Crud World Domination Enterprises give you

(review n pix by dave cox)

When we arrived at the venue, we were told about the news that the Misfits didnt get through customs in New York so they had couldnt make it. I was then struck with the strange image of Jerry Only in all the make-up etc, emptying his pockets, and undoing his studded bracelets next to a metal detector in the airport, weird no? anyway, i couldnt see any die hard misfits fans kickin off about it, but i did see a couple of nice devil locks in the crowd!
CRIMINAL CLASS (Or BEANS, not sure what they were called)
The "all-star" line-up was opened up with an american hardcore band, not really sure what they were called, either Criminal Class or Beans. They were really good, but the sound completely let them down. You could see they were all going for it, screaming down the mics yet you couldnt hear their voices at all. And the guitars were completely drowned out by the bass and drum kit. I'd really like to see these again somewhere where they get a proper sound, they did have some pretty catchy tunes i think.

B.S.D
these reminded of me abit of instant agony, well mainly just 80's hardcore punk in general. no pissing around, just straight in 1,2,3,4! Olly from kneejerk said they're all sound lads and they'd be up for playing the Dudley sometime, so i'll try an sort something out. being the local band, they went down really well with the crowd and got the first pit of the day going nicely. The sound was a hell of a lot better for these, the singer of this band is apparently the promoter of today's gig so its no surprise the sound was sorted out by the time these hit the stage.

FREAKS UNION
heard loads of people go on about these, they've definately built up a strong following and seeing them play explains why. Sort of Exploited type 80's hardcore punk mixed with the dynamics of Nofx. Reminded me abit of Five Knuckle with the way they mix up the regular (average) punk beat and put dynamic, technical bits in ramdom places, but done really well. The singer gets right in the crowd and stares you right in the eye. The pit gets abit bigger and the room gets more an more packed (even though theres shit loads of people opting to drink in the sun in the beer garden).

MURPHYS LAW
Cant really remember that much as far as how these sounded, I do remember them being good though. I do remember the singer was giving out Jeugermeifter (or however you spell it). and they covered "Someone's gonna get their head kicked in tonight" by Cocksparrer which went down really well.

DEADLINE
next up, deadline walk on stage. I saw these in morecambe at the wasted festival. I was really impressed then, at how the drummer just doesnt stop for breath inbetween the songs, its just straight in again to the next song, brilliant. They said onstage then that they were looking for a new guitarist, today they've got their man. He's apparently had two rehearsals with them but doesnt fuck up (well, i didnt notice anyway), the one in the picture that looks like he's about 12! im sure i've seen him in another band but not sure who. Anyway, these are a female fronted, skinhead oi band with the pace of a hardcore punk band (aka really good). They're new album "getting serious" is a classic but these are definately a live band, speeding up most of the songs off that and interacting with the crowd. A cover of Sheena is a punk rocker is blasted out and everyones singin along with their pints in the air. good stuff.

US BOMBS
I was abit gutted about the US Bombs, one of my favourite bands. Last time i saw these i was plastered in manchester and dont remember anything from their set. This time i was pretty sober but still not really sure what songs they played. I dont know whether thats because they're shit live or it was just too loud for me to make out what songs were what. I did recognise "Jaks" though, they finished with that which was really good.

AGNOSTIC FRONT
One of New York's best hardcore bands took to the stage next. The pit now furocious with all the big skinheads an punks swinging their fists around like a group of really pissed off blind people in the middle of a riot! Not all their hits were played, I was abit gutted they didnt play Its My Life, but they still did Gotta Go, Liberty, Standing On My Own, Loved To Be Hated. They also dedicated Politician to Tony Blair and George Bush saying they probably had something to do with the London bombings on Thursday, I dunno about that but loads of people cheered and pretended they agreed (so up the singer's arse like). I dont know if it was just me, but these only seemed to be onstage for about 20 minutes, which was a shame. I'll be seeing them on Tuesday in Liverpool though, Seize The Day have managed to get a support slot thanks to Cat ex-kneejerk, fair doos.

THE EXPLOITED
finally, the exploited barmy army (dont fuckin mess!). They kicked off the set with Rival Leaders, running through UK 82, Lets Start A War, Never Sell Out, Was It Me?, Fuck The System, Dogs Of War, the list goes on. They seemed to have a much more metal-ish sound then when i saw them last, could've been the bass and drum kit still being abit louder than everything else. They finished with Punks Not Dead which i thourght they stopped playing when they found out what Crass actually meant when they wrote Punk Is Dead, still it was pretty good hearing it live... even if the exploited do charge £1200, thats about as punk as westlife.