Monday 3rd April 06 - Abrasive Wheels, Slander and Certified at The Ringside, Hull By Dick Spring Photo Gallery By Mo

Photograph Gallery   Gallery 1,   Gallery 2,   Gallery 3.

Tonight had all the promise of being a giant of a gig, and was eagerly awaited by the punks of Hull young and old. But, sadly due to a family emergency, one of the billed headline acts, Discharge, had to fly back home to the States where he now lives. Understandably there was massive disappointment at this bad news, though front man Rat turned up at the show (he was travelling with support band Certified) to placate and explain the unfortunate cancellation to anyone that asked, and to deflect any blame from the venue and promoter Nigel.

Sadly, this didn't seem to be satisfactory as quite a number of people actually turned up then left again when they found out Discharge weren't playing, which begs the question; Why?

They had obviously come for a punk gig with the money to pay for Discharge, yet the gig still went ahead with a much reduced price, and at very short notice a more than capable replacement was found in the shape of old school 80's punks from Leeds, Abrasive Wheels.

Anyway, despite those that left, the venue still filled up nicely with a good mix of older punks and young ones too and they gave a rousing reception to openers Certified, who turned in a very raucous thrashing hardcore punk set. With their very old school studs'n'leather images and radiantly bright hair colours, they seemed to impress the crowd, who appeared to warm to them straightaway.

For me, though, they seemed to lack a little something - a lot of noise and not much substance, though that statement in itself has more than a hint of irony, since we all grew up listening to what our parents called noise! The room had filled up suitably and the punks were loosened up by their ale, so we came to returning Hull heroes Slander, who were, quite simply, in a different league tonight and would certainly have challenged Discharge for band of the night.

Singer Dave Hardcore was back on form with his freshly bleached and spikey hair, black leather jacket and black jeans, reminding me of Colin from GBH a little, which is no bad thing. The songs have plenty of anger and venom in them with some good shout-along choruses, but the difference was that there were actually melodies in there too. They didn't appear at all rusty and on this showing they could be a band that will a mainstay of the Hull punk scene, which does seem to be having a renaissance, despite being ignored by our local media and even the music scene.

Well, with Slander over it was a wonder what would happen when the Abrasive Wheels took the stage. Having played back in January to a lacklustre audience, it was a chance to play to the real punk audience that would remember them from their heyday.

Though they are from Leeds, this is only their second time in Hull (the first being back in January) but you wouldn't have thought it as they ripped into a set of classic after classic, from opener, Burn Them Down, through Urban Rebel, Sonic Omen, Banner of Hope, Slaughterhouse, Just Another Punk Band, Voice of Youth plus the seminal first single Army Song with a couple of new songs, showing that they have lost none of the songwriting and anthemic side, thrown in for good measure. They finally finished a blisteringly good hour long set with the anthem When the punks go Marching in which the crowd of happy and boisterous punks joined in with.

This most certainly announces that The Wheels are back and were a more than capable replacement headliner. So hats off to the promoter for pulling this gig out of the fire, I'm sure it was appreciated by the many that turned up and stayed.

Photographs courtsey and Copyright © Mo 2005

Photograph Gallery   Gallery 1,   Gallery 2,   Gallery 3.

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