City Invasion 2005

.. . . . ..

....... .... ... .. ...

City Invasion Punk Festival 2005

Exploited
Misfits (usa)
Agnostic Front (usa)
US Bombs (usa)
Filaments
Deadline
Murphys Law (usa)
Freaks Union
BSD

No, we haven’t punked out (besides I don’t think any of the staff have enough hair to
grow a goddamn mohican!). I’d heard about this festival from Jimmy G of
Murphys Law saying it had a cool line-up and given that it was taking place in my
hometown - so it saved me the usual festival hassle of planes, trains and
automobiles - it was just meat on a plate.

There’s also very little about this festival and this was another motivation in me wanting to
cover this (indoor) festival. According to the promoters, City Invasion came together as a
one day Punk festival happening in 2 UK cities, Sheffield and London, and true to the punk
spirit was aimed at people who couldn't afford to go to the big festivals taking place around
the country. Considering the line up, the ticket prices appeared to reflect that sentiment.
A big plus was the organisation as all the bands started and finished promptly. Whilst some
people bemoaned this as being ‘too corporate’ I actually thought the promoters (intentionally?)
got it right as the bands still got to deliver but without tiring out the audiences (something that
happens all too often at metal festivals such that some become endurance tests!). As a future
note, City Invasion appears to be expanding as in 2006 plans are already underway to expand
it to 3 cities (Bristol, Sheffield and London).

It was a strange feeling being there from the outset. I should’ve been energised and in eager
anticipation but given that tragedy had just struck this city where I live and grew up in, I was
somewhat apprehensive, wondering whether I should be here at all as you can only push your
luck so far. Still, I felt reassured that a big crowd had showed up (and virtually every band that
night would commend the audience for doing so) be it in defiance to current world events or just
a classic ‘I-don’t-give-a-shit’ punk attitude. One setback was the fact that the Misfits had pulled
out (they returned a few weeks later though to play their own show) but the rest of the bands
more than made up for the loss.

Hightened security in the capital meant we missed BSD and Freaks Union but old friends
Murphys Law were in tha house! I knew Jimmy always was a drinker (I remember when he
was dating 3 chicks on the go!) but he had a box of brews and some liquor that he was seriously
downing from behind the backline even while his crew were setting up their gear ha ha! Still true
to their form, Murphy’s Law delivered and in style that befitted their legendary (at least for me) status.
The band was in free wheel motion from the start with ‘Quest For Herb’, ‘Secret Agent S.K.I.N.’,
‘Push Comes To Shove’ and it really made it for me cos they played a lotta songs offa their classsic
‘Back With A Bong’ album. Jimmy was constantly getting into the photopit - he even chased me
around it for a while - to mix it with the crowd and offer them beers - was I in CBGBs or London -
it didn’t matter cos Murphys Law is all about having FUN and everyone was left with beaming smiles
at the end of their set. Murphys Law were the bomb and just what we all needed - cheers Jimmy!

And the momentum continued with Brit band Deadline who just blew me away considering I’d never
even heard of them prior to City Invasion. They hit the stage with a fury and just didn’t let up but upped
the ante with highly catchy songs and their onstage presence, a lot of which was due to frontwoman
Liz whose drive allowed this attractive tattooed skingirl to project her presence to the whole venue.
When she later told me that Deadline had 4 European tours and 1 US tour (touring with the likes of
Rancid, Lars Frederiksen and the Dropkick Murphys) as well as 2 albums under their belts it all made
sense and left me with the conclusion that they were fuckin hard workers (with talent) who’ve done
more in their short career than other bands achieve in their lifetime. This band were definitely on the
ascendency and I will be looking out for them in the future.

Everyone in the house turned up to see Brit band The Filaments, which was strange for me as it was
the first time I’d seen them and ironically this was to be their farewell show. The band were a wierd
mixture of punks and skunks that had a brass section who played well, I guess you’d call it
horn-backed-punk-rock. One of their fans described them to me as a bit of Rancid mixed with Conflict,
and the crowd certainly appreciated them, but I guess they’re history now.

Next up were veterans US Bombs, whose frontman Peters (whom I respect as an early skateboarder
cos he accomplised a 360 degree loop inside a drainpipe!) looked like Ian Dury but whose anti-
establishment banter and songs couldn’t be mistaken for anything except punk-as-fuck attitude.
This is a band looked, stank and spat like punks scathing with so much fury so that I thought they
would beat the shit outta me if I took another photo (“look, our label sent a photgrapher - kill the fucker!!”).
Afterwards I caught up with the guitarist (Martinez?) over a beer and he told me they occasionally beat
the crap out’ve each other. Nice.

There are few bands who could be compared to the mighty Agnostic Front, still fronted by Roger and
hardcore’s own godfather Vincent on guitar. These days they’ve got Mike and Steve Gallo bringing up
the rhythmn and Lenny Di Sclafani on guitar but frankly it just doesn’t matter cos as long as Roger
and Vincent are there it will always be AF. 101% NYHC! Opening up with the awesome ‘New Jack’,
Roger said “lets get a pit going old school style!” And that was it, every skinhead just piled in and soon
it was whirling round and round until the grand finale sing along to ‘Crucified’. At the end I felt proud and
moved that AF were still playing NY hardcore even though most of their peers were either dead or gone
(Harley are you out there my friend...) but Roger and Vincent are still soldiering on.

Exploited - the last time I saw these guys was when they woke me (and about 20,000 other people) up
at one of the early Dynamo festivals. They had an early morning set and most people were slumbering
around still zonked out from the previous day. This was clearly unacceptable to Wattie Buchan who
proceeded to scream repeatly down the mike to “get up you fuckin bastards!” - which everyone actually
did - and then played a set the songs of which had ‘bastard’ in every title! Once labelled by Gary Bushell
the ‘hoarseman of the apocalypse’ Wattie Buchan has led The Exploited for almost 20 years and I just
love the way he sings ‘Dead Cities’ with that Glaswegian accent - it comes out sorta “ded cieees!” ha ha!
These days he hasn’t got that infamous mohawk (that inspired a million punks worldwide as I’ve seen it
from Russia to Brazil to Singapore) but a sorta punk crusty look with red dreads. What hasn’t changed
however it the man is still on the edge as he did not stay still for more than an instant - noone could get
a decent foto ha ha! It was cool seeing The Exploited again and they are true punks if ever there were any.

On reflection, City Invasion had an excellent line-up that was well managed for all i.e. bands, crowd
and venue (and how many times does that usually happen?) offering excellent value for money to boot,
so I might just get that mohawk (hairpiece) after all!

-Shan Siva

Shan's Electric Eye:
Click images to enlarge!

Murphy's Law