Punk is Punk
Local band walks the walk but won’t talk the talk
Don Beat

“I think Knockarounds are a great street rock ’n’ roll band,” vocalist Martin Toxicated (ex-Gluetards, and The Apathetics from Montreal) says about the band he joined in January. The Knockarounds have been together for about a year.

“This is serious for me,” Toxicated says. “I’m putting a lot more into it than I have in other bands, especially with the songwriting. The best thing to do is write about what you know about — hanging out with friends, having drinks, bar brawling.”

Musical tastes change all the time, but after interviewing these self-professed non-punk punkers, I was S-T-U-M-P-E-D in the name of P-U-N-K.

Whatdafug?

Not one member of the Knockarounds will admit that the Knockys are a punk band, so if punk isn’t really dead, now it kinda sorta hasta be, cuz who the hell else iz punk then?

Is street punk the new rock ’n’ roll? Here’s a classic case of punks not wanting to be punks because of the way punk has (d)evolved. I don’t give a foisted flying fist what they call themselves — they’re goddamn punks, damnit!

Here’s some o’ their street punk rockin’ sing-along song titles: Canada’s Rebels, Busted Knuckles & Bloodstained Boots, Line up the Drinks, Cop Sluggin’ Drunk, and Today Tomorrow Forever. They’re excellent punk-styled songs, and the band should be proud to have written them.

Chris Disregard is putting out the Knockarounds debut album on his Steelcapped Records label. Rest assured it ain’t dead, this knocked-around punk stuff. It’s just kinda on something like a hiatus — in limbo, like the best punk bands.

“Our album should be out in late summer. We’re going to record it in May at High North,” affirms bassist James Hoard (ex-One Nite Only & Sick Sick Sick).

“We’re not trying to be a punk band,” he adds.

Whattayamean? Stand up and be counted! (M)ass market media and (Ahe)MTV and Mu(l)ch Music(k) and silly new wavers/emo-screamo ravers have cra-munched on the DIY-or-die punk bit to the point where it’s where it was when it first started: Punk is everything again!

“I’m not trying to say that we’ve got our own sound, but we’re not trying to be punk,” continues Hoard. “It definitely has a three-chord rock ’n’ roll feel to it. We have a lot of sing-along choruses. We all sing when we play.”

Hoard says he, M-Tox, drummer Rob Dion and guitarist Graham Riddle all dig the smooth sing-along sounds of street punk, to say the least.

“We have a heavy street rock ’n’ roll influence. Like Discipline, Cock Sparrer, and some old Oi stuff like The Oppressed.”

Then Riddle hits the nail on the punk head.

“I’m trying to dumb down rock riffs so I can make our songs catchy,” Riddle roars. “I grew up listening to George Thorogood, so I’m always catching myself ripping him off on a daily basis when I play. That’s OK. This is mullet-head central.”

Now U S-beaterz know why they’re really punks. See ’em — punk or not punk — off at the WECC on April 21, at the second annual benefit gig for Kids Help Phone, with a punktastic updated lineup featuring bands such as the Fabulous Kil(punk)donans, High(punk) Five Drive, Sub(punk)City Dwellers and Torn Into(punk).