Ok, so most of these are in no particular order as it’s hard to decide which influenced me more or less as different things had more impact at different times. So here goes:
10. My Mum
Yeah, bit of a weird one to start with but there are a certain bunch of artists that I love that kind of fall into this sort of “category”. My mum is a real music lover and growing up she would play a lot of music, loud. She had a huge CD collection that, as I got older, I would find myself borrowing from more and more. So, when I was a kid, I’d hate it but looking back it was great. She’d always be playing a lot of Thin Lizzy, Elton John, Meat Loaf, Squeeze and, her favourite, Robbie Williams. All of which I listen to regularly now and will sing my heart out to if I’m driving on my own. I remember being a kid, sat in the back of the car with my brothers and playing air guitar to Boys Are Back In Town, Mum doing the ironing with Captain Fantastic blasting out the stereo and Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell is one of our go to “Driving home from a gig 100 miles away at 2am” albums. Back to back belters. Yeah, mum’s pretty damn cool. (Yes, I did just put on an Elton John album to listen to while I write this.)
9. My mates
Again another outside of the box one but, when you’re a teenager, your friends are the biggest influence and I happened to have some very musical friends. I always liked music and was told by music teachers early that I had an ear for it but I wasn’t really interested in playing it. I was too busy skateboarding or painting up Warhammer stuff (yeah, I was that kid). My mum offered to pay for music lessons for any instrument I wanted and I turned it down. Fast forward a year or so and I’d recently discovered rock music that wasn’t what mum listened to (because that was cool at 13) and more so pop punk. What really kicked it off for me was seeing a few of my best friends, Chris & Jay Aldridge and Josh Kelly, play a gig at school – performing a bunch of Green Day and Blink 182 songs. It had never crossed my mind before that I could be in a band and do this sort of thing, so the next day I begged my mum for a guitar and lessons. Christmas came around and under the tree was an acoustic guitar from Argos and within a month I’d started a band with my mate John (Saving Sebastian). Fast forward another couple of years and I’d just discovered third wave ska and, at that time, a brilliant local ska punk band called Dr 8 Ball were doing the rounds – I’d go to every show I could. And that pretty much set me down my musical path.
8. Goldfinger
Ok, back into that regular box. Specific artists that influenced me. Goldfinger are one of my all time favourite bands, I’ve got the lyrics for Superman tattooed on my arm. Yeah, bit of a fan. My friend Sandy had downloaded a couple of songs from LimeWire and I was sitting round his and he put on Spokesman and that was it – I was hooked. I went and bought the album Open Your Eyes straight away and pretty much played that album on repeat for about a month. Pretty soon I knew every word to every song on every album and been to a couple of shows. John Feldman's energy always just blew me away. Seeing them at the New Cross Inn last year and then from the side of the stage at Slam Dunk a couple of days later was so so flipping good!
7. Green Day
If anyone in a punk band that started within the last 25 years tells you they weren’t influenced by Green Day, they are straight up lying. I was 4 when Dookie was released and by the time I heard it it was already over a decade old. Absolute masters of their craft, they might not be the first band to do it but, for me, they were the first to perfect the blend of punk rock and pop. I always wanted to be like Billie Joe and it’s fairly obvious when I play live.
6. Reel Big Fish
Like most of these bands, I can remember exactly the first time I heard Reel Big Fish. My friend Michael had a compilation CD that had Scott’s A Dork on it and he loved it. He played it to me and I thought it was naff! But then he got hold of the album Why Do They Rock So Hard and my attitude changed entirely. Pop rock songs with weird choppy guitars and amazing horn melodies. So this is ska. I was absolutely hooked and ever since I’ve been an absolute sucker for a well written horn line. Not many do it better than Reel Big Fish.
5. Less Than Jake
Pretty soon after hearing RBF and delving into the ska punk genre, obviously the next band that’s going to come up are Less Than Jake. These guys go hand in hand with Reel Big Fish in how they taught me how to write pop songs with great hooks and melodies but they brought in the speed! I could listen to Hello Rockview for the rest of my life and nothing else and be happy.
4 The Clash
So, by the time I was 15 I’d become obsessed with punk and ska music and was digging deeper and deeper into its history. I picked up a copy of their first album from a place in Camden, took it home and blasted it loud constantly. Along with the amazing songwriting, a lot of the attraction to The Clash for me was that it was an old band that my parents didn’t like much. That’s not to say they disliked them, but they preferred the later, less in your face stuff. Sadly, The Clash are one of those bands I wish I'd been able to see live.
3. Aerosmith
Curveball. Aerosmith are absolutely one of the greatest bands to ever live. I will sing my heart out to all the ballads. Again, another band that I discovered that my parents didn’t listen to much. I had a double disc greatest hits album growing up and would love trying to play along to all the classics. I’d love to try some ska punk Aerosmith covers one day.
2. Allister
The best Drive-Thru band in my opinion. I accidentally downloaded Somewhere On Fullerton whilst looking for something else and then proceeded to download everything else they had released by that point. I used to have a bit of a self imposed rule on downloading music. I’d always download a couple of songs and, if I liked it, I’d go and buy the album. But with Allister I broke that rule, leaving the computer on over night to download everything because back then downloading a song took about an hour. They sucked me right in and were the first band that I’d listen to every detail in the song, rather than just the song overall. Allister do the best vocal layers. Amazing harmonies.
1. Good Charlotte
Yup. That band that everyone loves to hate. This band changed my life. So, I was 12, I liked pop music – catchy stuff that was on the radio. I would listen to stuff like Nelly or Justin Timberlake (still do, being into punk doesn’t mean pop artists aren’t good) the only album I owned was The Eminem Show (great album) and I was awkward and didn’t quite feel like I fit in anywhere. So, one Friday evening I’m sat at my table, painting up some Warhammer stuff with Top Of The Pops on the telly. I wasn’t really paying attention until the opening drums for Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous started. I look up at the screen to see these guys in suits with spikey hair and low slung guitars jumping around the place. And the chorus was catchy as hell! And that’s what started my love of music. I bought The Young And The Hopeless album straight away from a Virgin Megastore in town and sat reading the lyrics from the sleeve while I listened. I’d listen when I was happy and wanted to jump around or when I was angry or sad. It didn't matter – this album was my go to for a long time. After listening to every band that was thanked on the sleeve, I had a good amount of music in my life and found myself fitting in more with my friends who’d already discovered this sort of thing. This was also the first album where I returned the favour to my mum with discovering music. She heard it and loved it too and went and bought her own copy as I wouldn’t lend mine to her. I took her to see GC for her birthday recently and we had a great time. Meeting them last year at Slam Dunk and having a chat with them outside their bus was a bizzare experience and one I won’t ever forget. I owe a lot to this band and their songs have influenced me more than anything.
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