Featuring The Parkinsons, Bad Breed, The Action Men, Peter Parkers rock & Roll Club, Oh!Gunquit, Electrophonic Tonic.
This was easily the oddest little festival around and that made it an irresistible choice so much so that I put off going to the Notting Hill Carnival on my preferred day. So what makes this festival odd well it comes with a Cake show and a Dog show as well as a Jumble sale that featured rare records from Cilla Black and Tom Jones and vintage bus maps. That and it all took place in a small park in between Exmouth market and the Metropolitan Archives on what would have once been the banks of the River Fleet and close to the old Pleasure gardens that the likes of Pepys and Dickens would hang out in.
We arrived early enough to go and have lunch in a chi chi cafe in Exmouth Market and be sheltering under a tree to get out of the rain shower as Electrophonic Tonic took over from DJ Wheelie Bag who was our compere for the day. Yes they sound exactly as the band's name suggests like a cross between the MC5 and Sonic's Rendevous Band but as they have a female singer who sounds a good bit like Lisa Kekaula it is reunion era MC5/DTK they resemble most.
Of their originals the best thing they played was Millennium Towers a good rumbling and rambling garage rock tune they finished with a duo of MC5 songs a good version of Sister Anne and a great blast through Electrophonic Tonic that brought a good smile to my face.
We then went and had a look at the Dog show that was being judged by Vivienne Of Holloway and a couple of compadre's one of whom had flown in from Portugal for this really odd little show and they were judging the dogs on who had the waggliest tail or who could catch a sausage best etc, we stayed until the next band was ready to go but the show seemed to have a good sized audience as that is indeed Rock & Roll!!
Next on were Oh! Gunquit the sort of Tiki Garage rock band who have a lead Sax player rather than a lead guitarist as well as the singer also plays trumpet to make them a decently strange brew, they were nearly as much fun as the last time I saw them supporting the Pandoras.
Highlights were a storming little go at the dog show by playing Little Kitten Sound that was good and swampy and as it started to rain again it seemed to fit perfectly. That Milks Gone Bad has some good lyrics over a bit of a stomp of a beat. They closed with Stampede that the singer not only plays trumpet on but she also Hula Hoops for almost all the song that looked about right at this festival.
In between chatting to all sorts of friends between bands someone noticed the other smaller stage had something on so we went and checked out a duo who someone said was Peter Parker's rock and Roll Club but as the stage fronted onto some flower beds it was a bit hard to get to a position to see the band!! But I did like the song they had about Self Abuse that seemed to nick a Status Quo riff.
As soon as we could see something was happening on the main stage we wandered the 40 yards back to find The Action Men on stage they are a male garage rock equivalent of Pans people who were dancing to obscure records with Shovels and garden forks as you do. This didn't seem at all out of place at this festival.
They were followed by Bad Breed who are a Midnight Cowboy style slow rock & roll band in Stetsons and tight clothes the singer had on a rather louche pink jacket for a set of songs about how the women in their lives have wronged them, it was all a bit one note the closest to stand out songs they had were the one about Beelzebub and Up Came The Devil that they closed with but honestly they were a bit on the boring side.
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Then after some more of DJ Wheelie Bins antics with glow sticks it was time for today's headline act The Parkinsons who were playing the first of two headline shows on the day the second one being at the legendary Harlow Square.
They launch into She's A Bad Girl and are in a different league to the rest of the bill, sounding just as great as ever full on Punk madness has arrived. A Long Way To Nowhere sounds great with current drummer Paula Nozzari thumping out that beat with metronomic precision as Afonso gives it his all as ever. No matter how much they claim to be holding back some energy for later it isn't the case.
Too Many Shut up's sees Victor pogoing and playing Guitar like it's the only way to play the song. Modern World has Pedro's bass riff rumbling and holding the thing down as Victor disappears into the crowd for a bit and it gets messy and mad in that classic Parkinsons way. Streets Of London is a proper rave up urgent and nasty and just plain brilliant.
One day I'll remember what who can my baby be is really called as I can never remember!! Still it was as great as ever and the same goes for Nothing Makes You Happy well if The Parkinsons don't make you smile you have no hope left!!
Girl From Another World sounded great and they really had the place going by this point for at least one of the dogs from the show to be seen crowd surfing!! Yes The Parkinsons had crowd surfing dogs in leather jackets! For them it was just another New Wave for them to keep on surfing and letting Victor loose in the crowd. City Of Nothing really blasted by in a blur of action all over the stage as ever you can't keep your eyes off them.
Good reality just sounded suitable frazzled and almost poignant as Afonso pointed out before they started how shit out current reality is. Running was taken at a sort of 400 metres pace rather than a full on sprint as someone came on to tell them it was almost time to go.
They finished with an epic version of So Lonely that saw both Afonso and Victor climb the speaker stacks, while Afonso was on his the crowd surfing dog manged to surf into his arms! And then when Victor tried to get off his stack he handed his guitar to a random fan who carried on the riff! Victor then insisted she carried on and pulled her up onstage and then played the guitar with her before leaving her onstage with Paula and Pedro to finish the songs instrumental freak out it was brilliant way to end the show and the main festival.
We didn't go to the after party in the Holy Redeemer church hall instead opting to call it a day but really this was a great day out for a free festival and it was properly odd in all the right ways.
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