"my friend Jerry is an honest man with a big ole heart but not much upstairs, he read up on a dirty rag and found a little bit of hate in a worn out flag..."
Over the last decade the world has gotten demonstrably more crazy, more unstable. It seems a lot of people are hanging on to their sanity by a thin fraying thread. Every country has it's problems and people are hurting while a fraction of the population are amassing wealth at a frantic pace. Social media has spread information some good, a lot bad, shining the light on cock roaches within the walls of government and corporations and they don't even scatter anymore. We eat the opiates of the masses and either seem to become walking zombies or conspiracy theorists gobbling up kernels of truth coated in hate that only seems to divide us. Fuck me. In the United States we have had 40 mass killings already this year, bad cops are still murdering our citizenry, mostly people of color.
Bristol-based post-garage/punk trio HOLY POPES have coalesced their own anger / frustration about the world in the pounding politico punker "Jerry". Their statement about "Jerry" from their eponymous 2023 album "Holy Popes" is worth absorbing:
[Jerry is a person we may or may not know. Someone who was swayed by misinformation, who didn't know the consequences or particularly think about them. Jerry meant well, but maybe without an idea of who for.
Politics has been deeply polarized and the right have gained a foothold not seen across the world for many many years. So many people get caught up in the lies and misinformation coercively spread by propaganda; perfectly kind, decent folks are accidentaly becoming bigots.
I like to hold the idea in my heart that we are all compassionate beings, and that its our duty to show empathy and kindness to those we may agree with the least. I once had a conversation with a guy in the pub about Brexit, and we disagreed in a big way, but he was a thoughtufl, loving man who just didn't understand the wider implications of his vote and I didn't want to hold anything against him.
The language around migration, around control, around human rights, it all comes from a place of hatred and othering. We have the space, we have the land, we have the houses and we have the wealth...it is just distributed in the wrong way, by the wrong people.]
Bristol-based post-garage/punk trio HOLY POPES have coalesced their own anger / frustration about the world in the pounding politico punker "Jerry". Their statement about "Jerry" from their eponymous 2023 album "Holy Popes" is worth absorbing:
[Jerry is a person we may or may not know. Someone who was swayed by misinformation, who didn't know the consequences or particularly think about them. Jerry meant well, but maybe without an idea of who for.
Politics has been deeply polarized and the right have gained a foothold not seen across the world for many many years. So many people get caught up in the lies and misinformation coercively spread by propaganda; perfectly kind, decent folks are accidentaly becoming bigots.
I like to hold the idea in my heart that we are all compassionate beings, and that its our duty to show empathy and kindness to those we may agree with the least. I once had a conversation with a guy in the pub about Brexit, and we disagreed in a big way, but he was a thoughtufl, loving man who just didn't understand the wider implications of his vote and I didn't want to hold anything against him.
The language around migration, around control, around human rights, it all comes from a place of hatred and othering. We have the space, we have the land, we have the houses and we have the wealth...it is just distributed in the wrong way, by the wrong people.]
We have a ton of "Jerry's" in America and unfortunately as part of the far right GOP they populate the Congress and House spewing the "Jerry" type of fear mongering while they have their tongues firmly deep up Donald Trumps ass. It is incredibly sad but I digress.
The raucous unbridled punk energy punches you in the throat. Dominic Knight's vocal countenance, part carnival barker, part Union rabble rouser, part rockabilly southern preacher will stop you in your tracks and the sort of spartan, yet incredibly caustic musical framework is full fledged manic like a street riot. Descriptors are unnecessary but their is a busker punk aesthetic here and I though of an amalgam of Tropical Fuck Storm and Violent Femmes (is that weird?). The songs outro, by the way, a sudden plunge into tranquility is fucking brilliant.
HOLY POPES are Luke Bujniewicz - Drums, Dominic Knight - Vocals/Guitar and Jake Beckett - Bass. I urge you to read the Press notey stuff below and to check out the album in full on their Bandcamp page. FYI: HOLY POPES are pleased to announce they have signed to Hull-based independent label Man Demolish Records (NEWMEDS).
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2P7oymMdHyJwVghyRoguaX
https://mandemolishrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/holy.popes/
Bristol-based post-garage/punk trio HOLY POPES are pleased to announce they have signed to Hull-based independent label Man Demolish Records (NEWMEDS).
As a taster of things to come, their visceral anti-capitalist debut single ‘DBT’ is out now along with an unnerving, wild-eyed video that reflects their twitching, erratic take on post-garage punk.
Commenting on the track, guitarist Dominic Knight (ex-The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster) says: “Our entire system is based around debt. From using sea shells as markers of goods that are owed, to the paper money we hold in our hands being merely trust in an idea of wealth rather than having actual value. These ideas always affect the poorest in society and we see it so often with money lending, overdrafts and borrowing.”
“Promoting ideas of climbing the social ladder through objects and wealth means people can no longer wait for the next car or phone, they have to borrow to obtain it today. This capitalist trick has us blame each other for our ills, and distracts us from the billions that are accrued by the very few, leaving behind them a trail of poor bodies, environmental destruction and social instability. Debt is slavery. Capitalism is organized crime.”
Formed by Knight and drummer Luke Bujniewicz in 2020, the band’s acerbic, over-driven first offering is as good a window as any into the gritty, distorted world of HOLY POPES.
‘Holy popes’—the irony of giving godly importance to man made ideas. Systems of oppression created to make us subservient to religion, to capitalism, to patriarchy. “It’s a farce, and music is a machine that kills fascism and bigotry,” enthuses Knight. “Let’s dance whilst we overthrow harmful systems.”
After years of being in bands, the pair had both had enough. Music wasn’t hitting the right spot and it felt like a slog trying to make something of it. Initially they came together as a two piece simply to make a noise, not for any sense of being a live band. Very quickly, after the addition of bass player Jake Beckett, they knew they had something special.
“We did our first gig the week of lockdown, and for two years after that we barely saw a live show, let alone play one,” laments Knight of the band’s beginnings. “During that time, though, we began working on our album, producing and recording it ourselves during the months that lockdown eased. We wanted to make something raw and in your face, so in the spring of 2022, we spent two days laying down the album live in our studio.”
The secret ingredient? “We didn’t care,” explains Knight. “We were making exactly what we wanted with no intention of thinking about labels, tours, fans…it made us excited again.”
HOLY POPES, garage rock, punk, post punk, alt rock, politico punk, Bristol England, Uk, self titled album, "Jerry", misinformation, stoking sees of discontent, divisive politics,
The raucous unbridled punk energy punches you in the throat. Dominic Knight's vocal countenance, part carnival barker, part Union rabble rouser, part rockabilly southern preacher will stop you in your tracks and the sort of spartan, yet incredibly caustic musical framework is full fledged manic like a street riot. Descriptors are unnecessary but their is a busker punk aesthetic here and I though of an amalgam of Tropical Fuck Storm and Violent Femmes (is that weird?). The songs outro, by the way, a sudden plunge into tranquility is fucking brilliant.
HOLY POPES are Luke Bujniewicz - Drums, Dominic Knight - Vocals/Guitar and Jake Beckett - Bass. I urge you to read the Press notey stuff below and to check out the album in full on their Bandcamp page. FYI: HOLY POPES are pleased to announce they have signed to Hull-based independent label Man Demolish Records (NEWMEDS).
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2P7oymMdHyJwVghyRoguaX
https://mandemolishrecords.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/holy.popes/
Bristol-based post-garage/punk trio HOLY POPES are pleased to announce they have signed to Hull-based independent label Man Demolish Records (NEWMEDS).
As a taster of things to come, their visceral anti-capitalist debut single ‘DBT’ is out now along with an unnerving, wild-eyed video that reflects their twitching, erratic take on post-garage punk.
Commenting on the track, guitarist Dominic Knight (ex-The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster) says: “Our entire system is based around debt. From using sea shells as markers of goods that are owed, to the paper money we hold in our hands being merely trust in an idea of wealth rather than having actual value. These ideas always affect the poorest in society and we see it so often with money lending, overdrafts and borrowing.”
“Promoting ideas of climbing the social ladder through objects and wealth means people can no longer wait for the next car or phone, they have to borrow to obtain it today. This capitalist trick has us blame each other for our ills, and distracts us from the billions that are accrued by the very few, leaving behind them a trail of poor bodies, environmental destruction and social instability. Debt is slavery. Capitalism is organized crime.”
Formed by Knight and drummer Luke Bujniewicz in 2020, the band’s acerbic, over-driven first offering is as good a window as any into the gritty, distorted world of HOLY POPES.
‘Holy popes’—the irony of giving godly importance to man made ideas. Systems of oppression created to make us subservient to religion, to capitalism, to patriarchy. “It’s a farce, and music is a machine that kills fascism and bigotry,” enthuses Knight. “Let’s dance whilst we overthrow harmful systems.”
After years of being in bands, the pair had both had enough. Music wasn’t hitting the right spot and it felt like a slog trying to make something of it. Initially they came together as a two piece simply to make a noise, not for any sense of being a live band. Very quickly, after the addition of bass player Jake Beckett, they knew they had something special.
“We did our first gig the week of lockdown, and for two years after that we barely saw a live show, let alone play one,” laments Knight of the band’s beginnings. “During that time, though, we began working on our album, producing and recording it ourselves during the months that lockdown eased. We wanted to make something raw and in your face, so in the spring of 2022, we spent two days laying down the album live in our studio.”
The secret ingredient? “We didn’t care,” explains Knight. “We were making exactly what we wanted with no intention of thinking about labels, tours, fans…it made us excited again.”
HOLY POPES, garage rock, punk, post punk, alt rock, politico punk, Bristol England, Uk, self titled album, "Jerry", misinformation, stoking sees of discontent, divisive politics,
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