Punks 4 Mental Health MiniFest 12th & 13th May 2017
On Friday 12th May, coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week 2017, night one of the Punks 4 Mental Health MiniFest kicked off at Crowleys Rock Bar in Swansea. Just like many things in life, nothing quite goes to plan and a few hours before the gig we obtained news that a member of King Goon had been taken ill. Never the less Joel and Hywel from the band saved the day by opening the night with an acoustic set. The two ‘Gooners’ were joined by a member of Lost Tuesday Society on flute which made for a beautiful folk sound to the tunes played; which included King Goon’s The Playing Fields Of Elton.
Next up was the brilliant punk rock 3 piece cover band Fat Wreck who played some super punk covers from bands including Rancid, Bad Religion and Descendants. The band introduced their version of the Against Me! song ‘True Trans Soul Rebel’ with the words, ‘Who would have ever thought something like gender identity would ever get in the way of something so simple as asking for some company – This one is for the pretty girls’!!
Going on to play his second live set of the night Fat Wreck bass player Julian joined his valleys punk band Trackstar/Pornstar for the third live band of the night. I love Trackstar’s rawness and the political lyrics to their music including their song about US President Donald Trump, ‘Fake Bake Blues’. As well as playing some of their original punk tunes the band ended their set with a bouncing cover of Tenpole Tudor’s, ‘Swords Of A Thousand Men’.
Next up Fat Wreck drummer Damian Harris joined his band World Vs World for his second drum set of the night. I've seen World Vs World live numerous times, these guys are so talented, their playing is near perfect and their songs filled with deep, intelligent , political and thought provoking lyrics. On their usual top form tonight, World Vs World played some new tunes including the excellent One Thousand Victories and in addition to the bands classic, Bohemian Groove. PS I got a t-shirt too !!
The final band of the evening (Julian P4MH founder insists there's no headliners at P4MH shows!!) were three piece indie rock band The Starling Radicals. Having listened to their music online, this was the first time I had seen them live. I was impressed by the bands energy and the fact that they sounded even better live than on their recordings. Rocking some great original tracks such as Mona Lisa Vampire, The Starling Radicals did a magnificent job of making sure night one of the P4MH MiniFest ended on a High! Would love to see this band again.
Rolling on to Saturday night, Night two took place at The Masons Arms Llanelli – From 6:30PM people were queueing outside for the 7pm opening time. By 7:20PM, the pub was packed!! Kicking off the night with their first ever live gig was the talented classic rock trio Second Sons . Headed by singer/ guitarist Lewis Larkman. You already know that last night two members of Fat Wreck played 2 sets, well tonight the third member of Fat Wreck Lewis Larkman introduced us to his new band Second Sons for the first time. Kieran Kiely introduced the night supported by Lewis And Second Sons showcased some of Their new original classic rock tunes which went down a storm. Second Sons also treated us to cover of Rick Ashley's never gonna give you up and a Foo Fighters cover tune. A cover of Steel Panther’s Death To All But Metal also went down a storm . Look forward to seeing Second Sons back at The Masons soon!
Next up were Pembrokeshire's finest, Trunk Shot! I've seen this band quite a few times over the past few years and I love them. Returning for their second P4MH gig, the night would not have been the same without them. As always, Trunk Shot played a brilliant upbeat catchy set of punchy choruses and singalong tunes including old favs like Beautiful Bastards and Loser. They even dropped in a new tune and were joined during their set by Tamsin Mathias on vocals for ‘Gimme My Life Back’.
Also returning to the P4MH MiniFest for the second year running were State of Decay !!! Injecting the PUNK into the night. This band are raging!! Screaming hardcore punk! The trio played a blistering set of split vocal original hardcore songs. I first saw them at P4MH in May last year and in the twelve months since, the band have shaped the passion and intensity of their set in to something very special.
Having waited patiently all evening for their slot, hotly tipped new valleys band Revival rocked the stage. Rocking it to the full, Revival played an excellent set of original rock metal tunes keeping the crowd hooked. Masons regular dan enthusiastically told me he loved revival and said he had seen them in Merthyr a few weeks back and told them they needed to play the Masons ! The band played the best cover version I have ever heard of Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing in The Name Of!
Due to a skate boarding injury The Groundnuts & Independents were not able to play Night 2. We hope to book them in the near future . Thank you very much to all the bands for playing and to the venues for hosting the MiniFest. A huge thanks to Kayleigh Morgan for the poster and to those who have helped out in anyway. Please give Punks 4 Mental Health a follow on Twitter and like their Facebook page.
Complied by Trudi Goldsmith Hunt
