I lived in Manchester during the school year 2003/2004. While I enjoyed the constant rain and the sea of red bricks that gratified the eye, in terms of punk gigs, more often than not one had to go to Leeds or Bradford. This said, I still had the pleasure to see the great External Menace twice in Manch and I was very surprised to see that they were playing before only 30 people (I was told that people had seen them too much and didn't really care anymore... go figure). Another highlight was seeing The Ex and FuckHatePropaganda there on my 20th birthday while on shrooms. But regardless, the Leeds/Bradford area was often a choice destination punkwise.
I got this cd at a gig where Extinction of Mankind, Bomb Blast Men, Violent Minority and some band from Norway I can't remember the name of played. A great night and my first EOM live experience. The compilation was sold by the people who organized the gig, two lovely persons who ran the Punktured collective and also did a zine called Headwound. The comp includes 28 bands, all of them having played at some point for Punktured in 2002 and 2003. It was a benefit release for the Rape Crisis Federation, an independent organization that offered moral and technical support for rape victims. At the time (and sadly, I doubt things have changed since on that level), the government was busy spending money dropping bombs on civilians and didn't really have time or money to help rape survivors get through their ordeal. The idea of the compilation was to raise some funds in order to help Rape Crisis, which epitomizes the "act locally" motto. A text was included with the cd explaining the motivations behind Punktured's support to Rape Crisis. Sound and sensible indeed.
The bands on the cd are pretty diverse as I remember the people behind Punktured being more concerned with what bands had to say and with their DIY ethics than with their musical style (or abilities!). Neverthelesse, the selection is not only a fine example of DIY ideals put into practice, it also illustrates what the scene was like almost 10 years ago, with some 90's bands who managed to survive until the early 2000's and young bands who had just formed. To be honest, not all the bands are amazing here. The highlights for me are Active Slaughter and Bug Central (old-school anarcho punk reminiscent of Conflict, Riot/Clone and Anthrax), Anarchy Spanky, Kismet HC (long-running powerful anarcho band with great female vocals), Dog On A Rope, Eastfield and Chineapple Punx (both bands play tuneful snotty punk-rock), Dogshit Sandwich (excellent UK82-type band somewhere between Abrasive Wheels, Uproar and Peter and the Test Tube Babies) and, of course, Spanish legends Sin Dios and their classic hardcore anthem "Alerta antifascista". There are a couple of local bands well worth checking as well like Dead Pets and Cop Car Pile Up (who both the reggae/ska punk thing), Indicator, Mafia vs Ninja or Bickle's Cab.
On the whole, it is a very enjoyable record and the diversity of bands, from Fuckhatepropaganda's super fast crusty hardcore to Left For Dead's vintage punk-rock sound, from Anal Beard's terrible, and yet humorous, "music" to Freaks Union's modern punk-rock, ensures that everyone will find something he or she likes. All the bands' contacts are included and there is a nice cut'n'paste of the various gig posters.
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