THE RESTARTS (UK)
Street Punk from London
The Restarts, formed in 1995, are a tight three piece, multi-genre punk outfit based in East London. They play thrashy, anarcho, power chord punk laced with Ska breaks and pogo inducing basslines earning them a loyal following of punk lovers of all ages.
The Restarts have been hammering their way through the squats of Europe and DIY house shows across North America with reckless abandon. They lend amplification to unheard voices, playing benefit gigs for various social causes and keeping the DIY spirit of punk rock alive and well.
Their years of hard graft is recognised by them being requested to play along side such heavy weights as Steve Ignorant's Crass, Jello Biafra & GSM, Millions of Dead Cops, The Casualties, Star Fucking Hipsters and The Subhumans.
After several tours over Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and South Asia and over 9 releases the Restarts have found themselves playing a small part in a large world wide network of DIY Punk Rock. They are punks first, musicians second. They feel the social importance of Punk Rock takes priority over the "marketability" of a rehashed trend.
In 2019 they published a split 7" with the Subhumans and their new album "Uprising".
Reviews
Die RESTARTS spielen vor einem total vollen Saal. Kieran, der Sänger schreit seine wütenden Punktexte in die Menge. Die RESTARTS machen Punk mit klarer politischer Ansage weil: 'there are a lot of assholes out there'. Sie spielen immer noch so zornig, wie Anfang der 90er in den besetzten Häusern."
- Useless Fanzine, Live Review, Rebellion Festival 2012
Gewürzt mit einer ordentlichen Prise Streetpunk strotzen die Songs vor Rebellion und Aggression. Der Sound ist rau, grob, melodisch und sehr eingängig. RESTARTS sind weder müde noch leiser geworden... Diese Hoffnung ist Antrieb. RESTARTS geben mit diesem Album Mut, den eigenen Weg weiter zu gehen, und das ist mehr, als viele Bands heutzutage schaffen."
- Wahrschauer
"The Restarts first crawled out of the North London Squat scene nearly a decade ago. Serial dole scroungers the lot of them, they named their band after the dreaded 'back to work' interviews and set about touting their stroppy four-chord punk to spiky-haired audiences around the world. Yelling out barbed diatribes against the state over chunky metal guitars, they've slowly but surely clawed their way to the top of the underground pile."
- Terrorizer
"This is dance in the basement, spanner in the works, back porch drinking, bomb in the police station punk!!! I never knew Steve Ignorant had pregnancy-inducing sex with all of POISON IDEA, but this is some cute baby they had. Oh, also good people. They played at a house in West Oakland last month, and rocked us with energy and astounded us with their good manners!"
- Maximum Rock'n'Roll
"Abrasive yet catchy UK punk with raw vocals and plenty of chorus sing a longs. The razor blade throated lead vocalist give this plenty of raw edge while through most of it the music has a much more uplifting energy to it... Oddly enough, it seems rare to come across the bands that play straight forward old-style punk rock and so this is a refreshing cause they've been at it for like a decade. Cheers guys. Good catchy shit."
- Slug and lettuce
"I've seen them play many times in London and always rated them pretty highly as a live band but never really got to hear their stuff on record yet. Things have changed now as I got a copy of their latest album. It seems I've been missing out on something very big. This album is the dogs bollocks! This goes right into my top 20 albums of all time I reckon. 12 songs of punk rock how it should be played."
- London Punks.co.uk
"I caught the mighty RESTARTS at Brum punx picnic & they rocked the house down w/ their abrasive punk rock... Raging punk rock w/ honest social commentary shows that THE RESTARTS are one class act!... As usual THE RESTARTS win another battle of the bands."
- Punk shocker, Newcastle Fanzine
"With ex members of Coitus, Armed and Hammered, and Assrash UK, it was no surprise that the RESTARTS kick-ass!! All three members share the vocals and each deliver them powerfully... These guys plan to tour the US this summer!...I can't wait."
- Profane Existence
Upcoming shows
No shows booked at the moment.
Band
- Kieran – Bass, Vocals
- Robin – Guitar, Vocals
- Jeremy – Drums
Discography
- 2019 – Uprising, CD/LP, Pirates Press Records
- 2013 – A Sickness of Mind, CD/LP, No Label Records
- 2009 – Mobocracy, The Restarts/Zero Tolerance Split CD, No Label Records
- 2007 – Outsider CD, Dirty Faces Records
- 2004 – System Error LP, Active Distribution
- 2003 – Actively Seeking Work 1996-1998 LP, Active Distribution
- 2002 – Slumworld CD/LP, Active Distribution
- 1999 – Your World, The Restarts/Zero Tolerance split 7″, Magilla Guerilla Records
- 1998 – State Rape, The Restarts/Zero Tolerance split LP, Rejected Records
- 1998 – Legacy of Bigotry, The Restarts/Left For Dead split EP, Dead Records
- 1997 – Just Gets Worse EP, Blind Destruction Records
- 1997 – Frustration EP, Blind Destruction Records
- 1996 – Job Club Demo tape, self released
Also check out:
DON’T (US)
Garage / Punk Rock
Don't formed in Portland in 2009 when Jenny Don't (lead vocals, guitar) was introduced to drummer Sam Henry (The Wipers, Napalm Beach, The Rats). They created a genre-blurring blend that opened a Pandora's box of musical touchstones.
Recently bassist Kelly Halliburton (Pierced Arrows, Problems, Defiance) and guitarist Eric "Vegetable" Olson (Poison Idea) were roped in which makes Don't the ultimate Portland Punk-All-Star band.
A live presence to be reckoned with from their very first show, the band quickly built an enthusiastic and loyal following across the US and Europe.
Their powerful songs defy easy classification, sometimes dark and eerie, sometimes punk and surfy, but always melodic. Rooted in the same blues that are the foundation for almost all rock and roll, Don't contorts that basic concept into something dark and mysterious.
After their first album “Away Away”, several single releases and extended US and Europe tours, Don't published their new album "Fever Dreams" in the US (Doomtown Sounds) and Germany (Rockstar Records) in 2016.
Twisted Chords (Germany) will publish their new 7" "Enough is Enough" in spring 2017, before the next Don't-tour in May and June.
Reviews
'Don’t' are a surf-tinged punk group from Seattle featuring members of Napalm Beach and the Wipers and fantastic singer Jenny Don’t, whose voice has the same throaty, dark quality as a young, hungry Siouxie Sioux. The group are touring around a forthcoming full-length, and if their songwriting is as strong across the album as on the few preview tracks on their website, it should be a hell of a show."
- l’étoile magazine
"Before Portland earned its reputation as a playground for young adults, it was (and continues to be) home to individuals who devoted themselves to lifelong efforts at creative endeavors. Thankfully this side of the city endures amid escalating stereotypes and is on display with the musical project Don't. Formed in 2009 the band combines the talents of legendary local musicians Sam Henry (drummer of the Wipers, member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, and tonight's birthday boy) and Dave Minick (bassist for Napalm Beach and more), with the pioneering spirits of guitarist Dan Lowinger (the Love Lasers) and vivacious frontwoman Jenny Don't. The result is music that sounds effortlessly timeless while pulsating with that new and earnest energy we call rock and roll..."
- Portland Mercury
"DON'T is a band that is best described as being of the garage persuasion with hints of surf and punk thrown in. Fronted by the striking Jenny Don't the band also includes Sam Henry on drums, a man who has been inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, partially due to the fact that he was the drummer for The Wipers, one of the most well-known bands from that region. Musically the songs on this new release are laid back with Jenny DON'T providing a luxurious vocal performance that has a soothing quality to it, just right for kicking back and relaxing, as you drink whatever poison is needed to reset the levels of normalcy after the tedium of work."
- Punknews.org
"Portland’s got no shortage of throwback punk-garage outfits, but few nail the low-fi, devil-may-cry sound as seamlessly as quartet Don’t. Credit that to a lineup that includes members of groups like the Love Lasers, Audios Amigos, the Wipers and Napalm Beach. Traversing a robust musical plane of garage rock, country, spaghetti Western instrumental work and other seemingly divergent styles, the band’s sound mixes the rollicking rowdiness of old-school punk with a touch of Ventures-style surf rock. It’s all held together by guitarist-vocalist Jenny Don’t, whose voice combines the cadence of a lost Ramones sister and Metric’s Emily Haines, punctuating every slick riff with bravado. The group, formed three years ago, is steadily gaining a following by keeping one foot in the past and putting the other one forward."
- Willamette Week
"Bis auf die junge Frau an der Gitarre und am Mikro alles gestandene Menschen mit langjähriger Banderfahrung (unter anderem bei WIPERS und NAPALM BEACH), die dürfen dann eben auch mal GUN CLUB oder eben die WIPERS höchstselbst covern, ohne dass es aufgesetzt wirkt. Eine wunderbare Band, die zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort einen Laden in Flammen setzen kann. DON’T muss ich wieder sehen!"
- Ox fanzine
"Jennys zuckersüßes Stimmchen verursacht Wohlfühl-Gänsehaut, während die Herren um sie herum das machen, was sie offenbar schon seit Ewigkeiten am besten können: gängige Melodien zu einem Surf-Postpunk-Rock'n'Roll-da-steckt-jede-Menge-Wipers-drin-Cocktail zu mixen. Noch einen bitte!"
- Plastic Bomb fanzine
"For those who are into gut-punching rock 'n' roll, this is some satisfying shit."
- Willamette Week, about "Fever Dreams"
1982 (DE)
80s / Punk Rock / Street Punk
1982 haben eine Mission: Sie retten den Deutschpunk! Sie spielen die Hits der ersten deutschen Punkrockgeneration unzensiert und musikalisch authentischer als die Polizei erlaubt: Slime, Canal Terror, Toxoplasma, Chaos Z, Razzia und alles andere - und zwar so wie damals.
Dabei versetzen sie die Besucher in die Zeit zurück, als Punk in der BRD noch gefährlich, aufregend und unberechenbar war. 1982 sind eine Zeitmaschine, die Pogo-Orgien auslöst und immer funktioniert.
Das haben sie bereits auf unzähligen Konzerten in ganz Deutschland und sogar Frankreich bewiesen, unter anderem beim Punk im Pott 2010, beim Force Attack 2003, Punx Picnic 2001 oder als Headliner beim Au-Fest 2008 und vielen anderen Festivals.
1982 besteht aus drei Generationen Punx, die ihre gemeinsamen Roots abfeiern. Drummer Dominik S. war Gitarrist bei Canal Terror. Klassiker wie "Staatsfeind", "Zu Spät", "Multis" etc. stammen aus seiner Feder.
Sonstige Bands, in denen die 1982er aktiv sind oder waren, sind Molotow Soda, Wild Gift, The Puke, Estrella Negra, The Gee Strings, die Back Chats, F.F.F. etc.
Alter Punk mit jugendlicher Hingabe! 1982 ist heute und besser!
Reviews
"Solltest du die Möglichkeit haben, dir die 5 mal live anzugucken, solltest du diese Gelegenheit auf keinen Fall verpassen, da ihre Coverversionen den Originalen sehr, sehr nahe kommen und jeder Gig einer famosen Party gleicht.
- Human Parasit Fanzine, Live review
"1982 waren dann die perfekte Wahl für den Abend! Eine fitte Coverband, die sich frühen deutschen Punkklassikern widmete. Die Stücke wurden völlig authentisch gezockt, wild, frisch, voller Wut. Geiler auf jeden Fall als die Schunkelversionen, die z.B. RUBBERSLIME aus den alten SLIME-Songs gemacht haben! Es wurde ein Klassiker nach dem anderen rausgerotzt. Vielen Leuten stand bei jedem Wiedererkennen die Freude ins Gesicht geschrieben und spätestens nach drei Stücken bebte der Boden… In den Pausen wurden 1982 ständig Bandnamen entgegen gebrüllt - VORKRIEGSJUGEND! SCHLEIM KEIM! TOXOPLASMA! Und das geilste war, dass fast alle "Wünsche" erfüllt wurden! Besonders hab ich mich über NEUROTIC ARSEHOLES gefreut, geil war auch "Wir sind die Ratten", "Computerstaat" oder die ganzen SLIME-Songs ("A.C.A.B.", "Etikette tötet", "Yankees raus!", "Alptraum", "Zu kalt", "Gerechtigkeit" und als Abschluss na logen "Deutschland"). Zeitlos geil, mit Feuereifer von der Band runtergehämmert - und eben einfach alles Stücke, mit denen nun wirklich fast jede/r vertraut war. Heiser, durchgeschwitzt und glücklich war ich danach!"
- Dremufuestias.de, Live review
"1982 waren richtig gut und sie coverten einen Deutschpunkklassiker nach dem anderen. Sehr gefreut hatten wir uns auf Pogo in der Straßenbahn. Richtig gute Band, die kamen total gut an."
- Die Punkrockmafia, Live review