Kicking and Screaming

 “Punk is dead.”  

Those three words - Iconic, timeless, ultimately untrue.  

While the time may have passed for the original scene, the UK punks and the California hardcore rockers of the 70s and 80s, punk is far from dead.  

And it’s about time we made that known.  

Kicking and Screaming  

Why NOW is the time to revive the punk scene… albeit with a new coat of paint. 

The idea of an idea dying out is bullshit.  

Punk cannot be dead for that very reason - it’s an idea.  

Throughout high school, I indulged and reveled in punk rock, wore trench coats, suspenders and a Dead Kennedys tee. I was that kid.  

I was drawn in by the imagery, the sound, the do-it-yourself attitude. But I didn’t understand the meaning behind it all, why they did what they did.  

The irony of high school me not understanding the meaning, was that I was a super in the closet bisexual icon who couldn’t stand in the face of adversity even if it bent over and said “free kick” while wiggling it’s rear end.  

I was a punk for the aesthetic, and even then, that’s a stretch. I just really liked the music.  

In the current climate, where bigotry seems to crop up outta nowhere, and more and more want to suppress the things that make us… well, us, I think I’m finally understanding why those during that era produced the art they did.  

Illustrated by @geegebee

What is punk? 

The initial idea behind punk culture was going against the grain, not conforming, standing up against the mainstream and fighting the establishment. It was about self-expression, being yourself, sticking up for your beliefs and helping those who need it most, unapologetically. 

Nowadays though, I feel that it has some stark differences. 

While it had its time and place, punk ideology is very closely related to that of anarchist ideas, sometimes dangerously so. 

For the time and the scene these ideals sprouted from, they were needed. 

Key words there being ‘for the time’.  

The idea of anarchist rule is outdated, and with today’s political climate I personally don’t think it’s needed. The biggest irony of punk and anarchy going hand in hand, is the amount of old school rockers from their respective scenes throwing their hats into the political ring. 

People like Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys, Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols – the original anarchist, anti-gov punks, despite how different their beliefs or how warped some of their ideas (looking at you Johnny), these are people who didn’t just harp on about their beliefs then do nothing, they actually got stuck in and tried to make a change. 

It’s all well and good believing this stuff, saying “you’re punk” and dressing a certain way. But the whole spirit of it, was standing up to those trying to deny freedoms and rights all while expressing who you are, and that’s exactly what our country, and by extension the world, needs at the moment. 

What we need now 

I wanna take a second to jerk off Wellington’s ego for a bit. 

As someone who lived there for a very, VERY small period of time, I gotta say that the city lives and breathes with the life, attitude, and ideology I’ve been harping on about. 

The “who gives a toss” nature most of the students share: with how they dress, how they express themselves, the off the wall amazing art they make, the spirit of punk lives on in a new form in that city. 

Healthy doses of activism, peaceful protest and general standing up against bigots and assholes can be seen on almost every street corner, and that’s without even mentioning the music and art scenes found within Wellington. 

Imagine that, but across the entirety of Aotearoa. The ability to walk the street however you want to look, expressing yourself through music and art without judgment, everyone vocal to any injustice they see, big or small. 

That kick ass, DIY attitude is what punk is all about, and that’s exactly what the student space is yearning for right now. 

Punk in Aotearoa  

The whole reason I was inspired to write about this was all thanks to a little group called Shihad. Their latest offering, “Old Gods”, bleeds with incredibly positive messages and ideas about the world and country we’re living in today. 

Everything I’ve yapped on about, sticking up against bigotry and adversity, all that good stuff is right there on the album. Adoring the album artwork is a statue of Captain James Cook, with a red fist spray-painted over him. Calling out bullshit misinformation practices, the normalization of racism in our society and even going so far as to say we need to kill the old gods (the colonial ideals our society is built upon), the album is punk through and through, spirit and sound alike. 

This isn’t a recent thing however, with the scene in New Zealand having a sordid history dating back to the 1970s and leading up to today, featuring music groups like Riot 111, Head Like a Hole and of course, Shihad. Even a newer band like Dartz can be argued to carry the old school punk sound through their output. 

The point I’m trying to make is – New Zealand has a deep and rich history of the punk rock scene, so why not revive that for a new generation? 
Freedom of expression through clothing, art and music all while just sticking the fuck up against piss poor and outdated ideas, doesn’t it sound fantastic??? 

Essentially what I’m trying to get across is this: 

There will always be those who stand in the way of freedoms, be it through opposing the rights to our bodies, to how we identify, to who we are on the simple basis of ethnicity, religion, race or creed. 

Those people will sadly always be here to stay, but we can stand against them in the simplest of forms. Expressing ourselves however we feel, speaking out against the bullshit they throw, all from a non-violent standpoint, that’s what our new punk scene could be. 

Seeing it steadily come back to life excites me, knowing that the majority of people reading this feel the same as I gets me even more pumped. 

Punk’s not dead, it’s just been taking a long nap. 

Let’s bring it back, kicking and screaming.