Thursday, 8 October 2015

Top Tens: Paper Rifles Top Ten Punk Rock Influences




Here are the ten punk rock influences of Paper Rifles aka Jon ex-Curators. He has just released a new EP on Bandcamp named Songs For Ophelia that you can check out here.

“The Holy Bible” – Manic Street Preachers Hands down, this is my favourite record of all time. A brutal combination of eloquence, anger and fury, I don’t think I’ll ever love a record more than this. It was hugely, hugely influential on the teenage me. I own four different versions of it and, even 20 years later, I know the words off by heart.

“Captain” – Idlewild This came out just as I moved from Dundee to Edinburgh. I fell in love with the ragged punk, hooky melodies and oblique lyrical references - “a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs” indeed. I had the pleasure of playing in a band that opened a few shows on their Greatest Hits tour, which was a real personal highlight.

“The Bends” – Radiohead The best Radiohead album, no matter what anyone else tells you! I remember seeing them play absolutely everything they had at the Caird Hall in Dundee in 1997, and it remains one of my all-time favourite gigs.

“London Calling” – The Clash The record that made me realise that “punk” didn’t have to be a narrow interpretation of a sound. “Clampdown” and “Spanish Bombs” are my favourites, although it’s a great record from start to finish.

“Caution” – Hot Water Music My mate Pete gave me a copy of this years ago and it immediately won a place in my top ten. “The Sense” is my personal favourite, but it’s hard to argue with songs like “Remedy” and “Trusty Chords”. What a record!

“Earth Vs The Wildhearts” –The Wildhearts This record is nearly perfect. Harmonies, riffs and hooks. What’s not to love?

“Hotel California” – The Eagles My Dad played this all the time when I was wee. I’m fairly sure it’s responsible for my love of harmonies. I reckon my Dad and I could still sing it from start to finish.

“In Utero” – Nirvana My Mum bought me this when I was off sick from school! The definitive Nirvana record. It just sounds amazing, even if they weren’t quite all Albini’s mixes.

“The Catcher In The Rye” – JD Salinger I know this has now become totally clichéd, but when I first read this as a 14 year old, I thought it was talking directly to me. Reading it now, I can appreciate its faults, but my younger self wouldn’t hear a word against it.

“Church Going” – Philip Larkin I could have picked any number of Larkin poems, but this one particularly stuck with me. My first band was named after one of his poems! I think we did him for Higher at school, and he never left me. One of his poems was a reading at my wedding too.

Like Paper Rifles here: https://www.facebook.com/PaperRifles 

Listen and buy Paper Rifles music here: https://paper-rifles.bandcamp.com/

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