I’m confused. Now admittedly it sometimes doesn’t take much, but I am. So I went to Derby to see the advertised bands. Manges and Raggity Anne. Not heard or seen them before, but I’ve heard OF them. I watch. There’s 3 bands. Raggity Anne drumkit. Only the last band announce themselves as One Car Pile Up, who again I’ve heard OF. Then, afterwards, I look around. There’s Manges and Raggity Anne stuff for sale, but no One Car Pile Up. So we have headliners who didn’t headline, and headliners who did headline but are the only band with nothing visible on sale. I think. Maybe. Possibly. Punk gigs are not supposed to make your brain hurt are they? So anyway, just in case, sorry if I end upp crediting the wrong stuff to the wrong band.

When I arrived though, the band that are definitely Manges were going through their stuff. I feel safe in this assumption as they’re Italian, and they were definitely speaking with Italian accents between songs. And the songs are steeped in the Ramones and, I think, a touch of the Buzzcocks. And with all 4 resplendant in the same stripey t-shirts. They weren’t half bad at all, and I even bought a 10 track tape at the end, which is probably review elsewhere in here.

Next are the Band Quite Possibly Known As Raggity Anne. Well, the drumkit was there. Anyway, chaotic kind of oldish punk stuff. Which was actually quite entertaining. First song seemed to be an ode to shoplifters, with the refrain of “do you really need this crap”. There was a song about Patrick Swayze, “she’s in love with Patrick Swayze”, one about the crap on TV and one something like, Please Bring Back My Ramones Album. Very fun. And they end up with some obligatory covers, which is a medley of that Oh, Oh, just a little bit, song, D.I.S.C.O. and some others. And then they’re gone. They could well have been Raggity Anne, as the CD I bought at the end seems to have some names which have a passing resemblance to some of the possible song titles from the set. The mystery is unravelling.

And so to the Unpublicised Band As Far As I Could Tell That Seemed To Be Calling Themselves One Car Pile Up. Bloody good actually in a very NOFX style comedy punk manner as far as these lugholes were concerned. So good I shouldn’t whinge. Really, if NOFX are your thing, then do check these lot out. Excellent stuff. Even with a David Baddiel lookalike singing. Or do my eyes as well as my ears need testing now?

BUT, WELL, I GOT TO SAY THIS, BECAUSE AT THE MOMENT IT’S BUGGING ME. DESPITE THEIR EXCELLENCE, THEY WANTED TO BE NOFX SO BAD. LYRICS SEEMED TO HAVE THE FAT MIKE PRONOUNCIATION, THE GUITARWORK RESEMBLED THEM, EVEN DOWN TO THOSE PATENTED NOFX MINI PAUSES. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. THE 5 MINUTE COMEDY INTRO BEFORE STARTING, THE SELF-DEPRACATING HUMOUR “NEXT CRAP SONG”, OR “WE HAVE 3 COPIES OF OUR SINGLE FOR SALE. LOOKS LIKE WE’LL BE TAKING THEM BACK AS WELL. NO CHANGE THERE THEN, WE’VE HAD THOSE SINCE ‘89”. THAT SORT OF THING. And why is the guitarist trying to talk with an American accent. Be yourself. THEY FEEL LIKE THEY WOULD BE A PERFECT FATWRECKCHORDS BAND. AND THAT’S SAID IN BOTH THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE WAYS.

I think what sealed it though was the “shall we do a nasty metal song?”. They did. And it sounded no different to the rest of their stuff. But it allowed for a Satan reference, and ended with an obvious reference to Maiden with the foot on monitor, pointing to people and going “and you, and you and youuuu”. Nowt wrong with that. As long as people will just begin to accept that sometimes there is little difference between these genres. People can listen to both, and most seemingly have. Yet there still seems to be an insistence that one has to take the piss out of the other. When will people realise that whatever you listen to, punk, metal, hardcore, it’s the same basic form, but just with different makeup. Are they REALLY so different? They’re all doing essentially the same thing, trying to fight the tidal wave of apathy and the mainstream in their posturing. There’s no difference there. The bands, venues and promoters doing gigs like this need your support, irrespective really of whether its a punk, metal or hardcore gig. Live music is dying on it’s feet at the moment, unless you are the big bands. That’s not for lack of talent, but because the people don’t support the bands. What was there, 30 maybe 40 people here tonight. NOFX packed Rock City. 2000. And so many were “so punk”. They had the current look down to a fine art. They wore the right shirts, the right clothes. To the core. And they are never anywhere to be seen at these gigs. That is what pisses me off so much, and is maybe why I launch into tirades regarding part of the uniform, such as the fucking backpacks. Come on. You all keep it so REAL. Actually live up to that then. Yet me, Mr Metalhead, frowned on at the big gigs, is here. And then has to listen to “shall we take the piss out of metal, even though we’ve obviously listened to it quite a bit and it’s influenced our sound, but we can’t really acknowledge that and retain credibility, so we do it in a humourous way.”

Still, that’s not a slight on the bands. It was a top night, and I’ll be checking them out again in the future, cos all three bands were at the very least good. Just that more and more these days it seems that I’m getting irritated by the lack of support.

Just saw an old flyer, One Car Pile Up were on the bill. But that doesn't remove that initial confusion for me.