Calling All Astronauts are my favourite alternative sound right now, and with their second album about to be released on 11 March 2016, I had a chat with the vocalist, David.

How important is DIY music and why do people do it if it's not going to make them into overnight multimillionaires?

Musicians need to decide why they are making music. If they consider it be art, the DIY route is the best way to go as they take full artistic control. Every good thing that happens to them is a bonus and releasing successfully though the DIY method will draw attention from labels as whilst it may not be from a major, there are many indies that can take your career to the next level. Thanks to the internet unless you want to be Coldplay or U2, radio stations and magazines are a lot more accessible, however, if you are getting radio play worldwide, it is a good idea to have a publishing deal so you see your royalties from other territories than your own. The days of holding onto your publishing in the hope of a big fat cheque are long gone; many DIY artists manage to get their music placed in films and adverts thanks to their publishers.

You've previously made an album about knife crime called Hands up Who Wants to Die? How effective is music in preventing or encouraging people to/from committing crimes, do you think it has any effect?

I think music can go a long way to changing attitudes. I try through my lyrics to hopefully make people think, they may not immediately go "hell yeah I'm gonna do something about this." But over a period of time, the lyrics will sink in and they will use them in daily conversion, or raise subjects they have arisen in songs and form attitudes based. The lyrics that stick in my head that formed my viewpoint on life are these lines from Crass' "Bloody Revolution" always ring home to me: "Nothing changed for all the death, that their ideas created. It's just the same fascistic games, but the rules aren't clearly stated. Nothing's really different cos all government's the same. They can call it freedom, but slavery is the game."

Once you realise that the system is the root cause of the problem, you can either accept it and campaign for the people less likely to screw you over, of just sit on your ass moaning about being screwed over.

There was a big thing the other week about Squeeze on BBC TV. After this I saw a few people's comments on Facebook saying things like "Why is it up to the old granddad bands to make this statement, why aren't the young people shouting?"

I think post-Thatcher Britain has adopted a hedonistic approach to life, only those who grew up when we still had a socialist Labour party seem to care about others and society. Only the Grime and UK Hip-hop scenes seem to have young people actually making any noise about the state of the nation, but because they use a lot of expletives they don't get mass exposure.

Is David Cameron is worried about musicians writing songs about his government? Will it change anything?

I don't think Cameron will ever lose any sleep over people writing songs about him, we know he's a Smiths fan; he therefore probably likes a lot of bands that may be opposed to his party's policies. He isn't the one to blame; the seeds of destruction were sown by Thatcher and Tory B Liar. He wouldn't be my first choice for PM, but neither would Corbyn for that matter as I feel Corbyn is too trapped within Bennite rhetoric. Yes, he has a far better grip on what's right and wrong, but actually seems out of kilter with modern society, unlike Dennis Skinner who I miss on the front bench especially at PMQs. Dennis Skinner is as clued up as any politician in the house. There are far too many problems in our society for one party to tow the party line and solve them all.

The biggest elephant in the room is immigration and nobody knows how to deal with it. The country makes a net profit on European migrants but a net loss on most others. They created a multi-cultural society, in effect creating single race ghettos, when what was needed was an inter-cultural society when everyone takes pieces of each other's culture and society benefits. We have a massive shortage of both social and affordable housing, people blame immigrants for it. Whilst it may be true that people coming to the country with families may get housed quicker, this isn't the reason for the shortage. If when the public housing was sold off, the money had been reinvested into the building of new homes there would be plenty of properties for everyone and rents would be cheaper and "buy to lets" would be less attractive.

Do you fit into the anarcho punk genre or not?

I don't think we do fit into that genre, we are just 3 guys having fun making music and making social comments, we have no agenda as such. At the end of the day I will support anyone who ends poverty and increases the standard of life for the most vulnerable, which happens to be the majority of the people.

We talked about subcultures being lost the other day. Would you agree that people are being squashed into conforming or is there still room for rebellion? Is big air played music these days associated with fashion, in your opinion?

There are so few people into subculture scenes nowadays, because it doesn't get mass exposure, people are happy to accept lowest common denominator and are brainwashed into thinking it's amazing and takes an enormous amount of talent. Even the songwriters that create the songs for the manufactured stars are not particularly talented, they are just formulaic. 97% of all tunes on Radio 1's daytime schedule are on three labels, nothing else is allowed to get through. I find it all very depressing.

With such things as the Punk London celebrations and the imminent release of the film SLC Punk 2, 2016 should be the year of alternative fashion and alternative DIY music? Or does anyone even care?

As we left Reading Festival last year, I was saying to my agent mate Steve, how awesome would it be if they had The Pistols headline the Sunday this year and a tent of old punk bands all weekend, no chance of that. I'm very doubtful that this year's celebrations will inspire many to become punks, more likely it will just emphasise the fact that most parents have better music taste than their children.

What's your relationship with Supersonic Media and what is Supersonic Media?

Supersonic Media is a record label and publishing company, I do A&R, we release records we feel we can bring some value to regardless of genre. We promote the acts to radio, magazines etc and pitch their tunes to films etc, we do very artist friendly deals and do our best for our artists.

What's your plans for 2016?

We are releasing our new album "Anti-Social Network" on March 11th, and following the success of our recent single "Empire" which amazingly made #2 on the Official European Indie Chart, we will release several further singles. We are hoping to tour at some point this year. We've never toured as CAA J our guitarist was in Caffeine and toured with The Offspring, AFI, The Dickies etc, Paul was in The Marionettes and has played many big shows with them, so it's about time we left my house and got round the country. We'd also like to play some festivals this summer; we played Kendal Calling and Guilfest a couple of year ago and had a great time. 🙂

Interview by Andrea Punk'n'Disorderly shop in Chorlton, Manchester www.punkndisorderly.co.uk
Calling All Astronauts YouTube channel www.youtube.com/user/planete111/videos

www.callingallastronauts.com
Find David on Twitter (regularly) twitter.com/CAA_Official

Could you please give a brief history of Last Crusade?

Well last Crusade was started by Mike our lead guitarist and Ben our drummer, then they got Karl in through mutual mates and Karl met me at a Boston Strangler gig we got talking and so I joined.

Who makes up the band and what other bands do have they played/play in?

We've all played in different bands in the past but they ain’t worth a mention.

Who are the bands influences and how would you describe your sound?

Crux, Camera Silens, Blitz, Cock Sparrer, Rose Tattoo and Slade, the list could go on forever. We’re all into different stuff as well, Karl is massively into his HC, Mike likes a lot of mod bands, Ben likes all sorts of random stuff and I Iike a lot punk as well. Our sound is really a mash of the influences I’ve listed. A few clean melodies mixed with a brick wall rhythm and then some shouty vocals over the top.

You’ve recently recorded a 4 track demo, what has been the response to it and how to you intend to follow it up?

The response was great, we are all really shocked and humbled by the feedback. We’re working on some more material and we’ve managed to get some dates in Hamberg and Paris. The demo is coming out on pretty soon so keep an eye out.

You choose to do a cover on your demo, what else would you like/intend to cover?

We’ve had loads of ideas for covers I’d like to do a Crux cover as you never really hear anyone do them as far as I know. I don’t really like to cover songs by bands that are still going and I don’t think the others do too.

What do you think Last Crusade brings to the table that differs from other bands?

Well we're quite a bit younger than a lot of the bands in Britain and our personal influences are quite diverse and we hope they mix nicely.

I understand you’re playing your dĂ©but gig in Leeds on the 23rd of January, can you give is some details of that and what kind of reception are you expecting?

Well as it’s our 1st we have no idea. If we just take it easy, do we what we do without making too much of a mess, it should go okay and hopefully not too many people’s evenings will be ruined.

What others gigs have you got lined up?

So far we have the 13th of March in Hamburg with Suede Razors and a few others and the next day we fly over to Paris for a gig there. I don’t think all the bands have been confirmed for that yet.

As you’ve two members from Canada, do you hope to play there one day and if so have you anywhere in mind?

We would really like to play there. Karl’s home town is Montreal so I think he’d be really proud to bring his music home.

How strong do you think the scene is in the UK and worldwide?

In Britain it’s dying off a bit. There’s not so many people our age turning up to gigs and audience numbers are going down. But there’s some young skinhead bands rising like Grade 2 and our brothers Crown Court who are fucking brilliant, they also have members in some HC bands called Violent Reaction and Arms Race, so hope fully more will follow. But it’s great to see how strong it is worldwide and its even rising in places like Indonesia. So that’s a positive

What do you think the skinhead culture can offer the youth in Cameron’s Britain and what does it mean to be a skinhead in 2015?

I think if the youth turned to this they would have something real to belong to that’s real and pure. We live in such a disposable and fake generation right now where the mainstream is really taking over. I think if today’s youth got into a bit of punk, oi or hc they would see a lot of the truth behind Cameron's Britain.

Can you sum up Last Crusade in three words?

That’s a tough question. Trying our best?

What do you think people should be crusading against today?

Take a look around you and you’ll see. Things like the media, its feeding total shit into people brains and turning them into puppets which is what it’s for. If people saw things like the Daily Mail and the Murdoch Empire for what it is I’m sure they’d have a different attitude.

Any final comments?

Keep supporting your scene wherever you are. Go watch a local band or travel to a gig in a dingy back street pub and find a floor to crash on. Buy the records and check out new bands and also dig deep into the roots. Thank you everyone for the support, thanks for taking the time to do this interview Mike and hopefully see you all in front of the stage or by the bar.

Could you please give a brief history of Scarred Society?

Scarred society was formed in 2009 with me (Paul) on vocals Andy on bass and Tom on guitar, we started out writing songs using a drum machine and as time went on we couldn't find a drummer so started gigging with the drum machine. After a few gigs we managed to get Paul in on drums who had just left Contempt with this line up we recorded our first album.

You don’t sound like a straight up punk band, I think I hear some NYHC in there for example, but who are you influences and how would you describe your sound?

Our sound is a mixture of old school hardcore with a bit of street punk, anarcho, metal and hip hop thrown in. we do find sometimes though our sound is too punk for the hardcore fans and too hardcore for the punks so it can be a catch 22.

Our influences are varied but not necessarily what we sound like some of the bands that have inspired us are Sick of it all, Agnostic front, Biohazard, Bad Religion, Slayer, Rage against the machine, Public Enemy.

I have always liked how you sing about topics that are a bit different but where does your inspiration come from?

We try not to be a box ticking band writing to preach to the converted, me and Andy share the lyric writing between us. We get inspiration from anything that gives us that spark or that pisses us off. Andy watches and reads a lot of stuff on political history and gets ideas from that or it could be a news article that winds us up or just something from everyday life. To be honest with the current political and social state we are never short of ideas. I'd like to add we try to avoid being a preachy band; we just put across ideas and hopefully give people something to think about.

Your album is definitely a force to be reckoned with, what are your highlights from it and how can people get their hands on it?

Our two favourite tracks are Age of deception and Skull and bones, one for its catchy chorus and the other for its groove and both for their lyrics.

You can get the cd from us personally or ÂŁ3.50 (post paid) through paypal at [email protected]
or message us on facebook here https://www.facebook.com/scarredsociety

You’ve got a new line up, what was the story there?

Tom our original guitarist left to go to university, Paul our drummer left due to work commitments and our replacement guitarist Mike left to concentrate on his other band. After about six months of advertising without finding anyone I was about to call it quits but a friend of mine (Moca ) who was a producer/scratch dj from my old band said he'd give it a go on drums if we could wait a few months for him to get up to speed. He purchased a kit and practised like a maniac and 18 months later made his drumming debut with us at the punx picnic. Shortly after Moca Joined we found our guitarist Louis who has brought a much heavier sound to the band than we had previously.

What with the punk scene infested diluted radio friendly bands at the moment, how healthy do you think it is at present?

Although I'm not a fan of the Nostalgia or melodic bands myself they are bringing people to the gigs so they are doing their bit to keep the scene alive but I would like to see a few more bands with something to say, with the current political climate the time is right for bands to make some good pissed off protest music but it seems people prefer their music a bit dumbed down these days.

One thing we do hate though is Punk tribute bands, they appeal to the lowest common denominator and weaken the scene, Punk was always about doing it yourself not imitating a band from the 70s.

What has Scarred Society got in the pipeline? Any new releases?

We are planning a split cd with Hatework Conspiracy from Telford.

What gigs have you got coming up and how can anyone contact you if they want to put you on?

They can message us through face book or email us at [email protected]

Have any of you been in any other bands before or play in any others at the moment?

Andy is in Fear insight and was in Dogshit Sandwich and D'corner boys, me and Moca have a hip hop project called Desolate onez and we were previously in Broken Minds and Graveyard Shift and Louis is in a metal band Back home in Cyprus called Infected Syren, he also has two other projects called Zivanished (crust Punk) and Psymon (electronic/industrial)

Where would you like to take the band and what do you see the holding for Scarred Society?

We don't have any big hopes or dreams, just play some gigs keep releasing music and hopefully do another tour.

Any final comments?

Thanks for the interview and hopefully a few people will read it and check us out.
Cheers.
Scarred Society

Could you give a brief history of BULLETRIDDEN?

BULLETRIDDEN arose from the ashes of a band called THE RECKONING that played only one gig at Scum Fest and then exploded, it also became the band WARPRAYER. BR is Chris's baby he wanted to make a punk rock, hardcore, style band with the same anger and ethics. de-tuned and totally absorbing an early nineties death metal Sweden sound and yeah with no guitar solos(because he's crap at them)........we all came to help.

What’s your discography?

Debut album CD only on under ground movement called “SONGS WRITTEN BEFORE JUMPING FROM AN 8 STOREY WINDOW”
2nd album CD only on Bad News called “UPBEAT NOISE FOR DOWNTRODDEN PEOPLE”
A SPLIT VINYL 7” With our mates HELLKRUSHER on antisociety records

How would you describe your sound?

A BODY BAG FULL OF rough CIDER BEING CUT Open WITH A RUSTY STANLEY KNIFE

What other bands have you all played/play in?

Martin has been singer for Gurkha, the Reckoning and Warprayer and numerous other projects that didn't play live but recorded something sinister in a bedroom.
Chris has been in Bombblastmen, Russabbottoir,The Varukers (who aint?),Violent Arrest,and extinction of mankind.
Karl was The Milk and Cheese Experience, Piss Up a Rope, Something in the Water, BlackEyeRiot, Warprayer and is now also in Atomck.
Luk isn't going to tell.

Who makes up the band?

Karl is the drum machine ,riotous but systematic
Luke is the basstard and master bass driver
Martin deploys the vocals , growling and yet symphonic
Chris is does the buzz saw guitar
we all get on well and there has never been a band argument, we have no pretensions or big egos to deal with. we have had other bass players Andy and Lambert and we send our best regards to them both and thank them for their help

Your album ‘Upbeat Noise for Downtrodden People’ is like a hatchet to the side of the head, what are your highlights from it?

Thanks mate!, anything that leaves an impression is welcome. my personal highlight is knowing it fucked your head up, that's it.


What have you got in the pipeline? Any new releases?

We have ten songs already recorded and they will come out as a self released 7” and a split LP with our good mates COITUS , watch out for those. we play sporadically so please come see us. we already have an albums worth of new songs that we hope will be our most evil stuff yet so there's life in the old dogs yet.

How healthy do you think punk is in 2014?

punk endures, its in its blood. its great to have people at gigs etc but you got to take the highs with the lows. the only shit thing is the emergence of right wing bands and the boneheads, those fuckers ruined everything back in the 80s and they'll do it again if you let them. I'm no uptight pc fool but there is no place for right wing horseshit in punk, they should all fuck off back to their local boozers and start glassing each other and just keep glassing each other until there's none of them left.

Punk means a millions things to a million different people, but what does it mean to you?

Only Martin commented here “for a long time it meant everything and it was all I did/thought about , now it means something different; having a huge family all over the worlds and getting drunk with them and sharing the experience of life together through the spectrum of punk rock, great music loads of lunatics, misfits, freaks, losers and underdogs I love it.. the others will need to tell you their thoughts on this (but didn't)”

We seem to be at a time where a lot of old punk bands are reforming, what are your thoughts on this?

it doesn't upset me and since I'm a young 43 its a chance to see band is missed first time round too . In most cases its obvious that they are back for the cash, but take it at face value and enjoy it or don't go see them let it accept you. Some old bands have come back and realised what they missed and got really involved back in the DIY scene and that's great.

What gigs have you got coming up?

we have the wonderful Dirty Weekend planned that you should all go to, we love Elliot. and we play in Exeter on December 14th with Human Cull, thanks Edd.

What bands should we keep an eye out for?

(only Martin replied here) we actually don't share much likes of bands between members and we all have very different tastes so new bands i presume you mean? well me myself personally BAD SAM and GRAND COLLAPSE from Wales DEATH TOLL 80K and KAPYKAARTI from Finland, THE FLEX from up north and LOTUS FUCKER from USA have all impressed me greatly lately.

Any final comments?

Thanks for bothering with us mate , we don’t get much attention and means a lot that you noticed us. on a serious note fuck the rise of the fascism,but don't let anyone tell you cant hate Islam/medieval religions AND the Nazis, you should oppose them both from a humanitarian and secular level, this nationalist nonsense is just a con to keep the poor squabbling and us all divided. Treat them both as your enemy as all good punx should, after all we will be the first against the wall is either side got real power.

Could you give a brief history of Contempt and a discography?

Haha a brief history? 30 years in there so I'll try. Formed in 1984, in Wolverhampton, playing lots of local gigs and a few further afield and then went through a few line up changes, all the time gigging, even further afield. Some UK and European tours followed as well as releases of demo tapes, a track on “Words Worth Shouting” on Radical Change (The Disrupters label), more gigs, more line up changes, albums, tours, singles, line up changes, tracks on compilations etc. And so on, until this day. You get the picture!
Discography, well albums there was The Hunter becomes the Hunted on cassette, Still Fighting On, Live in Hagen, Shouting the Odds, Who Needs Diplomacy, and Decay. We’ve got a double LP on vinyl due out soon, “We Got Nothing” which compiles tracks from the past 30 years, and also a new studio album coming out hopefully later in the year. A few singles too, the Familiarity Breeds Contempt EP from '86, ACAB EP, 12 Years On, War on the Poor, Justice for Who? all on 7" and the Fanatic EP on CD. Loads of compilations as well.

How would you describe your sound?

Old school punk rock I suppose, fast, angry, anarcho punk, but not too "growly", still retain a bit of the sing along kind of sound, I don't know, hard to say really. I suppose we mix up styles a bit as well.

Who makes up the band and what do they do?

Mart - Guitar/vocals Steve - Vocals Sam - Bass/Vocals Craig – Drums

What other bands have you all played in before and play in at present as well as Contempt?

There’s a few, Martin’s been in Contempt since the beginning, but was in a couple of bands before that, I’m currently playing guitar for Hotwired, while Sam’s in about 12 bands or something, er, Alcohol Licks, Balsall Heathens, Screaming Abdabz... Bands we’ve been in include Eastfield, the Disrupters, Cupid Stunt, Sensa Yuma, and loads of others.

Do you have any problems getting everyone free at the same time for gigs with the other band commitments?

Sometimes it's a pain, but actually I'm surprised it isn't more often than it is. It's just a case of first come, first served, and if we get asked to do a gig and one of us already has one booked, we just can't do it, and we think no more about it. There's quite often other reasons too, maybe it does happen quite often, but it's not remarkable enough to remember!

Contempt has seen quite a few members come and go over the years, how have you managed to keep momentum with the band?

I don't think we have haha! It always sets you back a bit when you change personnel, sometimes more than others. The line up has been fairly stable for a while now though, and I think that shows.

What’s in the pipeline for Contempt?

New album/single release this year, compilation LP as well, lots of gigs, short European tour, beers, the onset of old age...

Animal rights, anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-capitalism, anti-war etc play a big part in the bands lyrics, do you think that singing about such things makes a difference are you preaching to the converted?

What else are we going to sing about? Love songs? I think a lot of the time it's just venting, rather than really expecting to change the world. I don't think it's the same sort of time now as it was 30 years ago, we're never going to have the same impact on people that bands like Crass and Conflict did in the 80s. Although people have come up to us and said that they've gone vegetarian because of one of our songs, and stuff like that which is always nice. But you just sing your stuff, if it makes people think, then great, most of the time I just think people can relate to it, which is equally valid. There are still bands I like to listen to because of what they sing about, it stops you from getting too apathetic. Plus we've grown up now, and have a slightly different take on things, a bit more experience. As long as we're being truthful to ourselves then I think it's still valid, the world isn't a better place now, is it? We still need to fight back, probably more than ever now to be honest.

Contempt have toured Europe a lot now, how do you find the scene differ from the UK?

Places like Germany have a great scene, really love going over there. They seem to have a good thing going on in Europe for squats and squatted venues; we’ve played some great places that have been squats. That rarely happens in the UK, the authorities are just all over things like that too quickly, whereas in a lot of places in Europe they actually get support from their local councils or whatever! Although a few of the places we’ve played have now been shut down, and of course there’s been some quite high profile squat evictions in Europe too. But other than that, punks are pretty much punks everywhere, still like a big family wherever we go!

Contempt have not just spoken about issues that concern them but also been politically active, do you find this to be rare in a band?

Maybe, but then it’s quite rare in all walks of life, people love moaning about shit, but always want someone else to do something about it. The most politically active most people get is voting, and all that says is that you want someone else to sort stuff out, and in exchange you’ll let them run your life for you. Fuck that. If everyone who didn’t vote became politically active in their own way, there probably wouldn’t be any problems getting rid of this corrupt and antiquated system, but it has its own power, its own inertia, and unless people challenge it, find ways round it and help to bring it down, it’s just going to keep lumbering on until everyone and everything is extinct, apart from a few fat cats who’ve colonised the fucking moon or something. I think people feel powerless and don’t really know what to do, but the only power the leaders and politicians have is ours, we just need to reclaim it a step at a time. Anything I can do to make that happen, I will try to do.

What gigs have you got coming up?

Bristol punx picnic is the next on 13th June, along with Left for Dead, Inner Terrestrials and loads of others, and then we’re off to Europe for a few gigs from 22nd to 28th June. Telford punk and ska fest 5th July, Punks against Cancer weekend in Derby 13th July, Worstead festival near Norwich with English Dogs and Hotwired 27th July, then Rebellion Festival in August (on the Sunday).

What’s the best and worst thing about being in an anarcho punk band in 2014?

The best? I love it, it’s about the message, yeah sure, but we’re in a band to have fun and play gigs, entertain people, and that’s what we do. Playing gigs, meeting people, drinking beers with them, it’s why we’re still doing it. The worst? Drummers.

What state do you think punk is in today and what can if offer today’s generation?

A tough one really, It’s okay I guess, but maybe showing its age a little. I don’t think it holds the same threat any more, and I wish it did. There are loads of great bands out there though, and loads of great people, there’s still a good scene. I think there’s fucking loads on offer for today’s generation, whether they want it or not I don’t know. The younger generation need to get more involved in the political side of things, they’re the future, and it’s their turn to run around getting arrested now, haha! I think we need punk, and as long as we can keep the right wing element out of it, have fun, maintain the unity and look out for each other, it’s going to get stronger. More and more people are finding out how corrupt the authorities are, and how we’re constantly being fucked over for the benefit of big corporations. It’s punk’s job to fight that I think.

What bands should we keep an eye out for?

All of them. Support all the gigs you can, it keeps the scene vibrant and alive, and creative. Sneak drinks in to the venues if you can’t afford bar prices, but support the bands, they’re the life blood of the scene.

Any final comments?

It’s not the fault of the immigrants or the benefit scroungers. It’s yours for not challenging what you read in the papers or see on the TV. You’re constantly being told what to think, how to feel, what you should be. Don’t pay attention to the lies and deceit. You have more power than you think, be strong and use it wisely. Fuck the government, fuck authority, fuck the police; only fear makes us think we need these things. Anarchy and peace!

Can you please give a brief history of English Dogs?

Oh my god, what a fucking boring question! Okay formed in 1981in Grantham by four punks who were half decent musicians but looking back now there wasn't a great deal of friendship but an awful lot of jealousy. Things went very well for us very quickly. Signed up to Clay Records, Mad Punks was released and put us on the map. Porky men came out a year later and went through the roof worldwide. In fact it was the 19th best selling independent album of the year. We outsold Elvis Costello, Cocteau Twins and all other UK punk bands.... big headed? Maybe. Proud? You better fucking believe it. Going down the paper shop every Thursday eagerly anticipating our latest chart position.... exciting times. The problem was the other three were growing their hair and wait for it, crimping!! Journeys in the van having to listen to Ozzy Osbourne and Iron Maiden were intolerable. It was clear to me these bozos' were on the change. Around the same time my wonderful girlfriend Sally fell pregnant, oh yes we were making love!! So I bailed on English Dogs in '85. They continued by adding Butt and Bailey and were okay for a year but then that huge ugly sack of egos produced an unlistenable row; I paid no more attention to the fools. '93/'94 produced a short reunion resulting in the most embarrassing recording of my career Bow to None. God I hated that line-up!! I reformed the Dogs in 2003 and made quite a few bad judgement calls until finally settling with the current line-up. These guys I’m with now are punk rock brothers. There ain't a bad word said between us. You may think there being 25ish former members of English Dogs that I’m a hard man to work with but that ain’t true. I just cannot tolerate working with wankers full of selfish intentions. There you have English Dogs brief history all true.

Could you give a discography?

Mad Punks and English Dogs
Invasion of the Porky Men
Bow to None
Tales from the Asylum
Get Off My Fucking Moon
Dog Sick
Dog Bastard
We Did, We Do, We Always Fucking Will

Wrecking Temples and Barking Spider as The Wernt.

Any other English Dogs recordings have no significence....ha ha ha ha ha

Where did you get the title ‘Invasion of the Porky Men’ from?

Do you know what Mike that's the first time I’ve ever been asked that in an interview, good one. I've always been a big fan of the Stranglers and you know how certain songs can conjure up wonderful imagery, well We Are The Men In Black by the Stranglers was the inspiration for Porky Men. "Human flesh is porky meat eeeeeeeee" what a mad fucking song.

You originally left the band after some German tours if I remember correctly, something about the violence, what exactly happened?

There were many reasons for leaving back then. My bandmates turning into grebos and as anybody will tell you by '85 that amazing surge of punk spirit that had occurred in the previous five years was rapidly dropping like a foul turd from a fat mans arse. Thirdly, I was about to become a father and felt it was time to hang up my glue bag and finally, yes the violence on that European tour with One Way System sickened me. Don't get me wrong, I understood why it was happening. The punk family especially back then were not going to tolerate the foul right wing factions so it kicked off! Every night! To see an ambulance being called to tend to a punk rocker with half a bottle stuck in his face whilst on acid, man alive that ain't nice. Three gigs from the end of the tour after a gang of heavily tooled up Hells Angels joined in; I’d had enough and came home on the train on my own, happy to leave the misery behind. I ain't proud that I bailed on my band but I am proud that I’m a man who stands by his own convictions. Pinching sang for the last few gigs and Tommy drummed. When they got home they informed me I was sacked, I informed them that no I fucking wasn't. It became obvious to me that their attempted grebo coup was the writing on the wall. I left English Dogs on my terms a couple of months later. All my respect for them gone.

What did you make of the path the band took after you left?

To The Ends Of The Earth ain't too bad but everything after that I listened to once out of curiosity and never listened to it again cus it was utter rubbish. The most laughable being Where Legend Began. The egos had gone through the roof here, they actually thought they'd invented a new way to write rock n roll. The trouble was, except for them five, no-one else agreed and Metallica duly sacked them. Credit where credit's due, at the beginning they had the bottle to cut their own path. Even though it wasn’t my bag I respect this. What I most certainly did not respect was them reforming a couple of years ago but they ain't no threat to us. How can I take seriously a band fronted by Uncle Fester, the caretaker at Hogwarts and a weird midget with laggy-bands round his eyes?

There are two visions of English Dogs at present, how do you feel about this?

Listen to track 2 on our new album We Did, We Do, We Always Fucking Will, it's called Death to the Dogs and I think I’ve covered every base there.

Pig Dog Killer has to be one of the best punk songs ever written but how did The Wernt come about and what happened?

Thank you for that. The Wernt came about in '97 or '98 I don't remember, when Pinchings girlfriend at the time, Claire a punk nut-job from Glasgow who shares my birthday, upon hearing some early, un-recorded Dogs songs suggested they were too good to gather dust. We got history with GBH; it seemed the most natural alliance. That Wreckin Temples album was knocked together over two or three rehearsals and four days in the studio, job done innit!! I talk dude. Five of the songs are old Dogs songs and one we nicked off Avoid. Don't get me wrong we only brought the skeleton songs to the table, Ross n Jock gave them quality. Pig Dog Killer was originally Scum and is in fact a true story. Two massive bumpkin brothers called Ablett from a village outside Grantham would regularly come to town to crack skulls. One of them was stripped naked, thrown in a cell with an Alsatian and promptly gave it what for. Sadly both brothers have been dead for some time. I couldn't believe my luck when i realised no-one had ever used those classic football chants from the '70's. I wrote the whole lyric in less than 20 minutes. Fact.

You reformed the band in 2003, why did you do this and how was this received?

Why? Cus i'd just spent a year writing and recording an album with a couple of cunts from Peterborough who led me to believe they were serious. In fact, they only wished to use my own ideas to boost their own profiles. I won’t mention names but one drums for the Destructors and the other plays bass for the Damned ... cunts! My disappointment at being lied to spurred me on to do something, reforming the Dogs was my natural way. Tales From The Asylum and the two songs we did on Rats comp, I’m pretty proud of. Sadly i had to ditch the fools, there's a patten here yes? I'll say it again mind, why the fuck should i work with wankers.

You’ve just brought out a new album, are you pleased with it and how does it compare to say ‘Invasion of the Porky men’?

Yes we have Mike and thanks for bringing it up. It's entitled We Did, We Do, We Always Fucking Will. And why not quote me on this, it's the best album I’ve ever been involved with. There ain't a bad song on it, each song is individual and if I may be so bold, I don't think there's been a better punk album written in the last ten years! I don't much care if you think I’m a big-head, I’m just supremely proud of how my band have worked over the last 14 months.

If I were to ask you why someone should part with their cash for a copy of ‘We did, we do, we always fucking will!’, what would you say?

I think I covered this in my last question, no? Fifteen songs, a DVD, all neatly packaged for ÂŁ10? What more do you fucking want?

You’ve never covered the usual topics in punk songs, so where do you get your ideas?

Erm, you see to me punk rock ain't just about corruption in politics or police brutality, or even the images we witness from around the world in terrible wars. I am constantly on the look- out for fresh ideas. For example, when we recently played Melbourne there was a flyer promoting the M.C.G., it read Melbourne Cricket Ground ... We did, we do, we always will. All I did was add "fucking" and there we are. Ten years ago a Chinese man returned home to discover the ultimate bloodbath. His wife with post-natal depression had butchered all five of their children. This happened in Birmingham and i have never forgotten how witnesses had described the agony of the fathers screams in the street (see Pynk and Judy on the new album) I spend all my waking time looking at the world around me, it's full of injustices and sadness. However i do struggle to get passionate over love and joyous things hence I’ve murdered Sally three times in songs even though I love her to death. I tell you what hacks me off is a lazy fucking lyric, you know who are, you shoddy twats!

The word punk seems to mean a million different things to a million different people, but what does it mean to you?

Now there's a fucking great question. I was born in 1961 and as long as I can remember I’ve loved music. Brought up on the Kinks, the Beatles, the Who and the Doors life as a child was okay. Although at the age of four I was kind of sectioned by my parents for my unruly behaviour. The doctor’s results were quite favourable mind, one of the few times my mother praised me was that i was 1% off genius. The seventies had its moments; puberty bought excessive wanking but musically not a lot. On one hand Bowie, Dr. Feelgood, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Alice Cooper and Status Quo, believe you me brother early Quo rocked the kasbah! But it weren't enough, none of it was. Look at Julien Temples Pistols film, Britain was a shit 'ole. It had to fucking change. When punk rock evolved it changed my fucking life. I had direction. I was meeting people who thought like me and just by simply ripping my jeans, skinny tie and don't give a fuck swagger, the boy became a man. There was a fucking army of people just like me. And although since some have conformed, some have died, me and Sal have remained true to the brutal honesty and defiance that is punk rock.

How would you say punk has changed since you got into it and how healthy is the scene at the moment?

I don' t think it’s changed at all, the morals and principles are exactly the same as they were 37 years ago. Although the numbers have dropped why should that be a bad thing. I'd rather stand next to the real McCoy than pogo with a thousand wankers.

Is punk still relevant today and what can it offer today’s youth?

Of course it fucking is, it'll always be fucking relevent. Without it there would be no Nirvana, Oasis, Prodigy, Libertines and on it goes! The influences of punk are everywhere. It was punk that enabled small independant labels to pop up everywhere, Joy Division, The Fall, Dead Kennedys, Radio Birdman, the fucking world of music should be eternally grateful for what punk rock did for it. The ungrateful cunts... Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, nah!

What gigs have you got coming up?

I dunno. Look on the websites you lazy fuck.

Any final comments?

Why the fuck should we take shit from anybody? I would rather die fighting injustice, bullies and wankers than live in a comfortable chair with a neatly trimmed lawn and saying yes sir twenty times a day cus my mortgage depends on it. Fuck that! Up the punks brothers and sisters. As long as we remain strong and together we will never be beaten. WE DID WE DO WE ALWAYS FUCKING WILL. Wakey X

Interview with Manu of Blatoidea

Could you please give a brief history of Blatoidea?

We started off with me, Carlo and Jacko in Sicily in 2008; we made our first demo and started touring straight away around Italy with our old drummer Fabrizio. Then Just after that we moved to London and Luke joined the bad and we started touring the UK and Europe too. We also made an EP called "alive", and just a year after that our first full length "infected"

Who makes up the band?

It’s me (Manu): Vocals, Guitar Carlo: Guitar, Vocals Jacko: Vocals, Bass Luke: Drums

How would you describe your sound?

I think is a bit of a mixture of everything we like and listen to, from 80s UK punk bands like GBH, Skeptix and Blitz to Motorhead, Rancid, The Restarts, Defiance, The Disturbance ect... with our own personal touch obviously. We never really sat down and said "we have to play like this" it always did and does come out naturally.

Do the bands that influenced you when your first started still influence you now?

Yeah definitely, they are the bands who naturally inspired us in the first place and if we want it or not you'll still hear the influence.

Could you give a discography?

Start an infection DEMO(2009) Alive EP (2011) Infected (2012)

I’ve heard you compared to early Casualties more times than I can count, does this piss you off or not?

ahahah It does sometimes, because I think its purely a ridiculous, shallow "esthetical" (spikes, mohawks..) comparison and not really after an accurate listening to the music we play. I don't think we really sound like them. In the band we all grew up listening to the early Casualties so we might have involuntarily taken something from their music as well.

How do the Italian and UK punk scenes compare?

In the UK you basically go to a gig in a city and most of the times you find the local scene, in some places it’s bigger and some it’s smaller. In Italy to go to a gig, most of the times you have to drive for miles and the people live all distant and in totally different regions. In Italy punk spins mainly into the squat circuit and it’s really rare to see punk hardcore bands like us playing also in venues or pubs like in the UK or the rest of Europe.

In fact, what made you uproots and move to London in the first place?

Because where we come from in Sicily, it’s a small city and was quite hard to play gigs like we do since we moved to London. Over there the mentality is narrow minded and there’s not a real music culture and I mean in general and not only for punk. We moved here for the band because it’s something we really care about and that we want to keep doing and if we would have stayed there we wouldn't have probably got as far.

How has your debut album ‘Infected’ been received?

I think it’s been received really good thanks! It’s really nice to see that people appreciate it after the hard work we did on that album.

Have you any new releases in the pipeline at all?

We’ve now got 15 songs kinda ready, we are just waiting to have enough money to get back in the studio and record a new full length.

Do you have a particular favourite song to play live?

My ones personally are probably "dehumanized" and "alive" both of them because even if we see them as kinda old songs from our repertory they still sound fresh every time we play em and I like a lot the lyrics in them. Also people like those songs too off course.

How do you pick songs to cover?

When we are at the studio we try a song from a band we like that can be interesting to cover and see if it works...It usually doesn't.

How do you feel punk is relevant for the 21st century?

Well, we live in an era where people are more and more controlled, influenced by the media, lobotomized into their virtual worlds and tricked into become sheep. It’s hard to really be an individual when you are living in all of this and punk definitely must be relevant in this situation like it always been.

What gigs have you got coming up?

We’ve got a tour planned for this month in the UK and we'll also play in Birmingham on the 22nd at the Adam and Eve pub! Thu 17th @ Thee Lughole SHEFFIELD Fri 18th @ Downstairs ABERDEEN Sat 19th @ TBA EDINBURGH Sun 20th @ The Sitwell Taven DERBY Tue 22nd @ The Adam and Eve BIRMINGHAM Wed 23rd @ The Red Lion BRISTOL Thur 24th The Butler READING Fri 25th @ The Star Inn GUILDFORD Sat 26th @ The Corner House CAMBRIDGE .

Where do you get your ideas for songs from?

I usually first write the lyrics and then fit them in the music with my guitar, then work on it with the rest of the band when we are in the studio.

Any final comments?

Nice one good luck with the site, hope to catch up soon! Manu

UtP 6 March 2014 JPS-less we carry on regardless by Under The Pavement on Mixcloud

Samuel Becket wrote two excellent and absurdist plays about the futility of the human condition. In Krapp's Last Tape, and elderly man listens to his own voice recorded in the past. In Waiting for Godot, two imbeciles fill the void with idle chit-chat while waiting for someone who never appears. John Player Specials were our Godot. This is a show of truly Becketian proportions. Thrill as Cubesville returns a book to David. Marvel at the rant about the Salutation pub. And get really angry about so-called "apolitical punk". In true Becketian style, we will deliver the next show sat in dustbins.

Could you give a brief history of the band?

Basically TOTAL BLOODY CHAOS was a reincarnation of a band called MEXICAN OVERDRIVE consisting of me on vocals, Picky and Andy on guitar, Cheryl on drums and Mick on bass.
It was decided on my 40th birthday bash between myself, Andy and Mick we would get back together and after recruiting Graham at Nice and Sleazy we had our first practice in June of 2007 where Cardiff Jo joined me on vocals. Our first gig was in November of that year supporting ENGLISH DOGS in Blackburn and apart from a few line up changes we have been at it ever since.

Who makes up the band?

Me – vocals Jodie – vocals Graham – drums Andy – guitar Nick -- bass

What is your discography?

We have released everything ourselves (up to now that is) and we have done-
CHAV CENTRAL EP
VIGILANTE EP
WHAT CANT SPEAK CAN’T LIE EP
TOUCHED BY NAUSEA / TOTAL BLOODY CHAOS SPLIT EP
FUCK THE ROYAL WEDDING CDR (given out at a gig on the day of the wedding)
WORK TOGETHER/RIGHT WING DISEASE CDR (given out at an Anti-Fash gig in Derby)

We did record an album in Stoke early 2011 but the quality was that shit we could only use two tracks off it, just.

The first four of these are available on a free download at punx.co.uk

How would you describe your sound?

I find it hard to describe to be honest, but would probably say 80’s anarcho.

Who was originally your influences and do they still influence the band’s sound now?

There are so many different influences with each member that it’s hard to say who actually influenced the band, I know Graham and I have pretty similar tastes but as an individual I would say CONFLICT / OI POLLOI / SUBHUMANS the usual stuff, the 80’s obviously was a big influence for me. You could throw DOOM / NAPALM DEATH / CONCRETE SOX / TOXIK EPHEX / DAN 

..the list is endless.

What other bands have you all played in?

Jodie was a band virgin but I have been in GROSS INJUSTICE, INIQUITY and MEXICAN OVERDRIVE, all based in and around Accrington / Blackburn. We have a couple of band slags in TBC as well, Graham drums with THE SYSTEM and was also in THE CHANGING WAY in the 80’s and more recently THE FILTHY LOOKERS and CONFRONTATION whilst Andy is also playing guitar in THE SYSTEM and bass in PEDAGREE SKUM, he was also in FAT BARREL HEADS, PARIOT SAINTS and MEXICAN OVERDRIVE. Nick was in a few metal bands before he joined BORN UGLY (pretty apt name for him actually) and now he plays guitar in COSMIC FINGERS, an acoustic duo from Lancaster.

Almost forgot we had an acoustic spin off with Andy and Jodie called TOTAL BLOODY ACOUSTIC (Jodie and the Little Twat).

How is your local scene at present and how do healthy do you think the national scene is?

Our local scene (Blackburn) is not for from death to be honest, there is not a lot of us and out of them not everybody goes to the local gigs that myself and Bob (PMT PROMOTIONS) put on , some folk would rather go to Manchester to see the likes of Rancid and Rebellion once a year than support ,the local scene , really fucking riles me up , we try our best to bring bands to Blackburn but when you see a shit turnout it makes you think is it actually worth the hassle?

Ps- the answer is yes, it is worth it, we are not giving up!!

Graham and Nick on the other had live in Lancaster which seems to have a healthy scene going on , there is always a few gigs going on between Lancaster and Morecambe.

Is you song ‘Chav Central’ about a particular place or is it just generally about the state of the country?

Bit of both really, at the time I lived on a council estate in Blackburn that was full of Chavs that would hang around outside the off licenses giving folk grief every fucking night. So it was Shadsworth that inspired the lyrics but it was a refection of the U.K. as a whole. I have to point out that not all of them were dickheads, the majority were but there were the odd one or two sounds lads.

You did a split with touched By Nausea in the not too distant past which I enjoyed, how did that come about and are you happy with the results?

The lads from TOUCHED BY NAUSEA (South Africa) got in touch to ask us if we would do a split with them which obviously we did and you have to give them guys bucket loads of credit for the work they put into it. The covers were screen printed and hand sewn into pouches, they did all the artwork, printing etc, it was a very painless exercise (for us at least) those guys were fucking amazing!

Have you got anymore releases in the pipeline?

As of February we are waiting on the release of our debut 7” single (Embarrassed To be Human), it was supposed to be a split with KISMET HC but that fell through so we decided to go ahead on our own, its gonna be out hopefully early March on URINAL VINYL and we have our debut album (Vicious Intent) coming out soon once the artwork ahs been tweaked.

Having duel female and male vocals makes you stand out from the crowd, was this intentional and if so what was the idea behind it?

It was far from intentional, Cardiff Jo came with us to our first practice just to take some photos but we asked her to do a bit of backing vocals to see what she was like and the rest is history as they say. When she left to go and live on the dark side (Yorkshire) we drafted in the services of our friend Jodie and as I mentioned earlier this was her first time in a band but she really took to it and obviously she’s still with us. It has to be said though how much the band has progressed with the male/female vocals, we found out that she could actually sing so now instead of shouting / screaming and snarling through our songs she does a little singing as well, which you can hear on our upcoming releases

What do you think it means to be punk in 2014 and what can it offer today’s youth?

It can offer today’s youth an escape , as it did me all those years ago , somewhere were you are accepted for who you are (unless you’re a bit of a cunt),somewhere where you can voice your anger and frustrations at the shit that goes on day in day out, a community, a network of friends who you may not yet know that will put you up if you’re in their town for a gig , a community that looks out for each other (the majority of the time anyway), somewhere to go and see hard working decent bands for the price of a pint or two where you’re not going to get ripped off by some corporate promotion company, an escape away from the herds of sheep that are rounded up daily by the media, the church , the whole fucking institution and force fed bullshit to keep the little fuckers in line.
And the music’s pretty fucking good as well.

Punk means a million different things to a million different people, but what does it mean to you?

See above answer I think, pretty much answers it.

Following on from this, what do you think is the best thing about being in the punk rock community?

The way the community works is what stands out for me, as I mentioned earlier if you’re going to gig in Birmingham, for example, we could get somewhere to crash over either at someone we know or a friend of a friend, it works wherever you want to go. Again I think this question has been answered earlier

What do you think when you see pop stars wearing studded leather jackets, punk band t-shirts etc?

Don’t get me started, it’s fucking embarrassing, these fucking idiots think they’re cool because they have a studded leather on with band names you just know they have never heard of, never mind heard the music!! Did David Beckham not have a sparkly CRASS logo on a shirt? Fucking pratt!! Just give me a fucking big stick and let me at them, just for a minute, please!!!!AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What gigs have you got coming up?

Bit sparse this year to be honest but we have

PUNK FOR PAM in Edinburgh, 22ND March
IN YER FACE in Bury 5th July
BLACKBURN LIVE LOUNGE 26th April (tbc)
PUNK AGAINST CANCER in Derby 13TH July
How do you see the future for TBC unfolding?
Hopefully carry on the way we have been, get the album and single out there, carry on gigging and at some point this year I will buy a passport so we can hopefully get across the channel, if someone will have us. We are very cheap_

What bands should we keep an eye out for?

I have seen some bloody good bands recently 1000 SCARS are fucking great , INTERNAL ROT were very good as well but a local band called BRACE FOR IMPACT are relatively new on the scene (full of old cunts , except Jimi) with a good pedigree , ex TOTAL BLOODY CHAOS and POTENTIAL THREAT amongst others. VICTIMS OF RADIATION from Rochdale/Oldham have recently reformed they’re pretty damn good as well and I suppose I will have to mention our six fingered inbred friends from Burnley, WARSAW PAKT. Also look out for a band called SCARED from Darwen, local lads, if you do see them, give them abuse!!!!

Any final comments?

Buy our fucking cd and single you cunts!
Please

Could you please give a brief history of Dogsflesh?

The band were originally formed by Rob in Middlesbrough in 1981, recorded a three track demo called Never Give In, in 1982 and played a number of gigs at Middlesbrough’s infamous Rock Garden Venue, most memorably when we supported GBH. We played further gigs with bands like UK Subs, The Exploited, Discharge, Anti Nowhere League and Angelic Upstarts and in 1985; we recorded ‘The Bloody Road To Death EP’ at Offbeat Studio’s in Leeds.

We split up soon after that release and took 20 years out, before getting back together in 2005, since then it has been all go, we have recorded two studio albums, played throughout Europe and USA and been signed to a US label and the ball is still rolling, nine years later.

How would you describe your sound?

That is simple, UK82 Punk Rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where does the name come from?

That is a more difficult question and one we always get asked and the truth of the matter is, I generally don’t know, our original drummer, had Dogsflesh painted on his leather jacket and I remember asking who are they and he replied, ‘dunno but a good name innit, so it just stuck’

What made you reform in 2005 and how has the response been?

The response has been really good if I’m honest and we didn’t realise so many people remembered the band from when we started out all those years before, which was good for us because it made it easier to get gigs, however we did initially have to do a lot of unpaid gigs to get the name about again, as the audience had changed massively since the 80’s, but it was worth it in the long run.

The reason we got back together was that three of us went to see Broken Bones at the Cockpit in Leeds and some of the bands that played that day were awful, and we said that ‘we were better than that in our day’ and just as a throw away comment I said ‘lets do it and the rest is history’.

I seem to remember reading you did a tour with The Exploited, how did that come about and do you have any decent antidotes from the time?

Yeah that was in about 83//84 time I think?

We had played at The Bierkellar in Leeds with them and got on with them straight away, I think they were blown away by the studded jackets and the big hair, more than the music though haha and we were asked to play the remaining dates of the tour with them, which was fun and were still friends with them to this day.
Regarding antidotes, those years are a big blur and it is only when people say ‘do you remember, this, that or whatever that it jogs my memory, I can’t even remember some of the places that we played, but needless to say we had an awful lot of fun.

You’ve played all over Europe, how do the scenes compare and where is punk strongest would you say?

Yeah we love playing in Europe the scene over there is still really vibrant and you generally pull in good crowds who just want to get pissed, jump around and have a good time, compared to England where unless you are a big name band people just don’t bother turning up, let alone jump around, so we would far rather play Europe than the UK.

In my opinion Punk is far stronger in Europe than the UK especially in places like Czech Republic, Germany and Italy.

How healthy strong do you think the scene is both on a European and national level?

On a European level, it is still quite strong, the crowds you play to in Europe are generally a lot younger than in England which is excellent for the future of Punk Music but in the UK I think it is a very apathetic scene people just can’t be bothered with bands as much as in Europe, we have played alongside some bigger named bands and they have pulled in 20-50 people, so what chance do smaller named bands have.

What would you say is the weirdest gig you’ve played is?

Another easy question to answer, we were touring the West Coast of America in 2009 and we were booked to play a venue in Phoenix, when we got to the venue, we looked around and it was a small industrial estate with loads of lock ups, after driving around for what seemed like an eternity we saw this punk and said we were looking for a venue called The Chambers and he said ‘that’s it in front on you’.

When we banged on the door, the roller shutter opened up and it was basically a garage lock up that had been made into a music venue, very bizarre and very strange location, we also played 2 shows in Salt Lake City and the matinee show that we played was in the cellar of a bookstore lol.

Why do you think early 80’s UK punk has got so little recognition compared to that of late 70’s punk?

Because the shock factor had all been done before in the 70’s, swearing, spitting, strange clothes, coloured hair etc there was nothing really new in the 80’s, other than faster more aggressive music and a change in clothing and more extreme hairstyles, so there wasn’t anything new for the media to report on really that hadn’t already been written before.

How do you think Vision of Hell and Revival of Species compare to each other?

They are two very different albums, Vision Of Hell was a good album for the time, but Revival in terms of song writing, music and production was far superior, which is how it should be, you should always be pushing yourself to make better music than your previous album.

Talking of albums, I hear you’ve got a new one in the pipeline, can you tell us a little about that?

Yeah were currently writing the new album that will hopefully be released in autumn this year and it is sounding excellent, we really want to concentrate on putting out a complete package with the new album and that will include the studio we use, producer and artwork etc

As I said before you need to push yourself harder to make a better album than your previous releases and with this, I think that we have certainly done that up to now with the 7 tracks that have been written. Music and lyrically wise they are totally different from the previous two albums and I think that people will be more than surprised at what they hear when the album is released.

What gigs do you have lined up?

With writing the new album we are not going to be doing as many gigs as in 2013, but up to now we have confirmed dates in London and Gateshead in March, Stockton & Newcastle in April, Edinburgh in May and we are finalising some dates with Total Chaos for August, but awaiting confirmation on those dates.

Any final comments?

Just a massive thank you to everyone that has supported us since we got back together again, promoters, venues, record labels, support bands, and most importantly the punks that pay their hard earned cash to see us, its really appreciated.

Team #punxuk

The latest photos you have sent in! Share yours on Instagram with #punxuk
Follow Us On Instagram