WEIRDO Collective at Manchester Punk Festival 2024

Words by Tayyaba, Neil Parmar & Naz Toorabally

Photos by Neil Parmar

WEIRDO Collective members at Manchester Punk Festival Info Stalls. From left to right: Neil, Naz, Francesca and Tayyaba

“Both Manchester Punk Festival and WEIRDO have given me such a sense of belonging.” WEIRDO Collective members reflect on their time at Manchester Punk Festival 2024 and share highlights from the sets of Saffiyah Khan, Popes of Chillitown, KILL, THE ICON! and King Prawn.

Members of the WEIRDO collective headed to Manchester Punk Festival (MPF) for the first time this year, joining Safe Gigs for Women, ACORN, Manchester Hunt Sabs and Tiny Paws at MPF’s Info Stalls at The Flour and Flagon – a new offering from the festival organisers.

“Manchester Punk Festival is always the highlight of my year,” says Tayyaba, longtime Manchester Punk Festival-goer and WEIRDO Collective member. “I love the community we’ve built at WEIRDO even though we all have different tastes in alternative music. Both MPF and WEIRDO have given me such a sense of belonging, and it was so great having my two worlds collide like this! The organisers at MPF work hard to make the event more inclusive, accessible and representative of the wider punk scene every year and giving smaller bands and now DIY collectives the chance to get involved shows their commitment to this.”

“I’ve been wanting to check out Manchester Punk Festival for a while now after hearing great things from Tayyaba and other friends who have been,” says Naz. “The entire weekend felt so friendly, especially for me as a newcomer, and getting to share our zine in real life with people in Manchester for the first time and hearing the positive responses was really special.”

“As a long time festival-goer, but first time MPF’er, I immediately recognised how inclusive and varied MPF is,” says Neil, MPF first timer and WEIRDO podcast editor. “From the eclectic lineup to the diverse array of venues, MPF captures the essence of what initially drew me to punk and DIY culture in my teenage years. The festival operates almost entirely through the efforts of volunteers, and their dedication to the genre and subculture is evident in how well the festival is organised and run.”

Between selling zines and chatting to festival goers about our work we manage to catch a few bands. Of course, at the top of our list was ensuring we caught the sets of acts with members of South Asian heritage, including Saffiyah Khan (poet), Popes of Chillitown, KILL, THE ICON! and King Prawn.

Saffiyah Khan

Saffiyah Khan is a poet, activist and model from Birmingham, West Midlands and is of Pakistani and Bosnian heritage. She rose to prominence in 2017 after being photographed facing a member of the far-right group English Defense League (EDL) during an anti- Muslim demonstration in Birmingham.

Saffiyah’s poetry performance at MPF 2024 began with softer themes before transitioning into contemporary social commentary. She shared a collection of micro-poems that one audience member likened to being the “Ramones of poetry readings.” Her humorous critique of "middle-class punks" elicited hearty laughs, while her candid exploration of her challenging upbringing delivered a direct and sincere performance.

Follow Saffiyah on Instagram.

Popes of Chillitown

The ska/punk/dub band Popes of Chillitown are no strangers to Manchester Punk Festival, with this edition being their third time. On bass is Arvin Bancil who is of Indian heritage and hails from West London.

Popes of Chillitown bring the energy to the party, and they always give it their all at MPF. Their set was a highlight reel of all of the different genres and styles the band have come to be known for – mashing up ska, punk, reggae, metal and dub with the bass and drums bringing the rhythm and horns, guitars and vocals providing the melodies and pace.

The room was fully packed for their headline slot at Gorilla on Saturday and they kicked things off with crowd favourites like ‘Crashmat’ and ‘Wisdom Teeth’ early in the set, varying the tempo with ‘Take A Picture’, ‘Opoom’ and ‘Vamos a la Luna’ (also crowd favourites!) towards the end, which meant the dancing, skanking, circle pits and crowd surfing went on from start to finish. It’s clear to see the band absolutely love what they do, blending and melting different genres so that there is a little something for everyone.

Follow Popes of Chillitown on Instagram.

KILL, THE ICON!

Making their MPF debut this year, KILL, THE ICON! brought their bass-heavy protest punk to The Bread Shed as part of Sunday’s lineup. Fronted by British Indian doctor and bassist Nishant Joshi, the band brought in Arun Dhanjal (Karma Sheen, Muscle Vest, Ishtar Terra) as an additional drummer to their lineup last year. KILL, THE ICON!’s Nishant and Arun played as a duo due to “logistical issues,” with their distinctive, fuzzy synths incorporated as a backing track. It can be hard to play as a duo on a big stage but Nishant is a great performer and used the space well, going into the crowd and getting people involved while Arun kept the energy up on the stage.

“We were thrilled to be invited to our first MPF this year,” says Nishant. “Through a happy coincidence, it meant that we were playing as a British Asian punk band – this felt significant to us, and I could see it felt significant to the crowd as well.” The duo were even joined by Naz Toorabally (Dogviolet) on guest vocals for the chorus of ‘Deathwish’.

Their lyrics provide commentary on capitalism, fascism and how the UK government is a massive disappointment (understatement!). They were a perfect fit for the MPF crowd, and it would be great to see them play the festival again in the future in a slot that doesn’t clash with bigger acts, because they absolutely would be everyone’s “find of the weekend” – no doubt those who heard about their set after will be making it their priority to catch them next time.

Follow KILL, THE ICON! on Instagram.

King Prawn

With a reputation as one of the most entertaining live acts coming out of London in the 90s, we were excited to catch King Prawn headline The Union at Manchester Punk Festival. The band is fronted by Al Rumjen, who is of Mauritian heritage, and he demonstrated his versatility as both a singer and MC throughout the set. Supported by a tight band, now with a horn section and keyboards, together they put on a stellar show. King Prawn's presence proves to be essential to the UK ska punk scene and continues to inspire new bands.

It was Neil and Naz’s first time seeing the band live, with Tayyaba having already seen King Prawn a handful of times. “Experiencing King Prawn live for the first time at MPF 2024 was a long time coming for me,” says Neil. “Having discovered them way back in the early-mid noughties, their genre-blending sound caught my attention particularly with their song ‘The Dominant View’, which when performed at MPF this year, sent the crowd into a skanking-moshing-bouncing frenzy.”

Follow King Prawn on Instagram.

About Neil

Neil Parmar is a West Midlands-based media producer and has produced a variety of short films, documentaries and podcasts that have explored alternative culture. He is a writer for WEIRDO’s website and editor of ‘We Are The Weirdos, Aunty-ji’ podcast. In his downtime, Neil enjoys photography, live music and being a cinephile.

About Naz

Naz Toorabally is a queer, British Indo-Mauritian musician, model and zine maker based in north London. She is the founder of WEIRDO Zine and fronts post-punk band Dogviolet. When she’s not making music or zines, you’ll find Naz hanging out with her cat.

About Tayyaba

Tayyaba is an avid ska-core fan with a love for smaller grass-roots venues and the DIY ska-punk scene in the UK. Born and bred in London/Essex, she now lives in Bradford with her husband and cat (who both enjoy doom and black metal, so the ska brings a bit of pep to the household!)

Events, MusicWEIRDO ZineApril 5, 2024Neil Parmar, Tayyaba, Naz Toorabally, Indian, Pakistani, Mauritian, UK, Punk, Ska-punkComment