The Exploited

The Exploited play The Castle & Falcon on Saturday 31 October, with support from Face Up!. It's a Halloween night gig, though the band's whole thing is more about chaos than costumes.

If you're not familiar, The Exploited were a seminal part of the second wave of UK punk. They formed in Edinburgh in early 1980, led by ex-soldier Wattie Buchan, and signed to Secret Records in March 1981. Their first release was the Army Life EP, followed by the album Punk's Not Dead, which became the number one independent album of 1981, sold 150,000 copies, and hit number 20 in the national charts. It helped launch a new breed of politically outspoken anarcho-punk bands, and their 1982 follow-up, Troops of Tomorrow, is still regarded as one of the all-time classic punk albums.

Wattie Buchan has been the constant throughout, leading successive generations of band members through more than twenty years of gigging and recording. The sound shifted over time, too: their later albums from 1987 onwards are considered crossover thrash. They're a long way from the cutesy, watered-down, MTV-friendly punk of later years. The band describes themselves as riot-starting, bouncer-bashing, cop-baiting, hotel-trashing, foul-talking, noise-making, chaos-causing, venue-wrecking, government-hating and rule-breaking.

Face Up! open the night, and The Exploited follow. The show is recommended for ages 14 and over, with under-16s needing to be accompanied by an adult. It starts at 7:00 PM at The Castle & Falcon, 402 Moseley Rd, Balsall Heath, Birmingham B12 9AT, and tickets are £28.25, which includes the booking fee.