RAZORCUT are a melodic Oi! band from Melbourne, OZ. They've just released an LP, and have a full European tour coming up this summer. Questions answered by Snaz(drums) and Bela(guitar).
1. When and where did RazorCut form, and who plays what?
RazorCut first started in 2011 in Melbourne Australia with just Snaz on drums and Doz on bass. Flea (guitar) and Owen (vocals) joined not long after.
2. You've had several line-up changes since releasing the Combative Attitude 7". How do you think the changes have affected the band's sound?
There have been a few changes to the line up yes, Al replaced Owen on vocals shortly after the Combative Attitude single and Brod stepped in as guitarist after Flea left also. The main changes to the sound of the band are more melodic vocals and a heavier guitar. Brod left at the end of last year and Bela stepped in to play guitar and help finish record RazorCut's new album Rise Again.
3. What sort of bands do you take influence from? Do you have a wide range of influences between you?
Between us our musical influences range from 80's - 90's British Oi! Punk to Aussie Rock n Roll.
4.What's the skinhead scene in Melbourne and Australia as a whole like? Do you think it's different to scenes in Europe or North America?
The scene in Australia is pretty much the same as the one back in England, on a smaller scale. There's plenty of good bands, including Marching Orders, Plan Of Attack, The Hard Targets, Stranglehold, The Corps, Rust, Lion Fight, Eager 13
5. Who are you're favourite current Aussie bands?
Pretty much what I just said!
6. Do you have any plans to do any gigs abroad in the future? Where would you like to play most?
We're playing Back on the Streets in Germany this year, as well as some gigs across Europe and finishing up in Leeds! Check our facebook RazorCut for confirmed dates soon.
7. What is your discography to date, and how can we get ahold of yer records?
Combative Attitude 7", Gone are Those Days 12", Battles (single), Under One Flag (single), new LP Rise Again out this year. Can get a hold of them through Rebellion Records and Longshot Records.
8. Any final comments?
Thanks for your interest and for the interview. Look forward to seeing you soon!
Crown Court are a young new Oi! band playing out of London. They've just released a demo tape and hopefully there will be more to come soon. Questions answered by bass player Nick.
1. When and how did Crown Court come together? N: Crown Court came together around November 2013, me and Charlie (Guitar) had been sitting on some songs we’d written that sounded somewhere in between Slaughter and the Dogs and L’infantrie Sauvage, and wanted to try bang out a demo. I’d known Tim from a while from punk gigs and met Trev through a chance encounter on the street, where it turned out we had mutual mates. We had our first practice around November and the other two lads had their input and improved the songs me and Charlie had been playing around with and that’s basically how the demo came together. 2. Do any of you play in other bands? Yeah, I sing in a hardcore band called Arms Race and play drums in another band with Charlie, called Violent Reaction. Tim plays in way too many fucking bands, all of which are great: DiE, Love Triangle, Smear and probably a load of others I’m forgetting. Trev sings in an oi! band called Stomping Ground, and they’ve got a single coming out on Randale records in the near future. 3. Both Oi! and hardcore/punk come thru in you're demo. What would you say is a bigger influence? The intention was definitely for this to be an oi! band but I guess if there’s a touch of hardcore that’s probably because we all have a background of playing in hardcore bands and love that sound. With Crown Court I’d say the biggest influence is proto oi! stuff like Slaughter and The Dogs, Menace etc which we try and blend with a bit of dark melody from the French.
4. What are you're plans as far as gigs and releases go? The demo should finally be released as a physical cassette in the next couple of weeks on Quality Control HQ. Gigs are kind of on hold at the moment, Trev is in the army and so doesn't have alot of free time on his hands, but hopefully we can get a few things booked soon.
Pressure 28 are one of the top British Oi! bands of the day, hailing from the north of England. Originally formed in the early 90's, Pressure 28 have reformed with the singer as the one original member, and have released plenty of new material and there's more to come.
1. When and where did the current line-up of Pressure 28 come together? Did any of you play in any previous groups?
The current line up came together in 2008 or 2009, Kev's only ever been in Pressure 28, I (Rich) played in an Oi! band called Scum for years, Ade has played in a fair few bands over the years, but mainly a Ska band called the Uplifters. Stu played in a punk band called the Tartan Scars.
2. What have you released so far, and what's in the works?
2009 Dodging the Bullets 4 track
2010 Spirit of '69 vinyl single released by Longshot
2011 Unified album
3. What've bin your most memorable gig's to date? What country(s) have you got the best response in?
That's a hard one, every gigs momorable. Some for better reasons than others, getting my head kicked in after playing bedford was pretty memorable! haha
We've been lucky enough to have played throughout the UK, been to America, Italy, Germany & Belgium.
I think we've gone down well pretty much everywhere we've played.
4. What band's influence Pressure 28, both musically and lyrically?
To be honest it's your usual suspects of Oi! and Punk, but we've all got a shared interest in a little bit of Mod revival stuff as well.
Personally the majority of the music I listen to is Oi!, but there's a bit of all sorts in there - mod, indie, hardcore, reggae etc.
5. What's the state of British Oi! nowadays, and what are the stand-out bands?
It's as good as it's been in my memory from over 14 years of being involved, there's more gigs on than I can afford to go to, decent crowds and good bands.
At the minute you've got bands like The London Diehards, Skinfull, Breakout, Bakers Dozen, TMF, Citizen Keyne, The Black Marias etc. and loads more.
6. What's in store for you lot gig wise?
We've got a few coming up, Blackpool Oi! gig in August on at the same time as the Rebellion festival, Monsters of Oi! in East London in September, Scotland in October - think that's about it up until the end of the year.
7. Any final comments?
Thanks for doing the interview, and sorry for the delay in getting it back to you! Look forward to seeing you over here.
Marching Orders are an Aussie-Oi! group, playing out of Melbourne. They've bin turning out great anthemic punk rock for a decade, and show no signs of breaking the cycle. Interview is with the singer, Al.
1. How long have Marching Orders been together, and how did you come about as a band?
Me and Gav(RIP) first formed the band after a drunken night out.We wrote the song ‘spirit of the anzac’ that night, which later appeared on the ‘Dead end street’ EP. There were no Oi! Bands in Melbourne at that time so we thought it was a good idea to start one! We have been together for 10 years now, the first line up recorded a 3 track demo and then broke up leaving just a vocalist!! (me), shortly after that I put an all new line up together and despite one or two changes since then we have stayed pretty solid.
2. Your song's range from street punk to oi! to melodic punk rock. Are there particular member's that bring these different influences to the group? What groups would you say influence you the most?
Between us we have played in quite a few other bands ranging from Hardcore to Psychobilly to Punk. So I guess a background like that will produce a few different sounds! Also there are 3 song writers in the band and we listen to lots of different music, so on each release you’ll find a real variety. We are influenced by US and UK oi bands like the Cockney Rejects, Anti Heroes, Blitz and The Business. Also earlier UK punk groups like Menace and The Professionals, I guess that’s where the melodic punk sound comes from. We are also influenced by Australian Pub Rock bands like AC/DC(early) and Rose Tattoo(early).You won’t hear that sound in every track but check out songs like ‘Australian Made’ and ‘No escape’ and you’ll see what I mean.
3. What topics do you touch on with your lyrics, is there an overall theme at all?
There isn’t really a theme, we sing about a variety of things from stories of struggle and hardship to nights down the pub and occasionally social issues like in Nation Of Ghosts which was a song about the death of manufacturing in Australia.
4. How is music scene in Melbourne, and Australia as a whole? What types of gigs go on? Also if bands do play abroad, where do they tend to go?
The scene in Melbourne is pretty small right now compared to the scene in Europe but there are a few new bands coming through that will liven things up a bit. In the 90’s and early 2000’s punk shows were quite big but then emo and metalcore came along and ruined that!!... thankfully most of that crap has disappeared now and numbers at punk and oi! shows are on the increase again! A lot of Aussie bands play Rebellion Festival in the UK and do short European tours also. We played Europe in 2011 and USA in 2008 and hope to tour again one day.
5. Where have you played so far outside of Australia? Is there a different feel to the crowd's? Where have you had your funnest gigs to date?
We’ve played the USA and Europe and had a great time in both places. When we played Oi! Fest in America I guess it was different to Europe because there was a massive fight involving a few hundred people and the riot police got called and then the gig got closed down! Luckily we had already played. Was great weekend in the end though. Otherwise I don’t think there is much difference. We always like a lively crowd that really gets into it, you can get that in most citys around the world once people get to know your songs! Best gigs we’ve played would be Berlin in 2011 and Endless Summer Festival Germany 2011. And our last show at The Arthouse in Melbourne before it closed for good.
6. Do any of you play in different bands aswell? If so, do they take more or less priority with Marching Orders?
We play in a few other bands but Marching Orders is number one priority always. Ben and Brod play in Stranglehold and Phil plays in The Hard Targets. I have played in a few other bands in the past but I’m just in Marching Orders right now.
7. Are there any other Australian bands you'd reccomend checking out?
For sure there are quite a few. Check out new oi! band Razorcut (7inch out in June 2012), Stranglehold(new release ‘never hold me back’ out soon) The Hard Targets(Find them on Facebook, no releases yet),Murder Rats(punk/psychobilly),The Shades(60’s inspired rock/pop), Plan of Attack(Brisbane Oi!, album coming soon,EP available on Randale records),Bloody Hammer(Melbourne Streetpunk-album coming soon), Rust, The Worst and Last Call.
8. Any final comments?
Our new single/7 inch ‘Songs of yesterday’ is out now on Longshot/Contra records and our new full length album will be ready later in 2012. Thanks for the interview. All the best AL, Marching Orders
The Manics are a new group out of Norrköping, Sweden playing stripped down, energetic mod influenced tunes with a frantic punk rock edge. Answering the questions is Pete, the group's main singer and rhythm guitarist.
1. When and where did The MANICS come to be?
Well, me and Gus (lead guitar) started the band approximately a year and a half ago here in Norrköping..
In the very beginning we had me on drums, but it turned out (again…) I’ve got one too big a mouth to stay in the background so I switched over to lead vocals and rhythm guitar instead.
Someone told me there was a good drummer around, recently moved in to town and with no band, looking for engagement - a few texts and a couple of phone calls later, in came Nick to handle the pounding duties.
We got hold of reggae(!) axe man Majken and started to rehearse as a four piece. It wasn’t too long before it became evident that Majken didn’t enjoy the blistering rock ‘n’ roll as much as we other three did and soon he packed his bag and went out the door never to come back…
Now, left without a bass, we kept on writing songs and kicking around ideas until Gus one day brought along the bloke who is now delivering the thunder through his beloved Terror amp. – Fredster.
The line-up now, and for the last year or so, is:
Peter Aspegren – Lead vocals / rhythm guitar
Gustav Andersson – Lead guitar / backing vocals
Fredrik Malmbecker – Bass / backing vocals
Niklas Ohlson - Drums
2. What other bands have you lot previously played in?
There has been quite a few bands over the years, some good and some lousy, but I guess worth mentioning would be The Invaders and The Pariahs (both including Gus).
Me and my ever faithful “partner in crime”, Dennis (lately of The Clichés fame), also spent well over ten years together in Oi!/punk band The Clockwork Crew – R.I.P.
I’m not sure what else the other MANIC lads have been up to in the past when it comes to bands, probably a few, but there are no names that spring to mind at the moment.
3. What sort of groups do you tend to gig with? In what setting do you go over best?
I haven’t thought of it that way really, but I guess we go over best with bands that share the same idea we do about playing live being something that should be done with honesty, a great deal of energy and your heart worn on you sleeve. I mean, sure, bands really skilled technically are great – but if they just stand there like robots, playing every note exactly like it “should be” without any guts and heart put into it, what’s the point of even bother to play live?! The way I see it going to a gig is more than just listening, it’s about seeing it, feeling it just as much as listening to it.
I like to think that the The MANICS go over well in most any setting!
4. Do you have any groups playing in a similar mod style in Sweden? What bands would you say are the biggest influence on your song writing?
I wouldn’t say there are that many really, certainly not like The MANICS anyway...
There’s a band around calling themselves The Crashbars doing a more soul-pop oriented thing that I quite like, but apart from them I can’t really think of any…
I’d like to think that with The MANICS we’re doing our own thing, creating our own musical flavours based on the mix of the very different individuals in the band, but of course there are influences.
Mod bands like The Who and The Jam are obvious heroes for me and I really like the way they did it, but also punk bands like Stiff Little Fingers and Sham 69 rank high as far as I’m concerned.
Just take the magnificence of the first Jam album, “In the City”, for example – the blend of suits, aggression, Rickenbackers, brilliant pop songs and the “head on-no compromise-two fingers in the air-now listen to this” attitude of -77 punk and that’s all the influence I need to start a band any day!
I’m also a big fan of the entire early/mid 60’s sound and look (I started out as, and still am, a Beatle fan at the age of twelve so…) and I guess it would be just silly to deny the inspiration that whole era brings to me.
5. Where have you gigged so far, what are your plans as far as tours and releases go?
So far we’ve mainly been gigging here around our hometown of Norrköping but we’ve also had a few dates in neighbouring towns like Linköping.
Sadly it’s hard to find gigs in this country, in too many cases it seems you have to be a “corporate band”, be on mainstream radio or such, for the promoters to even show the slightest interest in you. That’s really bad ‘cause I’m pretty sure there are lots of bands like us around in dingy basements and rehearsal rooms, upright rock ‘n’ roll bands built for sweaty live action dying just to get out there and give it a go!
The MANICS is a band who considers playing live one of the main reasons for its very existence; we’d like to do as many gigs at as many places as possible. Gigs and tours, home or abroad – bring ‘em on!
When it comes to studio activities we’ve got a couple of dates booked for us this March/April, we will record a bunch of songs that hopefully will be out soon. I’m not exactly sure in what way the songs will be released when I write this, but there’s talk of an album as well as talk of a split album with The Sydney Ducks. I guess we’ll have to just focus on the recording at this stage and then the rest will follow. Stay tuned…
6. What do you sing about in your songs? Do you pick up where the mod revival groups of the late 70's and 80's left off?
I write about lots of different things I guess, it’s often at a quite personal level but I also like the idea of being able to write stuff that is personal to me but still can be relevant to other people as well, adapted to their own situation etc.
Songs like “Just Be There”, “Me and You” and “24/Seven” are about friendship and relations, optimistic songs with a “let’s do something good with this, mate” sort of idea, “Johnny”, “There’s Gotta Be a Way”, “How Long” and “Happy House” on the other hand is more me being pissed off with people, bands, attitudes and stuff like that. I also write songs in a more romantic kind of vein (“Oh, Jules…” for example) or on the subject of man/woman relationship, be it good or be it bad, and there you have songs like “I Don’t Need You” and “The Other Side”. All written in a personal tone but hopefully, as I said before, people can relate to them and make them “their own”. Yeah, I like to think of it that way…
I’m not sure what you mean by “pick up where the mod revival groups of the late 70's and 80's left off”, but we don’t sing about button down shirts or scooters as much as, say Squire, did.
7. What are your favourite and least favourite groups going today?
Ooooh, that’s a hard one!
I wouldn’t consider myself being the kind of guy who really listens to “contemporary” stuff that much at all, I don’t even own a radio for instance, because I like to decide for myself what to listen to and when to do it.
I’m pretty fed up with all those “let’s form a band and play like Coldplay” kind of acts that seem to be everywhere these days, or the “emo/let’s tell it to the world how bad I feel every day, and lets do it in a monotonous and minor key way”, I just can’t stand bands like that, bands like Kent and other rubbish of that kind should be destroyed!
Lately I’ve found myself plugging the albums of (Swedish reggae/ragamuffin act) Kapten Röd and he’s brilliant – and going today!
Still, so much great music has been done in the past that I haven’t heard yet, so for me I feel no need to be “updated”. If a band’s good I’ll listen and then it doesn’t matter in what year it was recorded, simple as that really.
8. Any closing comments, thing's you want to get out there?
Thank you, Mike, for doing this interview and thank you, whoever you might be, for reading it!
Please check us out at Youtube (links below) and be sure to join The MANICS on Facebook and Reverbnation for further details and updates – FANX!
On File have been playing full on Oi! since 1997, out of Dundee, Scotland. They still gig frequently and continue to put out new material, here's an interview with guitarist Blair.
1. When and where did On File form?
On File started in 1997, by Hedgy and the first 7" was released in 1998.
2. What's your discography to date? Does your writing style tend to differ from release to release?
Discography consists of 9 releases:
Monday thru Friday 7" - 1998
Ejected from the Premises album - 1998
Another day in Paradise E.P. - 2000
The Real McOi! album - 2001
Birds Don't like the Skinheads E.P. - 2002
(in 2006 both albums were re-released with the singles as bonus tracks)
Breaking Rules album - 2010
Hopefully there will be something new out this year too, we'll have to wait and see how that comes on.
So far the band has put out releases over 10 years but the writing process has stayed the same, and I think the releases speak for themselves. Over time it's easy to hear where each different member of the band has made their mark on the sound, but the main difference is the quality of recordings.
3.What bands influence you musically? Has it changed at all over the years?
We've all got our guilty pleasures but really, we're all big supporters of music and especially 70's and 80's punk and Oi! All the classics and anything new that's coming out of the scene, we'll give it a listen. It's good to hear of decent bands starting up now that are still playing proper punk and Oi!
4. How is the Oi! scene in Scotland? Is there a big difference between the Scottish and English scene?
The Scottish Oi! scene is pretty limited, there's only really a handful of bands playing Oi! and there's just as few decent Oi! gigs up this way. It doesn't help the scene either that some of the bands who get the big support slots aren't even a part of the scene and either buy their way on to gigs or kiss ass for it. Oi! gigs up this way have become more frequent though, so it might be time for Scottish Oi! to make a comeback.
As far as we've seen the English scene is abit bigger, but that's to be expected. The number of cities and venues are higher so there's more opportunity to get bands going and gigs set up. We're playing The Main Event (www.maineventuk.co.uk) is July down in Peterborough so that'll be a good idea of how they're getting on down there!
5. Are there any new bands that your particularly fond of? What are some of the regular groups that you gig with?
There aren't any bands we play with too regulary, it's good if we can get mixed support at gigs and check out new bands or catch up with mates we've not seen for a while. Rotten Apples from Dundee are mates of ours and they've only recently managed to get an album together, we played down in England recently with Citizen Keyne and Black Marias, both of them were excellent and definatley worth checking out!
6. What region do you play most regularly? Is there much of a difference in terms of crowd participation in Europe compared to the UK?
We're pretty much happy to play anywhere and try to get to new places when we can. It's definately different in Europe compared to the UK. Last year we did a run of three English dates with Citizen Keyne and Black Marias, then a pair of Scottish dates with Old Firm Casuals, Crashed Out and Control. Before that we had some gigs in Czech Republic, Belgium, Sweden, and Italy. Out in Europe the crowd seem to be more willing to travel for gigs and make the most of bands who have ventured out to play. At home it sometimes feels like either the crowd just isn't as big as it used to be or they aren't as interested in the scene and gigs as they used to be.
7. What are your best recieved songs at gigs? Are you throwing in any covers these days?
The last lot of gigs have been pretty cool to see the crowd getting into the songs off the new record and sing along, but the older songs are definately the best known and go down the best....Another Day In Paradise, Birds Don't Like the Skinheads, Used To Be a Bootboy, Down The Bingo, etc. It's tough though because we want to make sure we're well rehearsed for every gig, so that everyone there gets to see us at our best. There's always though, for songs we haven't played in ages so we'll try out best for the next one to get as many of those songs ready to play as possible.
Recently we haven't played any covers, the last ones were So What by Anti Nowhere League and Gang Warfair by The Strike. We might add something new in for gigs later this year.
8. Any final comments?
Just a thanks to anyone who is making it out to gigs in the scene, putting on gigs or supporting bands howeveer they can. Check out the Main Event all dayer (www.maineventuk.co.uk) later this year and our new shirts available at Machete (www.machetemfg.com/on-file-boots-tshirt.aspx). Cheers!
The Cliches are a three piece street rock outfit hailing from Norrköping, Sweden. Going strong since 2003, these lads continue to put out great records and keep on gigging. Answering the question's is D. Emparn, the telecaster weilding front man of the group.
1. When, where and why did the Cliches come together? When: Back in 2003 (we're quite sure of that at least)
Where: Norrköping, Sweden!
Why: a very good question! And very hard to answer.. We just wanted to have a laugh and make some good riffs, an excuse for drinking - as so many other activities maybe?
2. What's the least skinhead thing about each member of the band? Haha, I don't know really. Too many to mention I reckon. For instance there are probably many shameful albums in our collections but no one will admit anything:)
3. Favorite place's to gig, and why?
I prefer smaller clubs, close to audience and a hell of loud volume on stage. We've have done some bigger venues too and that kind of gigs have their good sides too of course but smaller clubs with cheap beer and a good crowd is the best, packed to the limit!
4. Who do you think are the best and worst groups playing Oi! music these days? (it's ok if you don't want to anwser this one, not wanting to slag anyone off is understandable!)
There´s so much I dont understand or get at all, metal, overkilling growling and so on and so on, Im a grumpy bastard you know, haha! ;) But on the other hand there are so many good bands! I prefer when bands dont try to sound so modern and polished, it should be rough, at least in some way.
5. Is there alot of crossing over with Oi! and more scrappy punk rock gig's in Sweden, does everyone play on the same bill? No, I think its a bit more divided nowadays, even though the bands under the same banner sound different from each other of course. Maybe its the other way round in smaller towns, hard to find places for gigs and such.
6. Are you keen on football? What are your favorite clubs?
Im an veteran in our towns team IFK Norrköping! Only kidding, played when I was a kid but I was so bad at it I got into other stuff fortunetaly, drinking and playing punk, Im much better with that stuff. I dont go to any matches at all now, I went last season but I was too upset over not getting my pint due too small fuckin pubs at the ground! So until they get bigger pubs and more staff I wont go near the place!
7. What do you tend to write songs about, do you ever dabble in politics? What do you think about politics in music in general?
I think thats a thing to leave outside the studio. But what is political exactly? I bet some people can interpret politics in most stuff, some way or another, whatever direction, but fuck them, they're probably just after some weird agenda (maybe suffering from a small dick or been bullied or something?)
On the other hand there is always some criticism against society and stuff like that. Maybe that could be interpreted as politics, in that case I would say street politics?
8. Favorite programs to watch? Top model?
9. Top 3 non-oi! groups of all time?
AC/DC x 3?
10. Worst stereotypes of being a skinhead?
Are stereotypes bad?!! :)
11. What's your discography to date, what's in the works? (tours, releases etc)
We're working on a new album right now! Keep an eye open for it lads! So far:
"No Justice, Just Us" CD -2005 Bandworm Records
"Monkey See, Monkey Do" CD/LP -2009 Randale Records
"Bottom Of The Barrel" 7" -2009 PST Records
"Split/The Janitors" 7" -2010 Randale Records
"Born To Booze (Live To Sin)" 10" -2011 Longshot Music
"Split/The Templars" 7" -2011 Randale Records
And a handful of compilations, for example "Chaos In Sweden" (check it out if you wanna discover some swedish bands!)
12. Any closing comments?
Keep an eye open for the new album in the near future! Thanks for the interview, over and out! /D. Cliché
