PUNK 4 THE HOMELESS

by Tim Forster

Punk 4 The Homeless has been busy raising money for homeless children in Central America since January 2010. They’ve been doing this through a variety of gigs throughout any given year and with a monthly Benefit Gig at the Sumac Centre in Nottingham. The monies raised are channelled through Compass Children’s Charity which started as Casa Alianza UK in February 1999 to raise funds for programmes in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Casa Alianza was founded in 1981 in response to the senseless death of one child – 13-year-old Nahamán Carmona López – a street child kicked to death in Guatemala City by four police officers who found him sniffing glue on the streets to combat his wracking hunger pains. This incident lies behind the P4TH slogan, ‘Stopping Cops Killing Kids Is Punk Rock’.

With Punk 4 The Homeless gigs now in their 7^th  year Eagle Spits and Rachel, the couple behind P4TH, put out a call under the banner ‘The Magnificent Seven’ for people to put together a P4TH solidarity gig in seven other cities/towns and the invitation (challenge?) has been taken up with (so far) gigs in, or planned for, London, Stoke, Bradford and… Norwich!

Norwich P4TH Gig on November 4^th is going to be an unashamedly raucous evening featuring some of the best DIY punk bands around (thereby realising at least two of P4TH threefold aim of raising money for vulnerable kids, having a party and facilitating community!)

The whole thing kicks off at 7pm with an acoustic punk set by Dandelion Florence of Dark Diversions. She is followed by Norwich Garage/ Indie/Psychedelic/Noise band MARLA fresh from recently supporting False Advertising. Nottingham based hardcore punks Radioactive Rats make a welcome return to the city after their stunning set in April at The Owl Sanctuary, when they played in support of local Women’s Refuge Leeway. Long-time Norwich favourites, female fronted street punks Hotwired, play P4TH ahead of their gig supporting The Rezillos at The Waterfront, and the awesome Truth Equals Treason are making the trek down from Lincoln to prove that the title of their 2017 EP – ‘It’s Got a Photo of Thatcher, Must be as Punk as Fuck!’ – gives a good indication of what to expect from them!

This gig won’t happen again. All profits will be going to make a positive difference in children’s lives – as Truth Equals Treason say, ‘Nothing will change until enough people give a shit…!’ Be there!

For more information, check out the Facebook event here.
[P4TH Norwich Gig, 4th Nov. Gringos, Prince of Wales Road, Norwich. 7PM.]

Featured image via Lincoln Punk Collective

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