It takes less than two hours on the budget airlines to hop from Gatwick to Marseille, but the cultural jolt you get when you drive east along the Var coast to Toulon feels closer to a time‑warp. The naval city’s old dry docks echo after dark with the clang of punk guitars, and no band channels that clang quite like The Spitters. Formed in 2013 by schoolmates Maxime Richard and Dorian Lahais‑Cazalé, the quartet have spent the last decade grinding out power‑pop punk that fizzes with the melodic nous of the Buzzcocks and the car‑door‑slam urgency of early Hives.
Their legend on this side of the Channel was sealed in July 2022 when they roared onto the stage of Pointu Festival, a three‑day boutique bash on the Île du Gaou that earned cult status among British gig‑goers who made the pilgrimage for sun, sea and volume. That year’s poster read like a free cv of UK influence: Shame, Jungle and Bristol trouble‑makers IDLES (back again in 2023) all rattled the palm trees, while The Spitters proved local talent could hit just as hard.
Pointu: The Festival That Flew Too Close to the Sun
Pointu Festival – Gaëlle Beri ©
Pointu’s setting, islet connected to the mainland by a wooden footbridge, looked postcard‑perfect, yet politics, ecology and a stray chant conspired to kill the vibe. During IDLES’ closing set in 2023 a section of the crowd chanted “Tout le monde déteste la police” (“Everybody hates the police”). Local conservative councillors, already fretting about noise and environmental impact, seized on the clip and withdrew municipal backing. Without the town hall’s cash or the right permits, organisers pulled the plug on the 2024 edition and the festival slipped into hiatus.
For UK fans it’s a bitter loss. Pointu offered the rare chance to watch cutting‑edge British acts while paddling in the Med between sets—a package you won’t find at the O2. The Spitters, who call Toulon home, now salute the site in song but have already rerouted their summer dates to Marseille’s Molotov club and the new Nice Music Experience weekender.
French Punk scene
Pointu’s demise hasn’t blunted the French punk surge; it’s merely dispersed it. Lyon’s Grrrnd Zero warehouse, a cooperatively run DIY hub next to Vaulx‑en‑Velin metro, books three noise or hardcore bills a week and doubles as rehearsal space for touring outfits. Paris keeps the old guard alive at Gibus Live, where the Slits once cut a live album and today’s line‑ups pair locals like Pogo Car Crash Control with UK visitors on Euro‑runs. Rennes, Nantes and Bordeaux each host micro‑festivals that welcome everything from Sheffield post‑punk to Mancunian shoegaze.
Behind the activity sits the uniquely French intermittent du spectacle scheme. Think of it as an employment safety net for performers: clock 507 hours of work in ten months and the state covers the gaps between gigs with unemployment pay. It keeps session drummers solvent, but it also lets venues take risks on mid‑week punk bills knowing bands can afford the fuel money. The system isn’t perfect—audits are brutal, paperwork endless—but it sustains an ecosystem where a Thursday night in Clermont‑Ferrand can still draw 200 kids in patched‑up denim.
The Spitters’ Next Move
The Spitters have finished LP number five—ten tracks tracked fast and loud, due in November. A teaser single lands next month, mixed by Blur’s former desk‑wizard Ben Hiller and rumoured to clock in at a breathless two‑minutes‑and‑change. Expect choruses in Franglais, razor‑wire twin guitars and enough pogo bait to leave your ribs bruised till Christmas.
They’ll showcase the material first in France—Marseille, Montpellier, Lyon—before a December hop to Brighton’s Green Door Store and a New Year blow‑out at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. If you miss the Pointu sunsets, consider those club dates the consolation prize.
https://open.spotify.com/intl-fr/artist/0GPbUhVIDsHA0Wi7ZtFQ3X
Why UK Fans Should Care
New coastal circuit – With Pointu gone, Nice and Marseille are scrambling to lure the same holiday‑and‑hardcore audience. Budget flights plus cheap pastis still equals the loudest mini‑break you can buy.
Cultural cross‑pollination – French promoters routinely twin UK and local acts to pull audiences from both sides, giving British bands a ready‑made fan‑base and The Spitters the trans‑Channel handshake they deserve.
Economic resilience – The intermittent model keeps stages busy even when ticket sales wobble; our own Music Venue Trust is eyeing it with envy.
Punk’s flame rarely goes out—it just finds new oxygen. Right now that oxygen is blowing in from the mistral, fuelling bands like The Spitters who treat melody as a weapon and regional pride as a launchpad. If you fancy seeing where the next Buzzcocks might emerge—only this time yelling in Marseille slang—start scanning those EasyJet alerts. South‑bound, sun‑drenched rebellion is back on the agenda.
