This year’s Riverside Rebellion punk festival moves to Darlington for the first time and features veteran punks 999 as the headliners, plus a string of north-eastern-based bands supporting but with one exception – Sweden’s Dead Pollys.
999 were huge favourites at Middlesbrough Rock Garden and have always maintained a healthy following in the North East. The band first sprung to fame in December 1976 with the self-release of ‘I’m Alive’, which got them a deal with United Artists. Several singles followed including ‘Emergency’, ‘Feeling Alright With The Crew’ and ‘Homocide’, which was a top 40 hit. Two albums, the self-titled ‘999’ and ‘Separates’ followed. The band then moved record labels and toured the USA, releasing ‘The Biggest Prize In Sport’ on Polydor Records before moving to Albion Records and changing styles, releasing the Ennio Morricone-influenced ‘Obsessed’ and ‘Wild Sun’.
Darlington-based Boilermaker are the main support. Formed in 2016 by former Last Rough Cause guitarist Phil Coates and drummer Max Turnbull, who now handles vocals with Steve Addison on bass and Gimp Fist’s Mike Robson on drums, they have released three albums to date and maintain a following in mainland Europe. Support act Johnny Seven originally formed after seeing a Rezillos gig at Middlesbrough Rock Garden in 1978. Heavily influenced by The Stooges and the MC5, they split up without releasing a record then as luck would have it, The Rezillos were playing The Georgian Theatre in Stockton on Tees in 2013 so they reformed to support them. They then played several other shows supporting bands such as The BellRays, The DeRellas, Eight Rounds Rapid and The Godfathers. They finally released a nine-track album in July 2018 which has become a staple diet of their live shows.
Sweden’s Dead Pollys from Stockholm are a four-piece energetic punk rock act who have made over 200 appearances in Europe and USA. The band have released two singles and two albums so far. LoGOz, from Ashington, Northumbria, are a prolific melodic four-piece outfit with three singles and one album to date. Hot Rockets are an energetic three-piece punk-influenced band from Whitby. San Niguel, aka as Nigel Bryan, is a solo artist from Newton Aycliffe who has progressed from open mic shows in Darlington and the surrounding area.
Tickets, priced at £20.00 in advance, are available from theforumonline.co.uk.
