Rebellion Festival Day Two @ Winter Gardens Blackpool 7th August 2026
A Dirty Rock ’n’ Roll Wake-Up Call
Friday starts for me with Marc Valentine in the Opera House. Marc’s band is a five-piece with two guitarists, including himself, bass, drums and keyboards. They play dirty rock ’n’ roll and could be distant relatives of The Quireboys, The Wildhearts or even Keith Richards. Marc himself is from Norwich, but exudes a considerable degree of Noo Yawk cool. His band are no slouches either. I recognise guitarist Richard Davies, who has his own solo band. He’s sh*t hot and no mistake.
During the third song the bass amp cuts out and has to be replaced. Bassist Richie Poynton gamely continues playing anyway, even though for much of the song he is completely inaudible!
Marc asks if anyone has a hangover. Many reply in the affirmative. He tells us, “This is the ballad you asked for.” Except it isn’t a ballad. It’s fast and furious and unceremoniously blows away any cobwebs that may have been present. It’s called Temporary Buzz.
Marc has an album out entitled Uncommon Side Effects, and much of the set comes from that. It sounds a fine album! The penultimate song is a rocking cover of The Shirelles’ Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, composed by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and they close with Last Train Tonight, which I don’t believe is on the album. If you like unpretentious rock ’n’ roll then the Marc Valentine band are for you. They play Brighton’s Prince Albert on 12th September and The Water Rats in London on 1st October. You know what to do.
K-Punk, Hecklers and Poor Peter
Next I toddle over to the Empress Ballroom for Rumkicks, who are a three-piece from South Korea. Initially Jeong Yeawon’s guitar is all but inaudible, but that is sorted by the second song. Yeawon handles lead vocals whilst bassist Choi Seeun and the drummer are on backing vocals.
They have a song called Drinking Every Day. Yeawon asks us if we like drinking every day. The reply is somewhat muted, as I suspect there are more than a few hangovers around! The band’s hair is extravagantly spiked, which is difficult not to admire. They seem to be a lot of fun. They explain that rather than K-pop they are K-punk, which seems more than preferable!
One song is succinctly titled F*ck You. At the end of the song they shout, “F*ck Putin! F*ck Trump, and f*ck Peter!” Peter is their tour manager. Poor Peter!
Their music is pretty impressive. Let’s Go features a bass solo followed by a guitar solo, and the aforementioned F*ck You features a section in 3/4, so they have the compositional and playing chops. Someone foolishly heckles Yeawon, an interruption that she handles admirably. She tells them to go away, practise for ten years, and come back when they think they can do better than the band, finishing with “f*ck you!” Well, he deserved it!
Their set closes with Mosquito Fighters and Punk Rocker, which is very fast and features a brief drum solo. This has been a most entertaining set. Hopefully they’ll be back next year.
New Blood and Old Ska
One of the joys of Rebellion is that you can walk out of one room having watched some South Korean K-punk and immediately stumble across something completely different elsewhere in the Winter Gardens. Over on the Arena Stage, Club Brat are just what’s needed to spice up what can occasionally feel like an over-familiar line-up. Jagged guitars, bass-heavy grooves and a stellar delivery make them stand apart from much of what’s happening around them. These guys are definitely one to pop on your watch list.
From something relatively new to something considerably longer established, The Hotknives are of particular interest to me as they are originally from Horsham, where I live. However, there are no original members left now as, according to current vocalist and bassist Mark Carew, “They’ve all retired.” Most of the current band members have been with the band for quite some time though, Carew himself having been involved since 1994.
The band are known as a ska band, but some of the songs today seem a little pedestrian. Looking at the Rude Boys is about ska, but the music is a trifle bland. However, as the set proceeds things do begin to improve somewhat. Keyboard player Richard ‘Bosky’ Allen, who also joined the band in 1994, turns in some impressively jazzy keyboard solos. There is a hint of later Madness about much of the material.
The Hotknives are not going to change the world, but the sheer infectious enjoyment of Carew and Bosky makes them an entertaining live act. Well worth a watch if you get the opportunity.
Carnage in the Empress
There’s nothing remotely pedestrian about what greets me back at the Empress Stage. Riskee and the Ridicule have become something of a Rebellion staple over the past few years, and from the opening notes of Bodybag it’s complete carnage. Bodies fly in all directions and crowd surfers pour over the barriers while security do their best to get them safely out of the pit, only for most of them to head straight back into the crowd and do it all over again.
Riskee know exactly how to use a stage of this size too, with vocalist Scott Picking prowling every inch of it. Judging by the response they get today, I can only see them creeping higher up the bill again next year.
And if Riskee and the Ridicule have turned up the temperature in the Empress, Goldblade promptly detonate the place. The sensational Manchester outfit go off like a bomb, with vocalist John Robb a blur of non-stop energy from start to finish. It’s one of the performances of the day and almost impossible to take your eyes off.
It’s just a pity the sound isn’t quite as good as the blow-your-socks-off performance. Still, when a band is throwing this much energy at you, it takes rather more than a dodgy mix to derail things.
Nearly Fifty Years Waiting for Otway and Barrett
After that assault on the senses, it’s back to the rather plush surroundings of the Opera House for an act I’ve been waiting the best part of fifty years to see: John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett.
It has to be said, I’m more than a little excited about their appearance at Rebellion. The guys don’t so much hit the stage as amble onto it. Wild Willy is surprisingly on violin – well, it’s surprising to me, as I didn’t know he played it! – and is obtaining a bass drum sound by tapping his foot on the base of his mic stand.
He also has a wheelie bin which he periodically opens to reveal the legend “who’s a tw@t” written on the inside of the lid. I’m not entirely sure of the purpose of this wheelie bin, but I suspect that Wild Willy may have an extra speaker for his amp in there. I could of course be wrong. It’s happened before.
So what did they play, you ask? They start with Louisa on a Horse from their imaginatively titled 1976 album John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett. It’s reminiscent of The Who’s version of Summertime Blues from their Live at Leeds album. This is not entirely surprising as it’s one of the tracks on the album that was produced by The Who’s Pete Townshend.
Early on we get The Hit, Really Free, featuring Wild Willy playing a ludicrously distorted electric guitar of unknown origin. Let’s just say that it looks like it’s had a very tough life and leave it at that.
The Hit is followed by its B-side, the really rather wonderful Beware of the Flowers (‘Cause I’m Sure They’re Going to Get You, Yeah). In 1999 this was listed at number seven in a BBC poll of the nation’s favourite song lyrics, just behind The Beatles’ Yesterday at number six. I have heard Otway mention this a number of times. I’m delighted to discover that this one is actually true.
In the past it has occasionally frustrated me that Otway has become something of a novelty act. In recent years that hasn’t been so much the case, but here’s a prime example of it coming up, which I must admit is quite amusing.
Otway covers Imagination’s Body Talk. To make this song more interesting than it otherwise would be, he makes his body ‘talk’ by placing drum pads under his clothes, which he then plays rather disjointedly. He also plays theremin, which he reckons now makes him a “musician”. You already were, John.
Wild Willy adds some musical colour on guitar, which then develops into a guitar and theremin jam, with all the connotations that dredges up.
They then cover Theodore F. Morse’s Two Little Boys, which was a hit for the Antipodean Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned in 1969. They wonder whether they should still play it, but decide that if they don’t mention the Antipodean’s name then it’s okay. Otway starts off on theremin and then moves to guitar, while Wild Willy is on banjo, which gives the song something of a bluegrass feel. Wild Willy tells us that he is Otway’s full-time carer. Bless.
21 Days is dedicated to anyone whose wife or girlfriend has been in prison recently. Well, we’ve all been there, haven’t we?
They start Cheryl’s Going Home, the song around which Otway and Attila the Stockbroker’s rock opera Cheryl was built, but Otway has forgotten his capo and Wild Willy has to remind him. Maybe he isn’t kidding about being Otway’s carer!
They finish with what is probably Otway’s best song: Geneve. However, it rapidly becomes clear that this is not going to be an ordinary performance of the song. Wild Willy has a nylon-strung acoustic guitar which he claims belongs to “Otway’s daughter”. If so, she shouldn’t have lent it to him, because he first attacks it with a saw and then knocks holes in it with a hammer before throwing it onto the stage.
He then brings out some bagpipes made out of a toy Bagpuss cat, which clearly don’t work, and thus the set ends. Wild Willy tells us that he sells the wrecked guitars on the merch stand afterwards for “around £35”, and reassures us that none of the money will go to charity. Sweet.
Otway and Barrett will be touring in the autumn, playing, amongst other places, Shoreham’s Ropetackle Arts Centre on 5th September.
Roman Jugg Opens the Damned Vault
The next artist that I see is somebody that I haven’t seen for forty years: former The Damned guitarist Roman Jugg. Roman was effectively retired, but has now returned with The Roman Jugg Band.
Roman has put together a top band comprising Paul ‘Vim Bedlam’ Bedford on guitar, Pat McNamara on bass, Fiona Dulake on keyboards and drums, and Dave Dulake on drums and keyboards. Fiona and Dave also have their own band, The Tuppenny Bunters, and yes, they do swap instruments.
Roman had significant input into Damned albums during the 1980s, co-writing the material on Phantasmagoria and also Anything, apart from the cover of Love’s Alone Again Or, and most of the set reflects this.
For opener Psychomania, Paul Bedford’s guitar is far too quiet, but thankfully this is rectified for second song Generals from the Strawberries album, on which record Roman played keyboards. Something that’s apparent from the get-go is how ace the band’s harmonies are. Roman’s vocals are spot on too. He’s an excellent frontman, which isn’t something that I was necessarily expecting.
The set also includes a couple of earlier Damned songs that would have been in the set when Roman was in the band, including I Just Can’t Be Happy Today, which they played on The Old Grey Whistle Test – for younger readers, a much-missed BBC music programme from the 1970s and 1980s.
Roman’s guitar playing is still very much up to scratch, as evidenced by a cracking solo on There’ll Come a Day. Paul Bedford meanwhile is certainly no slouch, adding some lead to Edward the Bear, whilst Dozen Girls from Strawberries features some ace dual lead guitar between Roman and Paul.
Keyboard player Fiona’s vocals are very impressive throughout, incidentally. Praise where praise is due. Fiona and Dave swap instruments before Street of Dreams, which commences with a cool keyboard interlude from Dave. They swap back for Grimly Fiendish, which at the time of its release was a very untypical Damned song.
Storms is the only Roman Jugg solo track in the set today, featuring a delicate keyboard intro from Fiona, a lead solo from Paul and some awesome drumming from Dave. If this is typical of Roman’s solo material, I’d love to hear more of it played live.
The set ends with a storming version of Damned oldie Neat Neat Neat. This has been an ace set featuring many songs that The Damned haven’t played live for years. Whilst I really enjoyed The Damned songs, I’d love to hear more of Roman’s solo songs. More power to his and the band’s collective elbows!
New Bands and Second Chances
By now there’s a considerable buzz surrounding another band appearing over on the Arena Stage. The queue for Gatecrash stretches all the way back towards the box office, and it’s already rammed inside. It seems everyone wants a piece of this one.
The recently formed ‘supergroup’ features a cracking line-up of Russ Farrell of Dirt Box Disco and Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions, Daryl Smith of Cock Sparrer, Andy Furr of Knock Off and Maff, also of Dirt Box Disco and Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions. There’s nothing needlessly complicated about what they do: straightforward, catchy street-punk tunes built to be played loudly in a packed room. And these guys know exactly how to deliver them.
I stay in the Arena for The Samples. The Samples actually started out circa 1978, but with a lack of record company interest they folded in 1986. Around 2020 they decided to give things another go, but then Covid came along, and tragically their vocalist Sean ‘Badger’ Taylor passed away from cancer.
However, you really can’t keep a good band down, and with bassist Paz Smith taking on lead vocal duties and Jake Powell joining on drums, here they are. It’s touching that although he’s gone, Sean’s mic stand is still very much part of the band’s stage set, adorned by his bandana.
The band as they are now are a classic power trio, and their music is political, fast and powerful. Their debut album, Speak Truth to Power, includes lyrics that Sean had written before he passed.
Many of the lyrics refer to past events, although those events are starting to look disturbingly relevant today. Thatcher’s Boot Boys, for example, is about police brutality during the miners’ strike of the mid-1980s. 1984 is about the fear of a nuclear holocaust. Something that is becoming an increasing possibility. Suspicion is about Tory oppression back in the day. Now there are numerous directions from which oppression could potentially originate.
Burning Down the Wall features guitarist Dave Evans on lead vocals and includes a reggae interlude. Empire Strikes Back includes a quotation from The Clash’s Career Opportunities, and Fires on the Ground seems to be very much based on the Thatcher era.
The Samples are a cracking band and should give considerable hope to anyone in their fifties or sixties. See for yourself. They play Islington’s Hope & Anchor on 19th September.
Growing Old Disgracefully
Now I pay a visit to the Pavilion Stage for another band who are not quite in the first flush of youth, these being the intriguingly named The Puncturists, who rehearse in Barnsley.
They’re a four-piece: guitar, bass, drums and vocals. A lectern at the front of the stage is emblazoned with the legend “Politicians lie!!!” Well, we’ve had plenty of evidence of that over the last decade or two.
Many of The Puncturists’ songs are about politics, although not all of them. Vampire Friend, for example, is about “that friend that drains the blood out of you”. Well, we’ve all had one of those at some point.
55 is about the age at which vocalist Gail Townsend started singing in a band, and features a short but cool bass solo from Dale Farrow. Wish I Was French is about how unlikely any kind of decent retirement is for many people, and another song is about the percentage of a band’s merchandise take that many venues scoop up. This is actually quite criminal, as the income a band makes from merchandise is often the only profit that artists make from playing live. Remember this, folks, and buy a bloody T-shirt!!!
The Puncturists’ set is short but enjoyable. They have an album out entitled I’m Not Alright, which is well worth a listen, and they have some gigs coming up too, but nothing dahn saaf unfortunately. They do, however, play Onboard the Craft festival in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, on 11th September.
Sham 69 Take Command
The time has now come for the headliners, Sham 69, to be respectfully ushered into our presence. The current line-up features three-quarters of the 1977 line-up, with Jimmy Pursey, Dave Tregunna and Dave Parsons all present and correct, plus Spike T. Smith on drums. He joined the band in 2023.
Jimmy Pursey appears to be ageless, although he perhaps isn’t quite as mobile as in past years. He seems to spend a lot of time between songs standing and staring at the audience. Nonetheless, there’s still something oddly regal about him. Even when he sits on the drum riser for Dave Parsons’ guitar solo during Borstal Breakout.
For many years now Sham have been covering The Clash’s White Riot. Before they play it tonight, Pursey announces, “Some people don’t like this song. We do.” Quite frankly, if people don’t like White Riot, perhaps thinking that the song is in some way racist, then they haven’t listened to the lyrics.
Naturally tonight’s set has its own cavalcade of classics, including Angels with Dirty Faces and If the Kids Are United, which ends the main set.
When the band returns, Pursey tells us, “I wanna do the f*ckin’ gypsy song,” and the band pile into Hersham Boys. I always thought that Hersham was a slice of stockbroker belt and didn’t connect it with gypsies, but what do I know?
Proceedings are brought to a close with Hurry Up Harry and its bellowed refrain of “we’re going down the pub!” echoing around the hall. Ladies and gentlemen: Sham 69. Always a pleasure. Never a chore.
Ska-Punk Until 1am
Sham may have been tonight’s headliners, but they’re not the last band on. That honour falls to Bite Me Bambi, who fill the rather loud and noisy graveyard slot in the Arena until 1am.
Bite Me Bambi are a ska-punk band from Anaheim, California. They are fast and furious from the off, and it beggars belief quite how anybody can be so energetic at this time of night! The musicianship is superb too, with some very cool sax.
Singer Tahlena Chikami asks how many people are so drunk that they can see two of her. Nobody puts their hands up. Then again, if they were that drunk they wouldn’t be able to put their hands up!
We get a Prince cover, When You Were Mine, and also what sounds like Want You Bad by The Offspring, but that could be my ears. There’s a song about telling people to “go f*ck themselves”, and also a song about Tahlena getting divorced. These songs could possibly be combined!
For one song, we have to shout out “bitch!” and “whore!”. Apart from the lyrics, the song sounds like a 1950s rock ’n’ roll classic! Tahlena wears a leather jacket for the whole set. I’m amazed that she hasn’t got heat exhaustion!!!
It’s a storming ending, though. There’s more tomorrow!
WORDS: MARK KELLY PHOTOS: CRIS WATKINS
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