It’s pretty hard to define things, people or music as being punk rock these days. What’s ‘punk’ to one person is trivial fake shit to another. Punk rock influences are definitely age related: people a couple of years younger than me will list New Found Glory and Blink 182 and people a couple of years older will probably be banging on about Jawbreaker and errr whatever people two years older than me listened to. Some of my list is pretty obvious and some is stuff specific to me and what inspired me to play punk rock music... well sort of... my band sounds like a mediocre McFly.
10) BRACKET I really like the band Bracket. Probably the poppiest of all the punk bands on FAT, they were punk to me because they wrote great pop songs but didn’t give a flying fuck about image or playing shows. I think they smoked a lot of weed and did whatever they wanted. Good on ‘em. Criminally underrated.
9) THE RAMONES You probably haven’t heard of this band... so I’ll tell you a bit about them. They wore leather jackets and wrote amazing punk rock songs. Google them. No need to explain this one.
8) THE WILDHEARTS When I was 12 I heard the song ‘TV Tan’ on the Radio 1 Rock Show and I was hooked. The first band I got into without my parents’ influence, The Wildhearts were the most exciting band in the U.K rock scene in the 90s. They’re not generally classified as a ‘punk band’ but any band that smashes up the Kerrang! offices is punk rock to me. They also wrote (and still do) some of the best pop rock songs ever. Well done. Well punk.
7) THE DICKIES My band, Mike TV, got to tour with The Dickies in 2008. We’d been big fans before but supporting them for 2 weeks in Europe and getting to know Len and Stan made me realise how much of an influence they were on the pop punk scene. Great songs, great characters, great stories and an amazing live band.
6) SEX PISTOLS GRUNDY INTERVIEW I remember being 12 and watching this repeated on some punk rock TV show. I thought it was amazing that a band went on national TV at 6 pm and called the presenter a ‘dirty fucker.’ 12 year old me was impressed by naughty words. I still am. Didn’t really like the music. They were kind of a punk rock boy band really… but ugly. Very ugly.
5) GUILDFORD YOUTH CENTRE Anyone from the U.K punk rock scene in the 2000s has played a gig here. When my band was called Pickled Dick, we must’ve played here about 30 times. Numerous incidents with hardcore bands smashing microphones into their bloodied faces, the fire brigade turning up mid-gig and people getting fucked up in what was essentially a day care centre thing. It was the ultimate punk rock venue and helped shape the scene for me in my early 20s. It was just like Gilman Street. But in Surrey. In a Youth Centre. And not really like Gilman Street at all.
4) FAT MIKE Plays in NoFX / runs an amazing label which introduced me to most of my favourite bands / constantly doing and saying shit which annoys punks and people alike. Not sure if some of his comments now are a bit too much for me but I guess that’s punk rock, right.
3) OLD GREEN DAY As I said earlier, I was big on The Wildhearts but when my mate gave me a copy of Dookie on tape (thanks Alex Bray) before it was released in the U.K I was hooked. My brother went and bought the two first albums and teenage us loved watching a speed-filled BillieJoe twitching on TOTP. It’s a bit different now isn’t it.
2) FRENZAL RHOMB Frenzal were the first punk band that wrote really fast songs that were stupidly catchy but who were amazing musicians too. Like an Aussie NoFX but much better IMHO. As soon as I heard them on the FAT comps, I was hooked. Stories such as allegedly putting The Dropkick Murphy’s bagpipe mouthpiece up their one of their arseholes only exacerbated their punk rock legend. They also opened up the world of veganism to me without preaching like Propagandhi and made me realise not to take my band so seriously. Enjoy it and don’t be a cunt.
1) DOMB THUMB Domb is the singer, bassist and songwriter from Mike TV. This is the band I am in. This isn’t a shit ad for my band, I can do that on Facebook if I wanted to and pay for the pleasure. I first met Domb at various friends’ house parties when we were 16. He’d turn up, play loads of Rancid songs on the bass with his thumb and then pass out. Domb is a great songwriter. He could write an album in a day and it’d be fucking class. As with all super talented people he has his issues and all this combines to him being the biggest punk rock influence in my life. He inspired me to organise and push our band through his brilliant songs. I hope that one day he totally sorts it out and finds the motivation to become the amazing and celebrated musician he should be. He’s also the best bassist I’ve ever seen. I’m off to go and fuck him now. We’ve also had a fight in a supermarket, one whilst recording the first Mike TV album and outside pizza shop in Hull. The end. Punk init.
Listen and buy stuff from Jhon's band Mike TV here: https://miketvmusic.bandcamp.com/
Like Mike TV here: https://www.facebook.com/miketvmusic
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