Ripps - Castle, Oldham, 15/6/2007

  by Helen Tipping

published: 16 / 6 / 2007

intro

In the unsalubrious environment of the Castle in Oldham, and despite having to deal with an obnoxisus audience, Helen Tipping sees Coventry-based punk ska band the Ripps play a surprisingly tight and energetic set

The Ripps are from Coventry and features Patch Lagunas on guitar and vocals, Raul Lagunas on bass and and Rachel Butt on drums. Both Raul and Rachel also provide backing vocals. The Castle in Oldham isn’t the greatest of venues. It appears to be full of people intent on carrying on drinking and who have no intention of watching the band. Some of them appear to be there just to be obnoxious, and we witness one getting bundled out the back doors by the bouncer. Luckily there seem to be a number of other people there who have come along to see the Ripps, and they take to the floor in front of the stage when the band come on and dance all the way through. The Ripps play punky ska that’s very danceable and quite enjoyable. They are enthusiatic and look like they are enjoying themselves despite the poor turn out and dire venue. They keep the set short, finishing with a decent cover of the Specials 'Too Much Too Young'. Unsurprisingly there is no encore and I get the impression that they will be as glad to see the back of Oldham as I am. Maybe a cover of 'Ghost Town' would have been more appropriate! The photographs that accompany this article were taken by Neil Bailey

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