January '24
New Blood 2024 (Intensive Purposes)
The first show of the year for us sees 5 bands who played their first shows in the last year all come down to the space. A few locals and a couple from further afield.
Chained Up - Heavy HC ala TUI & Madball, from Sheffield. Played their first show at Tramplines at the Lughole last summer and have been going hard ever since.
Seer - Glasgow weirdo hardcore.
Hellscape - coming from a strong lineage of brilliant London and south coast bands, first time in Sheffield.
Nylon - Fast and groovy Sheffield HC. Bap Ba!
Period Drama - Local emo punks!
Future shows
February 2nd - Mutually Assured Destruction, Divine Hatred, Nylon & Inflictor (Busy Bodies)
February 25th - Fairytale (NYC), Vole (CZ), Frisk & Leashed (Distort Sheffield)
March 6th - Lande Hekt, Bean Weevil & Thee Mightees (Intensive Purposes)
24th - 26th May - Noise Annoys Fest (Distort Sheffield)
New Year’s Eve and a new photo Exhibition
We saw the new year in in style, celebrating 10 years of the Lughole! If you made it down, I hope you enjoyed the cocktails and the flares.
It also saw the unveiling of a new photo exhibition, showing off some of the best moments people have captured of the Lughole over the last decade. Bry and Al put in the hard graft to make sure it all came together and it looks brilliant. Huge shout out to them and everyone that sent in their photos. It’s a permanent feature, so make sure you check it out next time you’re in.
Dry Heaves, by Alex Brown
I caught up with Al to talk about the exhibit a little…
Hi Al, hope you're well? How was new years and how did the photo exhibition that opened on the evening go?
Thanks Sean. The New Years party was fun, I had some good laughs with good people. The exhibition seemed to go down really well!
We’ve put up a big mix of live photos and photos of Lughole hang-outs. I saw plenty of people enjoying the memories and complimenting the photos too, so yeah, I’m happy with that.
Tell us the idea behind the exhibition
Lughole had its first proper bash on New Year’s Eve 2013, so this was a 10 year anniversary. Bry suggested we do a photo exhibition to celebrate and commemorate the decade, and he asked if I’d help out.
Lughole has been built from scratch - twice! The exhibition documents and celebrates the ups and downs of the Lughole and its community.
How long have you been taking photos and has there always been that relationship with punk and photography for you?
I bought my first proper camera in about 2009, and I’ve been taking photos since then.
I had a period of making photo zines which I always did in the same way that I did fliers when I used to put on punk and hardcore gigs - cut and paste with label maker text and all that.
But it wasn’t until about 2015 that I started actually taking photos at gigs.
Off the top of your head, name me some of your favourite nights at The Lughole
Dry Heaves last gig in 2016 was the first time I went to Lughole, and was a great night. The set was wicked and I hung out with people I hadn’t seen in years as well. The final Sievehead gig in 2017 was also daft (in a good way).
2017 Noise Annoys where Rat Cage played for the first time and Sheer Mag closed - that was a brilliant night.
Noise Annoys 2017, by Anneke Chips
What photos stick out in your mind when you think of punk?
As soon as I read this question, I thought of Susie Horgan’s shot of Alec MacKaye sat on those steps - used on the Minor Threat compilation. I also thought of the photos that Sheep took in the mid-00’s UK scene. There’s that iconic high five stage-dive photo, taken somewhere in dirty Leeds. Also, I thought of Marc Thomas’s timeless picture of Fids with the trumpet! You can see that one in the Lughole exhibition……
What makes you excited about punk at the moment?
I’m not clued up enough to give an interesting answer about new trends or new bands… but I’m excited to hear Leashed in 2024!
On a wider note, it’ll be exciting as more punk bands respond to the political situation around us - young people are seeing mass strikes and mass movements not seen for decades. I’m not gonna bang on about politics on this occasion, but there is cause for optimism and excitement in terms of increased class struggle, and how punk bands respond to that.
What makes you excited to take photos?
Overflowing bins, skips, stuff like that mainly.
Where can we find your photos?
There’s a few of mine up at the Lughole, and I post a few on Instagram @aroutinesearch. I’ll occasionally do prints and zines.
Any shout outs?
Shout out Scunny Joe and Take It Easy photo lab, who did us a proper favour with the printing for the exhibition.
Shout out every single person who puts in graft to keep DIY scenes going. And shout out to the hospital doctors in BMA who are on strike fighting for better NHS funding as I write this!
Gimic, by Tim Birbeck
Remember, the Lughole is a volunteer run space. We are always looking for new volunteers, especially on gig nights. If you would like to get involved please message us.
Cheers for reading and catch you down the Lughole soon.