April punk gig listings out now + Damage is Done + Static Shock Weekend interviews
Hello, paper punks. This month's listings are out now - online here and across south and east London in the usual spots (BOOKS, Tome, WASTE!, New River, World of Echo, all sorts) - Patreon subscribers have theirs in the post, join them!
This month's paper:
Sixty events on the grid this month - the usual mixture of gigs and club nights and maybe a film or two - plus for maybe the first time, an event every night this week starting from April Fools' Day. A friend pitched the idea of them going to seven gigs in seven days so perhaps I'll remind them if they have a spare £80.
On the front - it's green, half of ES at the excellent Clapton CFC all-dayer that took place on March 9th; on the back it's more of an opinion column with my recollections of every relevant gig I went to so far this year plus the return of Creg Clarrrk's Out and About with a tradition for the ages. Quite like how the fonts came out on this one, but then of course I'd say that. Three months on the trot talking about fucked venues it seems too, maybe that'll stop soon?
Online now:
You can now read my interviews with the Damage is Done collective from March's paper, plus the interview with Tom Ellis of Static Shock Records all about the festival of joy and chaos and good outfits that wrapped up in 2023. Two festival stalwarts and hopefully some good encouragement for the next gen to hold their own lossy hardcore conventions.
Damage (Is Done) Report
In March 2024, the hardcore convention returned AS caught up with two of the Damage is Done collective as they were getting ready to host the largest weekend yet, with two days at the Colour Factory featuring the UK debut of Japanese noise punk pioneers FRAMTID, QUARANTINE, FUGITIVE, FAIRYTALE and a roll call of UK Hardcore over four days.
Friendships Made In The Pit: Static Shock Weekend
The fest. A key component of a thriving hardcore scene these days, a packed four days where the Underground fills up with familiar badges on jackets, plans to catch up with friends from far flung scenes are planned and hangover plans are either dutifully laid out or completely ingnored. STATIC SHOCK WEEKEND begun in 2011...
You can read the second one - along with Juliet Jacques, Michael Molcher, columns and all sorts in the last Alternative Strategies zine; got some copies left that you can buy here. Definitely the last for a while - toying with making an annual for Christmas, but we shall see. Definitely making more badges soon.
Something else:
Another newsletter - while getting copies up to All Ages in Camden I ran into the author of the Thick Skin Bulletin, a newsletter devoted to queercore and queer punk in London. Amazing. Get following her Tumblr and get printing off copies!
That's all for the month; enjoy the later evenings and go see something silly. Here is my cat:
Get to the gig / Free, free, 🍉 / B P / A S