Gig Guide: Bands You Need to See in September

You’ve survived the summer. You’ve had a hectic few months of eating, drinking, socialising, spending and sunning yourself. You’re savouring the last opportunities to enjoy a pub garden after work on a weekday. Hopefully you’ve caught plenty of sweaty summer shows, some outdoor community concerts and maybe even a festival or two.

Once the August Bank Holiday weekend is over you can stop, right? You can knuckle down to the daily grind, vegetate with Netflix on your sofa and save up your pennies for Christmas. Nope! I hate to break it to you but there’s still an awful lot happening…

We’ve done the hard work and found the best of September’s gigs for you to enjoy:

Wotsit Called Festival

Where: The Palace, Hastings
When: Friday 29^th and Saturday 30^th September
Who: The Restarts, Nosebleed, Riggots, Pizzatramp…
Event Page HERE / Tickets £10 advance, £15 OTD

Hosted by the lovely folks in Matilda’s Scoundrels under the Toxic Wotsit moniker, Wotsit Called Fest is two days of straight-up bangers bound to get you stomping feet, throwing elbows and sinking pints with aplomb.

Nosebleed will be royally cavorting around The Palace as headliners on Friday – there are few more exciting things than their riffy punk ‘n’ roll. It’s also the launch party for Matilda’s new album As The Tide Turns, so folk-dancing with reckless abandon is mandatory.

Starting early, Saturday features London thrashers The Restarts, Wigan’s heaviest duo: Riggots, northern post-hardcore from The Fuckin’ Glorious and ska-punk comedy gold from The Crash Mats. There will be cocktails and DJs until 2am which sounds like a delightfully dangerous combination. Not to be missed!

In the meantime, enjoy their pre-fest playlist:

Kick The Crutches All Dayer

Where: The New Cross Inn, London
When: Saturday 23^rd September
Who: Vanilla Pod, The Kimberly Steaks, Müg, On a Hiding to Nothing
Event Page HERE / Tickets £5 early bird

I can guarantee this is the most fun you will find for £5 this September.

Deep breath! For this princely sum you can see… Vanilla Pod, The Kimberley Steaks, Pizzatramp, Natterers, Misgivings, Müg, BROCKER, On A Hiding To Nothing, Werecats, Nietzsche Trigger Finger, Strange Planes and Fastfade. Phew!

With that many bands, I’m not sure how they’re going to fit any punters in the venue. The merch table’s going to need its own postcode. There are probably some bands you’ve heard of and some you haven’t, so why not get down early and enjoy the whole lot? It’s a great opportunity to discover someone new.

If you catch one band, make sure it’s The Kimberly Steaks. They’re everything that Greenday could have been:

Punk Rock Boat Party w/ROTPM

Where: On a boat, motherfuckers!
When: Saturday 23^rd September
Who: Revenge, Atterkop, Bobby Funk and Tinnedfruit
Event Page HERE / Tickets £10

Look at THIS! It’s on a boat! Revenge of the Psychotronic Man on a bloody boat! If this boat doesn’t sink I’ll be extremely impressed.

Bristolian anarcho-ska-punkers Atterkop (that’s a terrible description, but I can assure you they’ll blow your mind), local fast-messy-silly-fun 4-piece Bobby Funk and garage noise-merchants Tinned Fruit will also be setting sail.

Frankly I’m open to any opportunity to drink on a boat, let alone one where I get bombarded with stupidly-fast punk for 3 hours. This is all clearly going to be very loud and very good, and you’re going to be very jealous that you missed it.

Gigs @ The Smokehouse in Ipswich

If you’re based in Suffolk, like me, there are two gigs are The Smokehouse that I would recommend this month:

The next Uncomfortable Beach Party show takes place on Saturday 16^th September. The Deadites are headlining – hailing from Peterborough they play melodic pop-punk, with gruff, plaintive vocals and catchy hooks. Frankly, it would be really hard not to enjoy them.

Supporting The Deadites are Hastings street punks The Barracks, who a friend accurately described as having, “an energy reminiscent of when Rancid were good, and a passion and vocal delivery comparable to Bouncing Souls.” Local skate-punks Paper Champ are opening – expect an energetic show and plenty of tracks from their new EP Easily L.E.D. (check out my review here).

£4 OTD as an absolute steal for what I’m sure will be a raucous show as usual. Facebook event HERE. Warm yourself up by listening to The Deadites:

I also recommend that you make time to see Sleep Well on Wednesday 13^th September. They’re being supported by Scarecrow Boat and Pale Girls. If you’re a fan of sad indie-punk this is absolutely the one for you – all the bands excel in gruff, melodic, emotional punk rock. £4 OTD. Wednesday night, no excuses not to. Facebook event HERE.

I randomly caught Sleep Well at The Smokehouse a couple of months ago and I’ve been a bit in love since. Definitely my favourite of the Ipswich bands (sorry Casual Nausea!) – check them out:

Common Ground Festival

Where: The Black Swan, Bristol
When: Friday 1^st – Sunday 3^rd September
Who: 2 Sick Monkeys, Pizzatramp, The Foamers, Grand Collapse, Danger!Man…
Event Page / Tickets HERE – £18-£28 advance / £40 OTD, day tickets available

Common Ground’s a non-profit venture with a hefty selection of bands, all raising money for human and animal rights organisations around the world. Welsh heavy-weights Grand Collapse will be opening the show on Friday, followed by bands including Natterers, Bring to Ruin and Rash Decision. Headlining on Friday is 2 Sick Monkeys, as part of their final tour.

Saturday’s highlights include veteran punk ‘n’ rollers The Foamers, crust-metallers Alehammer, and Norwegian fast-punks Danger!Man (my personal favourites of the whole festival – make sure you check them out). Sunday’s a recovery rollercoaster with the inimitable Pizzatramp, Crocodile God and Atterkop.

Enjoy a bit of Danger!Man at Wonkfest in preparation:

Special mention also goes to:

There is a biiiiig line-up at T-Chances in North London on September 9^th put on by Take Warning: Zounds, Ducking Punches, Matilda’s Scoundrels, Millie Manders, Dealing with Damage, The Burnt Tapes and more!
September 14^th see Spoilers and Wonk Unit Acoustic at The New Cross Inn, plus Anonymous Tip and Resuscitators.
Joey Cape (of Lagwagon fame) is playing at The Camden Underworld on September 7^th

Finally, I’m seriously excited to be going to see hip-hop antihero JonWayne at The Scala in London on September 12^th. It’s not a punk gig (for once!), but I’m expecting it to be one of my top shows of the year. If you’re a fan of mellow hip-hop riddled with lyrical tongue-twisters I strongly recommend checking him out: