GIMP FIST - Melodic Street Punk from Co. Durham, England

GIMP FIST are a long running street punk band based in Darlington, England. I had a chat with Jonny(guitar/vox) who answered the questions.

1. How and when did Gimp Fist form? What is the age and occupation of the members?

Hi mike. GimpFist formed in 2005 when the Ska/punk band we were in called it a day. I joined as the guitarist n chris was already in playing bass. My brother Michael joined a couple of years down the line. Two members of the band were goin out n would always turn up to practises late so us 3 would jam out some tunes id bin working on. As much as I love Ska I was always a punk at heart so when they jacked it in we just carried on as a three piece. I (jonny) am 38 yrs old n drive a non emergency ambulance for a living. Mike is 40 and is a ground worker on the building sites n Chris is ermmmm 50 I think n currently employed at GimpFist HQ. 

2. How your style changed at all thru the years? If so, in what way? What bands influenced you in the beginning, and what bands do nowadays?

In the early days GimpFist were a bit more hardcore. I think a lot of that was due to a lack of confidence in my song writing. As I gained a little bit confidence the songs slowed a bit and you could make out the lyrics lol. Still love doin the odd fast song however to mix it up a bit. The biggest influence for be has to be the clash. Absolutely love them. I think strummer could sing anything n I’d love it. I also got into reggae from listening to the clash too. After most practises chris would lend me some of his albums or 7”singles. I remember one of these bein razors in the night by blitz n I was totally blown away so blitz was a big influence on me. Others influences were rancid, cockney rejects, the business, da skywalkers, cock sparrer, jimmy cliff, minor threat, buddy Holly, quite a broad spectrum really. Rancid still continue to influence. They’ve never done a bad album n always stay true to they’re roots. As for new bands...noi!se have been a stand out band. There’s something a bit different about them that sets them apart from the rest. Great riffs N great songs. Also Old firm casuals, the interrupters, arch rivals, to name a few. 

3. You play in the Northeast alot to very receptive crowds. Is there anywhere else that you've played where it's in the same league?

Yeh. From early on the north west have always gave great support. We did a lot of early gigs in Penrith n Carlisle n have made some of the best of mates from this region. The club Victoria in Carlisle was always a favourite of mine. We got treat like family from the start. Just last year we got to play Carlisle again. First time in four years n it was amazing. Dave bell puts gigs on up there n is doin a great job of keeping the scene alive. Similarly in Uttoxeter there is always a great crowd n a fantastic atmosphere. Made some brilliant mates down there too from gigging over the years. 

4. What have been yer favourite bands to play with? Favourite place to play outside the UK?

The business were always one of my favourite bands to support over the years. Supporting a band you’ve listened to and looked up to for years is a great feeling. Micky Fitz n the business lads have helped us out a lot over the years n we’ve become great mates since. Supporting rancid was a highlight for me n just recently supporting the interrupters on a couple of dates. They were amazing gigs. Jumping from start to finish. Just last year we got the chance to support cock sparrer in Edinburgh. Probably the highlight of my year n possibly my gigging career. Was a great night and one I will never forget. Bein signed to sunny bastards we have done quite a few shows across Germany and we have always had a great reception. Loved the gigs in hamburg with Sam harder. You get well looked after. Also just recently we played oi! This is tegelen in Holland which was amazing. 

5. What's in store for the future with the band? Any upcoming releases or tours? How can folks get merch?

I always try to keep on writing new material. Sometimes successfully sometimes not so ha. But to see a new song coming together, for me Is a huge buzz. Keeps things fresh n from going stale. We’ve bin working on a few lately so hopefully they’ll be more albums in the future. We’ve got some good gigs booked this year. We’ve got the London rebellion one day festival in February and also the one in Amsterdam in June. A trip to Marseille in March and Hamburg in September n uk dates in between so quite a bit to keep us busy. If people are interested in merchandise they can contact chris directly thru GimpFist Facebook page or either myself or mike n we will try our best to sort it out. Also via sunny bastards website. Or u can come see us at gigs. We’ve always got plenty of merch with us. 

6. Any final comments?

I would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years either promoters putting us on or people coming to watch us. When we started out in 2005 i never dreamt anything like this. Still blows me away to see people turning up n singing along to the songs so thank you from the bottom of our hearts. N cheers for the interview mike! Take care.

You can reach Gimp Fist at: https://www.facebook.com/gimpfist/

SABOTAGE - Melodic Oi! from Stockholm

SABOTAGE are a great melodic Oi! band from Stockholm, Sweden. Their singer Robban was kind enough to answer a few questions below:

1. When and how did Sabotage form? Who plays what, have there been any line up changes? What is a little known fact about each member?

Sabotage started out in 2013 as a studio project. We were rehearsing for a reunion show with mine and Erik’s old band Contemptuous (2003-2006) when Erik asked me if I wanted to write some lyrics and record some old songs that he and Matte had from years back (from a project called Profane Division). At the time I was disillusioned with my current band Antipati since me and the other members were rapidly moving in different directions when it came to musical references and subcultural preferences, so I was really happy about the offer. I knew since earlier Erik’s great at writing riffs and songs, and I actually had a couple of lyrics lying about since they were refused by Antipati for not being PC enough, that I wanted to use. The first one appeared on our first 7” ”Betraktelser Från Staketet” 7”EP (”Färdiga Doktriner”, originally written for the final song we ever worked on with Antipati) and ”Blå Linjen Blues” that was released on ”Faderskap I Gråzonen”12”.

2. You manage to get a very melodic sound but without being poppy like a lot of newer oi! bands. What would you say are the main bands that influence you? Are there varied influences on different members?

I think it’s because it’s minor based, so it’s kind of sad melodies and harmonies, but I’m not the one writing the music. Matte’s and Erik’s common influence is The Templars. Erik usually mentiones them together with 80’s RAC and pop music such as The Smiths and The Cure. I would like to add some french 80’s punk/oi! to that. Matte is the black sheep… he’s into heavy rock and metal and has favourites like Guns’n’Roses, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath (I could mention he was the one suggesting we took the Name Sabotage) and Creases Like Knives actually mentioned references like Thin Lizzy and Maiden when they reviewed our latest release, so I guess you can hear Matte in there aswell. We have very different influences, but as Erik writes most of the music, his are most obvious.

3. What is the punk and oi! scene like in Stockholm, and Sweden as a whole? Could you recommend 5 good contemporary Swedish bands to check out?

Well, band wise it’s been good in Sweden since the late 90’s. It’s generally high quality music wise (not so much lyric wise), and lately there’s been more gigs than ever. In fact perhaps more gigs than a small scene like Sweden could tend for. And why am I even talking about it like one scene? Despite most people know or at least know of each other, the swedish scene is actually a number of small scenes that sometimes integrate for better and worse. The ”movement” here has been free from politics for most of the time, as long as everyone leave their views at home for gigs etc and silently confess to a swedish social liberal consencus – which most people do most of the time - so I guess that’s good but a bit annoying. Good for gigs and promotors, so basically good. We have our divisions of course, but nothing very serious. No extreme politics generally, and no such stupid thing as RASH exist here. The main problem is internet, and the self proclaimed punk ghestapo who decides what attributes are ok, which t-shirts could be worn, what bands could be listened to etc, but it’s the same everywhere I guess. And the good thing about this internet based clueless antifa is that it is only internet based, so I guess it doesn’t really exist either?

For bands then, I’ll try to remember all the good ones.

AGENT BULLDOGG – Swedish classic. I play in that one too.

HETS – That’s me aswell, my brother and a couple of friends from Royal Stakeout, Lost Warning (RIP) and Trench.

TRENCH – Swedish/Danish band,members from Royal Stakeout, Lost Warning, (Hets) and Trouble? Great stuff. The talk of the town anywhere 2018.

KONSPIRATION – My brother (used (?) to be in Avgå! … This is his new project with a young south Stockholm skinhead called Maciek. More than promising, perfect Magnus Uggla-Oi!

ÖSTRA AROS – Uppsala’s finest. Incredible aggressive skinhead rock.

CLOSE AIR SUPPORT – Old school people from Wermland in the inner west of Sweden, playing 80’s sounding music somewhere inbetween Anti Social and One Way System.

THE FRANKS – Henke is still going strong. The band now has a norweigan line-up.

POSSO KONGRO – Classic Swedish melodic Oi! sound in the vein of early Gatans Lag and Frenzy Four.

ON THE JOB – Solid stand up guys!

VINDVAK – Johan from Sabotage and Pontus from Nya Given playing some wonderful viking sounding oi!

That was eight, not five. But still. Those are the bands worth checking out. 

4. You've released a handful of vinyl releases aswell as done a fair amount of gigs outside of Sweden. What is your favourite release of yours so far, and what has been the most memorable gig, both in and out of Stockholm?

My favourite releases are the first one ”Betraktelser Från Staketet” 7”EP and our latest, ”Den Nya Värdegrunden” 10”EP.

Our most memorable gig in Stockholm would be the last one. The internet based left wing gender bender snowflake hardcore scene tried to stop the gig by giving the venue bad reviews for putting on the gig and calling us racist and nazi and other absurdities and God knows what… So we took our name from the flyer, said we wouldn’t play to give the venue owner a break, then played anyway. It was sold out and people were very happy to see us play even though we surely didn’t do our best gig ever. Other bands on that night were Close Air Support, Agent Bulldogg, Östra Aros and Warrior Kids. Top night.

Abroad, we’ve only played in Finland and Badalona (Catalunya) and both were great, but Finland is our brother nation, so if I have to chose it will be Finland. Always nice to go there.

5. Who have been your favourite bands that you've played with so far? Can you give us a top 5 of current bands from round the globe that you've been listening to?

Favourite bands that we played with so far would probably be Warrior Kids. But I like most of the bands we’ve played with. Other good ones include The Members, The Snipes and The Pistones.

Currently I mostly listen to (I won’t restrict myself to five bands):

Anti-Nowhere League – The Cage

Forced Reality – S/T

Madness – Can’t Touch Us Now

New Glory – Backlash

No Heart / The Opposition - Split

Rival – We Got The Right

The Rogues – Zero Street

Rose Tattoo – the first four albums

Squadron – Take The Sword

Stepmothers – You Were Never My Age

The Templars – Deus Vult

Ultima Thule – Rötter

6. What's the future got in store for Sabotage? Any releases, tours gigs etc coming up? How can folks get the records?

The future looks bright… First off we’ve been pulled from the Streetpunk Winter Riot Fest in Bratislava because some internet warrior made sure Rozpor saw a picture of me wearing a naughty t-shirt (Kill Baby, Kill!)… Off course, with their logic, this means I am probably Adolf Hitler so there for they cancelled their participation and made people question the organisers, threatening with financial boycott and probably some violence too, so they decided to cancel us too. We’re getting used to this and honestly I don’t want to play with activist bands like Rozpor anyway. This means we have more time to focus on our next proper gig abroad,with Mercancias in Catalunya in the early spring, and to finish our new songs for the upcoming split 12” with the great Canadian band No Heart. Apart from that we have a few more gigs in Sweden and abroad to be properly confirmed.


7. Closing comments?

Thanks a lot for the interview, great honour!

Take care, and a happy 2018 to the loyal supporters of oi!

Robban

To get in touch with the band, you can reach them at: sabotagesthlm@hotmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/SabotageSthlm/