Some would suggest that punk music was over by the beginning of 1978, this revolutionary development in music culture containing only three chords in a two and a half minute package of guitar angst and anti-establishment verbal’s. It could surely only have a limited shelf life because of the formulaic constraints punk applied to itself. The use of any instrument other than drums, guitar and bass were forbidden and anything that resembled progression would have been seen as a U-turn to treachery and an admittance of conformity to the music of the ruling middle classes. Yet punk does remain in ethos, style and sound. It is an evolution of the purists version in 76-77 but the same rules do not apply. This is post-punk.
Post punk came in new waves in the UK and U.S.A throughout the late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s each washing up an added defining feature onto the punk landscape. These were shared by and built on by the next flag barers. Garage punk, hardcore-punk and Anarcho-punk are immediately identifiable from each other but are unmistakably punk; The Fall for instance, could not be mistaken for Black Flag and Napalm Death are a stark contrast to Conflict, but never has this form of music been so diverse and eclectic as it is today.
In Canada and the northern states of America a wealth of bands have adapted what punk is capable of, and in doing so have inspired its advancement with innovative design. The catch is that the majority of people won’t recognise the names of the bands who are creating an era defining sound in a truly golden age of punk. None are the same but all are alike, and that is in keeping with the post-punk tradition.
Parquet Courts from Brooklyn, New York City are a prime example of what post punk has become, or invariably, what they have made to be post punk. In 2012 their album Light Up Gold bared all of the energy and uncleanliness as The Clash’s Give Em’ Enough Rope did but the undeniable optimism in rhythm momentum and lyrical content seem a world apart. Not to say it’s better or more informed, it is not as consistently political. Just listen to Stoned And Starving or Dust for clarification of that point. However the Ted Heath/Maggie Thatcher revolutionists would spit out there fried spam sarnies in shock to the enlightened new age of punk music, but perhaps they wouldn’t make the connection between the two periods due to lack of exposure to it and a subconscious lack of empathy with a more privileged generation. The truth is there are socio-economic issues today and there will forever be, therefore a constant well of injustice and revolt can be tapped into for generation after generation of punks.
The Clash themselves were castigated for the use of horns and a general eclectic approach to multi-genres on the great London Calling in 1979 (Although released in 1980). What would they have thought of the recorder solo Parquet Courts included in You’ve Got Me Wonderin Now from the 2013 EP Tally All Of The Things That You Broke? Although that was under the pseudonym Parkay Quarts, a thoroughly punk concept in itself.
The reality is that what is happening will go largely unnoticed by music history. The quality of the output is not reflected in sales but buying habits have changed and media coverage a mere fraction of that their ancestors enjoyed in the late 70’s. Fortunately the likes of Big Ups from New York don’t allow themselves to be phased by that. Verging on new wave hardcore, Big Ups are a tongue in cheek savagery made for the sweaty underground. This particular carnation of punk is a simmering undercurrent of disassociation with capitalist mediocrity mirrored in tight bass and reflecting drums erupting like a geyser every so often. Big Ups are an image of the 80’s anarcho-punk scene reminiscent of Conflict or Fugazi but sparkling with a chrome finish. Then there is Preoccupations (formerly Viet Cong), they are a punk for all seasons encompassing Pretty Vacant chords with In Utero blasts of dirge. They travel the timeline of punk stopping at new wave synths and bleak goth in a jigsaw puzzle of noise.
It seems that the hotter the music the colder the city it derives from, Canada is a hotbed of boiling punk in many guises right now. In Montreal you have two bands brandishing very different punk projects. Ought are a Talking Heads meets Pulp progression of high brow, high velocity high jinks, lead singer Tim Darcy is a slender and charismatically apologetic conductor of progressive and infectious punk compositions like More Than Any Other Day and the incredible single from their second album Beautiful Blue Sky. Solids on the other hand, much like Metz from Toronto, are a reincarnation of the Seattle sound of the early 90’s. A distorted wall of energy and adrenalin with a galloping thrust.
There seems to be a punk for all nowadays. Yuck are the epic anthemic punksters, The Cloud Nothings are multi dimensional band of tuneful pain, and the remarkable Thee Oh Sees are as experimental as any prog rock band. What is for sure is punks don’t feel obliged to conform to type, in music and in fashion. Punks don’t have to wear black ripped leather as was their want and they don’t sport safety pins through their septums; on the contrary, arguably the most complete post punk band of all are the least alluring, but then that is punk by evolutionary design. Protomartyr from Detroit are the anti-heroes, the un-hipsters – but they ooze a bleak topical power that blows anything in the billboards to smithereens.
Talking about Protomartyr’s lead man Joe Casey at 2014 SXSW Festival, The Los Angeles Times wrote – “In an industry that thrives on image, heat and pretty singers who wouldn’t tuck a button-down shirt into belted pants unless with irony, Protomartyr was unafraid to tackle ugly topics that most fame-seeking acts avoid.”
Ugly topics is what Protomartyr do best, with a cavalier disregard and a full blooded body punch of shuddering sound. 2014’s Under Colour Of Official Right was an unsanitized masterpiece tackling government corruption and social inequality in lyrics and the rules of engagement in guitar music. Last year Agent Intellect confirmed them as a true force in rock, with its sometimes squalid and shadowy atmosphere a surprising beauty unveils itself at key intervals – I Forgive You boasts a simplistic key change transforming the feel of a fast tempo ‘Cribs’ like romp into something far more profound and lovely. Pontiac 87, Dope Cloud, Why Does It Shake? and Clandestine Time all have moments of delicious magic mixed with a tinge of grief and discouraging anguish – accessibly inaccessible Protomartyr are a vice of dark proportions that you can’t do without.
This age of anti-poster punks is not confined to North America, in Britain post-punk bands arguably cover a broader range of music diversity in their punk music. Drenge, Wytches and Eagulls are loud and aggressive but are versatile enough to visit areas of post rock , grunge and metal. British punks are undoubtedly influenced by American bands but are as equally open to the artists of their own land but from another time.
Cardiff band Chain Of Flowers are one of those groups taking the best parts of the music they have studied and loved and redesigning the blue print to suit themselves. Elements of The Jesus And Mary Chain, Iceage and Joy Division intermingle in their sound and as a result Chain Of Flowers music is being enjoyed on both sides of the Atlantic. They have recently returned from a successful U.S tour via Europe and Scandinavia. Lead singer Joshua Smith tells me that they were as gratefully received by the public as they were to be there – “We were out there for a month, touring both the West & East coast of the USA before finishing up in Canada, playing Montreal and Toronto respectively. It was an overwhelming pleasure”.
Chain Of Flowers appeared on the famous Seattle radio station KEXP, squeezing in a live session performance in between dates on their tour – “That was a really cool thing to be asked to do” Smith tells me, “Even at 9am in the morning on next to no sleep. They’re great people who have been very supportive of us”.
Noticeably, many of todays post-punk bands tour together, much like they did first time around. Metz and Protomartyr toured the UK last year and the latter supported Eagulls a few months ago. Discussing the sheer number of high quality bands coming out of North America at present, Smith suggests a more logical explanation than a mutually beneficial support network for this – “I think the reason for so many good post-punk bands coming from the same place is more a matter of size and geography. The U.K. at the moment is most definitely blooming on its own terms. We’ve just got back from Static Shock Weekend in London and the weekend was testament to it all”.
It is true that the U.K is blossoming in this field, bands like Sievehead, Sarcasm, Misc, Fex Urbix and another Cardiff band – Disjoy are all pushing the boundaries of post-punk in this country reinforcing Smith’s enthusiasm for his own bands direction – “I enjoy more so the blurring of lines and crumbling boundries of genre on lineups that we’re lucky enough to be a part of”.
Joshua Smith is surely not alone in the industry with his awareness of the impact this music is making amongst students of good guitar music -“Post-punk will never go away but it seems to be sliding back into the light for a minute both over here and overseas. It’s a very broad, all-encompassing tag that is also used to describe a vast amount of bands that are very removed from what we do. A lot of the time, it means not a great deal, but that’s also fine”.
For the time being it is important to celebrate the variety we are being treated to within post-punk today.
Words and photographs by Jimmy Gallagher
Quiffed Owl 