Cephas

Cephas, wow, what can I say! A relatively unknown band hailing from the South of England although relatively huge in the UK Christian Punk scene. The four-piece started off with Green Day-esque 3 chord ‘basic’ punk with hard-hitting lyrics. Over the years they went more alt-punk sounding more akin to bands like The White Stripes albeit with a bit more aggression! They never pulled a punch with regards to their faith and would regularly cause a bit of a stir while playing live. Their highlight in the secular scene was probably being invited as the main support band for Reuben at, if I remember correctly, The Garage in London (resulting in some rather varied comments on Reuben’s discussion forum). In the Christian scene they headlined the Green Belt Festival with a set of Punk Worship as well as making a number of appearances at the Meltdown Hard Music Conference. My personal highlight was getting a mention in the thanks list of their final release, ‘This Is Real Revolution’. While they are no longer together, they let a lasting legacy in the UK Christian Punk scene and I’m sure with a bit of digging you can get hold of some of their music. Failing that, drop me an email and I will check with John (ex-singer, now videographer) whether I can share some of their recordings.

Disregard (from ‘Happy Go Loser’)
It’s OK (from ‘Fool On Show’)
Quiet Cancer (from ‘Happy Go Loser’ / ‘This Is Real Revolution’)
Pursuit For Purity (from ‘This Is Real Revolution’)
The Torment (from ‘New Wave’)

Blink 182

Blink 182 are an American punk/rock group active since the early 90′s. I first got tickets to see them just before their popularity exploded with ‘Enema Of The State’. The gig, at Manchester, consequently got upgraded from The Hop & Grape (Academy 3) to the MDH (Academy 2) and ended up being at the Academy (Academy 1). It was, needless to say, full of drunk 13 year old kids – that provided some good entertainment, especially watching them being picked up by their angry mums and dads afterwards! The only other times I’ve seen them was at festivals where poor sound let them down. They tend to layer a lot of guitars on their albums and they simply can’t get the ‘depth’ live as a 3-piece. At least Green Day take extra guitarists on tour with them! You’re probably wondering why, after all the complaints, that they are my Music Monday this week? Well, their albums are great. They’ve had such a range down the years with their self titled album being rather atmospheric at times. Other albums are straight forward fun punk rock. While I’m not keen in them live they have some scorching tracks!

Carousel (from ‘Buddha / Cheshire Cat’)

What Went Wrong (from ‘Take Off Your Pants And Jacket’)

Dammit (from ‘Dude Ranch’)

Mutt (from ‘Enema Of The State’)

Violence (from ‘Blink 182′)

A are a fantastic British rock/punk/alternative band who were pretty big in the late 1990′s and early 2000′s. My mate, Jim, who I met at uni got me into them and I was surprised that I’d not actually heard of them before then! I got to see them at a few festivals but never got to one of their own gigs before they went on hiatus. They have recently reformed and I was lucky enough to see them supporting Bowling For Soup at the end of last year. I was blown away at how good their songs are and tight they are as a live band.