Punk

Interview: Basement Jaxx perform at RockNess 2013

London duo prepare to headline RockNess for a second time

It’s Basement Jaxx effortless ability to bring seemingly disparate elements together that makes them such a fascinating live act. Techno is welded to Latin while house tangos with calypso from the upbeat mania of ‘Red Alert' to the punk funk delirium of…

Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard-Living, Hair and Post-Punk from the Middle East to the Lower East Side

Vivid recollections of a punk's fascinating life

From the moment Rayya Elias describes breaking her leg on the marble floor of the Syrian apartment she lived in until the age of seven, Harley Loco is a beautifully ugly memoir. Elias’ gravelly voice hustles her story onto the page; her Detroit…

Interview: John Cooper Clarke set for 2013 UK tour

Punk, poet and comic recaps 35-year career with humour and fresh insight

Like a recently awakened raven, all hair teased to eternity and trademark skinny suit, John Cooper Clarke is one of the most unique figures in poetry and punk. His forthright poetry, delivered in a breathless, freight-train rush of breath, was perfectly…

Debbie Harry: I was tired of women being victims

Music gossip

Debbie Harry was tired of R&B songs depicting girls "victimised by love". The Blondie singer is famed for pioneering a punk-influenced idea of feminism and empowerment, giving people sexual confidence through her own music - which see saw as a…

Sheila Rock - Punk +

Superb and powerfully put-together photo-history of punk

Sheila Rock’s superb photo-history of the short-lived but aftershock-long punk scene ends with a series of John Lydon shots. It’s 1980 and punk is indeed dead, the ex-Pistols sneermonger now fully ensconced in his new PiL project. Mooching around in a…

Pure Love - Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Fri 8 Feb 2013

High energy live show from former Gallows frontman Frank Carter and co

Gallows had built up a reputation for intense, fearsome live shows. They were the leaders of the UK’s hardcore scene leaving a trail of trashed venues in their wake. Each gig an explosion of feral punk rock, flailing bodies, blood and gore. Picked up by…

The Punk Syndrome

Music documentary following Finnish punk outsiders Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät

A sleeper hit on the film festival circuit, The Punk Syndrome follows the trials and tribulations of Finland’s Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, a punk band whose members have learning disabilities and their rise in popularity within the local crust-punk scene…

Iceage - You’re Nothing

Mature and ferocious punk that avoids seeming hackneyed or unimaginative

(Matador Records) The follow up to their debut New Brigade from these furious Danes is as snotty as you’d expect. Dabbling in equal parts the post punk melodies of their first record with a noisier and a more honed production, the guitar licks on ‘In…

Iceage - The Third Door, Edinburgh, Sat 24 Nov 2012

Blistering, breathtaking neo-hardcore punk show from the Danish quartet

‘Can we borrow the support bands’ guitars?’ asks vocalist Elias Ronnenfelt with a sleepy-eyed mix of boredom and self-belief that expects no answer other than action. Three songs in, and the Danish neo-hardcore quartet’s guitars are fucked, a mess of…

Bad Brains - Into The Future

The DC hardcore legends return with their hybrid brand of punk and reggae fusion

The DC hardcore legends return with their hybrid brand of punk and reggae fusion – a staple in the punk pioneers’ genetic makeup since the get-go of their colourful career. Despite numerous line-up changes throughout the years, the band have never…

A guide to Edinburgh club nights

Club Together, The Egg, Karnival, Musika and more

Club Together. A mix of dubstep, electro and breaks taking place in Edinburgh’s biggest student union. Jakwob kicks off this year’s club calendar on 12 Sep, followed by The Cut Up Boys (26 Sep) and Kissy Sell Out (28 Nov). And it’s free entry. Bonus.

Patti Smith - Banga

Unique album of punk poetry populated by rocky arias, improvised psalms and lyrical reveries

You may have heard that Patti Smith dedicates a song to Amy Winehouse on her 11th studio album, Banga. This takes the form of a syrupy ballad, ‘This is the Girl’, and its intentions are honourable, but look beyond it: there are greater, more defiant…

The Leg - An Eagle to Saturn

Absurdist punk more confusing than worthwhile?

Terrifyingly obscure and possibly dangerous are pretty much the only ways to describe this offering from Edinburgh's The Leg. Definitely not one for the faint-hearted or easily offended as tracks cover some pretty dark ideas. Shouted lyrics sound eerily…

Interview - Barney Greenway of Napalm Death

The grindcore pioneers talk about new their album, metal and Joy Division

Napalm Death are musical pioneers, they invented grindcore, mixing death metal with hardcore punk and made music harder, faster and nastier than anyone that had gone before. Famed for their ferocious live shows, political edge and refusal to compromise…

Pop punk titans Bowling for Soup - interview

Jaret Reddick and Erik Chandler discuss their career ahead of their gig at the Oran Mor

Believe it or not, pop-punk veterans Bowling for Soup are about to celebrate eighteen years in the business of show. Frontman Jaret Reddick and bassist Erik Chandler are set to mark the occasion with an acoustic tour of the UK, during which they will…

Viv Albertine - Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, Saturday 5 Nov

Musically and emotionally raw 'secret' show from former Slits guitarist

“Penis!” Former Slits guitarist Viv Albertine may only be checking her sound levels, but her one word opening gambit sets out her store for the artistic splurge that’s to follow. Within seconds Albertine is relating how she thinks about sex all…

Alice Cooper - SECC: Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Mon 31 Oct

Could there be a more perfect date for Alice Cooper to play Glasgow? And the Halloween freakshow starts early with protopunks New York Dolls still pouting after all these years. A muted response from the crowd in this vast arena lessens the impact but…

Interview - Royal Republic

The funky Swedish punk rockers on their debut album and 'The President’s Daughter'

Touring in support of their debut album We Are the Royal, Sweden’s cheeky rock quartet Royal Republic are preparing to run riot across the UK. The List caught up with guitarist Hannes Irengård to find out more. How would you describe your music to…

New York's The Rapture set for UK tour

After a tumultuous period, the band are back on track with new album In the Grace of Your Love

‘It’s been a real up and down five years,’ says The Rapture’s drummer Vito Roccoforte on the line from his home in New York City. That’s something of an understatement. In the half-decade since their second full-length album Pieces of the People We…

Interview: Henry Rollins on his eating habits

Rollins set for Edinburgh Festival Fringe spoken word show

What time is breakfast? Even though I am not hungry when I get up, I try to eat to get me ready for the day. Within an hour of getting up. Tea or coffee? Both. Usually tea in the morning, coffee after that. Smoking or non-smoking? Non.

Profile: Eyad Zahra - Director of Muslim punk scene film The Taqwacores

Film adapts novel by Michael Muhammad Knight

Name Eyad Zahra Born 20 Safar 1403 AH (Islamic calendar) in Cleveland, Ohio. Background Zahra’s family is Syrian. He was the first of his family born in America, his older brother was born in Syria. Growing up, his mother taught him about…

Lydia Lunch - Pivotal figure of New York’s No-Wave scene

UK tour from Sonic Youth and Michael Gira collaborator

She’s one of the most influential figures to come out of New York’s No-Wave scene. Founder of the inspirational Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Lunch has collaborated with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, Michael Gira, Nick Cave, The Birthday Party and Omar…

The Nightingales - Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh, Mon 23 May 2011

Skewed meat n' two veg avant-garage from alt-punk stalwarts

The Nightingales are what happens to 1970s-sired latch-key kids if you leave them alone with a CD of Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, a DVD of The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club and the Bumper Book of Existentialism For Boys. After more…

Twin Atlantic - Free

Glasgow's indie-punk-rock upstarts continue their ascent with accomplished second album

(Red Bull) With Biffy Clyro now zapped up into mainstream consciousness in a sort of twisted alien abduction, there’s a vacuous hole now open for Scotland’s next alt-rock band to stake their claim in. Twin Atlantic however have been ploughing their…

John Cooper Clarke lines up Glasgow Arches date

Bard of Salford continues public rehabilitation after celebrity endorsements

When John Cooper Clarke declaimed an epigrammatic ‘why struggle?’ at the opening of his final 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show in his trademark deadpan northern twang, the statement was a typically double-edged mix of the philosophical and the…