Manchester Punk Festival

or why the whole music business should be more like DIY punk

It turned out i’d eaten something dicey on Friday, the following afternoon what I thought was a hangover showed it was more than that, when the first sip of a pint and a splash of Pig Destroyer on the jukebox sent me straight to the toilet. If this were Trip Advisor it would all be over: “shat through the eye of a needle - 1 star”. But this isn’t Trip Advisor and Manchester Punk Festival, aka “MPF”, is no ordinary event - last Saturday despite not being able to eat or drink anything more than water I stayed all day and still had a great time. That’s because MPF is a truly wonderful thing, an event that still shows that the, once world beating, now battered and beleaguered, music scene in the UK is still very much alive . It’s not easy to pin down precisely what the magic is, but it’s the friendliest and most inclusive village fete you’ll ever visit, with extreme noise and crowd surfing.

So for the uninitiated I’ll try and sum it up, (and i’m far from an expert and not a key member of the scene, but one thing MPF definitely doesn’t mind is outsiders, and I think i’ve worked out enough in the last six or seven years to give it a try). It will come as no surprise that it’s a festival with a whole lot of Punk bands playing, and there are almost as many different styles as there are bands: Skate, Ska, Hardcore, Pop, Crust, Doom, I could be here all week. But more than an accumulation of bands under the broad “Punk” banner, (and it is very broad, and I’ll come back to that), it’s really the equivalent of the Trades Union Congress, or possibly United Nations General Assembly of the DIY Punk scene. Because pretty much everyone who is involved in the DIY scene attends, doesn’t matter if they’re playing, it doesn’t matter if they have records to sell, stickers to stick or a new fanzine to distribute, everyone comes every year, come what may.

So what’s the DIY scene? Well it’s exactly what it says on the tin - it’s a grass roots movement of bands, record labels, venues, fanzines and fans and it’s a movement that does it for love not money, who do it all themselves. This network regularly puts on gigs in towns and cities all across the UK, and the shows are always cheap, (and often free for those who are short of money), there you’ll find a committed group of talented bands playing shows for virtually nothing, and an equally committed group of fans, who’ll support the scene by buying merch, records and pints. The basic model of DIY is to wash it’s own face, profit is not the motivation - the events, the labels, the bands look to cover their own costs , but profiteering is not a part of the scene, in fact it is explicitly and steadfastly not a part of it - Logan Roy would not be a DIY Punk.

The line up of the festival is fundamentally populated by bands from that scene, most of which will not be familiar to those with only a passing acquaintance with punk rock - but are very familiar to those that know. The top of the bill comprises acts that have risen through the DIY scene and from time to time legends from UK and North American Punk (Snuff, Propagandhi, Oi Polloi and Hot Water Music have all played).

Notwithstanding the inclusion of bands with their origins in the 80s and 90s by and large MPF is resolutely forward looking, and it’s also not trapped in a straight jacket. Big ticket names at the festival in recent years have included The Skints (who set aside their roots in punk to play a huge loving bear hug of a reggae set), Japanese purveyors of undefinable extreme noise Melt Banana and at this years event Cheekface, who have much more in common with They Might Be Giants than they do with Discharge. Those sets by the “bigger” names are well attended and enjoyed, but the smaller less widely known bands from the scene come back year after year and play to equally huge crowds - bands like Martha a four piece from Durham with pop songs and harmonies to die for, or Pizza Tramp a thrash punk band from South Wales who specialise in 90 second songs and ludicrously entertaining chat in between.

The other fundamental point about the festival is just how inclusive and non -judgemental it is - the punk scene has always been a supportive and a broad church, no matter your gender, race or sexuality and that is writ large in the ethos of the event, all are welcome and encouraged. But the real key is this all worn lightly. There is - in my opinion - an entirely false narrative propagated by people, usually white, usually straight, usually middle aged (and more recently, apparently Nick Cave) - that there is a thing called “woke” culture and it is out to crush everything in a merciless march, moreover that this “woke” culture is po faced and tramples fun and freedom under its jack boots. This is so much bollocks. A visit to MFP proves that beyond any reasonable question - there is boozing, there is raucous behaviour, there is shouting and shoving and pushing and boisterous bonhomie, and did I mention the crowd surfing? The only real rule, treat *everyone* with decency and respect - and *everyone* does exactly that - this is not a merciless crushing culture, it’s just basic human decency. Although i’d have to concede Ian Rubbish is unlikely to be booked anytime soon.

The best way to experience it is just to dive in, there is great music at every turn, and the flavours are always different. The Zombie Shack is a postage stamp venue on a spiral stair case just beside Oxford Road Station, with a succession of upcomers cutting their teeth - like Finnish melodic specialists Custody in 2024 or Hardcore post punk cross over from Coughin Vicars in 2023. The Bread Shed and Gorilla are where the more seasoned performers play - touring American pop punks New Junk City draw an enormous and appreciative mid-afternoon crowd and Blagged bowl a fizzing googly with a Spice Girls cover. The Bread Shed venue is a road block for Dublin’s Meryl Streek who delivers a volley of polemical controlled rage, fusing punk and electronica, holding the room completely spell bound. Witch Fever prove that they really have some of the best Doom chops anywhere at the moment, and Nosebleed mine pure rock and roll. Elsewhere the Sandbar has spoken word events and The Yes Cafe has a great selection of upcoming bands throughout the day. The Union is the largest venue and where the aforementioned Martha and Cheekface put on two of the most joyful sets of the weekend. But, no matter what your taste, if you’ve ever looked sideways at a punk record there’s something to enjoy.

Right about now the UK music industry feels at a precarious cross roads - i’ve been involved in a tiny way for a long time - bringing live bands to our club night in Chester (including a couple of MPF alumni), and in common with a lot of small promoters we ran it quite a bit like DIY punk - the events didn’t made us a profit, that was never the aim - we just wanted a lot of people in the venue having a good time - but such small ventures are less viable than ever. I’m not sure it would even be possible to do the same thing again - a combination of the pandemic, spiralling living costs, Brexit and the slow squeeze of commercial imperatives mean that small events and small venues are even more threatened than ever. But DIY continues to show, even in the worst of circumstances, music can still thrive.

Here is perhaps the trickiest part, and the part where everyone involved in music has to take a long hard look at themselves. Some might scoff that the lack of focus on profit is naive and does a disservice to talented artists who deserve to make a living. But the unpalatable truth is that the music industry has always been a rotten borough where a very small number, few of them artists, made serious money. Historically that inequity had some off sets, but the reality is even before streaming forced artists to go on permanent tour, the grass roots has always been populated by people who do it for love not money. I’ve seen many talented artists “make it”, but many more just as talented who don’t. And DIY shows where you have a supportive structure at the base talent can and does punch through - Bob Vylan, The Skints, Witch Fever, Aerial Salad are all bands that have risen and are rising through the ranks - but crucially the base stays constant - Punk is a way of life, not a way of making money. But quite honestly that rings true for every genre - all the best scenes are powered by people who live and breath the music - those that aren’t soon fail. But nevertheless the example of DIY - forming a mutually supportive network and treating each other with decency is something we can all learn from. We should all be more Punk Rock.

PS if anyone from MPF reads this, book Man Or Astro-Man?!!

A few links

Manchester Punk Festival

TNS Records

Picture Gallery

Brassneck Records

Crocfest

Serial Bowl Records

Crapfest

Outpost