ISSUE 30 Punk? A punk gig? Us at a punk gig? That's what Stripe said when me, Singer and Bob convinced him to come to the last Hope Collective offering [Eds. Note: This wasnt actually a Hope gig, just some people from Hope were promoting it on their own]. Actually no, I'm lying, he actually said "Fuck off yous wankers, you're not getting me near that filthy place." Oops, another fib, he actually told *us* about it, since the great princess of punk herself Clodagh was helping to organise it. (And a damn fine job she did too, and we really like her new hair cut, makes her look very aggressive indeed) Anyway, wow, The Fusion Bar, perfect punk place or what? It smells, there's no air conditioning and the toilets are like those ones under the ground in O' Connells street. And the bar sold cans, so we were knacker drinking in a bar. (as opposed to the usual champagne glasses that we at S@E are more accustomed to) First up we had some locals, Das Madman. And hey, hang on a second, these people are actually good. That's not right.what's going on? Totally original set with a great fifteen hour long percussion solo thing played by two blokes on one drum kit, and two others on various dustbin lids, blocks of wood and car hub caps. Great stuff. Nice indie sound too, none of this repetitive three chord guitar oi shite. Oh, and speaking of shite, The Waltons, argh!! Shite!!! Well, three quarters of us thought so. I guess we just ain't true punks or anything. (Singer says they're alright, so don't beat him up when you see him Mr. People-from-the-Waltons) After they finished "playing" Imbiss were next up, but I missed most of them as me and Stripe were admiring the toilets and chasing the bloke from Planet Fish around the room. (Doh, I'd make a shitty journalist, always missing the main acts and all. "So Thayl, what did you think of U2?" "Um, I was actually in the jacks when they played, sorry Mr. Editor-from-Rolling-Stone-Magazine") Actually by now the place was steaming. Argh, too hot, too smelly, too punk. *grin* And before this perfect punk atmosphere wore off Red Monkey, the head act of the night jumped onstage in an onslaught of pure, eh, punk music!! Let's face it, I'm no hardcore DIY guitar-based underground punk head so I'm not the best bloke to review these. Um, Orlagh liked them, my attention span went after my last can......hmmmmm, the night had it's moments though.........