Chris Butler
Wasted UK 2006
When: Thursday 10th – Sunday 13th August 2006.
Where: Blackpool The Winter Gardens
What: 4 days, 4 stages and loads of bands and artists featuring in the UK’s
biggest punk festival.
The bands that played were (according to my programme):
Thursday: Pama International, Section 5, Neck, Rock ‘N’ Roll Gypsies, Drongos
For Europe, UXB, Demob, The Astronauts, Fire Exit, Devilish Presley, Viva Las
Vegas, Gorgeous, The Debrettes, United Kingdom Of America, Bookstore, AK47, Gary
Lammin, Arthur Kitchener, Max Splodgenessabound, Johnny Wah Wah, Will Hodgson,
Bobby & Jack Bentham, The Lovely Brothers, Robb Johnson, Gizmo, Daniel Orlick,
P.A.I.N.
Friday: Anti-Nowhere League, The Crack, The Varukers, MDC, The Straps, The
Blaggers, Argy Bargy, On Trial, The Bus Station Loonies, Foreign Legion, Outl4w,
Guns On The Roof, Templeton Pek, Mouthguard, PKO, SAHT, Middle Finger Salute,
Neck, Monique Masson, Red Eyes, Steve Drewett, Patrik Fitzgerald, Attila The
Stockbroker, Babar Luck, Mike Park, Stza Crack, Frank Turner, King Blues, Skylar,
Kelly Kemp, Captain Hotknives, The Cockney Rejects, Hugh Cornwell Band, Hazel
O’Connor & The Subterraneans, TV Smith & Band, Chelsea, The Notsensibles, Eddie
& The Hot Rods, The Agitators, The Bleach Boys, Lowlife UK, Capdown, Leftover
Crack, GBH, Mike Davies & Eugene Butcher Radio 1 DJ Set, Adequate 7, Buzzkill,
Stuntface, Crack Howard, Spittin’ Dummies, A Bit Too Far.
Saturday: One Way System, Roddy Radiation & The Skabilly Rebels,
Splodgenessabounds, Red Alert, Resistance 77, MDM, Reazione, Antidote, East End
Badoes, Stage Bottles, 3CR, New York Alcoholic Anxiety Attack, Road Rage, Vox
Populi, Hyperjax, Nick Cash, Baby Boom, Arthur Kitchener, Joolz Denby, Knox,
Andy Blade, Harakiri Karaoke, The Darn Rustlers, Chris Butler, Kevin 2 Sheds,
Ron Watts, Max Slodgenessabound, Cocksparrer, The Angelic Upstarts, The Slits,
Newtown Neurotics, 999, Deadline, Goldblade, Sonic Boom Six, Grown At Home,
Attila The Stockbroker’s Barnstormer, Los Fastidos, Pickled Dick, Assert, The
Exploited, Peter & The Test Tube Babies, The Vibrators, Total Chaos, Beerzone,
Dead Pets, The Kirkz, Texas Terri Bomb, Riot Squad, Mercury League, 3DB’s Down,
Paul Carter, Hugh Cornwell, The Urban Dogs.
(The Acoustic Stage on the Saturday when I was playing ran like this: Paul
Carter, The Urban Dogs, Hugh Cornwell, Nick Cash (from 999), Baby Boom, Arthur
Kitchener (from The Last Resort), Joolz Denby, Knox (from The Vibrators), Andy
Blade, Harakiri Karaoke, The Darn Rustlers, Chris Butler, Kevin 2 Sheds, Ron
Watts and Max Splodgenessabound kicking things off each day at 12pm with a Bingo
game!)
Sunday: Sputnik 2, The Skeletal Family, Sick 56, Church Of Confidence, The Grit,
X-Rippers, The Duel, Chemical Kaos, Vas Deferens, Barnyard Masturbator, 4 Past
Midnight, The Selecter, The Flying Marrows, Random Hand, Wob, Jessi Eastfield,
TV Smith, Garry Lammin, Arturo Lurker’s Punktry & Western Lark, Blood Or
Whiskey, Sax ‘N’ Bilko, Pog, Jenny Creep, The Mongolia Brothers, Tent Peg Taf,
The Adicts, Slaughter & The Dogs, UK Subs, Neville Staple Band, P.A.I.N, The
Lurkers, Sick On The Bus, Paranoid Visions, Dubtones, The Damned, The Business,
The Last Resort, Vice Squad, Funeral Dress, Criminal Class, Holy Racket, Crashed
Out, Down And Outs, Garden Gang.
Not a bad selection for just £75 for the most expensive ticket for the full four
days I thought…
Anyway, to start with, what are my punk credentials? What on earth was a dodgy
folk singer with three chords and an acoustic guitar doing at a punk rock
festival? Well, where do we start? I could say that punk (to me) is a form of
folk music anyway. Songs of struggle and resistance, songs from the streets (or
factories, mines, battlefields etc for that matter). Basically, songs that are
written, sung, played and passed down by working class people. The link between
punk and folk music is very real I think.
I was more or less raised on punk rock (as well as my Mum’s Elvis Presley
records) and was listening to my brother’s punk records with him when I was 7 or
8 years old. By the time I was 10 or 11 (which was around 1981) I already had a
few records of my own and was building up my collection by swapping with other
punk music listeners. The first gig I went to was GBH in 1984 on my 14th
birthday. It was at the Birmingham Digbeth Civic Hall and nearly put me off
going to any other gig again as the night descended into violence and GBH
storming off stage earlier than scheduled. I persevered though and have been
lucky enough to see such acts as Antisect, Icons Of Filth, Conflict, Amebix,
Chumbawamba, Culture Shock, Instigators, MDC, Snuff, Leatherface, Blyth Power,
Flux Of Pink Indians, Discharge, Citizen Fish, Sham 69, The Blaggers, Zounds,
Rudimentary Peni, Stiff Little Fingers, Omega Tribe, Poison Girls, Anti-Pasti,
Subhumans, The Undertones and Eastfield amongst many others… The beauty of punk
for me (despite what music critics, fashion magazines and tabloid newspapers
would tell you) is that it doesn’t have a dress code or a particular musical
sound or style. It should be flexible, diverse, ever changing, suit all tastes,
challenging, exciting, uncompromising and above all (for me) listenable. Dress
how you feel comfortable, wear your hair how you like, listen to as wide a range
of musical styles as possible, as wide as Chumbawamba to MDC, from Poison Girls
to The Undertones and from Chris Butler to Eastfield. Something for everyone you
might say…
Despite listening to punk music, helping put on gigs, writing a punk fanzine and
following my favourite bands around the country, I never went through the spiky
or coloured hair phase. Reason being, me and my brother had always cut each
others hair when we were younger and both lived with our parents. It wasn’t a
fashion statement, it was just cheap. And still to this day (I’m 35 years old as
I type this) I still cut my own hair once a week (though if truth be known,
there’s a lot less to shave off these days!)
To have an acoustic stage at a punk festival may seem strange to some. I think
it’s an example of the diversity of punk rock: The wide range of bands and
artists, the flexibility of the movement and more importantly, the relevance
(still) in 2006 of Punk.
We mean it maaan…
We weren’t able to go to Blackpool for the whole of the four day long Wasted
Festival but we were able to spend at least a couple of days in Blackpool (other
commitments permitting) and so I drove the 112 miles up to Blackpool on the
Friday morning. We’d booked a Bed & Breakfast for a couple of nights and were
keen to get our clothes, bags and my guitar safely in our room so we could hit
the beach! It took around 3 ½ hours to drive from home but that did include an
unintentional drive around the town of Stockport as we got a little lost. With
some fantastic directions given to me by a lad working in a shop in the middle
of Stockport we were soon on our way again and could soon smell the sea air and
hear the gulls… The Bed & Breakfast was located very close to the shops, the
Promenade, the beach and The Winter Gardens itself and so we were soon at the
festival collecting our wristbands to gain entry into the festival and could
then venture in and out as we pleased over the weekend. We watched a few bands
and had a look around the many merchandise stalls selling all manner of punk
records, CD’s and clothes etc. We looked around the shops, walked on the beach
(or in the sea) and ate and drank. The town and promenade area was very lively,
not just with punks and skinheads but with holiday makers and stag and hen
parties. Blackpool had certainly changed a lot since my last visit there. I
still like the town in some ways. I like the working class traditions, the
family holidays and everything to entertain the kids. There’s the beach and the
sea (if the weather is fine) and the bright lights of the arcades when it’s not
so fine. It’s the ‘Las Vegas of the north’ so I’m told and who am I to argue?
But it had changed in some ways. Packs of drunken Stag parties, half dressed
women being sick by the side of the road, lap dancing bars and late night
discos… And some people thought the punks were intimidating?! The beach was good
though. I liked looking out at the sea and catching a glimpse of an
Oystercatcher amongst the many gulls. Jellyfish and Starfish were washed up on
the beach and there were more Starlings than I’d seen in years and we spent some
time in the arcades to see what can be won on the 2p machines…
The Winter Gardens where the festival was being held is a huge building housing
various sized rooms and arenas as well as bars and cafes and walk ways for the
merchandise stalls. I’d assumed that the Acoustic Stage would be a small part of
the festival tucked away in a corner of the Winter Gardens, but no. I couldn’t
have been more wrong. The Acoustic Stage was an integral part and focal point of
The Wasted Festival, considered as just as important as the main stage or
headline bands. I thought that was fantastic to see the acoustic part of the
event being treated with as much care and attention as the stages graced by the
likes of The Damned or Hugh Cornwell Band. My first thoughts on seeing the
festival and the stage I was due to perform on the following day were –
Fantastic – I couldn’t wait to get on that stage! I just couldn’t wait for my
Saturday afternoon appearance at 3pm but we did see some good acts on the Friday
evening. Skylar were performing on the Acoustic stage when I arrived and later
in the evening we saw The Blaggers, Attila The Stockbroker and my first live gig
by Patrik Fitzgerald. I didn’t know a lot of his material but have certainly
been checking him out since. He was a real highlight of the Friday evening.
Saturday arrived and a glorious summer’s day it was too and so we chilled out on
the beach after breakfast before I headed over to The Winter Gardens with my
guitar a couple of hours before my performance time. I looked around at the
acoustic stage, set in this huge hall with its two giant video screens at either
side of the stage, complete with a lovely old balcony that circled the room and
a high ceiling that made the room look very distinguished and not what you would
expect at a punk rock festival. I was more excited than nervous about my
performance, playing in such a big room to potentially more people than I have
ever played to previously and it was a great place to play my first gig in
Lancashire. I watched a couple of the other acts perform, Ron Watts, a gig
promoter from the 1970’s was chatting and answering questions from the audience
about his time putting on the Sex Pistols amongst other bands in London in 1976.
He was on hand later to sign copies of his book should people be interested.
Kevin 2 Sheds followed with their melodic three piece band including a couple of
members of Pog. Then it was soon time for my spot. Sometimes it just all goes
well. You don’t know why, you can’t explain it, it’s just a really enjoyable gig
to do and this was one of those gigs. It could be the audience, my amount of
rehearsing, the sound, who knows? I just know that I walked out there onto that
stage and enjoyed every second. Playing a set of songs from the CD, it gave me a
broad range of styles and subject matter for those who had never heard of me
(the majority of the audience I would have thought). The audience were really
kind, sitting with their drinks and listening to the songs or there were those
that were passing the stalls and came into the hall to see who was playing. It
was ideal having the merchandise stalls outside the Acoustic Stage area and the
fold away walls took back enough to see and hear the act on the stage from the
stalls. My full set list was: Johnny No-Following, Don’t Vote BNP, Tony’s Date
With The Devil, Welcome To Hell, Don’t Come Back, A Good Upbringing, Sharks
Against Surfers, Just Do It!. The PA and sound guys were great. They were really
supportive, gave good advice, paid attention to detail and couldn’t have helped
my performance any more than they did. Thanks guys. After I’d finished playing,
I then relaxed for the rest of my time in Blackpool and did see a few acts such
as 999, Knox of The Vibrators, Arthur Kitchener and Newtown Neurotics that
evening. Joolz Denby reading from her work as a spoken word performance was a
real highlight for me and brought home the diversity that can be considered
‘punk’. Thanks to all those who took an interest in my performance, to all those
who helped organise the weekend, to Loz for accompanying me there, to Paul Carter
and John of Verbal Warning (amongst others) for coming to watch my set when
there was probably some really good punk band on another stage! And thanks
especially to Jennie and Daz for giving me a slot at the biggest punk festival
in the UK… It may have been the last Wasted festival ever, but just keep an eye
out to see what Daz has in store for next year…
