Nirvana
It may surprise people to hear, but I was a very late starter when it came to music. When I listen to friends talking about venues they frequented when they were in their early teens and ridiculous gigs they went to circa 2001 for a fiver, I just sort of shrug. I have nothing to contribute because I didn't think I even liked music until I was about seventeen. I had my Dad's vinyl LPs – Dire Straits, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple – but nothing particularly aimed at my generation. Pop music didn't do anything for me and classic rock, as cool as it sounded, felt disconnected and dated. Everything changed when my neighbour gave me a copy of Nirvana's greatest hits. I know it sounds cliché but Smells Like Teen Spirit was essentially my introduction to alternative music and the more I learned about Kurt Cobain, the reluctant ‘spokesman’ of the disenfranchised, the more alternative music began to appeal.
The Offspring
I had a few, shall we say, false starts with alternative music. The Darkness were fun but they reminded me of Dad music. Red Hot Chili Peppers had a few good sing-alongs but had nothing to really connect to thanks to nonsense lyrics. System Of A Down were political but a bit ridiculous – Tapeworm? Jet Pilot... really? I honestly don't think I started to find my musical identity until I saw Hit That playing on TMF. I stole my brother's copy of Splinter and soon discovered that; a. This is what punk rock sounds like (I always associated punk with mohawked grunts in eighties cartoons) and b. This band wrote the music for Crazy Taxi. I soon bought my first guitar, the full Offspring discography and set about trying to learn how to play the whole of Smash and Ignition.
Punk-O-Rama Volume 3
The Offspring naturally lead to NOFX and Bad Religion which opened the door to my next musical purchase, my very first comp – Punk-O-Rama Volume 3. Through the album I was introduced to Rancid, The Bouncing Souls, Voodoo Glow Skulls, basically a veritable who's who of late 90s punk rock. At seventeen, I honestly couldn't believe that there was this entire world of exciting new music that existed separate from the mainstream. The Offspring may have introduced me to punk as a genre but it's the Punk-O-Rama comps that got me to stick around.
Reading Festival – Lock-Up Stage
I attended my first music festival in 2004 – Reading. I saw a grand total of nine bands that year, plus I got soaked and my tent was destroyed. It probably wasn't the best introduction to live music, fortunately the performances of The Offspring and Green Day absolutely blew me away. When the tickets went on sale for the following year I snapped them up as soon as they became available. When 2005 rolled around I was more confident and much better prepared for camping. I checked out the Lock-Up Stage early in the day in preparation for the evening's Bad Religion performance and ended up staying in that tent all of the Saturday. The main stage was one thing but the energy of a smaller stage combined with familiar bands and the ‘us against them’ camaraderie added to an all-round better musical experience. Despite being alone most of the time, I felt at home in the Lock-Up and it quickly became my annual punk-rock-pilgrimage.
Descendents
The song ‘13 Stitches’ by NOFX opens with the line "The first time I saw the Descendents, they were the fastest band I'd ever seen". I needed no further recommendation; I hit up my local music shops and eventually found ‘Cool to Be You’ at a Virgin Megastore. I remember how the album stood out against its surroundings thanks to the cover’s presentation on white graph paper with the bold Descendents font and spectacled Milo character, the perfect aesthetic for a self-proclaimed uber geek such as myself. Cool to Be You mostly lived up to my expectations but ‘Everything Sucks’ and ‘Milo Goes To College’, which soon followed, were the first two albums where I truly felt connected to a band lyrically. The teen angst, unrequited love, rage against mediocre jobs and general nerdiness combined with the fact that their singer was an actual PhD scientist all added up to the perfect storm. Additionally, 'Hope' became the first song I ever learned how to play and sing at the same time, in homage I’ve played it at almost every C-Rage show.
Less Than Jake
I have to admit. I bought ‘Anthem’ by Less than Jake in 2004, played it once and really didn't get ska. I guess I was still in my "only overdriven guitars" stage of musical development. I didn't go back to ska until I saw Less Than Jake play the main stage at Reading in 2006. At this time I'd become heavily invested in the mid-2000s mainstream emo bands, mainly because seeing My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy meant I could see live music with my friends instead of by myself. Less Than Jake destroyed the main stage and absolutely captured me with their humour, musicality and energy. I bought a couple more albums after that festival and was surprised by how dark and introspective some of their lyrics were, especially for such a seemingly fun band – I loved the contrast. Soon I was addicted to ska-punk and emo was mostly a thing of the past. A year later I watched Less Than Jake perform six nights in a row at the Astoria (evidently surrounded by a million future friends) and cast off my last few inhibitions of going to gigs by myself.
Motion City Soundtrack
In my search for more punk bands with additional instruments (like ska-punk's horns) I stumbled across Motion City Soundtrack, who stood out because of their strange keyboard (later I found out it was called a Moog) sounds. Their first album, ‘I Am The Movie’, initially grabbed me because of how different it sounded, but ‘Commit This To Memory’ was the album that cemented MCS as one of my all-time favourite bands. I heard both towards the end of my time at university but they gained their prominence after graduation, when the financial crash left my chosen industry in tatters and my future directionless. These first two albums deal with themes of doubt, self-destruction, artistic frustration and openly discuss mental health with each subsequent album dealing with different stages of recovery, intermixed with plenty of geeky references. I had a long period of feeling worthless and demotivated after university, rotting in a dead end job and failing to make any headway career-wise whilst losing friends and ruining relationships. Motion City Soundtrack seemed to follow my life’s trajectory throughout my twenties and were also instrumental in pulling myself out of the rut I'd created. Justin's lyrics have had a big influence on my own writing, self-deprecation and arguably singing style.
Frank Turner (the first 2 albums)
Frank Turner was the first artist to teach me that punk didn't have to be high energy with electric guitars. As long as you had the honesty and the ethic, punk could be as cut down or as built up as the song required. I first saw Frank Turner play the Reading Lock-Up Stage in 2008 and, honestly, it was liberating. I got home from that festival and started watching his live recordings religiously. Songs about life, death, friends and relationships; all using thoughtful, intelligent lyrics that are sometimes depressing but always filled with warmth and optimism. I wrote my first C-Rage song 'Wherever You May Be' in June 2009 using so many techniques that I'd learned from listening to Frank. His influence made all music I'd written before this point defunct. Unlike Motion City Soundtrack, Frank and I diverged with time, but I can't deny the affect his early work had on all of my songwriting.
Be Sharp Promotions
In 2012, I began to realise how badly my social anxiety had started to affect my life. I was becoming more and more isolated and lonely, my job less and less fulfilling. By this point I was going to gigs about twice a month but, worryingly, even live music was starting to lose its appeal. I realised things needed to change or I'd stop being able to function altogether. My radical solution for fixing myself was to try and talk to people at gigs and thus began the chain of events that eventually lead to me meeting Paul Smith. It's no understatement to say that Be Sharp Promotions changed my life. Back in 2012, Paul had a few years of promotion under his belt and, after a few drunken conversations, I was recruited to make the original Be Sharp logo. A gig poster followed in the spring which also introduced me to the New Cross Inn. I had no idea the place existed, or the bands for that matter, but all it took was one show and I was hooked. As part of ‘Team Be Sharp’ I was encouraged to talk to more and more people and integrate myself into the DIY Punk community. I was always completely out of my comfort zone but always taking steps towards feeling more confident with myself. Watching Paul and Mike get better at putting on shows has been amazing and seeing bands like Call Me Malcolm, Popes of Chilitown, King Punch and everyone else go from strength to strength has been a pleasure. My little artistic contributions have led to the most fulfilling and life affirming years of my life. I’d never have been able to perform as C-Rage without so much community support.
Intersectional Feminism
You may have noticed a huge omission from my previous entries, non-men and people of colour; for a musical genre that preaches equality, the punk that I was predominantly exposed to growing up were white male bands. I never really noticed how homogenous things were until I started making friends with the vocal and incredibly awesome intersectional feminists of the punk rock community. They helped me realise how much privilege I, as a straight white male have, and honestly now my bubble of ignorance has been burst I can’t help but see injustices, inequalities and abuses of power everywhere. I think it’s important to recognise that the ability to succeed, not only in punk, but in anything is not stacked equally in everyone’s favour and we, as a community, need to come together to try and level that playing field. I guess what I’m trying to say is, treat everyone with the respect they deserve, challenge tradition, provide a platform for those that aren’t able to be heard and defend each other when people are being oppressed or exploited. Diversity and unity makes us all stronger. Punk helped me feel like I belong, we owe the same to everyone.
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