The Smith Street Band

Kings of local folk punk rock. Billy Bragg once said that in his head he thought he was Joe Strummer, only to realise later he was all Pete Seeger. The Smith Street Band pivots around the songs of Wil Wagner, who perhaps has Pete Seeger in mind, but probably comes out closer to Joe Strummer. The tunes are written on acoustic guitar, and the band either forget they are a folk band or forget they are a punk band – it’s that unifying aspect of both forms that the TSSB magic happens in. They formed above the Birmingham Hotel when they were living upstairs there. Take a right at Electric Avenue, heat of battle Saturday.