Dave The Punk

2026

Old Scars, New Noise

2026

This year’s unfolding in real time, so it’s upside down. Latest stories hit first — scroll down to go back in time. Punk logic, innit?

The Muzztones

The Clissold Arms, London – 27th March 2026

A five-hour round trip for a covers band… on paper, that sounds questionable. In reality, it was anything but.

The Muzztones had The Clissold Arms bouncing from the off. A packed room, a buzzing crowd, and a 22-song set fired out with zero let-up. No coasting, no filler, just wall-to-wall classics played loud, tight, and like they actually meant it. And in a pub steeped in The Kinks history, that felt especially fitting. Proper pub gig energy. Sweat, noise, and a room that didn’t want it to end.

It also doubled as a bit of an Esprit de Corpse reunion. Luke (The Muzztones), Gary, and yours truly all in the same room, tied together by old roots and loud music. It gave the night that extra edge you don’t get at just any gig.

Setlist from The Clissold Arms

The Muzztones
  1. I Wanna Be Adored (Stone Roses)
  2. The Riverboat Song (Ocean Colour Scene)
  3. Niteklub (The Specials)
  4. Bohemian Like You (The Dandy Warhols)
  5. Victoria (The Kinks)
  6. Sunny Afternoon (The Kinks)
  7. There She Goes (The Las)
  8. Get Back (The Beatles)
  9. Love Is The Drug (Roxy Music)
  10. Made of Stone (The Stone Roses)
  11. Dakota (Stereophonics)
  12. Cigarettes and Alcohol (Oasis)
  13. Don’t Look Back Into The Sun (The Libertines)
  14. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (Ian Dury and The Blockheads)
  15. Lonely Boy (The Black Keys)
  16. Good Thing (Fine Young Cannibals)
  17. Should I Stay Or Should I Go (The Clash)
  18. A Town Called Malice (The Jam)
  19. One Way Or Another (Blondie)
  20. There’s No Other Way (Blur)
  21. Rocks (Primal Scream)
  22. You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover (The Strypes)

Dead Pioneers

The Underworld, Camden – 1st March 2026

Dead Pioneers hit Camden with purpose. Blending hardcore punk with Indigenous resistance politics, their set was less about nostalgia and more about confrontation. Fronted by activist Gregg Deal, the band take aim at colonial myths, racism and the sanitised version of American history that still gets exported worldwide.

The most striking visual was an upside-down US flag draped over an amp, marked with the words: “Never Surrender, Resistance Since 1492.” Hung in distress, it reframed patriotism through the lens of Indigenous survival. Not empty shock value, but a clear statement of historical resistance.

Musically it was tight, direct and uncompromising. A highlight came when Ren Aldridge of Petrol Girls joined them for a couple of tracks, having already appeared earlier with support act Yakkie. Fierce, urgent and unapologetic, Dead Pioneers proved punk can still say something that matters.

Setlist from The Underworld

Dead Pioneers
  1. A.I.M
  2. PO$T AMERICAN
  3. My Spirit Animal Ate Your Spirit Animal
  4. Bloodletting Carnival
  5. Tired
  6. Mythical Cowboys
  7. Rage
  8. The Caucasity
  9. Juicy Fruit (Ode to Chief Bromden)
  10. No One Owns Anything and Death Is Real
  11. Dead Presidents
  12. STFU
  13. We Were Punk First
  14. The Punch Line
  15. World Up My Ass
  16. White Minority
  17. Pit Song
  18. Love Language
  19. Nazi Teeth
  20. Working Class Warfare
  21. No Kings
  22. Bad Indian
  23. Dead Pioneers

GBH

Hope & Ruin, Brighton – 13th February 2026

Brighton got absolutely flattened last night as GBH rolled in from Birmingham and delivered a full-throttle masterclass in how punk should sound, feel, and hit you square in the chest.

A relentless 22-song set packed with classics from start to finish, no filler, no let-up, just raw energy and pure noise the way it was meant to be. The pit never really stopped moving, and neither did the band. Tight, loud, and completely unapologetic.

They wrapped the night with a ferocious cover of Motörhead’s Bomber, which landed like a final explosive statement and sent everyone out buzzing.

Support came from Brassick and Violent Solution, both bringing serious bite and setting the tone perfectly for what followed.

Sweaty, loud, and gloriously chaotic. Exactly what a punk gig should be.

Setlists from Hope & Ruin

GBH
  1. Diplomatic Immunity
  2. Drugs Party in 526
  3. Sick Boy
  4. Slit Your Own Throat
  5. Am I Dead Yet?
  6. Wardogs
  7. Maniac
  8. Gunned Down
  9. I Am the Hunted
  10. Prayer
  11. Heavy Discipline
  12. Boston Babies
  13. Bellend Bop
  14. I Never Asked for Any of This
  15. Generals
  16. No Survivors
  17. Momentum
  18. Give Me Fire
  19. City Baby Attacked by Rats
  20. City Baby’s Revenge
  21. Time Bomb
  22. Bomber
Brassick
  1. Intro
  2. Same Sound
  3. Back to That Place
  4. 39 Souls
  5. Cynical Ties
  6. Vultures of the Poor
  7. They Saved Us
  8. It Could Have Been Any of Us
  9. Bakery Looters
  10. Nobody
  11. Safety Is the Problem
  12. Strung Together
Violent Solution
  1. State of Hate
  2. Wankers United
  3. Let’s Start a Riot
  4. Razors in the Night
  5. The Great Brainwashed
  6. Police Story
  7. Punk and Proud

Skids

Chalk, Brighton – 31st January 2026

2026 kicked off exactly where it should: down the front, volume up, history alive and kicking.

The Skids celebrating The Absolute Game wasn’t a nostalgia exercise, it was a reminder. Those songs still snap, still surge, still sound like they’ve got unfinished business. Forty-odd years on and they didn’t sound polite, careful, or museum-ready. They sounded urgent.

Au Pairs were the perfect choice of support: angular, political, uncomfortable in all the right ways. Music that makes you lean in rather than lean back.

One gig in and the tone is set. This year isn’t about reliving the past. It’s about bands who refuse to behave, refuse to fade, and refuse to shut up.

2026 has entered the pit.

Setlists from Chalk

Skids
  1. Happy to Be With You
  2. Out of Town
  3. One Decree
  4. Circus Games
  5. Hurry On Boys
  6. A Woman in Winter
  7. Goodbye Civilian
  8. Arena
  9. The Saints Are Coming
  10. Masquerade
  11. Into the Valley
  12. TV Stars
  13. Working for the Yankee Dollar
  14. Of One Skin
  15. Charles
  16. The Olympian
  17. Complete Control
Au Pairs
  1. Come Again
  2. Love Song
  3. We’re So Cool
  4. Repetition
  5. Dear John
  6. Diet
  7. Armagh
  8. Headache (for Michelle)
  9. Sex Without Stress
  10. Unfinished Business
  11. It’s Obvious
  12. You
<- 2025
Pitography ->