24.01.2025 - Diall/Video Evidence/Burial Plot - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Seer were to play this gig but due to storm Éowyn being in full force most the road had been closed coming down from Glasgow. Better to be safe and not risk the travel.

Openers, Burial Plot played their first show. Ex-Mortsafe and current Wise Up members playing some heavy hardcore, kinda similar to what Mortsafe did.

Video Evidence, also their first show were up from Leeds, made up of Reflecting Skin and Coded Marking members. They played a noise punk rock style, similar to Total Abuse and Sex Vid.

Just recently released a tape on Brainrotter records that is banging!

Another canny set by Diall, with a new bass player! Bass player #4 I think?!

11.01.2025 - Total Con/No Ambition/Aperture/Life Expectancy - The Little Buildings, Byker

First gig of 2025!

Was a very cold night at the Little Buildings, think it was about -3° when I got there!

 Total Con is the one-man band project of Bobby Cole, who also runs Brain Rotter records. Obviously, he has other people join him when playing live!

Really good hardcore punk, fast and angry!

They have three tapes out, one being a split and should have a 7" out later this year.

 No Ambition are pretty much Inflicter under a different name and line up.

Canny demo tape out by them as well.

 Life Expectancy, I'm not 100% about assume Leeds band and has a member of No Ambition in them.

More d-beat/grind punk, where the drummer does the vocals.

20.12.2024 - Tent/Chris Goodman - Three Tanners Bank, North Shields

Was persuaded by some work mates to come down to this gig as one of the bands playing was a colleague's son's band.

Didn't want to at first as it was the last Friday before Christmas, a.k.a. Black Eye Friday and had plans the next day with a mate, though went as it felt like not many people from work wanted to go and think Dianne wanted everyone to see her son's band play.

Three Tanners Bank is a nice pub, do some banging pizzas there and everyone is quite chill so rarely any arseholes or bother.

The gig space is upstairs, probably one of the steepest set of stairs ever to get up to and down even if sober!

Fairly decent space to move around in so don't feel too squashed in unlike across the road at the Engine Room.

First on was Chris Goodman, a local musician doing a number of acoustic songs and covers. Thought it was alright, only problem I had was it felt like the sound wasn't loud enough as way too many people talking over him which was a bit crap like!

Tent is a four-piece alt-rock band from Northumberland.

Not sure how long they have been going but have been gigging around a lot and are very competent players.

Decent loud rock group that will be one to watch in the future.

Didn't stay to watch the last band, These Are Your Friends as I went to catch the last bus home.

14.12.2024 - The Shits/Diall/Stannington/Teruki Crap & Harry Pooter - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Shitmas 2024!

IT'S SHITMASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Teruki Crap & Harry Pooter were really good, guitar and drums.

Not sure if Harry was more a classical guitar player, but kinda felt like he was where Teruki played some fucking class jazz style drumming.

Was class to witness this noise!

16.11.2024 - Sote/Lacrima/Anna Peaker - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Return of Sote to the Lubber! His set was out of this world, very heavy beats and all in the dark!

Really liked Anna Peaker's set, tape loops and that to make sound collages, really great to hear!

15.11.2024 - Tormented Imp/Ruined Virtue/Bleaks/Diall/Spit - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Leeds hardcore with Tormented Imp, made up of Ona Snop/The Shits/Reflecting Skin members.

Was really impressed with Bleaks from Glasgow, some nice chaotic hardcore!

29.10.2024 - Fucked Up/Fast Blood - The Grove, Byker

Got to see Fucked Up whenever they play Newcastle! Great as always!

Fast Blood are locals, ex-Farman/Pure Graft and Voorhees! Nice punk rock, really good and I still need to pick their LP up!

27.10.2024 - Maximo Park/The Research - Boilershop, Newcastle

First time see Maximo Park despite them over the years and being local have played loads!

I had a good time despite nearly hoying me guts beforehand at the Stack as someone had shit all over one of the bogs...

Only caught the last two songs by the Research, think they were a fairly known band years ago then split. As only seen two songs can't really say if I as keen or not on them.

12.10.2024 - Culver/BRB>VOICECOIL/Depletion/Rovellasca/SGERBWD/Gault - The Cumberland Arms, Byker

 

Local showcase bar Gault who wasn't local! 

He had a nice modular synth set up and did a nice set.

02.10.2024 - Uniform/Bad Breeding/Tramadol - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Was more excited to see Tramadol than anything else! They were great, ex-No Form so clearly going to be great!

Bad Breeding were something else, they just ripped through their set without stopping!

Uniform were ok but they got a bit meh so ended up leaving before they finished!

28.09.2024 - Spy/Stiff Meds/TS Warspite/Ikhras/Diall/Unified Action/Accusation/Spit/Step Beyond/Cannonball - Newcastle Labour Club, Newcastle

This was a good day for hardcore in Newcastle, Connor from Conviction Records pulled off a massive show which was nuts!

First time ever in the Labour Club, room the gig was in was a lot bigger than I thought it was!

Some canny hardcore from Liverpool with Cannonball and Step Beyond.

Ikhras were smashing and TS Warspite were probably the best band of the day, also a good return for their guitarist Miles, who had been injured in a car accident.

Spy were good but think the homegrown talent were just better this day!

08.09.2024 - Pyrex/Unified Action/Tin Ribs - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Poorly attended gig at the Lubberfiend, not happens often and not sure if there had been other events on or not.

Tin Ribs, weird name but not bad like, slightly hardcore/punk from Durham.

Pyrex come from New York, great punk band. Picked up a 7" and really great metal pin badge from them. Was surprised the pin was £2 as it's probably not a cheap one to make like!

Just wish more people had come out to this gig like.

06.09.2024 - Squint/Fever Child/Without Love/A Life Less Ordinary - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Squint are an emo band from Missouri, they were ok, I thought they sounded more pop punk...

Fever Child come from Belgium and are also an emo band, think more emo than Squint to be fair!

Without Love were decent melodic hardcore, not sure where they are from, their bandcamp says the North.

Locals A Life Less Ordinary are another emo band who are canny good.

03.09.2024 - Mdou Moctar/SwanNek - Boilershop, Newcastle

Mdou Moctar are from Niger and play rock music inspired by Tuareg guitar music which is apparently desert blues.

Probably does not sell it to most people but it is really good.

SwanNek were bloody awful I thought, weird jazz/neo-soul collective. Mean, as musicians they are all pretty good just this band is not for me!

03.08.2024 - Coffin Mulch/Suffering Rites/Disengagement/Septic Wound - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

I'm not a big death metal fan, know pretty much fuck all about it! However, I like Coffin Mulch's music and ethos to being DIY and keeping prices low and reasonable on their merch etc...

Fellow Scots Suffering Rites were fucking great, no messing about like!

Septic Wound were (are?) a local band, bit grindcore and this was to be their first and final show (it wasn't, they did a reunion gig not to long after!). Wasn't too bad to be honest like!

22.07.2024 - Alkaline Trio/Low Lives - Boilershop, Newcastle

Boiler Shop was heaving for this gig, it had been raining for most the day and also with it being summer very humid!

Had been twenty years since I last saw Alkaline Trio which feels weird as it didn't feel like being twenty years!

They were great live a lot of new stuff and the classics. Did feel a bit cringey when someone got on stage to propose to his lass like, but suppose it's a good memory of them and was canny of the Trio to arrange that to happen.

Low Lives were fucking awful like, utter gash!

13.07.2024 - Nailbreaker/Spit(Ire)/The Dogs/Aperture/Thick Water/Sulfur - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

The Dogs were brilliant, from South Wales, drum machine punk, kinda sounds a bit street/oi but without the bullshit!

Their debut albums is the dogs bollocks!

First gig for Leed's Thick Water, bit screamo/bit hardcore, decent like.

Spit from Dublin were a nice surprise, like a class no wave band, proper gave it some welly like on stage! They have a tape out which is worth getting if you can find it!

Nailbreaker was some harsh laptop noise, quite good and a nice mixed bill overall!

01.07.2024 - Wound Man/Geist/Eyeteeth/Thrak - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Some nice powerviolence from Wound Man here, the kids were going apeshit doing their set!

Last time Geist played the town, they called it a day later in 2024, probably the best time I saw them play, seemed to hit a lot heavier than previous times I had seen them.

Can't remember owt about Thrak, daft as it wasn't even that long ago since this happened!

28.05.2024 - No Future/Louse/Aperture - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

 No Future were some canny good d-beat from down under.

01.05.2024 - Kathyrn Joseph/Hector Gannet - The Engine Room, North Shields

Second time seeing Kathryn play and again a joy to see play! Pretty class to see how just her singing and playing piano creates such powerful songs.

Hector Gannet is a local musician and owner of the venue. He was alright, but nothing I would go out my way to see.

The venue itself I found too pokey and a pain to get to the bar or even the toilet!

20.04.2024 - Arttu Partinen/Tim Olive/Rust Ruus/Liminal Haze - The Central, Gateshead

First time in a long while back at the Central!

Nice evening of noise and drone.

Tim Olive is a musician based in Kobe, Japan. His set was interesting as he uses magnetic pickups placed on different objects to help create his sound.

Rust Ruus was pretentious bullshit, was glad when his set finished.

Arttu Partinen from Finland's set was a canny watch, bit of abstract and experimental stuff, wasn't till half way through his set I clicked I remembered seeing him play as part of Avarus a few years back at Morden Tower! 

19.04.2024 - Thought Control/Diall/Inflicter/Ruined Virtue/Sulfur - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Some canny hardcore from New Jersey with Thought Control, pretty sure the singer had is younger brother who was 12(?) playing bass for them. That I thought was cool, imagine going back to school and being like, "yeah, just been touring the UK and Europe with me band!"....

Ruined Virtue are from Sheffield and played hardcore punk.

Sulfur are from Newcastle and are a screamo band, pretty decent plus Orchid covers!

06.04.2024 - Dry Cleaning/Dancer - The Grove, Byker

First time at the Grove, which is hidden in the industrial estate of Byker, fairly decent place though thought the gig space could have been designed a bit better.

Caught the last 4 songs of Dancer, who I thought were ok, didn't know they were ex-The Wharves!

Seeing Dry Cleaning for the second time was great as seeing them the first time.

WHY DON'T YOU WANT OVEN CHIPS NOW??!?!

27.03.2024 - Sunn O)))/Jesse Syles with Phil Wandscher and Bill Herzog - Boilershop, Newcastle

Did not enjoy Jesse Syles with Phil Wandscher and Bill Herzog set, I know Sunn are big fans of Jesse Syles but not for me!

Cracking set from Sunn, more heavy guitar drone then the last time I saw them. Just wanted to lay down and soak it all in!

Though did have more than one person tell me they were better when they played the Cumberland Arms.....

16.03.2024 - Stingray/Don't Try/Pleasure/Blood Feud/Mother Nature/Second Death - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Wild line up with no local bands!

Second Death come from London, ex-members of loads of good bands, fast hardcore! Was asking Lloyd, their demo if there was a demo and they were just going to do an album straight away which came out near the end of 2024 on La Vida es un Mus and it rages like!

Don't Try are a Canadian hardcore band, canny live, though don't think it would be a band I would actively play if I had their releases.

Stingray were beyond amazing, great UK hardcore from London. Their album Fortress Britain (also on La Vida es un Mus) is worth getting, smashes hard!

06.03.2024 - Napalm Death/Pig Destroyer/Primitive Man/Wormrot - Anarchy Brewery, Walker

This was a weird gig, my mam had only passed a week before so wasn't sure if I was in the right mindset to go.

I ended up going as I needed the distraction.

Was probably the worst I've seen Wormrot play, different singer and it just didn't seem to click well I thought, tho the OG line up of Wormrot are back together so hopefully a return to form!

Primitive Man were great to see again.

Was pretty excited to see Pig Destroyer play and they did not disappoint!

Somehow this was the first time seeing Napalm Death despite them playing Newcastle loads! They killed it like!

27.02.2024 - Fairytale/Diall/Aperture - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

 D-beat punk from New York with Fairytale.

24.02.2024 - Frisk/Vole/Spit/Mother Nature - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Can't not ever see Frisk, one of the best UK hardcore bands off the last few years like!

This was art of their UK/Euro tour with Vole from Prague, Czecchia, nice crusty hardcore.

Mother Nature come from Leeds and ex-Braindead/Perspex Flesh, straight up great hardcore!

22.02.2024 - Slowdive/Whitelands - NX, Newcastle

My fave gig of 2024 and nearly didn't go!

This gig I reckon was poorly advertised as didn't find out till my mate told me before Christmas!

Lucky enough I managed to get two tickets before it sold out!

Whitelands I wasn't too keen on, though could have been the sound at NX which is pretty bad at times.

Slowdive, were fucking amazing, was a great show, great band and great tracks!

There were some weird people at this gig, like 3 kids just dancing near to me and my mate and dunno if they had been on the wobbly eggs!

02.02.2024 - Self Immolation Music/Sanctuary of Praise - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

Sanctuary of Praise were a nice find, quite similar to Self Immolation with the whole shoegaze esque alternative rock.

On the lookout for both their tapes, not that anyone reads this but you never know!

Self played another great set, think I bought the LP off them at this gig!

17.11.2023 - Chain Whip/Spit/Onlooker/Orphans - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle

Chain Whip from Canada were pretty awesome live like!

Onlooker were also awesome live, have their album and split with me mates’ band Ballpeen by them and they are good but as a live band they seem to notch it up a bit!

11.11.2023 - Diall/Louse/Spit/Pleasure/Aperture - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle

Local showcase bar from Pleasure who are from Leeds. Great fast hardcore!

22.10.2023 - Guitar Wolf/The Coyote Men - The Cluny, Newcastle

Some good old rock and roll from garage punkers Guitar Wolf!

Second time seeing them at the Cluny and still mad as fuck, especially when Guitar Wolf jumped into the crowd-to-crowd surf!

Also funny is I uploaded one song from their set to Youtube and caught a copyright strike off Sony (I think, it was off someone the cheeky cunts!).

First time seeing local mysterious wrestlers The Coyote Men, brilliant stuff! Bass player had a wonderful cape that lit up!

15.09.2023 - Mock Execution/The Reflecting Skin/Diall/Aperture - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle

I'm pretty sure this is the gig I fucked my hearing to! I blame myself for standing to close when Chicago's Mock Execution played!

They were great like, nice d-beat punk!

Had Leeds band The Reflecting Skin up, they were fairly decent hardcore.

Locals, Aperture were canny as fuck! Bit like early Napalm Death and E.N.T.!

05.09.2023 - Full of Hell/Antichrist Siege Machine/Jarhead Fertilizer/Unyielding Love - Anarchy Brewery, Walker

Thought the sound here at Anarchy Brewery wasn't great, though to be fair this place is a Brewery first, venue second!

I thought Unyielding Love were a poor Full of Hell clone, not great either.

Antichrist Siege Machine are a black metal band, fucking shite I thought!

Jarhead Fertilizer and Full of Hell were both great so least I got to enjoy two of the four bands!

02.09.2023 - Raw Brigade/TS Warspite/Final Form/Diall/Unified Action/Blood Feud/Accusation/Orphans/Inflicter - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle

Class line up here!

Colombia's Raw Brigade were class to see live, there was a bit of a punch up in the crowd due to the moshing which was a bit lame like.

Wish I had picked up their records!

Final Form were a crossover thrash band, decent enough like!

Blood Feud some canny UKHC from Leeds who also did a split with Inflicter (RIP) not too long ago. 

Inflicter's set was great, not often you see a band do an 86 Mentality cover!

Accusation's set was like 7 minutes or something daft, straight to the point straight edge hardcore.

Orphans were the old guys of the day but a fairly new band with members of Voorhees/The Horror?

25.08.2023 - Hattie Murdoch - Browns at the Exchange, North Shields

Another after work gig at Browns! This might have been on the last nights Browns had for gigs like this as they closed to remodel the whole building!

Hattie according to her website is a professional songwriter, producer, topliner, vocalist and artist.

21.07.2023 - Doldrey/Iron Defieciency/Mutagenic Host/Disengagement/Mortsafe - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle

Cracking gig this, Singapore’s Doldrey were fucking amazing, blackened crust punk!?

Had on the bill French straight edger's Iron Deficiency and death metal from London's Mutagenic Host and Disengagement (think they are from Liverpool?)

19.07.2023 - The Beths/Lande Hekt - Boiler Shop, Newcastle

Only really listened to the Beths when my mate plays them in the car, decent enough indie from New Zealand.

Also broke the Boiler Shop t-shirt rule as got one for my mate for her birthday!

Lande Hekt was in Muncie Girls and now does solo stuff. It's really good and can tell she probably wrote most the lyrics while in Muncie Girls!

14.07.2023 - Cameron James - Browns at the Exchange, North Shields

Another after work on a Friday!

Was fairly good from what I remember and didn't like most people who play gigs like this do any of the big hits that were going round, just did what he wanted to play!

09.07.2023 - Live Burial/Coffin Mulch/Eyeteeth - The Cluny, Newcastle

Final Live Burial show! Out with a band at the Cluny!

Coffin Mulch and Eyeteeth were class, though spilling some of my pint on Eyeteeth's banner, not so good!

Also picked up Spectral Intercession by Coffin Mulch, if you can find it, get it!

23.06.2023 - Self Immolation Music/The Shits/The Klittens/Coded Markings/Secrete - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle

Self Immolation Music from Leeds are pretty amazing, psychedelic rock and massive Loop/Spaceman 3 vibes to them, their LP is pretty banging like!

The Klittens are from Holland, some post punk art pop, I was reminded of the Raincoats a bit!

Coded Markings, another Leeds band, doing post punk, noisy stuff but canny like!

Not sure who Secrete is, but didn't think it was good!

Self Immolation Music

The Klittens

21.06.2023 - Kurt Vile/King Hannah - Boiler Shop, Newcastle

Had been waiting to see Kurt Vile for years so was buzzing when he played the Boiler Shop!

Awesome set and even broke my rule of not buying a t-shirt at Boiler Shop!

King Hannah were shit!

02.05.2023 - The Melvins/Nathalie Stern - Boiler Shop, Newcastle - 02.05.2023 - Glitchers - Outside Boilershop!

Put these two together!

First time seeing the Melvins, not sure if they had played Newcastle before, if they had I was more likely too young to see them play!

Pretty good set from what I remember and good to catch up with a lot of mates I hadn't seen for ages!

Natalie Stern's set was a lot different to when I saw her last, more guitar looping and synths(?) but still very good.

Was also the first time I'd seen someone refused entry to a gig! A couple that knew a mate of mine got stopped and search and drugs were found so they were told to leave!

Ater the gig, the band Glitchers were playing a free gig outside, loud chaotic duo. I know they have done a lot of gigs like this around the country, and they are pretty decent like!

26.05.2023 - Afnan Prince - Browns at the Exchange, North Shields

The Exchange had now renamed itself Browns at the Exchange, another night after work watching local Afnan Prince do an acoustic set.

19.05.2023 - Puce Mary/Soft Issues/Burning Pyre - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle

Bit of power electronics/experimental music from Denmark's Puce Mary aka Frederikke Hoffmeie.

Had been wanting to see her live for some time and wasn't disappointed!

Was also good to finally see local, Burning Pyre play! Some nice ambient music from him and recommend his tape United Angels that Opal Tapes put out back in 2020.

05.05.2023 - Bib/Stiff Meds/Decultivate/Diall/Spit - The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle

Hardcore from Omaha, Nebraska with Bib who were on tour with Stiff Meds.

Their set was pretty good, nice posi hardcore!

Decultivate are a grindcore band from Prague, Czecchia. They were pretty decent too!