Portsmouth Punk Festival: a DIY day at the Guildhall

Portsmouth's music calendar has a new entry this year, and it's a loud one. The first Portsmouth Punk Festival took over the Guildhall on Saturday 15 August, packing nine bands from the DIY scene onto one stage over the course of a full day. It's the kind of line-up that rewards staying for the whole thing rather than picking a single act, and it's a welcome addition to a city that's usually better known for its bigger, more mainstream bookings.

The day opened with local band Uncivilized, whose raw, high-energy sound draws on street punk, skate punk and hardcore, and set the tone with the kind of no-nonsense punk rock you can shout along to. They were followed by Well'ard, a scrappy melodic punk three-piece from Canterbury who've spent the last couple of years gigging across the south and have recently put out their debut EP, and Why Pinto, a local DIY skate pop-punk three-piece who've been going for more than a decade and blend punk rock with pop sensibilities and the odd ska influence.

Things took a moodier turn with eatboys, a melodic emo three-piece whose set sat somewhere between confession and confrontation, all intricate riffs and urgent hooks. Buds followed, formed from the ashes of previous bands and described as punk rock for feeling good in spite of your dread, with an anthemic style that pulls in emo and grunge. Sunliner brought the high-octane melodies and massive choruses, having evolved from folk-punk roots into a driven sound with punk, indie and hardcore influences, and Be N!ce kept the energy going with a genre-bending mix of punk, post-punk, grunge and alt-metal, tackling social issues with equal parts fury and humour.

Near the end, Pizza Tramp lived up to their reputation as one of the hardest-working DIY bands on the scene, playing fast, short, funny songs that mix hardcore punk with thrash and lyrics about daily misery, beer and antisocial behaviour. And then there was Wonk Unit, the headliners, who've built a cult following around a unique take on punk rock and a famously proactive DIY ethos. Art Rocker has called them a fresh breath of life on the scene, fun, weird, poetic and utterly compelling all at once.

For a first edition, the festival didn't shy away from the grit that makes the DIY scene what it is, and the line-up read like a cross-section of the current underground rather than a safe, radio-friendly bill. It's the sort of day that rewards the early arrivals and the late stayers in equal measure, and it's left Portsmouth with a new, louder fixture to look forward to. If you missed it, the one thing worth keeping an eye on is whether it comes back next year, because a day like this is exactly what a city's music scene needs to keep things interesting.