Hello, so here we are again, rolling on to part two of our trip to Handfest Leeds 2026 at the Brudenell Social Club.

You can find more background info regarding the fest in the Friday article here, but essentially a mix of up-and-coming and established (relatively, like not Grammy award-winning or Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members or anything) bands from across the DIY punk spectrum gathered for a weekend of sets and hangs.

Hosted by ska core legends Random Hand, with organisation led by bassist Joe Tilston, a real matey time was had. Let’s get back into it!

Akkat Attak

Kicking off the Saturday was Geordie art punk three-piece Akkat Attak, who brought derpy humour with an undercurrent of defiance against bigotry.

The group’s excitement and confidence to begin proceedings was particularly palpable. They nicely fed off a decent early turnout, with many in the front row being mates of theirs who also travelled down from the North East.

Little fish toys were provided to wave around, while other antics initiated included a successful handstand against the stage.

Filthy Militia

Attendees then transferred into the Brudenell’s community room for London ska punk outfit Filthy Militia, there to play songs from their recently released debut album (see the review of that here 😏), and other stuff.

Their repertoire mainly explores social discourse in an often divisive landscape, with cleanly delivered, sardonic humour. Soaring trombone and sax notes weave through riffs and rhythm that somewhat straddle 2 Tone and US third wave influences.

Frontman Frosty took a moment to pay tribute to beloved bandmate Nat, who had recently lost his battle against bowel cancer, before the band continued to do him wonderfully proud for the rest of the set ❤️

Strum 101

Next up was one of the few acts coming from outside Britain – Finnish skatey ska punk band Strum 101, who helped in part to attract fans over from across Europe.

I personally only knew one of the band’s singles prior to the weekend, but they injected their own dose of bustling heaviness into the event. It was also cool to see the drummer play a prominent role in vocal duties beyond the usual backing shouts – an endeavour that makes me feel out of breath just watching, when seeing this live!

Widely ranged, melodic lead vocals mostly discuss the overall goals to fight against inequality, and staying positive while skanking through it.

Mighty Vipers

Party brass punk ensemble Mighty Vipers (performing as an eight-piece on the day, though known to include as many as ten members at times) brought their own eccentric brand of groovy goodness that incorporates all sorts of ska, calypso and rocksteady. Indeed, this lot, coming from various parts of northern and midland England, laugh in the face of steadfast musical genres.

Complete with a four-pronged brass section – one of the sax players also played keys – the group provoked a bunch of skanking, jumping and grooving in equal measure throughout.

Underneath that party-having exterior though were sentiments advocating for more inclusivity and justice in our political landscape.

The Empty Page

Next to perform was The Empty Page, an alternative punk and post-punk band from Manchester, most of whom previously played in Obsessive Compulsive. Their current iteration takes leaves out of the enriched books of ’80’s indie rock (not literally – as I said in my Punkasaurus Wreck’d recap, don’t go round stealing leaves out of people’s books. It’s not nice. We let book readers keep their leaves around here!).

The three-piece outfit delivered a wall of introspective emotion in musical form, with soaring vocals discussing empowerment in the face of institutional and on-the-ground sexism, along with trepidation around the future of the world.

It was brilliant briefly talking with lead singer Kel at the merch table about the previously discussed importance of having things that are life-fulfilling, while not stressfully focusing everything on making money.

Taylor More Swiftly

Two tribute bands took the stage (not literally – that would be some feat of strength even among the largest ska band) next. The first of these was an earnest, ska punk take on Taylor Swift tracks in Taylor More Swiftly, which I’m reliably informed was an April Fool’s joke that got out of hand.

The fun the group had up there, smashing through the likes of ‘Blank Space’ and ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’, was evidently contagious, with tempo changes on some songs manifesting reinvention of their sound.

Someone did turn to me during their performance to say “I don’t know if I like it or not”, so great job to the band for invoking such impressions.

Lipsknot

Over in the Main Room, we had a hodgepodge of ska/punk scene talents from the likes of Random Hand, Sonic Boom Six, Fair Do’s and Redeemon pretend to be Slipknot for 30 minutes. Rather them than me, performing so energetically in those masks looks suffocating!

This venture began as a one-off at Manchester Punk Festival 2025 (stay tuned for recaps of MPF 2026!), before demand and a general feeling of fun led to more gigs across the country.

Admittedly I only know a few Slipknot singles (I was more of a Stone Sour guy as a teenager), but nonetheless it was a fun time!

Pie, Mash and Gravy

Steak and stilton pie. Mash is underneath. Lovely.

Phinius Gage

After a break, I returned to the main room for another group of previous Handfest bill mates, in Brighton punk veterans Phinius Gage.

Dealing in skate punk and melodic hardcore sensibilities, the group maintained youthful energy beyond their 20+ years playing gigs – albeit with some hiatuses in there, which if anything makes their sharp sound on the day more impressive.

While steeped in California punk influences akin to the stylings of Pennywise and Lagwagon, they retain an inward, more typically British cynicism.

Tree House Fire

After another short break chinwagging, I returned to the main room for some reggae punk from Tree House Fire, a five-piece from Surrey I’d been familiar with for several years.

Always keen to keep the crowd vibing with their appendages, songs were performed about enjoying the simpler things in life, and fighting for peace and unity in the face of the, ahem, less simple things in life.

Barney from Sonic Boom Six, who features on the 2014 ‘Actions & Reactions’ track, ‘Push’, joined the lads on stage to perform his verse on that song, having not long finished his set with Lipsknot. Speaking of that 2014 release, roll on the new album from THF, coming some time soon!

Pizzatramp

Oh, Pizzatramp. How do I go about describing this?

Their sets are always loads of fun, and their time on stage at Handfest was no exception. The three-piece thrashy skate punk outfit from South Wales interspersed rapid, sub-two minute tracks full of cracking backing vocals, with jokey-antagonising call-outs to Riskee & The Ridicule and Faintest Idea.

Nope, I can not do it justice. If you enjoy an emphasis on hilarious and vulgar stage antics, between quick, sardonic and tuneless songs including biting satire, definitely check them out for yourself. Hilarious.

Faintest Idea

Unfazed by Jimbob from Pizzatramp’s challenge were another popular act in the ska punk scene, in Norfolk’s own Faintest Idea.

Keeping the crowd’s legs active as we got into the final stretch of the fest, the band – performing as usual as a seven-piece with a four-strong brass section – delivered a great mix of long-time favourites and tracks from their most recent release, 2023’s ‘The Road to Sedition’.

Among those newer tracks was ‘Nose Dive’, for which feature artist Scott from Riskee & The Ridicule joined in on stage – brilliant to see and hear, for me for the first time. In addition, their set of politically driven symphonies included a new track yet to be released, but fits into their repertoire nicely.

Riskee & The Ridicule

The last band to perform not named Random Hand were grime punk supremos Riskee & The Ridicule.

The five-piece, three-guitared outfit from Kent wonderfully closed out proceedings on the community stage with heartfelt songs about recent, ill-fated politics and complicated romances. While frontman Scott was on top form as always, I only recently noticed and enjoy the backing screams from other members of the group, which add to the set’s intensity.

Scott also lovingly acknowledged Pizzatramp Jimbob’s challenge, before soldiering on.

Random Hand

The Hand lads then returned to the stage – albeit the main stage this time – to see us home.

Among usual set favourites were a bunch of older deep cuts, my favourite of those being ‘Mr Bib Wakes Up’, from their 2007 release ‘Another Change of Plan’. Also invited on stage for a bit were brassy members of Faintest Idea and King Prawn.

Frontman Robin, and lead organiser Joe, took moments to give heartfelt speeches emphasising the importance of supporting independent music and thanking the ever-appreciative audience. The band also paid a lovely tribute to Nat, who played with Filthy Militia.

Closing Remarks

It is never easy to put on live music independently, and all promoters and venue staff have my undying respect. But putting together a still relatively new weekender packed with music, like Handfest, is no doubt another level of toil, and yet, all seemed to go without a hitch.

Perhaps one of the best pieces of feedback I heard from the event, on the ground so to speak, was “It’s all running too smoothly”. And yeah, all bands seemed to get started in good time, with everyone able to see the bands they wanted to, which is much easier said than done when running two stages.

Thanks so much to Joe, the wider Handfest team and the awesome Brudenell sound and bar staff and for putting this on – it really was a lovely gathering of what Robin fitting called “an extended family”.

And of course, as always thank you for reading. Up the Posh, and up the Punx 🤘