{"id":25726,"date":"2021-10-14T08:48:27","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T07:48:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/?p=25726"},"modified":"2021-10-14T08:50:15","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T07:50:15","slug":"interview-matty-williamson-talks-about-the-half-drunk-club-festival-at-firebug-on-the-16th-17th-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/interview-matty-williamson-talks-about-the-half-drunk-club-festival-at-firebug-on-the-16th-17th-october\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview – Matty Williamson talks about the Half Drunk Club festival at Firebug on the 16th & 17th October"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

This coming weekend, iconic Leicester venue Firebug<\/a> is being taken over for two days of Ska infused Punk n\u2019 Roll. Expect pulsating horns, two-tone beats, a skanking dance floor, and copious amounts of fun. For fans of bands like Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and The Specials, this weekend is yours.<\/p>\n

MIL sat down with, Half Drunk Club festival<\/a> organiser and Last Edition<\/a> frontman, Matty Williamson to hear all about it.<\/p>\n

So Matty, Half Drunk Club . . .what\u2019s it all about?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ll start at the start – when we came off stage at our 10 year anniversary, we almost instantly said \u201cwe have to do this again\u201d – so the will to put on a similar event started back in 2018. The name comes from Last Edition\u2019s latest single – released 19th July 2021. The song itself is \u201cabout\u201d teamwork I guess and listening to those closest. So when it comes to the festival, I guess Half Drunk Club is \u201canybody\u201d that happens to be at the event at that time – in essence, anyone and everyone is \u201cin\u201d Half Drunk Club. We are hoping to run Half Drunk Club as a yearly event, and then who knows outside of that – I guess we\u2019ll see!
\nThe overall genre of the weekend is Ska Punk but obviously, there will be a lot of different sounds within that.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us a little about the bands and the various styles over the weekend?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ve got a good mix. Perhaps doesn\u2019t stretch to each end of the sub genres within ska punk but enough to tickle the tastebuds of most punk or ska fans. Our main headliners The JB Conspiracy have been at the forefront of the ska punk genre for a good decade – they\u2019re certainly a band we have looked up to over the years. They bill themselves as ska-punk synth-rock – their new album is an absolute rager!<\/p>\n

Your own band Last Edition have always been a heavily gigging band, how did you all manage to survive lockdown? And what\u2019s next for the Last Edition gang?<\/strong>
\nZoom calls! Ha. It was tough – but I don\u2019t think we realised until we did a socially distanced gig in October 2020 at Firebug. That escapism is absolutely unrivalled. We\u2019ve played 5 gigs since restrictions have been lifted, and they\u2019ve all been incredible.<\/p>\n

What impact has the pandemic had on the Ska Punk in the UK? Will it bounce back?<\/strong>
\nI guess probably not too dissimilar to other genres really. I think (like most genres) adversity makes the scene stronger – we\u2019ve definitely felt that since we\u2019ve been back that people are showing how much they\u2019ve missed it.<\/p>\n

Leicester has seen many great local bands come and go but Last Edition have remained one of the city\u2019s most established bands. What is the key to longevity and any tips or advice for young bands starting out?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s very kind! We are all really good friends – we try to do things as a band and not make it always about being \u201cthe band\u201d. I think our longevity comes down to how much we love the genre, the people in it and enjoying the time we have together on stage. Writing songs and getting to perform them to like-minded people is such a privilege and we\u2019ve always been so grateful to anybody that has invested any time into our band.<\/p>\n

Anything more you want to tell our MIL readers Matty?<\/strong>
\nJust that I hope to see them at Firebug on Saturday. Firebug have been so supportive of our band and many others over the years. I\u2019d love to pack it to the rafters and show people how Leicester is a great place for underground music.<\/p>\n

Half Drunk Club<\/a> takes place 16th & 17th October at Firebug, 1 Millstone Lane, Leicester. Tickets are priced at: Full weekend: \u00a325.00, Saturday: \u00a315.00, Sunday: \u00a312.50 and are available from www.halfdrunkclub.co.uk<\/p>\n

Interviewed by Cain Barriskill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This coming weekend, iconic Leicester venue Firebug is being taken over for two days of Ska infused Punk n\u2019 Roll. Expect pulsating horns, two-tone beats, […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":25728,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[314,293],"tags":[212,266],"class_list":["post-25726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-314","category-interviews","tag-punk-music","tag-ska-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Half-drunk-club.jpeg?fit=1700%2C1000&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73uhX-6GW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31131,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/preview-half-drunk-club-at-duffys-bar-sunday-31st-august-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":25726,"position":0},"title":"Preview – Half drunk Club at Duffy’s Bar, Sunday 31st August 2025","author":"Kevin Gaughan","date":"28\/08\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"We have a band called Keep Flying over from New York\u2014they\u2019re on their UK tour supporting their brand new album Time and Tide","rel":"","context":"In "2025"","block_context":{"text":"2025","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/2025\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Untitled-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C658&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6728,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/simon-says-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":25726,"position":1},"title":"Simon Says… 2015","author":"Trevor Locke","date":"30\/05\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"30th May 2015 Simon Says... get ready for the festival Read our report on the Simon Says Festival 2015 Read about Simon Says Festival on Saturday Read about Simon Says Festival on Saturday Here is the information we gave, prior to the festival: 2015: acts announced for the festival weekend.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2015"","block_context":{"text":"2015","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/history-of-leicester-music\/the-year-2015\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Ash-Mammal-1.jpg?fit=600%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Ash-Mammal-1.jpg?fit=600%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Ash-Mammal-1.jpg?fit=600%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18001,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/review-lets-face-the-music-at-firebug-and-duffys-bar-saturday-22nd-march-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":25726,"position":2},"title":"Review – Let’s Face the Music at Firebug and Duffy’s Bar, Saturday 22nd March 2019","author":"Kevin Gaughan","date":"28\/03\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"with Paddy Hodgkinson, Steve Faulkner, Homeless Shakespeare & The Pigeon Theatre, Elysian, Luke Broughton, Finches of Attica, Bellatones, The Jav'lins, The Hardy Band, Siobhan Mazzei, Charlotte Carpenter and The Brandy Thieves This event was organised by Music in Leicester, Firebug and\u00a0Duffy's Bar. 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