Meet the organiser: Let’s Talk About the Punks 4 Mental Health - Swansea’s Alternative Big Weekend.

This Bank holiday Weekend 25th to 27th May sees the Punks 4 Mental Health ‘ Swansea Alternative Big Weekend ’ taking place at Creature Sound in Swansea. I caught up with the Organiser Damian Harris to find out more! The past couple of months you have been working extremely hard in arranging P4MH SWansea Alternative Big weekend , What inspired you to do this ? Well I haven't organised a proper event outside of World Vs. World/Fat Wreck gigs for a little while, not that I was looking to organise such an event, but after hearing that Radio 1 had announced the Singleton Park thing and looking at the non-Welsh, industry-by-numbers acts announced, and knowing that the final line-up for the event would feature no acts from the area, an area historically rich in creative talent, I immediately got in touch with Kaz Chambers from Creature Sound and secured the venue for the weekend (with full support from the venue regarding the motivation behind my move!), spoke to Julian from P4MH as there hadn't been a P4MH event since the minifest at Crowleys a good while back, and before I knew it, I was organising a 3-day indoor festival to showcase actual Welsh talent! Following the P4MH ethos of organising charity events in aid of mental health organisations and organisations where mental health is clearly a trigger or symptom, such as homeless charities, etc, I spoke with Dr. Ceri Phelps, head of the School of Psychology at UWTSD Swansea and her colleague, Ruth Groff, about potential local organisations that could be considered, and Matt's Café, the homeless outreach centre in town was mentioned. After chatting with Kaz, who also mentioned the charity as they had worked with them a few times, added to the spike in homelessness in the UK as a direct result of government enforced austerity and welfare reform, I figured it was a an incredibly worthy cause. World Vs. World are incredibly socio-politically motivated and often do benefit events for local foodbanks, so it strikes the same chord, y'know? I then spoke to Dave Milsom from Swansea's Death Monkey Records, and Michael Kennedy from Welsh Connections who were also eager to support and promote the event, so they've also jumped on board to help make this whole event as massive as we can, to support our wealth of local creative talent, our local independent venues and scene, and also our community's most vulnerable residents. All for the price of a large frappy-crappy-chappy-cino! What's not to love about it? What can people who attend the event expect ? I've tried to make this event as inclusive as possible. So we have a wide range of musical genres to suit virtually all musical preferences, with the opening night being kicking things off with a massive, ear-shattering bang, with a selection of the region's finest doom/metal bands between 8-11pm! Then, at 1pm on Saturday, doors open for a more "family friendly" phase of the event, with a mix of acoustic and alternative/rock acts from 2-6pm, free face painting (2-4pm) and word searches and stuff for kids to enjoy (who incidentally have free entry with accompanying adults!) if they get restless!, then a DJ Segue into Saturday evening with a more alternative/Punk edge to end the day! Then Sunday is a more laid-back affair with acoustic/folk acts in the afternoon (again, child friendly) before a DJ Segue into an evening of punk and ska to finish off the festival!!! There will also be hot food provided throughout the weekend with vegan and Gluten-free options!!! £4.50 buys you a ticket which is in effect a 3-day pass - keep it with you and you get free re-entry all weekend! All ticket proceeds go to Matt's Café. We also plan to hold a raffle on the Sunday afternoon with a selection of prizes donated by World Vs. World, Death Monkey Records, In Which It Burns, 100,000 Bodybags, Welsh Connections and more! ...I think that covers,most things!!! Why did you pick Creature Sound to hold the Alternative Big Weekend? World Vs. World have done a couple of gigs at Creature Sound since it opened as a music hall late last year and over time i've got to get to know Kaz and Allan quite well and what they're doing there is amazing! I love their outlook, attitude, the way they work...they are amazing people and are helping do great things for the Swansea Scene. I also wanted to pick a venue P4MH hadn't held an event at before, plus, if it's a success, I want everyone to fit! And the capacity there is, let's say, more than adequate for this event. Besides. Swansea centre's gonna be hectic that weekend so as it's literally at tripping distance from Swansea train station it should be pretty easy to get to by rail at least!!! Can you tell me about your collaborators Death Monkey Records and Welsh Connections and your involvement with them? I have known Dave from Death Monkey for several years now since WVW signed to the label in 2012. They have been established since 2010 and have released albums or EPs by the likes of Conductors, the late, great Nine Plan Failed, 100,000 Bodybags, plus our debut album and last two singles. Anyways, the label has recently gone through a regeneration and this has involved me getting on board to do a number of vague things centred around A&R, PR, and kind of mediator in negotiations! Part of this label regeneration involves more presence and involvement in the live scene, new agreements with new bands for recording and releases, and a whole host of other things, and the label is also now a member of the recently formed Welsh Sound Board Co-operative set up as a sort of launch-pad for local creative talent. Welsh Connections is also part of WSB, and have also spent the last few years championing local creative talent through Mike's radio show. And I thought, well it wouldn't be a proper "alternative" to the Singleton Park thing if there wasn't some sort of radio broadcaster involved, would it? So yeah, Mike was more than happy to get involved, as Welsh Connections too is getting more involved in local events and now also even hosting their own. Why did you choose Matt’s Cafe as the charity the Alternative Big Weekend is in support of? Well, as I mentioned earlier, Matt's Café do vital work for Swansea's Homeless community...and with an estimated 80% of homelessness cases being directly linked to metal health, and homelessness at an all time high, we all need to help each other. If the current government has decided to absolve itself of its duty of care to our most vulnerable in society then we need to set the government an example in humanity. Simple as that. As a true punk, what does the Punks 4 Mental Health ethos of challenging stigma mean to you? As a punk, a student-psychologist and and a sufferer of mental health issues myself, I say we need to embrace 'abnormal'* mental health. Normalise it. Everybody is susceptible. Nobody should be made to feel like an outcast when they are in their darkest hour. If you suffer, talk to someone. If you see someone suffer, be there to listen and reassure. Don't ever judge, question or criticise. We all just need a little bit of love. *clinical context Can you tell me about the two bands you play in and their contribution to the event? World Vs. World are currently working on a follow-up album to 2015's 'The Sentinel Paradox', and we've released two singles to come from the album so far, The Beat Of The Alpha and most recently, Sea Of Glass. Last time we played was at The Parrot in Carmarthen last month, so it'll be nice to be out and about again. Fat Wreck are a 3-piece punk super-tribute featuring Julian Hunt from Daddy's Little Cowboy and Lewis Larkman from Strike The Light. We play awesome punk covers loosely sourced from the Fat Wreck Chords roster or by bands who have featured on Fat Wreck Chords compilations. Which is how we can justify calling ourselves Fat Wreck but play songs by the likes of No Use For A Name through to curveballs like Green Day, Bad Religion and Frank Turner! If you like punk after 1994 you should at least appreciate our set list, if not our efforts or ability!!! We also plan on a new addition to our set since the last time we gigged (which was so long ago I can't remember now!)...a little ditty dedicated to the President of the USA! Tickets can be purchased at the event or in advance from http://www.derricksmusic.co.uk/Tickets.html?event=5503 For more info on the event and band/artist timings go to the Creature Sound and Punks 4 Mental Health on Facebook .