In the lead up to Joshfest 2025 at the end of this month, I caught up with Gareth, one of the organisers of the festival to discuss everything about the all day festival, how Joshfest came to be & why it is so important to them to keep this going.

Joshfest is a festival that has taken place yearly since 2021 at The Face Bar in Reading. It was set up following the tragic passing of Josh Clapham, then vocalist of the band Petulance from the local Reading Hardcore scene.

Whilst speaking to Gareth, I asked how he met Josh. He explained that during the early days when they were starting a project which would eventually turn out to be Petulance, they were looking for a vocalist in the local scene. This was where Josh had been recommended by their drummers girlfriend at the time.

I asked Gareth, how he would describe Josh?

“Josh was kind, creative, talented and passionate guy. Whether it was in making his art or Petulance. Whatever he done he put 100% into it. He was the real driving force behind Petulance and was always the one who got shit done. I definitely learnt a lot from him in how I organise and put on shows and even how we’ve navigated Detriment. If you had an idea or something you wanted to do, Josh would be the guy who would keep encouraging you, pushing you to keep at it which back then was invaluable for me. Most of all he was the guy who would listen and help when things got tough and would always have 5 minutes for you if you wanted a chat about life in general. Definitely something I miss.”

JOSHFEST originally started out as an idea between Gareth & Josh himself. To put on an all day festival in the local scene. Gareth gave me the following statement:

“I think the idea had been there from the very beginning of us collaborating on shows to put on an all dayer and in 2019 we’d booked a date in at The Facebar, Reading to put the show on in 2020. Unfortunately Josh passed away in November 2019 and it was then up to me and a rather large group of mates – with me, Jess & Tom at the forefront – we decided that we need to honour and celebrate his life.”

Following Josh’s tragic passing in late 2019, Gareth and a few other good friends of Josh’s pulled together to try and make an all day festival show happen, to celebrate his life. Unfortunately due to the global pandemic that occurred in March 2020 and a further lockdown procedure for the following months after, the first Joshfest had to be postponed. So much work had been done behind the scenes to get this ready:

“This was actually so heartbreaking. I think lockdown was announced around the 20th March 2020 – our show was booked around the beginning of April 2020. To have the rug pulled from us for such a meaningful event that was about 2 weeks away was a huge downer to us and also to his friends and family who were going to come. However we pushed through and once we were certain shows could happen again we locked in and managed to pull about 75% of the original line up together. It ended up being one of my favourite shows I’ve had the pleasure of attending!“

This year see’s Splitknuckle and Bar Fight joining the festival. Both these bands were due to play the first ever JOSHFEST before it got postponed due to the pandemic. Once they were able to reorganise the festival Bar Fight had called it time and Splitknuckle had to pull out due to other commitments.

What a full circle moment this is to get both these guys back to play their FIRST JOSHFEST.

After speaking to Gareth it was incredible important to get this festival back on track. To have it take place in the local scene Josh grew up in and The Facebar was that chosen venue. This was a location where Josh and Petulance regularly played within their local scene so it only seemed fitting that the event should take place there.

The Facebar is seen as the head of the alternative scene in Reading according to the organisers. The manager of The Facebar has been running the venue for the past 20 years, they knew Josh and Petulance very well. This is why they offer the venue out for the festival; they understood what was trying to be accomplished by putting this festival on and what is was in aid of.

Not a lot of artists come through Reading anymore according to Gareth, so Joshfest is an amazing event to put on for the local scene.

The entire premise of this festival is a non profit, every element comes out of the organisers pockets. From venue hire, artists, security costs, etc.

One amazing factor that I was told is that artists who play the festival are either playing it at no cost or at a heavily discounted rate due to the nature of the event or their relationship with Josh.

They understand what this is about, a coming together of the UK Hardcore community in a way that everybody can celebrate and remember Josh Clapham.

All ticket proceeds go to the mental health charity MIND in aid of Josh. The reason it goes to MIND is that it is a way of giving back to a charity in aid of helping people with their mental health struggles, something that hits with this story. They provide so much support to everyone. I can vouch for this with my own personal struggles.

I asked Gareth to tell me one of his favourite moments with Josh from back in the day and he gave me the below:

“Whenever someone asks me this I tell this story of how jammy he could be. Petulance was booked for a charity show in Plymouth and the morning of the show he had a spare fiver knocking about so he bought a scratchcard and won a tenner. When we got to the show there was a raffle and one of the top prizes was a days tattooing session with a local artist. He entered the raffle with the tenner and won. Seriously jammy guy! Think he estimated he got about grands worth of tattoo’s for a fiver!”

JOSHFEST will take place on the 29th Novemeber at The Reading Face Bar for a low low price of £20. To see such a sick line up is cheap these days so why not get down there! It doesn’t matter if you turn up on your own or with others, everyone is welcome and we’re all here to support a great cause.

Tickets are still available for the festival to purchase in advance via the link below

JOSHFEST

I am 100% sure that Josh would be proud of this all day festival and everything the organisers do for this cause. I can’t wait to join them this year!

Josh Clapham Forever.

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(Mind offers a wide range of mental health support and resources, including a confidential Infoline, legal advice, and support for specific issues like welfare benefits. They also provide local support through a network of community-run Hubs, which can offer services such as talking therapies, advocacy, and peer support. In addition, Mind runs campaigns to fight mental health stigma and advocate for better mental health services, and offers workplace training and support.)

If you ever find yourself needing mental health support, Mind’s Infoline is open 0300 123 3393.