Folk punk
Folk punk is a genre of music that combines elements of
folk and
punk rock music.
Like its punk and folk roots, folk-punk often tends to focus on political causes, often those from the traditional left end of the spectrum. Folk punk embraces a legacy of traditional American
folk music, typified by themes of
working class solidarity and morality in the face of perceived problems of
industrialization and modern
capitalism.
While the genre has grown greatly recently, much credit to the establishment of folk punk in the
USA has gone to
Plan It X Records of
Bloomington, Indiana for helping popularize the sound. Many staple folk punk bands are either currently on the label or have previously had some connection to it. Among these are
Against Me! - perhaps the best known folk punk band - although their sound has been moving more and more towards general punk rock and has moved away from the
D.I.Y. (do it yourself) ethic that is central to the genre. However, some of these bands don't actually have any real relation to (or even sound like) actual folk music. The only relation could be pointed at the use of "obscure" instruments (or instruments hardly used in punk rock) like a violin, banjo, or a mandolin. Other notable folk-punk labels and bands include
This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb,
Fistolo Records (Philadelphia, PA), along with
collectives like the
Riot-Folk! Collective, the
Disarm! Disarm! Collective, and the
Wishing Well Collective.
Other locations significant to the North American folk punk scene are
Athens, Georgia and
Gainesville, Florida. There are also a few folk-punk acts from the northeast such as
Bread and Roses,
The Can Kickers,
Evan Greer,
Jake and the Infernal Machine, and
Sharp Teeth, all from the greater Boston area. Also,
Salt Lake City, UT has a large folk punk scene with bands such as
Bombs and Beating Hearts, James Miska,
xacrox and xJoshx. The scene is also taking shape in
Toronto, Canada with artists such as Timothy Cameron, and the collective based band PondScum, in DC with artists like Spoonboy and Rachel Jacobs, and Ohio, with the very popular band Defiance, Ohio (also involved with plan-it-x.). Kanadian Posi Kidz (http://kpk.revolt.org) is another collective label of folk punk artists from across Canada, mainly in
Chilliwack,
British Columbia;
Edmonton,
Alberta; and
Calgary,
Alberta.
Other significant folk punk artists and bands include
ArnoCorps (http://www.arnocorps.com)
Erik Petersen/
Mischief Brew (http://www.fistolo.com):
Chris Fredda: Madeline Adams (http://madelinesongs.com): The Heroic Livers (http://www.angelfire.com/ga4/theheroiclivers):
Defiance, Ohio (http://defianceohio.terrorware.com);
Ghost Mice; Saw Wheel, Rumbleseat, Spoonboy, ,Tennessee Whiskey Tots, American Lies, and the artists involved in the
Riot-Folk! Collective.
In Great Britain, a revival of interest in folk punk and
celtic punk was triggered by
The Levellers who developed a huge live following amongst alternative music fans in the late 1980s and 1990s. Having played to the largest ever crowd at the
Glastonbury Festival, the Levellers retain a devout following in the UK amongst students and left-wing idealists. The band were never as popular in the USA however, as a disastrous tour in their early days put the band off ever launching a large tour of America again.Small pockets of folk punk bands exist across the UK as interest for the scene grows. Currently active examples of British folk punk are
Those Gay Hippies (Mid-Wales),
Not Jim Smith (Swansea) and
Milkteeth (Herefordshire), all of whom appear to be pushing in a folk/anti-folk direction whilst continuing to deliver frenzied live performances.
A symbol commonly used by the folk punk music scene is the anarchy heart. This is similar to the anarchy symbol except that instead of the A being set in a circle it is set within a heart. This symbolises "love is freedom" while the A within an O symbolises "anarchy is order". This may have originated in northern Florida.
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Anti-folk*
Urban Folk*
Billy Bragg
