It’s hard to name a more iconic and influential post-punk band on modern music than John Lydon’s post-Pistols group Public Image Limited (PiL), who are today confirmed to perform at Rebellion Festival for the first time since 2012. Since their formation following the Sex Pistols collapse in 1978, PiL have crafted some of the most forward thinking sounds to emerge from the post-punk wreckage and continue to do so to this day. Their set is guaranteed to thrill and inspire and it’s an honour to have them back.

Also announced this week come Pennsylvania punks The Menzingers, who return to the festival this year bringing with them an arsenal of gritty anthemic tunes. “A couple of pints by the shore in a Stephen King-esque British ocean town swarming with generations of punks filing in and out all weekend to a soundtrack of living legends? Sign me the fuck up,” exclaimed guitarist Tom May excitedly.

Joining them in this week’s announcements comes the welcome addition of Californian melodic punk legends The Vandals, who have been bringing humour and fun to the scene since they formed in 1980. They join a line-up that Rebellion Festival is known and respected for the world over, bringing together the best and most vital bands from the long and varied world of punk and alternative music. Rebellion Festival reflects the very best of what the scene has to offer. Acts already confirmed include Stiff Little Fingers, Buzzcocks, The Exploited, Cockney Rejects, The Adicts, Peter Hook & The Light, Angelic Upstarts, Discharge, Ruts DC, UK Subs, The Wildhearts, Lagwagon and Slaughter & The Dogs, joining a host of punk and hardcore bands from around the world, including legends such as D.R.I., The Adolescents, Toxic Reasons, Raw Power and many more. These, plus scores of new acts from the around the world ensure that Rebellion Festival is still the main event when it comes to punk rock in 2018. 

Rebellion Festival is an all ages, family friendly event, and children under 12 are admitted free of charge (accompanied by an adult). More information and tickets are available at: www.rebellionfestival.com

Long Island’s Cloud (aka Tyler Taormina and friends) debuted for Audio Antihero in 2013 with the lauded Comfort Songs LP. Taormina returns in 2018 with his new album Plays With Fire; nine songs and 32 minutes of quiet optimism and greying nostalgia, mixing the wide-eyed naïveté of Jonathan Richman with the cold-weather pop of Yo La Tengo and the fractured soundscapes of Galaxie 500.

‘Wildfire’ is the free lead single from the upcoming new album. Decidedly homemade, with processed beats and loops as well as guitar from Infinity Girl’s Nolan Eley. It’s one of the more immediately accessible moments from the new album, chanted, frantic and vibrant, recalling hints of Panda Bear Electronics, Animal Collective Psychedelia, Mazzy Star fog and Cocteau Twins atmospherics.

In “Wildfire” Taormina asserts that “every light’s racing towards the ends of everything,” but there’s hope in the darkness. A recurring theme of the new record is the passing of time. 2013’s Comfort Songs was an autumn-toned guitar record that saw Taormina coping with love and loss in his early twenties, while 2015’s dreampop-esque Zen Summer found him newly arrived in Los Angeles enjoying a warmer climate and better spirits, full of dreams and excitement. But Plays With Fire suggests that the colder months have come again, unsure of himself once again and afraid of the future.

With the years between records growing, Taormina sounds unsure of how many albums are still to come and of who is still listening. It’s an album that doesn’t appear to know if it’s a letter of introduction or a formal resignation, but it’s a perfect soundtrack for long nights and uncertain times. The polarizing voice remains, the sincerity remains, the sadness and the joy remain, but this is a new experience from Cloud.