3 Mid-2010s punk bands on Bandcamp that never made it to Spotify you should check out

In 2018, at a poetry gig in a fiftheenth century church which was BYOB, a giant candlestick stand fell on my iPod and smashed the screen, making it unusable. At the risk of sounding like a hypnotised stooge for capitalism, I was really attached to this little fella. He'd trvalled across the world with me, providing thousands of friendly songs from almost a hundred years of music like a tuneful TARDIS. iPods were, I learned to my surprise, on the way out. I was behind the times maaaanSo I decided to give this 'Spotify' thing a go and see if it worked for me. Well, here I am years later and thousands of likes and my own personal algorithim and yes, I am one of those Spotify users. I try and buy more tshirts, donate to bands, see live music more and support bands in other ways. Bandcamp is still thriving, offering artists the feeless Bandcamp Fridays during the Pandemic and contuining into this brave new world of climate breakdown and personalised algorithims. And some amazing bands never made it to Spotify - either breaking up before Spotify became all-consuming in the late 2010s or just preferring to keep that specific album off the streaming site. B.Dolan and Chris T-T make this deliberate decision, but here's a few rad bands not on the little green circled-app.

FIGHT ROSA FIGHT

https://fightrosafight.bandcamp.com/

Noisy, scuzzy and raw, I only managed to see Fight Rosa Fight once but they were a barrell of fun. Their first album is a more traditional slice of angry, riot grrrl inspired punk rock, and the second a more mature, melodic piece of sound. 'He's A Tory' might be the only song to reference Conservative MPs David Willetts and Eric Pickles, who stood down in the 2015 and 2017 elections respectively. At their core was always a joy and celebration of female/queer solidarity as exemplified in Start A Punk, a heartfelt truth of punk rock. Just do it!

MAGIFICENT SEVEN

https://magnificentseven.bandcamp.com/

"What were Mag 7 gigs like back in the day" my Grandkids will ask me. Hyper, sugary, silly and very York. By which I mean, you'd recognise so many faces from the scene and city...and they were often at the Fulford Arms will all the glorious indepdence that venue offers. Their EP were 7 perfect cuts of ska-punk, which were also masterfully political. Mag 7 avoided being too Americanised, hinting at a third wave ska influence but keeping it unique with fusions and nods to hip-hop and nu-metal. The only band I've ever crowd-surfed to. R.I.P. Mag 7 (until you're next one-off never again goodbye gig).

THE POTENTIALS

https://thepotentialsuk.bandcamp.com

Having never watched Buffy, I don't get most of these references but that's OK! This band had all the brazen energy, they knew their strengths and they totally played to it with a tounge-in-cheek self-deprication ("We're nothing special / We are the potentials"). Glorious chattery guitars and tough drumming made the perfect poppy punky sound. Every. Single. Time. Someone talks about the Friend Zone I think about their song.

Mid-austerity bangers you should check out one Bandcamp Friday