth recreation centre in one of the oldest Suburbs in Stockholm. Vällingby. Vällingby was rolemodel for building good suburbian towns all over the world after the WW II. But the ideas from witch Vällingby was based on got diminised in the city plans and the European suburbs got to be dead end places full of despair. Even Vällingby in itself have lost some of it´s fame and glory.

One of the things that was important back in the fifties when Vällingby was buildt, was something for the youth to do and a place to do it in. Tegelhögen was such a place, At the place the Swedish metal scene later have had some important moments here.
In the early eighties the local band Taboo reigned here, Jocke that played in Taboo is now in Topper as well as he is working on restore the musical pride of Tegelhögen and in the area, as well as he is an recreational leader.
My girlfriend was a taboo fan back in the days and used to hang out at Tegelhögen. Which could be pretty wild gatherings sometimes. In the early days of Swedish punk those centres was very important to all punk bands that wanted to make an impact och the young punks. (My girlfriend got a nostalgia flashback of epic proportions while smoking a cigarette outside the building. Telling me stories of the wild years.)

This wednesday it was almost empty, Most punks today are grown ups, not kids.

A bunch of lost imigrant kids where there, I recognized some, dead end kids as they sometimes poetic is described in punk lyrics. A few leather jacket clad girls in their younger teens show up, as well as some girl friends of the Stiffy Jones, me and my girlfriend. It was so far from the club the night before.



There was no bar or fashionable punks, no fancyness, just boring everyday things, Brick walls, a stage that was too big for the few that are there to see it. This could been what Iggy Pop refered to as No Fun.
But that was just an illusion.

The Bands

Stiffy Jones

Stiffy Jones first gig was at the same place 9 years ago, now they were back. And treated the situation like they were playing for an overcrowded club.

OK, there was a bit too much treble this time as well. Not as bad as the night before however. But their performance was better, more intensed. I guess they learned a bit from SB the night before? Stiffy Jones convinced me that they are a good band.
The suburbian kids might got a bit of a chock with high volume, or at least they looked a bit chocked by it. This was not their average hip hop dreams about fake gangsta escapism. This was punk rock. And I could see the music reached them. Some just shook their bodies spontainiosly along to the high volume music.

Strawberry Blondes

Strawberry Blondes were in the midle of their European tour. I guess they could be a bit fed up with it, I guess they could be taking a day off just relax through this gig. But no. They really proved why they are a truly great band, a band who gained all my respect.

Actually I think I saw one of the best performances all year. Not even a week after Sham 69, the same year Stiff Little Fingers, Dropkick Murphys, Bad Religion, Asta Kask and Alonzo Fas 3, been raiding the country. They did delivered for real. Not being on stage as rockstars, but as speaking voice for all the underdogs. Being a true to the heart is in my eyes not about being a cool rock star on stage, Dr Marten boots and some fashionista haircut. It is about the social bit as well. Being there, supporting the underdogs.
I think you guys just outscored them all, all the rock stars.

My tears came during ”Goodbye Inspiration”. Shivers down my spine, total sober. A dull thursday their music took me to a emotional place where only good bands, great music and a some special occation takes me. But that moment was short, because a bass string broke and cripple it. OH NO not now, she said! The situation was brilliant rescued by the bass player and Stiffy Jones. But the magic moment was gone. Standing there in the suburb surronded by the underdog kids listen to a punk rock band singing ”Goodbye Inspiration”, well, something was shaken inside me. Shaken, in a good way. I will probaly never forget that moment. It was something outside the average punk club experience.
I loved every single moment of it. Then it was over.
The bands got their gear. While collecting them, Jocke encouraged one of the kids to enter the stage, grab the mice and do his rap. Which lead to a big applause from both the other kids, us and the bands.

That was it, the band Strawberry Blondes continued on their European tour, with another gig in Stockholm, at a sold out Klubben at Fryshuset.

 

So

The entrance was free, it was a total shame that the kids didn´t showed up in big numbers when they could get a glimpse of the real world, real rock stars from the real world. But as the drummer of Strawberry Blondes said. -The kids today is into all that crappy music, I agree.

Some extra cred to Jocke H that made Strawberry Blondes and Stiffy Jones do this.

Live Photo - Strawberry Blondes at Tegelhögen Vällingby

 

 

Nov 28  2013

 

 

 

...

Live Photo - Stiffy Jones at Tegelhögen Vällingby

 

 

Nov 28  2013

Asta Kask Awarded in their Home Town

http://mariestadstidningen.se/toreboda/article1433866.ece

Asta Kask just home from their second Japanese tour have been awarded for putting their hometown Töreboda on the World map.

 

 

...

 

 

 

...

Strawberry Blondes - Under Suspicion

Strawberry Blondes - Under Suspicion (UK)

From the EP "Nothing Left To Lose", (2013)

...

Sham 69 the Original 77 line up LIVE a review.

For years I was envious on the Londoners and New Yorkers. They could pic and choose any classy band from any part of the world as entertainment. Stockholm is starting to get a bit of that nowday´s, a feeling of beeing where things happen. I didn´t go and see Black Sabbath on last friday, because I wanted so see Topper again, reed my gospel about them here. In true punk spirit they drag me into some late night jamming from hell after the gig, hahaha, with singers like me they don´t need enemies. On saturday there was one thing on the schedule, Sham 69.



The Band

Sham 69 was one of the single most important band for the development of the Streetpunk and Oi! movement. Sprung out of the original wave of bands in the late 1970ies they were the band that wave the punk banner when most other original bands turned into pop och post punk bands.

Unlike the Sex Pistols and The Clash rather sophisticated punk rock, Sham didn´t do more that put three chords together and in the chorus burst out in football crowd chants like the football fans did on the teraces. Mayby so, they came the true core of street punk much closer than the Clash did, for instance, with its more and more sofisticated pop. Today I find it hard to even think of a streetpunk and Oi! scene without the Sham 69 seventies adventures. Because adventures it seemed to be. Not only with the tension within the band as companion when singer Jimmie Pursey often refused to go on long tours.
Their leftish, working class aproach didn´t only gathered the poor no future kids and the outcasts in England. The ultra right wing party National Front decided as well make them their band. At least turn the Sham gigs into a platform for their nazi shit. The gigs turned into riots and the career of the Sham 69 would never see the heights that they deserved.
Besides that, many chritics and trendy know it all´s saw them as a vulgar hooligan band, not least in the Swedish music papers, where Sham together with UK Subs and the Exploited wasn´t given the same credit as other early punk bands. Sham wasn´t for the trendies, it was the real deal.

Sham 69´s football chants and underdog lyrics was the blueprint for the Oi! Movement and are so still today.

I saw Sham 69 (Pursey and some musicians) in the late 80ies where still the Swedish neo nazi skinheads (aka Boneheads) did turn up like a clockwork or Clockwork Orange gangs*. Just as the situation was when the band broke up in the late 70ies. For some reason Jimmy Pursey decided to be a rapper at the time and most of the gig was a musically breakdown. Pursey´s fighting spirit held top class. Through the whole show he mocked and humiliated the sieg heil skins so it must hurt, even in the mind of some boneheads. I saw some skins cry like babies afterwards, ripped out of an illusion that Sham 69 was their band. A pissed off Pursey did not include the boneheads in their anthem ” If The Kids Are United”.


The Crowd 2013

The Neo Nazi skinheads are almost gone in Sweden now. The ultra right wings have suits and being eager for power in the parliment now, not wearing Dr Martens and braces. The new skins in town are SHARPS, original or/and unpolitical*.
So therefor the wasn´t any core of Hitlerlovers infront of the stage as in 1988.
The crowd contained many familiar faces as well as others. Young and old, everyone there to show our affection and love to the classic band with their classic line up.

And possible was it the love and good response that made the dear old ranting singer a bit pale and numb in the beginning. Maybe he was so used to the animosity infront of the stage, so he might needed some of that to get him going? I don´t know, but when the security at the place did behave like morons, then Pursey transformed from a man on the job into a brilliant character and the true frontman of Sham 69. Was it a bit of the old punk that came out of the shadows?

The Venue

First of all, it was hard to get tickets, it was hard to even get information about the gig. It was poorly promoted. Possibly because it was a bunch of punks trying to put together their anual punk gathereing. Why on earth don´t people realize that punk legends shall play at Debaser Medis or Fryshuset with its capacity, so that more people can get tickets. On the other side it was cool to watch the band on such a small stage.
The place which I and many with me never heard of before was way under the standards of the regular clubs like Debaser or Strand. Enarena Globen was the name of it. If you live in Stockholm you understand the ridiculous in that, if not, we take that another time. The security seemed a bit taken of the amount of people and the people itself. Shaken and stired.
Inside, the 2 bars were real fast in serving thirsty punks and skins.
But I got a bad feeling about it all, not least the time it took to get all the people inside. And the bad feeling wasn´t wrong even if it turned out to be the right thing for the gig in the end.

The Gig

The band went onstage, the crowd roared like a hungry beast, eager for some Sham...
Unfortionately didn´t the security guys understand the basic concept of a punk gig and after a few songs they marched up on stage to make it look like an old The Doors show (you know where the worked up Jim Morrion having a go at the cops covering the stage). For most of the gig I saw some beefy, scared bouncers, where I should be seeing the bass player Dave Tregunna and Guitarist Dave Parson.
This was probably what Jimmy Pursey needed to be going. It was hillarious to see the psychodrama that was going on between the singer, the security and the front rows. For a moment I got the feeling that it was going out of hand.

”They gonna cut the power”, I tought, ”or there´s gonna bee a riot”,
In this hostile enviroment, Sham 69 where at their best. All of the sudden I could see that they weren´t here for the money and fame, They were the real deal.

After a while the security staff seemed to be learning their lesson, there wasn´t any situation going on, just a punk rock mosh pit having fun. Jumping and chanting like every song was a part of our DNA, which it were, at least mine.

This time we all sang along ”If The Kids Are United” even if a shitload of us were close to our 50ies and not kid´s anymore. They should change the lyrics to the more accurate ”If The Drunks Are United”.
”Bostal Breakout”, ”Hersham Boys”, ”Angels With Dirty Faces”, ”Questions and Answers”....you name it. Most classic tunes where there. Those five mentioned was, in my mind, the best**.

Mr Pursey didn´t lost the opportunity to praise Olof Palme, our murdered Prime Minister, our JFK. And praise Sweden and Stockholm as one of the coolest places in the world. So the Stockwell tune was suitable renamed Stockholm. I guess Tregunna felt good as well with our response compared to when he played in Stockholm with the Lords of The New Church in the 80ies when the crowd was legendary stone cold.

Without the tension between the band and the boys with security badges it would been like any other concert. They did their songs, the crowd showed their affection and blah, blah, blah.
Now the band could show how they worked back in the days without being sad nostalgia. Part of it because that their songs are still vital and their political stance is as important in our days as it was in the good old days. From where I stood (Jumped like a madman) the sound was terrific and the moshpit kept me alive.

In the end the bouncers smiled a bit and possibly understood that this was exactly like things should be.

Worth the money 300 SEK. Definately (I did go for free however, but would gladly have paid for it)


Oh I forgot, there was another band as support, Stilett, I didn´t see them and will give them a chance next time.

* Note Cicci Rehnström Suurna´s documentary about the 80ies STHLM´s skins.

**The Set List, the Anthology is the classic songs rerecorded and released this year 2013.

Whatever happened to the 80ies Skinheads...

Skinheads 25 år senare (Skinheads 25 years later)

Documentary shown on SVT (Swedish Television) Tursday 21/11 2013

1986 the then young and ambitious Swedish reporter Cicci Rehnström Suurna did make a documentary about some young Skinheads in Stockholm. I saw it back then, still with sad memories of the skinhead thing going to hell (the far right). I knew, I been there, done that. In 86-88 Stockholm was a divided city between Punks and Rockers and Hip Hoppers (called Kickers at the time) and The Skinheads. I had no problem to talk to them and I remember that Character Göran, and my todays Girlfriend even was a hangaround. We knew that everyonee of them wasn´t nazis as the media claimed. I think Cicci back then managed to see the individuals cought in an extrem macho and violent style. Not some nazi thugs.

Now 25 years later she want to know what ever did happened to the guys, the movement etc.
The movment today trying the best to be originals, unpolitical and SHARPS. But still some young guys and girls and some punks gather at the nation known hangout, Helikopterplattan. In the end one of the more violent skins in the documentary shows up and it turn out to be a Japanese tourist photosession or something. ”We were there”, style!
And in a way both her films are a bit cute. Pakaging that violent young men as cute nd lost young boys. Not just, but a bit. Even if the main theme in the doku is ”Wheere are they now, what the hell became of the once Sieg Heil skinheads.

Most of them did end up in criminality and in jail. Some just fled the scene to become whatever they beacame. Those guys didn´t want to take part in the film and regret any involvement in the Skinhead movement. The two we got to meet again, Göran and Kent, told their story, a story that continued with drugs, holiganism and gangsterlife in the outlaw biker world. Both of them tries to make sense in their everyday life and tries to help out. Kent even work as a social worker, Göran co founded Exit, a Nazi defector organissation that still works.

A cop that was working at the scene then, trying to keep the ever coming minor weekend riots, was telling his impressions. Those kids were so torn inside, he comment.

I was on the other side back then, and I think those boneheads did destroy the cool thing about skinheads. I don´t host to many sympathies for them who helped to fuck it up. But I can´t see why that Göran guy have to hate him self as he seem to do still today as an ex junkie, ex con , ex skinhead. But it is good to see that they feel a bit embarrased over the right wing shit.
The doku is a bit to cozy to be real good. But as an document of the zeitgeist (both end of the 80ies and today) it is OK. At least it tries to see the humans behind the boots. Not just deliver the average media cliché.

Worth watching? A bit, it was better than the other shit that the TV chanels are full of.  

Topper, a Gospel, the best Swedish live band at the moment

Some weeks ago I went to a show that became impossble to write a review about. Im not that happy little girl (that hates Robbie Williams) that wen´t to see them Topper as in their song. More of a missarable son of a bitch or something. I knew that I was in it for a treat when they announced that there would be guest artists onstage like the former Sludge Nation/Dear Majesty singer Jälevik and more.
On the other hand, why did they invite guest singers when they are such a good band as they are? Questions, questions, well I might would get some answers if I went there.
Anyway they were on at the Snövits club Probation at Södermalm in Stockholm. Together with Stiffy Jones. But before I write about that I have tell the story from the beginning.


Let´s back the tape to Januari this year. To predict the future I claimed that it would be an interessting year when all the good bands would release a record. So did many of them do and there are still some more weeks left for those who didn´t. But I know that Topper are sceduled release their next full lenght album next year. But we might get a single now*.

This year started with a concert that I instantly felt this was something extra, Topper at Snövit Jan 26. Still I find it the best gig the whole year, still ten month later. Still I get shivers from looking on the footage from my hand held camcorder from that event. Its energy, the energy that Topper is all about. They are not the most wild thing you seen, not the most crazy you can run into. But there are some punk rock energy in it that is hard to explain.

So I went there this October friday without any illutions of ever feel close to any divinity that Topper have to top to top themself at the same place. A couple of new songs (is that really nessecary?) was to be expected and a couple of other guys ocationally onstage. It was with mixed feelings I did go there. Could they do anything than fail?

The other band went onstage, Stiffy Jones, and was quite OK, but sorry guys I was waiting for Topper that night. I´ll give you a real chance another day. The same night was the good band Pastoratet on a Stockholm visit at Broder Tuck as well the Swedish Fotball World Cup game against Austria on in the same City. Not only 60 000 spectators at Friends Arena but the whole nation glued at the TV sets. A bad day for a gig. But I didn´t care, I was curious for whatever Topper would come up with. Some clever guy that been helping out as a band driver as well as tour manager for Topper as well as Ligisterna, aka Alph, made up a logistic plan to manage to see Topper and the be just in time for Pastoratet.
If there was a dramatic Fotball game on I didn´t care, I was in for some Topper.

And when they finally entered the stage, not as rock stars but as bunch of old men still in they dayjob clothes, litterary changing their clothes onstage into their Topper uniform, the black Topper shirts. Then it was just some minutes left for the mayhem to break loose.

The Singer Jocke started with some ranting adressed to Swedish filmaker Lukas Moodysson that had premiere with his punk film (We Are The Best) the same night, ”You haven´t done it for real, we have”. Then the band burst into Punkrock revival. Where he pretty much waste all his voice, then it was a hissing as screaming Jocke that still tried to scream the little voice there was left out of his body. After first number it was bowling time from the old single tune from the year 2000, ”Take the Skinheads & Homeboys Bowling”, that was the moment when my embarkment start to burst. Then there was no hiding, then it was an open sore that never seamed to heal. The crowd started to move their feet ´till it went bananas. Little by little the barriere between the crowd and the band vanished. The guest artist was a part of it. If I ever was doubtful about them, I backed off. It was a stroke of genius. Mr Jälevik seems to enjoy every minute of it, while singing a Buzzcock tune with a growling voice.

The Trobbing bass guitar with its steady boom, boom boom, was the ground where their power came from. Matched with the hard drumbeating, drums that seems like taking more hard hits than any punchdrunk old boxer. The Steve Jonesy guitar licks and powercords worked out of an eager to be the best band there is, was taking the band further than mediocrazy. On top of it, the angry, ranting singing that comes from a madman singer that seems to be everywhere and nowhere at once, both in mind and in in the physical space, that was Topper, that is Topper!

It is quite alot of Clash, Stiff Little Fingers and Sex Pistols but enough of Jocke to make them a band on their own.
I´ve seen great international Punk Rock stars the last two years, very few would put them Topper behind themself in my toplist. Infact it is only Rancid and Street Dogs that can compeate. Stiff Little Fingers, Social Distortion, Iggy and The Stooges, Bad Religion,Dropkick Murphys and Turbonegro didn´t made me go bananas like I did at Snövit, for the second time this year. Even the Swedish pride of Asta Kask and Alonzo Fas 3 can´t match Topper a night like this.
Despite the rather dull cellar club sound that is standard at Stockholms cellar punk clubs, despite that there was no voice left in the singer, despite the whole country was watching football they managed to change the odds. They were fighting the fight any good band would do, fighting and winning. They didn´t seem to worry too much about it. The tapping of drumsticks 1,2,3,4 and the next tune is on and the band carries on.

I was no more a bloke with a blog that might write a review about it. I was a blob, an amoeba that lost every aspec of...whatever I lost. Dignity I lost a long time ago in a Galaxy far far away.

”Of She goes”, cries the pogoing crowd together with the guest singer Eas Tiljander. Then ”Robbie Dies” at least as everyone went on chanting that together like we never done anything else as the end of the ”Off she goes” goes. Imagine Topper and the crowd do the same at Hammersmiths Odeon!

At the end of their set the voice of the main singer was finished, so I an a few blokes grabed the microphones and gave him a hand (voice). We declare that ”we live in the Suburbs, 7 days a week”. The thin line between the band and the crowd was then diminished as it is supposed to be when punk comes true. I think I understand how religion once came into the life of the cavemen. It must been just like a night like this. So I don´t write a review, I write a gospel.


To talk about entrance fees such a night feels puny but whatever I did pay it was way too cheap.





Pastoratet

But the night didn´t ended there.

Pastoratet (the Pastorate) is a band from the towns of Tibro and Skövde in the Vastergötland province, (the real Gotaland, not like it is in that HBO fantasy fiction TV series ”Vikings). And the gig was held at Broder Tuck in the same area. We, Ligisterna and I went to see them. And we were pretty much the ones that did. I felt a bit bad about it because how could they even be a fraction of as good as Topper that night? And in that basement club Dislocated with its bad sound. However, they did. Actually they did have a rather good, thick and heavy sound. And singer of Pastoratet Goran´s clear and soft voice mixed with some screaming did cut throught the sound barrier that is the sound of the band. Their songs felt like home and often the lyrics is a bit like being in a domestic argument. Afterwards I tried to find out who the song ”Stick din lilla diva” was about. But I rather should try to prove Einstein wrong instead, because there was no answer to get.

That the band even got my attention after Topper is remarcable, that they even got me going as well is astonishing. That good was their effort to get us, the few that was in the crowd going. And we got it going. I hope that they will come back soon, another time, when there is no punk film premiere, no fotball game and no Topper mayhem at the same time. But Im very pleased I gave them a chance because they perfected an alredy perfect gig night. I went home almost stonedeaf for two days. But that it was worth.

Worth the Money? Yes.

Tonight Topper go on the Snövit stage for the third time 2013, I will see them for the forth time this year, will they still go for that magic moments or will they not.

Topper will release a single in the end of December 2013 and the album 2014.

The Hipster Games (feat Yello Biaffra)

Asta Kask is in Japan again....

.....Last time it happened it looked like this....

Demerit - Fight Your Apathy

Demerit - Fight Your Apathy (Chi)

From the Album - Bastards of The Nation (2008)

...

Beijing Punk - Banned in China

Punk Dokumentary now on DVD...

...

Chubby Chris of Combat 84 is dead

Unconfirmed rumours sais that the controversial singer "Chubby" Chris Henderson  in one of the first wave of british Oi! bands Combat 84 have died.
How, where and when is still questions that are unanswered.

Besides being a singer in the band Combat 84 he was also found in the circles of Football hooligans.

The Pretty Reckless - My Medicine

The Pretty Reckless - My Medicine (US)

From the EP "The Pretty Reckless" (2010) Official video release (2012)

The Pretty Reckless - Kill Me

The Pretty Reckless - Kill Me (US) Single (2012)

...

R I P LOU REED

REST IN PEACE LOU REED

INSPIRER, PIONEER AND THE GRANDFATHER OF PUNK ROCK!


...

Fat Four Tour - a Live Review

The Event
The Crowd

Bunker Bar is a new punk stage in town. Basically the punk hangout Jameson opened a bar in the basement and now they engage bands. As a concert place it isn´t optimal. But the fine thing is that the lazy punks in the Jamson bar can´t make up sorry excuses such as it is too far to the concerts.

The place was crowded as there was a spectacular 4 band night on. The Fat Four Tour containing bands from the west coast, east coast and down south of Sweden.The tour concept (I guess Divan in Headons wants me to credit him for it) is that the bands shall play in every city the band resides. Last night Stockholm was on the schedule.

The Bunker bar was, as I told, well crowded, full of both punk scene regulars as well as new faces. The regulars, however had a tricky choise because the exellent band Saturday´s Heroes and Faster Pussycat Kill Kill was playing at the KGB bar at the same time. So some choosed that event and I guess they didn´t got dissapointed from what the rumors been telling me.

Headons

First out was the Halmstad based band Headons. A scruffy rock n roll infested punk rock that mix both English and Swedish as their laguage of choise. The Swedish lyrics are very angry and upset with our right wing government. And they dedicated the song Fuck You to the right wing party and our prime minister as well. Actually this was band that I came here to see. They got the uneasy task to open up it all. I don´t know why they were choosen to be the first. Because this was a 4 headline band night. Headons didn´t spare anything and went into a wild and frenetic gig with all their hearts and punk attitude. Wow, they are quite good on record but live they geared up a few gears.
Unfortionately the sound wasn´t matching their effort. Partly it was a bit numb I think. But that didn´t seem to trouble them too much. This was punk in it´s essence, good contact with the still rather stiff and shy crowd. I wouldn´t be the man that would go on stage after their appearence. I wondered how on earth could the rest of the bands match this?

Suicide Syndicate

Next in line was the Scania based Suicide Syndicate (from Malmö) that had no choise than to go up and play because they´re ”in it for life”. In studded black jeans jackets full of band patches they looked like a buch of savage barbarians, not least because the main singer Bengtsson´s necklace made of bones. And with their Street Punk they continued where Headons started. Actually they proved that they could match Headons. Shame on me, to even think they couldn´t. Slowly the crowd woke up a bit. The sound was a bit better but still not to good. After some violent slamdancing infront of the stage a microphone pole went to hell. That´s punk rock!

And then there was technical troubles, the PA went dead so there was some times to have a chat both with the regulars and the band that visit us. And refill our glasses with more brew.

Smash it up

Smash it up is from Gothenburg containing both the guitarist from Troublemakers as well as Roger from Stockholm who sings like his last breath is near (desperate and shouting in a punk rock way). He was on home turf so to say, as well as they used a amp with the Troublemakers logo all over it. Maybe because the two ingrediences they got both the crow going and the best sound all night. Or was it because their carismatic singer was all over the place and their catchy old school punk rock tunes. I realized during their set that despite technical problems and partly bad sound, I was really in for a good time. Their excellent tunes in combination with the crowds reactions and the hard working band on stage was taking this to the hight that I hoped for.

Spotlicks

There was no way out for the last band and also the band that was the hosts for the event, Spotlicks. Last time I saw them they broke up the gig halfway through because of a diabetic incident on stage. That was a total ”no no” last night, total unthinkable. It was up and defend Stockholm against the hillbillies that just rocked our brains out. And they did.

Except Bass player Rikke, as usual, not knowing how all their tunes starts, there was no mess ups. As the only female singer last night Elin sounded sparkling. It was refreshing to hear a ranting female voice after all the ranting males.
Spotlicks got the best song among their set list. ”Fatta att du duger”, that gives me 1979 vibes in a nice way. And they closed the party in a way that summed it up real nice.

And so

120 SEK did I pay for four classy punk bands. That was real cheap. The beer was at decent prices and I really had a good time, my only grief last night was that I missed Saturday´s Heroes, but you can´t have it all, can you?

Brocker - One Man Mosh Pit

Brocker - One Man Moshpit (UK)
From the Album "Out of Order"  (2013)

...

Turbonegro on a stamp

http://www.sydsvenskan.se/kultur--nojen/turbonegro-blir-frimarke/

Norwegan Death punk band Turbonegro is becomming a stamp i Norway.
Turbonegro comment it on Facebook with the words..."Yes, but I´m on a fucking stamp, so your argument is irrelevant".



...

Troublemakers - Nu kommer dom / Det kommer dagar Single reviews

Troublemakers

Det kommer dagar (2013)        
Nu kommer dom  (2013)

Swedens most underrated punk band, is in my eyes, without any doubt Troublemakers from Gothenburg. Formed in 1981 as a second generation Gothenburg band with members from the first generation of bands (GBG Sound, Perverts). Then the band has been around in various constellations with members from Anti Cimex and Attentat etc.
After a short break up in the 90ies that was only a short pause in the bands history. Then it was Punk Rock as business as usual from one of this country´s most reliable bands. Live they are a safe card with their punk classics “Staden Göteborg”, “Dom ljuger”, “Grogg och parabol”, “Vill du bli millionär” and the singer, Blomman´s finest moment in the tune “Ronka” (originally played by Perverts) etc and the crowd going ballistic to it.

Now they have released two new songs as digital 1 song singles, “Nu kommer dom” (Now they are coming) and “Det kommer dagar” (There will be days).  Two songs that are total different within the Troublemakers universe, still typical Troublemakers tunes. In a band that been around for more than 30 years, making records there must be a point when they realize that they can do anything that comes into their mind. I guess this is a result of it. The catchy radio friendly car stereo tune “Det kommer dagar” is possible NOT the most angry punk tune recorded, and it´s far from their best tune. Not that it is bad in any way, quite opposite. It sticks and it is such tune that you find yourself humming after a while. I like it even If I liked last year single “Stockholm” much more.

“Nu kommer dom” is much darker and harder. Here the Troublemakers take a stranglehold on the illusion of that everything is fine. The lyrics take stance in bad news. It might be about a conflict in Congo or Syria or a coming conflict just around the corner. It is very clever written and I can make up my own mind what the song is about. It is hard and heavy in the harder tradition of Troublemakers.
Worth buying? Of course should you buy it and for different uses.

Both songs are within in the Troublemakers territory so there are no surprises here. It is however good tunes, but possible not in the top rank of the Troublemakers top list. Still, after more than 30 years of doing this there are no signs of they are getting tired of this. They are as I wrote above one of the most reliable bands I know. And the most underrated.

Social Distortion covers Creedence

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/social-distortion-cover-creedence-clearwater-revival-song-premiere-20131014


Social Distortion covers Creedence Clearwater and Revial´s hit

"Up Around The Bend" on what seems like a soundtrack to an animated movie.

https://soundcloud.com/relativitymusicgroup/social-distortion-comin-up/s-Ys1cc

Vi är bäst! Lucas Moodyson new film about 13 year old girls struggling to form a band

International Trailer

Swedish Trailer

A scene from Lucas Moodyson´s new movie "Vi är bäst" (We are the best)

based on his wifes Coco Moodyson´s comics. A autobiographical story about Coco´s own

way of life at Södermalm in Stockholm. She was 13 and wanted to start a Punk band but everybody

told them that Punk was dead.

Swedish punk legend Johan Johansson (of KSMB) have commented (on Facebook)

that he was "teenage idol stalked in a cute way" by Coco and her friends as the punk rock star he was.

KSMB (Johan Johansson´s band) have some music in this movie. And there are of course

Ebba Grön music in it as well.

A scene from the movie

Rancid - Tropical London (Let´s hava a Rancid Tuesday)

Rancid - Tropical London (UK)

From the Album "Indestructible" (2003)

...

Coastline Apparition - Scope Creep

Coastline Apparition - Scope Creep
(US) (2013)

Vänsternäven - Välkommen hit (Album Review)

Vänsternäven
Välkommen hit

(Spotify) so far
2013

Review made from listening to Spotify

Let´s face it, punk is so much better if it is ridiculous angry. Gatans Lag´s total angry eruptions against everything and everyone makes them one of the best bands in Sweden today. Another is the ultra leftist band from the rural part of Sweden the Province Västergötland, the land of the old Vikings. There most similarities between the two brilliant bands ends.

Vänsternäven (Left fist) is very angry about everything today, but with difference. Where Gatans Lag go for the drunken brawl in general, Vänsternäven wave a red banner first, after being  slaving in the factory for hours(?), just before they go for a good fisticuff party or something. At least in their lyrics. OK, you have to filter some of it. I seriously don´t think they wanna do all the violence they sing about.

 Why do I say so? Because I knew the people from my old hoods, I can spot some as a member in Vänsternäven. I can spot the irony and the local jokes in some of it. I met people like “King of Störd” (King of Disturbed) at parties back in the days and I really can see the nude old gentleman “Naken Moderat” (The Naked Conservative) before me, both just excellent songs in different ways.

The lead singing have gone from shouting to singing since the last album. Normally I don´t like such a move in directions but here it is a brilliant move. And the huge chorus that sometimes was a bit tone deaf on the “Vänsternäven” (2012) album have been trained to perfection on this production, well almost at least. The chorus gives the songs the extra power to be real good punk and brings an Oi! feeling to it.

It has been some criticism about their goofy hillbilly commie image from some parts of the big city. I can understand it because it´s very local kind of irony in it many ways that the Stockholmers don´t get or appreciate. Not to mention that they sing in a very heavy hillbilly kind of Swedish dialect that most of us from that part of the country feel a bit embarrassed about and tries to hide (it´s one of the Viking dialects but will put you low on a trendy list). But on the record I find it cool. It´s full of pride.

On their covers they have Chinese communist inspired pictures, both on their debut full length “Vänsternäven” as well on this new “Välkommen hit”. In my opinion that is pretty much all the Communism that is. Or at least it´s not an intellectual leftism that is presented, more a drunken chant of a frustrated worker.  In reality the lyrics is pretty much a from a working class gutter perspective that pours over in an angry frustration over the fact that life is unfair like in “Knegare” (Worker). It´s about hating a pestering neighbor (Grannjävel/The Fucking Neighbor)  and that they  wanna turn the back on people that change opinions like other change shirts (Kameleont/Chameleon). Pretty much common people´s anger.
Well if you´re are a conservative or liberal, in short, bourgeois scum, (to use Vänsternävens way to put it) you might not like the message the send in the one minutes songs. And of course they give an extra boot to the racist Sweden Democrat party.  But the rest of us might feel it’s a bit of truth told as well as some drunk goofing around in it in general just because that is what the seem to be ramble about while having a beer or 200. How many punk bands do songs about failed Water Parks like they do in “En meter Kört”?

“Molotov” and “Bränn ner Kungahuset” (Burn down the Royal Family) is a bit more problematic to feel sympathy for because of the ultra violence it proclaims (yes, me, the soldiers son doesn´t like killings). But I put it on the Irony account, the not to be taken to serious account. Just as I know that Ligisterna won´t be killing the vultures as the sing about. This record should be treated like a Ligisterna record from the countryside.
And there is a Stockholm reference on this record, “75” is a brilliant rewritten cover on “Grisen Skriker´s” ” (Sthlm band) 1979 tune “65”. It´s up to date and political in a way most of the Swedes can agree on.




My only negative feeling against this record is that many of the songs been around for a while so it doesn’t feel like a new record.
But that is just a bit of spoiled whining.
In fact I rank this record very high, possibly the best this year so far, in competition with Asta Kask, Alonzo Fas 3 and Gatans Lag.
Note that Asta Kask, Vänsternäven and Gatans Lag are from the same Province.
This is a must buy, if you ask me.

Sad Society - Helter Skelter

Sad Society - Helter Skelter (UK)

From a Sound Cloud release and mini album that will be handed out at concerts. (2013)

Punk band shoots porno on Westboro Baptist Church front lawn

The contfrontalist extremist church of Westboro (US) have made it a legio to fuck with war veterans, gays and you name it. And their claim of freedom of speach went up to bite them in the tail in the end.
Follow the links for some fun and whitty ways to fuck with them. And literary fuck at their places.


http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2013/10/punk-band-shoots-porn-on-westboro-baptist-church-lawn

http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/2013/07/a-group-of-satanists-performed-a-gay-ritual-on-a-westboro-baptist-church-gravesite/

https://www.facebook.com/getshotkicksass/posts/519319074820814

The FAt Four On Tour 2013

A four band Swedish tour package is out on the roads during end of Septembet to October 2013.

Spotlicks (Stockholm), Headons (Halmstad), Smash it Up (Gothenburg) and Suicide Syndicate (Malmö).

So far Helsingborg, Halmstad and Stockholm is on the bill. Stay tuned for more dates.

...

3rd annual Ultrahuset celebration at Kafé 44, Tredje Könet, Klägg and Gonzo Morales live review

The Venue (and a background)

For the second generation of Stockholm punks Ultrahuset was a second home. Basically it was a family house in a suburbian middleclass area that for some reason was turned into an anarchy punk place (why I didn´t know then and I still don´t). The concerts where held in the living room that was turned into a riot pad. The place was an exception in the well planned capital of Sweden, Stockholm.
An exception that became a role model for other places such as Pinkruset and  Vita Huset in Täby. But Ultra Huset in Handen was the #1 stage of both new  and older punkbands. Ebba Grön,  KSMB, Black Flag (Henry Rollins edition) and Dave Grohls Scream did play there.
The authorities and neighbors did manage to close it down in 1987-88. And as a symbolic act, some punks thought it was a good Idea to torch the place and burn it down instead of hand it over to the enemies.  With it, a wild and crazy part of Swedish punk history died.

Swedish punk didn´t. And so did not did the activities that moved to different places. Kafé 44 at the innercity island of Södermalm was the most notable extension of the activities of Ultra.

Since 3 years now Ante and Frölis have organized an annual celebration of Ultrahuset with bands that where there when it happened. This year Tredje Könet and Klägg was the main event.

The music and punk scene in all its glory, what as most famous with Ultra was the buns that Tompa Eken baked, and still does at Kafé 44, or 44an as most people say. The best buns I ever tasted!
I didn´t get any last naight Buhu. I guess I didn´t paid enough attention or something.

With both Tredje Könet and Klägg on stage you will have the background to DERBY STHLM that roams the Stockholm stages today. Before I dive into that I will say there were two more acts this night. The first was Billey Shamrock which I missed. And the Danes Gonzo Morales which had nothing to do with Ultrahuset and whose music was a bit apart from the nostalgia punk that was going on.

The Bands

Gonzo Morales

Apart from that they did a smashing good concert. The sound was excellent and their concept that might have been silly with its distorted vocals and tremolo guitars was a blast, hypnotic and catching. I wished they have had the opportunity to play on their conditions, not squeezed in between Klägg and Tredje Könet. Definitely will I listen more to them because they were quite good.
Together with a band like Nej they would have made a great lineup.

Klägg

I never heard Klägg back in the days, (which is weird because I hung out with Turbos brother Tommy). It was something that you read written on the wall in punk style graffiti.
I did a review of their DIY album this spring.
Live they were good. They were as aggressive and hard as I like to remember the bands from the old age. The agitating singer that where all over the place trying to wind up the not so young audience to the guitars with its Clashy hooks, tight drums and the bass players insane manners (the same as in DERBY STHLM) made it a good concert even with today´s standards. It might have been a nostalgia night but their performance and songs seemed surprisingly fresh.

Tredje Könet

Tredje Könet had their days in the mid 80ies. With its catchy pop punk I will say they were procursors to both trallpunk and the catchy rock punk that copy Rancid today. They got very strong melodies in all their numbers, but, the crowd where there to hear their two minor hits, “Spindlar” and “Godismannen”.  “Spindlar” covered by the French band Sans Sursis as well as DERBY STHLM frequently cover “Godismannen”. But  “Människor I nöd”, “En neger” and “Jag vill inte” is still real good punk rock songs that hold its banner high.
 It must been like home to Leffe when he last night was in a different band than DERBY STHLM, but still got a bass player in the center of the stage jumping up and down like a madman, or should I use madwoman instead. Ylva was one of those females that back in the days seems to refuse to be nice and quiet or just be pretty. Was it the whole rock star number onstage?
Still even if she leaves the tits covered nowdays as Leffe points out, she is all over not wanting to leave the stage clean for guitar playing male egos. The mocking between Leffe and Ylva onstage as well as between the band and the crowd was a part of the entertainment. Tredje Könets EP “4 hits” was one of my first buys when I moved to Stockholm in the mid 80ies and it is with a certain sadness I realize that this was a, one time only, event. I wish they continued because I felt I want that, I realized I missed them.

However the essence of the night is spelled DERBY STHLM. Whatever the two main acts did back then is refined in DERBY STHLM, and it was fun to see where the hell they came from so clearly.

I should mention the spontaneous 2 number gig Psykbryt and DERBY STHLM (named by the crowd as Derby Psykbryt) did in two KSMB numbers rather improvised, just like it could be back then.

The crowd

The crowd was mostly the regulars at Punk venues as well as some others. And because of the Ultra connection to the gig the average age was past 40. Pogoing there was to a certain point, but mostly it was more the Stockholm style of standing like statues kind of crowd. However the crowd grabbing the mikes in the chorus was more like it was back then at Ultra, where the was no real stage and the crowd was more or less standing in the band area, just like it should be.  Especially during the covers.

Covers like “Ronka”, “Jag vill dö” and “Pervers politiker”

And so

Worth the money? 100 SeK, Yes. But that price was an capitalistic outrage compared to Ultrahuset standards. Times have changed, that is clear.