Gig Guide: Bands You Need To See In November

This is my favourite time of year. I could wax lyrical about the beauty of the leaves descending from the trees, but really it’s all about getting wasted on Halloween and pretending the next day’s eye-bags are part of your zombie costume. It’s the best time of year to waste money on minor-explosives to decorate the night sky, rarely pausing to wonder whether we’d have been better off had Guy Fawkes have successfully made a firework of the Houses of Parliament. Hopefully we’ll see some effigies of Donald Trump popping up.

Another reason I love November is that it’s just before all the commercial bullshit fully kicks off in the advent of Christmas. This may be the last time you can leave the house without fear of tinsel and cheesy musak for the forseeable future! Make the most of it with these awesome shows.

Gig Of The Month: Pie Race Festival

When: November 10th-12th
Where: Wharf Chambers, Leeds
Who: Matilda’s Scoundrels, Ducking Punches, Queen Zee & The Sasstones and heaps more
Tickets HERE, Facebook event HERE

I have shamefully never made it to Pie Race in the past, despite being desperate to go. I’m excited to be heading to Leeds for the whole weekend this year, and you ought to be too. Wharf Chambers is the ideal venue for a DIY show – small and full of character. There’s a wealth of great bands spread across three days, with plenty of spare time to catch-up with mates old and new.

The festival is curated by Ben Hannah of Nosebleed / Acid Drop fame (check out our interview here), and it’s basically a well-organised excuse to throw a party with all of his pals. Friday is a little treat for the early-birds, which sees Norwich’s best folk-punks Ducking Punches headlining, with a smaller evening line-up of Hollywoodfun Downstairs, The Zipheads and Pat Butcher.

It all kicks off properly on Saturday, with a mix of genres to keep you on your toes. Without mentioning everyone, I’m most excited to see The Fuckin’ Glorious, The Burnt Tapes, Almeida, Traits and, of course, Nosebleed and Matilda’s Scoundrels. It’s not dissimilar to the line-up we saw for Wotist Called Fest earlier in the year, and if it’s anything remotely like that it’s going to be incredibly fun.

Sunday’s another full day of punk, with a slightly more relaxed line-up and a few less bands (presumably to give us all some recovery time). I’m looking forward to catching some acts I’ve not heard of, as well as finally getting to see Incisions, who released a banger of an EP earlier this year. We’re also guaranteed the good times of Pizzatramp and The Crash Mats. Liverpool’s Queen Zee & The Sasstones will be headlining, bound to close the weekend with aplomb.

Makky’s written a brilliant preview of the festival so that I don’t have to. Check it out at Broken Arrow Magazine.

The JB Conspiracy – 10 Years of ‘This Machine’ Anniversary Tour

When: November 1st – 17th
Where: Across the UK
Who: Support from Tree House Fire

This Machine is one of my favourite albums of all time, and I can’t believe it’s been out for 10 years. The JB Conspiracy are celebrating this milestone with a UK tour, taking in London, Manchester, Leeds, Southampton, Norwich, Brighton, Plymouth and Bristol, plus three dates on the mainland. They’re also releasing This Machine on vinyl for the first time, in a lovely shiny blue.

I’m reluctant to describe The JB Conspiracy as a ska-punk band because they are so much more than that. Sure, they write tunes that are loaded with brass and upbeat, bouncy upstrokes, but their compositions are so complex they’re almost orchestral. There is layer upon layer of intricate horn-parts, piano and full-band crescendos. It’s marvellous. Even if you’ve never heard of This Machine before it’s definitely worth checking The JB – they’ll have you dancing and singing in no time. Tree House Fire are supporting, and are equally guaranteed to leave you in a sweaty, satisfied mess.

Here’s proof that This Machine was a thing in 2007. Don’t worry, they’ve lost the hats and the haircut.

Wonk Unit – She Goose UK/European Tour

When: November 8th – 26th
Where: All over the country
Who: Support from Aerial Salad
Facebook event HERE

Wonk Unit! Everyone’s favourite fun-punks are embarking on a massive tour, testing the waters for their brand spanking new choons before they stick them all together on a record. Wonk have already hit quite a few German venues in October, but the tour continues with three weeks of straight UK dates: proper 19-days-no-breaks living-in-a-van touring, rather than this long-weekend malarkey that’s so sensible and better for your mental wellbeing popular these days.

Wonk have said that their new material is “a faster paced, leaner, keener, heavier, crazy set of songs,” that went down really well with the Euro crowd. Let’s face it, any Wonk Unit show is guaranteed good times so this should be no different.

I’m almost as excited to be catching Aerial Salad, who are supporting on all of the UK dates. They’re releasing their first album Roach just in time for the tour – it’s an awesome, raw punk record that falls somewhere between Jawbreaker, Greenday and a teenage suicide note. Make sure you get down early to watch them, and pick up a copy while you’re at it.

This was the last time I saw Wonk Unit. Thank Christ Marc Richards made a video, because I have no memory of it:

Back From The Dead Fest 2017

When: November 17-19th
Where: T-Chances, London
Who: The Filaments, The Restarts and Oi Polloi headlining.
Tickets: Weekend tickets £30, days tickets £10 adv. Facebook event HERE.

Take Warning have put together a fantastic weekender of straight-up punk bangers, taking over T-Chances for three days. Friday’s a little old-school warm-up with Oi Polloi, The Foamers and Abandon Cause, among others.

Saturday takes things up a notch. Essex legends, The Filaments, are the headline highlight, but during the day you can catch Vanilla Pod, Spoilers, Traits, Casual Nausea, Dealing With Damage and Paper Champ to name a few. Sunday’s also huge, with Werecats, The Minor Discomfort Band, Travis Cut, Matilda’s Scoundrels and Revenge of The Psychotronic Man all leading up to The Restarts headlining. As it’s T-Chances you’ll no doubt have the opportunity to get sweaty, messy and covered in cider. What’s not to like?

It’s also worth checking out the following:

The Bronx have just announced a free show at Our Black Heart in Camden on November 20th. It’s absolutely going to be worth queuing for hours in freezing November weather for that 150-capacity gig, and I envy every single one of you that gets in.
If you’re into your Canadian Hardcore (who isn’t, let’s be honest), Counterparts are doing a release tour for their new album You’re Not You Anymore with Polar and Napoleon as supports. Their show at Rebellion in Manchester is probably the gig I’m most excited about this month.
In Norwich, The Owl Sanctuary is holding a Diabetes Benefit Punk Weekend on November 11th-12th, featuring The Restarts, Infa-Riot, Rotten Foxes, The Minor Discomfort Band and Butcher Baby among plenty of others.
In Ipswich we’re hosting a huge party at The Smokehouse on November 4th featuring Ducking Punches, Matilda’s Scoundrels, Red Flag 77 and Casual Nausea. It’s sold out but if you’re lucky there might be one or two tickets floating about – give us a shout.
Also no doubt sold out is Run The Jewels’ tour with Danny Brown – they’re doing two London dates and a handful of other dates around the country. I know it’s not strictly ‘punk’ but I highly recommend you check them out if you get the chance.
On November 17th there’s a great melodic hardcore lineup at The Star Inn in Guildford: Darko, Almeida, Sombulance and Revolution Summer. Absolute shred-fest guaranteed.
If you’re more in the mood for ska-punk, on November 17th The Phoenix in High Wycombe has The Filaments and Faintest Idea playing for the first time in a couple of years – best dust your skanking boots off.
Back in Ipswich on November 25th, we’ve got another great hardcore line up at The Smokehouse: FUK, The Domestics, Guilt Police and Con-Party.