Scarborough Punk Festival - 29th & 30th March 2025

Fast music is exciting and we were right up for a weekend full of it.

Saturday morning, we were up good and sharp and headed down to Scarborough Spa. This is a great venue, right on the coast. The festival takes the whole place over, and that includes a well-stocked and reasonably priced bar - £5.50 for a pint is okay I reckon; an area for merch and a huge conservatory. There is also the concert hall that holds, give or take 2000. Once again, this event was a sell out; unlike many of the attendees. There were Mohawks, zips, pins and hair colour of all description being sported by fans who really did live the life. Pretty much everyone we met were great, it was good to chat with fans from across the world. The place was full of characters – the ‘one man mosh pit’ got the fan prize from us for his exuberance at being, well, a one man mosh pit for every band. There were a couple of exceptions for whom the chorus of “Nazi punk, Nazi punk…off” could have been written - but they were the very, very small minority and, I hope they will continue to feel less welcome and come in fewer number as every year passes until the time they are totally gone.

However, to the music. I enjoyed last year’s bill immensely; this year’s offering was a wee bit different. The focus on Saturday was a more general punk vibe whilst Sunday had a bit more of a thrash, Oi and skin theme to it – all appealed to me.

We got to the venue just in time for Riskee and the Ridicule. This was the first time I’d seen them – wow. I thought they were fantastic. A bit of hard core, a bit of rap-punk and just some good old guitar-based music. If you like the American hard core sound, they are a band for you and they would have been just as at home in the tent at Download as they were here. It was a great start to our day.

I have been trying, and so far failing, to see Millie Manders and the Shut Up for a while. Like the band before them, these young punks made the stage their own. Millie banged 11 songs into her 40 minutes, Big Al thought the band had the best guitar sound of the day. The new single “Me Too” was a stick out for me.

It was great seeing two young bands play it like they stole it. They filled their time and filled the stage not just music but with confidence too. Nothing was taken away at the end of the set, it was all left out there. That wasn’t lost on the crowd who filled the room for these early acts.

The first of the memory lane bands to make an appearance was The Vapours. They took 34 years off from playing, during which time, front man, Dave Fenton, spent most of that period working as a lawyer for the musicians union.

Their current line up included both Fenton and his son Danny. Danny, is without doubt the bounce of the band. He spent the set careering around the stage and doing the intros at the end of the set. He was a good addition and brought a youthful appeal to these aging songsmiths.

I often wonder how the conversation goes in bands around when to play “that song”. For the Vapours it was third from the end of their 10 song set. As soon as that most recognisable of riffs started, the mobile phones were out and dodgy films were recorded that will, quite probably, never be looked at again. Sadly, once the song was done, a good number of punters made for the door. They missed a couple of crackers, particularly “News at Ten”. Keep the phones away and just enjoy all the music is my advice.

We missed the next couple of bands as hunger took over. That’s always the challenge at Scarborough, when to eat? We decided to grab it when we needed it and so missed Random Hand and Grade Two, both of whom seemed to have been excellent, according to the hungry punters we spoke to on our return.

We made it back just in time for the Bar Stool Preachers and I am so glad we did. They were outstanding. Eight power punk songs were on the menu, and they battered them all like their lives depended on it. “One Fool Down” and “Suicide Girls” were standouts for me. The band are also really nice guys. One young man named James was at the festival with his mum. The Bar Stool Preacher have looked out for James in the past and it was great to see them doing that again in Scarborough. If you get the chance to see these guys, take it!

Animal and his mates were up next. You know what you are getting with the Anti Nowhere League. It’s always a little sleazy, sometimes a little bit dangerous and always a lot of fun. Tonight was no exception. It was a run out of the hits, and we loved them for it. No surprises but who needs to be surprised by bearded, tattooed, leather clad men of a certain age? They were brilliant.

Saturday ended with another punk survivor – Richard Jobson, the last of the original Skids. Mind you, this new band was really good. Axe Man Connor White has a lot of heavy lifting to do. Jobson has dropped from two to one guitar in the band, and I think that is a really good thing. Connor had more space to hit the riffs and bang out the solos and I thought that made the music all the clearer. This also gave space to bass man Gil Allan. He hung off his guitar throughout the full set pounding out the distinctive basslines that so shaped The Skids sound. Gil is one of the best bass players around in my view; and that’s a pretty busy field. I always think one of the unspoken realities of punk rock is the quality of the bass guitar. There are just so many good players and stonking basslines out therein so many punk bands.

The Skids gave it their all. They had an hour but pulled the pin after 50 minutes, another couple of songs would have been nice, but all the bangers were there, including a great cover of the Clash’s “Complete Control”.

The end of the first day had arrived – well almost. He headed back to the wee local, The Albert, we had found near our AirBnB. We discovered a top 80/90s cover band called Codaplaying. They brought a bit of a contrast to our day and this three piece was really good at what they did. It was a nice way to end a long and fantastic day.

There are few downsides about this festival, but the clocks going forward halfway through it is one of them! That meant Sunday was a bit of a slower start.

This was a different day and had, very much of a hardcore/thrash punk and Oi feel to it. That looked pretty good to me, but I did get the impression there were less fans around throughout the day.

Our day kicked off with Gimp Fist. I always thought of them as a fairly new band, but they have just celebrated their 20th anniversary! Once again, an absolutely belting set I thought. “Working Class”, “Skinhead not Bonehead” and their finisher, “Here I Stand” were the stick outs for me. I loved their energy, I loved the riffs and I loved the enthusiasm. They are in Scotland later this year, I will be there – a brilliant live band.

I have always liked Steve Ignorant and Crass were one of the stickouts in punk. Today I though Steve and his band were outstanding. Musically, I thought they were a bit of an outlier today and they brought a show that was a wee bit Avant Guard to the Scarborough stage. Vocalist, Carol Hodge led on a few songs, including my personal favourite “Shaved Women”. I thought Carol added a different feel to the music and really added a layer. Steve Ignorant was always somebody I respected, he lived the life he professed, vegetarian, commune member and pacifist. He is many things, ignorant is not one of them. This set made me smile.

By now hunger was setting in again, but Conflict were up next. It was surprising to see Wattie Buchan from the Exploited take the stage with the band; there was a well documented fall out between Wattie and Conflict. Things may be thawing – he took to the stage to let us know Conflict singer Colin Jerwood would not be appearing and was being replaced by Fiona Jayne Friel for all songs. After a cry of ‘punks not dead’ Wattie left the stage and Fiona got on with it. She was great. Energy, pink hair and a real punk attitude carried her and her band through their set. We left after a few songs for a quick bite, they were just finishing when we got back and the crowd were going nuts – Fiona did well.

Charged GBH are one of the bands I was looking forward to seeing. Jock Blyth is an Edinburgh man and was a central figure in the annual Punk for Pam festival in the city, which raised money for charity in his sister Pam’s, name.

These are a band of guys who simply look punk and no one more so than Colin Abrahall who, with his spiked hair and tied up leather jacket clings to the mic as he belts out thrash punk classics. The crowd take a minute to warm up, but the one man mosh pit is there, and they are off and forty minutes of thrash was well received. Personal topper for me…“City Baby Attacked by Rats”. I loved it.

For Big Al, Booze and Glory were the band of the day. This Polish/English mix really brought out a great punk Oi vibe that really resonated with the crowd. They were also a great lead up to The Cockney Rejects.  

I had no idea what to expect from the Rejects. I’ve seen them a few times and always enjoyed them but then they retired and almost immediately popped back up with Stinky Turner leading a new band of troupers. I’ll tell you what I didn’t expect, I didn’t expect them to be this good! They were flying – former Toy Doll, Olga on guitar had a great sound and just carried the music all night, JJ Pearce claimed the bass lines and Ray Bussey kept the rhythm clean throughout this 50 minute set. The new look Rejects are every bit as good as the last incarnation. There is a revived feel and freshness to the songs. I look forward to going to see them again soon.

Last up, another Edinburgh legend, Wattie Buchan leader of The Exploited. I first found The Exploited when I saw the title of their first album, “Punks Not Dead” graffitied all around Wester Hailes when I was on the bus going to school. I liked the album from the get-go. I loved the thrash, the DIY production and the don’t give a monkey’s attitude of it all. Alas, it didn’t go great for the band on Sunday. Their sound was not all it could have been and, like a good few others, I called it quits after about 20 minutes and headed for a reflective beer.

Once again, Scarborough put on a great punk festival. I loved it that they called in the talents of less well known and younger bands like The Bar Stool Preachers and Millie Manders as well as Gimp Fist and Booze and Glory. Looking around the auditorium, punk is not getting any younger. Festivals like this can’t survive solely on the antics of the old guard, they need to promote new bands and get them up the roster. That would support both the bands and keep festivals alive for years to come. This year, I felt Scarborough got the mix right. It was great to see the League and GBH but equally fantastic to see Riskee and the Ridicule making an appearance too.

Early bird tickets went on sale at 1000 on the morning we were leaving. A wee bit jaded, we pulled the car into Greggs, grabbed a cup of tea and a yum yum. Bang on 1000 Big Al got his credit card out and bought the tickets for next year. We’ve no idea who the line-up is, but we do know it’ll be another great gathering of the Punk Clan by the seaside, both on and off the stage and it’ll be a privilege to see, most of, them again.

Punks not dead…just yet!