The Outcasts are coming!

As a schoolboy, my older cousin Richard fed me compilation cassettes that he had lovingly made to help me on my journey of discovery into punk music. There were about twelve or thirteen of volumes of them, which are sadly no longer in existence because - not realising their future nostalgic value - during the early-80s I must have taped over them. What was I thinking?! I do however remember that track one of Volume One was a song called Justa Nother Teenage Rebel by The Outcasts. 

I had already heard punk that had appeared in the charts - Sham 69, The Ruts, The Stranglers etc - but  Justa Nother Teenage Rebel was the gateway song that led me into the more obscure realms of the genre, to the likes of Crisis and The Last Words. It also led me to explore the whole Northern Ireland punk scene around the Terry Hooley's Good Vibrations record label and the legendary Harp Bar in Belfast, and to watch the documentary films that John T Davis directed about the scene, including Shellshock Rock, which is a must-see for any old school punk fans. 

So I was thrilled when I heard that The Outcasts were reforming, and even more thrilled to hear they are coming to London in June. 

See you there.

Next time: More nostalgia, this time about Derby punk band Anti-Pasti, who will be reforming and playing the first London Punk Festival in September.