GIG REVIEW: Boilermaker + The Allergics + Street Blood
+ Jonny Robson, Hunwick WMC, County Durham,
Saturday 28 January 2023
A working men’s club in a village near Crook in County Durham might seem an odd place for a Saturday night gathering of the streetpunk clans.
But that’s because unless you’ve been to one of these bashes, you don’t know just how good they can be. It’s full of familiar faces, many of who have travelled far and wide to be here.
That’s not the case for Jonny Robson, who opens tonight’s proceedings. His band Gimp Fist are from just down the road in Bishop Auckland, and practice here every week.
Here he’s performing a solo acoustic set, including a few of his band’s less-played songs, an unreleased tune called Pirates & Politicians and a cover of the Ramones’ Swallow My Pride, among other stuff.
It’s the closing run of songs which really get the crowd going, however; First In Line, (Marching) On & On and Here I Stand are three of the Gimps’ best songs, and prompt the first dancing of the night, as well as a big singalong.
Next up are Street Blood, a three-piece from Newcastle who I’ve somehow managed to not see until now, even though they’ve been around since 2019.
Wayne, who handles guitar and gruff vocals, is front of stage, while the rhythm section of Babs (bass) and Dusty (drums) lurk in the shadows, pounding out a relentless beat.
I’m immediately impressed. Their songs are catchy, fairly short and sharp, and delivered with plenty of ardour, but it’s Babs’ groovy basslines which make them stand out from the pack.
They pack 14 songs into their 40-minute set, finishing on a high with Media Control and Outcasts, Outlaws & Outsiders from their We All Bleed The Same Colour EP, released late last year.
I think I’m right to say this is their only recorded output so far, but they’re a band I’ll keeping an eye on, as I like what I’ve heard very much. Check out the EP at Bandcamp HERE, or snap it up on CD at a gig.
Main support tonight are The Allergics from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who formed in the autumn of 2018 and have played here before on a bill headlined by Gimp Fist back in 2021 (reviewed here), but I arrived too late to catch them.
I’d heard a few of their songs on compilations, most notably as regulars on the excellent Spirit of DIY series put out by Punkboot Promotions, and was looking forward to seeing them live for the first time.
I wasn’t disappointed, as their brand of punchy shoutalong streetpunk is just my cup of tea. They cram 20 songs into their set tonight, including most of their 2021 debut album Here We Go…
There’s also some new stuff, including the three tracks from their latest EP Until We Meet Again, which offers a taste of what’s coming on the work in progress that is album number two.
As far as highlights go there are plenty: Pissed On The Bus, Fucked Generation and Broken Britain are among them, and the five-piece round off their hour-long stint with a lively cover of Blitz’s Someone’s Gonna Die, which gets the moshers down the front moshing even harder.
Time then for the headliners; Boilermaker are a four-piece from Darlington, not too far away, so this is almost a hometown gig for them, and the number of hefty skinheads slamming around in front of the stage noticeably increases.
Soundwise, Boilermaker are a real throwback to ’80s oi! bands like The Last Resort and The 4 Skins, with a hard-edged guitar sound and thunderous rhythm section, and they’re on it right from the off tonight.
Vocalist Max says that what with the pandemic and all this is their first Hunwick gig in five years, and they seem determined to make up for lost time, slamming through 15 songs like their lives depend on it.
They kick off with now-traditional opener Boilermaker, and follow with A Place To Go and Ya Pays Ya Money, all from their second album, 2019’s Kill Or Create (reviewed here).
I haven’t seen them for about three years, during which time they’ve released a third album, 2021’s Job Or Knock (reviewed here) and I’m surprised only four of its songs get an airing tonight.
You’re Going Nowhere, The Boys In Blue, When All’s Said And Done and Two Kids Two Estates fit nicely into their thunderous set, alongside old favourites like Bang To Rights, This Time and Weekend Millionaires.
It’s a shame they don’t play We All Fall Down, because as the gig wears on that’s exactly what happens down the front as the night’s alcohol intake kicks in and the crowd’s ‘dancing’ becomes more frenzied.
You fear for those who go down first, as one huge skinhead after another tumbles like dominoes, but these lads know the score and look after each other, helping up the fallen and checking they’re OK,
Things reach a frenzy with the closing one-two of There’s A Police Car and The Sirens & The Lights, two stonewall Boilermaker classics, but there’s time for one more song, and we get another oldie, 81/82, as an unscripted extra.
As the lights go up the dancers retire to the bar for another pint, and though there might be a few bruises in the morning to go with the sore heads, everyone agrees that this was a cracking night, and long overdue.
