A DAY OF DIVERSE DIY PUNK IN THE HEART OF MANCHESTER

SEWER KIDS – SUMMER PUNK ALL DAYER | MANCHESTER -THE PEER HAT 01/06/24 By Craig Harston

To kick off the start of June, as well as the start of Pride Month, local bands The Sewer Cats and The Latchkey Kids assembled an incredibly diverse batch of bands to play a sold out all day DIY punk show in a basement located in Manchesters Northern Quarter.

Kicking off the day were We Are The Weirdos, with singer and guitarist Hope Parry delivering a mix of songs, including ‘Enough‘ and ‘You Meant The World To Me‘, and taking some time to talk about the rights of trans kids being taken away from them.

Dr. Nowt was up next, delivering a set of songs that came across like if NOFX’s Erik Melvin had decided to start a solo punk-metal outfit – his vocals weren’t great but man, he could shred that guitar! He also got the first circle pit of the day going, which was pretty impressive!

Blackjack were next up with their punky, New York Dolls alike rock. They played a passionate set, led by their fantastic singer, and included their ode to the trans community, ‘Clean‘.

They were followed by Thunder And The Giants who were one of the highlights of the day! In spite of their name making them sound like an 80s hair-metal band, they were straight up pop punk and played a really fun set with plenty of banter with the crowd and they included latest single ‘Hellhole Rollercoaster‘.

Closing out the first half of the day were self-proclaimed ‘North West Emo‘ band The Latchkey Kids. Coming across like a cross between The Wonder Years and The Get Up Kids (of whom they used lyrics from Ten Minutes on new single The Cure For Anxiety), they delivered a heartfelt performance of emo pop punk songs, including a cover of Fall Out Boy’s ‘Tell That Mick He Just Made My List Of Things To Do Today‘.

Following an extended break so everyone could go grab something to eat, The Sewer Kids kicked off the second half of the day. The garage duo got the crowd going again with their scuzzy guitars, thundering drums and shouty vocals, getting the second circle pit of the day and a wall of death, and including upcoming single ‘Boo Hoo!‘ in their set.

Acoustic ska band Boom Boom Raccoon followed, getting the whole room dancing along to the likes of ‘Prisons‘ and the anti-transphobia song, ‘Hufflepunx‘, and best of all, the back and forth with the crowd with “DENTAL PLAN”, “LISA NEEDS BRACES” during ‘NHS (National Health Simpsons)‘.

All Deepends kept the party going, bringing a bit of Eastern European sound to the day, playing a super-fast and bringing out Dr. Nowt to play the washboard on their final song – who then proceeded to crowdsurf!

The penultimate band of the day were Comeback Clit, who played a relentlessly furious set of anarcho hardcore songs about female empowerment, including new single ‘Related By Herself‘.

Closing the day were pop punk band Eat Defeat, playing mostly songs from new album My Money’s On Me. Their set was very energetic with all five members barely fitting on the stage, interacting with the crowd with plenty of Northern banter and getting involved in a crowd ‘rowboat’ during final song ‘Shortcuts?‘

Overall, it was a great day of a range of genres from across the punk spectrum and both The Sewer Cats and The Latchkey Kids (apparently mostly the former) should be commended for putting together such a diverse line-up!