Reviews

Punk rock can be a very mixed bag type of a genre as some argue it's a musical style, some say a way of life and pretty much anyone involved has a slightly different opinion.

From the anti-rock posturing of Johnny Rotten to the clean and shiny pop of Blink 182 via the anarchic change the world attitude of Crass, all are punk but all are extremely varied, and it’s no different in the Guernsey punk scene.

Your Mum's Matt Le T.

Starting things off are a band who, by there own admission, are bad and only on stage for fun, however, Your Mum's idea of comedy seems to come from the cringe-worthy side of things, rather than the actually funny, making them something like the Ricky Gervais of Guernsey punk.

However the problem with this is that while they claimed they were up there to have fun, very rarely did this translate to the audience as, for the most part, the band just came across as lacking energy and, at times, were even monstrously out of time and tune.

When the band showed promise was on the two occasions they ditched the covers and played original tunes which, while nothing particularly special, brought a bit more energy out of the band and got a few people dancing.

With a few more original tunes and thanks to the natural stage presence exhibited by bassist Matt Le T, I get the feeling Your Mum could become something of a guilty pop-punk pleasure, like a local version of Bowling For Soup or The Bloodhound Gang.

Jamie and Rhys of Poor Attempt.

Having been around for a little over a year now traditional pop punkers Poor Attempt really hit a new level tonight as they unveiled a new set of mostly original tunes that got a number of the audience dancing and pogo-ing gently towards the front of the room.

Having displayed their ability to play well on covers in the past it was refreshing to see them really come alive on their own tunes and particularly drummer Jamie really came into his own showing skills that send him in the direction of Blink 182, Transplants and +44's Travis Barker.

Jamie of Poor Attempt.

Even broken strings weren't enough to stop Poor Attempt tonight as their continual jokey banter between one another and the audience filled any gaps and they proved themselves as a band that could certainly do something special.

Things took a turn for the more hard-edged next as old school style Brit punks Spat hit the stage amid a wall of noise that didn't stop until the end of the set.

Though this sound made parts of their set almost un-listenable the band came through it with aplomb and while tonight wasn't the best they have played the mix of original tunes and covers really showed they have all the classic punk chops.

Jack of Spat.

Displaying a streak of even more chaotic performance than usual Spat's set even featured their drummer falling off the back of the stage mid song and ended when bassist James threw his microphone from the stage and dropped his bass leaving things in an extended blast of low end feedback.

Finally Vietnameasles took the stage to play to a sadly depleted audience as many of the more fair weather punk fans had made their escape as soon as Spat had hit the stage with some real punk sounds.

As ever Vietnameasles out did themselves with their mix of comedic banter and hardcore music, which led to a thoroughly entertaining set of chaotic fun.

Ryan of Vietnameasles.

Blasting through 20 tracks the band were on fire with particular highlights coming in the form of 'Go Back To Europe', 'Emma' and 'Play Your Kurds Right' which came complete with waving lighters in the audience and the requisite 'guitar solo' from Andy.

At the set's end the small crowd proved that Vietnameasles really are something of a cult act as they received the loudest response of the night from the smallest audience and even treated us to an encore of a second run through of 'Beatdown Syndrome' which, while it still didn't get anyone moshing, ended the night on a high.

Hopefully Maim The Tune won't be the last punk night we see in a local venue as it proved the varied nature of the style that's alive in Guernsey, however, it did also serve to show that certain sections of the younger gig going audience still don't quite get what punk is really all about which I suppose is the very nature of the beast.