The Young Punx are an English electronic dance music group whose eclectic and energetic style encompasses

French house French house, also known as French touch, filter house and tekfunk, is a style of house music originally produced by French musicians in the 1990s. It is a form of Euro disco and a popular strand of the late 1990s and 2000s European dance m ...

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...

and

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

, mashed up with elements as diverse as 1980s

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

, rock,

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

and jazz. The Young Punx's music is created by producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer Hal Ritson in collaboration with an eclectic collective of guest musicians, producers and singers including Italian electro producer Phonat, virtuoso guitarist

Guthrie Govan Guthrie Govan (; born 27 December 1971) is an English guitarist and guitar teacher, known for his work with the bands the Aristocrats, Asia, GPS, the Young Punx and the Fellowship, as well as his solo project Erotic Cakes. More recently, he ha ...

, co-founder of the act Cameron Saunders, DJ Nathan Taylor and vocalists such as Yola of Massive Attack, Count Bass D,

Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a ...

and Laura Kidd.

Career

Bootlegs, mash-ups and white labels

They initially came to prominence in 2003/2004 after releasing a string of white label bootleg dance records which drew attention by sampling unlikely source material such as '80s

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

tracks (foreshadowing the trend for '80s pop sampling records in the following years), Heavy metal such as Motörhead's "

The Ace of Spades ''The Ace of Spades'' is a 1935 British drama film directed by George Pearson and starring Michael Hogan, Dorothy Boyd and Richard Cooper. Cast * Michael Hogan as Nick Trent * Dorothy Boyd as Nita Daventry * Richard Cooper as Tony Cosgra ...

" and pop culture trends such as '' The Matrix'' films. "Got Your Number" – their tongue-in-cheek disco house bootleg of the iconic 118 118 TV adverts featuring music sampled from the '' Rocky'' theme gained widespread attention in late 2003 after BBC Radio 1 DJ

Judge Jules Julius O'Riordan (born 1966), better known by his stage name Judge Jules, is a British dance music DJ, record producer and entertainment lawyer. He is known for his DJ activities, music production and long-running radio show which achieved glob ...

played an mp3 of it on his show. Despite having only been created as a joke, the track became a UK clubland phenomenon. It was put at 25–1 odds to be Christmas Number One by William Hill bookmakers, featured in '' The Sun'' newspaper, signed to EMI and entered the UK Club Chart Top 10. However the full commercial release of the record was ultimately cancelled due to legal wrangles. In 2005, the Young Punx produced a satirical remake of Mylo's " Destroy Rock & Roll" entitled "Destroy Celebrity Crap" which replaced the original's list of 1980s pop stars with a list of the main celebrities who were currently dominating the UK media in a lighthearted backlash against the dumbing down celebrity focus of the media. Distributed for free on mp3, the track received in excess of 20,000 downloads within one week after exposure in '' Popbitch'' newsletter.

Remixes

Building on their reputation as bootleg remixers, which led to them being voted number 2 bootleg remixers of 2003 by listeners of BBC Radio One, The Young Punx have increasingly become one of the most in-demand remix artists in the UK. Some of their most well known mixes include "Hideaway" by De'lacy, "

Stoned in Love "Stoned in Love" is a dance track by Chicane (Nick Bracegirdle), with vocals performed by famed pop singer Tom Jones. It was released as a physical single on 24 April 2006. The song was later included on Chicane's third studio album, ''Somersau ...

" by Chicane and

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer * Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in ...

, "Come on get it on" by Studio B, "I like girls" by Hound Dogs and "Rocket (a natural gambler)" by Braund Reynolds along with tracks by the Scissor Sisters, Don Diablo, Ike & Tina Turner, The Similou, Krafty Kuts, Space Cowboy and Norman Cook's "Mighty Dub Katz". With a very strong following in Japan, in 2008, The Young Punx remixed Step You, a #1-song by Japanese superstar Ayumi Hamasaki.

Original material

The Young Punx have released a number of original tracks commercially on vinyl, CD and mp3. 2005's "Young and Beautiful" was described by

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

as "the most insane/catchy song I have heard all year". 2006's "Rockall" continued their trend for incorporating elements of popular culture into their work through sampling and re-editing the Shipping Forecast as read by BBC Radio 4 announcer Alan Smith. In February 2007, their track "You've Got To..." became the most podcasted track in the world (as measured by the Podmusiccountdown.com chart for that week) when they released it onto the podsafe music network. It featured as one of the songs on '' FIFA 07''. The Young Punx's track "Ready for the Fight" is also featured in the demo and final release of EA Sports '' Fight Night Round 4'', a boxing videogame on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Their debut album ''Your Music Is Killing Me'' was released in 2007/2008, features in EA Sports game '' UEFA Euro 2008''.. Their second album, entitled ''Mashpop And Punkstep'' was released in March 2010 and was co-produced by Phonat with guest appearances from Count Bass D. In January 2011, their collaboration with

"Map of Tasmania" received a quarter of a million video hits in one week.

Live performances

In addition to performing as a DJ duo (including supporting Tiësto at the world's largest club, Privilege Ibiza), The Young Punx perform as a live band including renowned guitarist

. They have performed at major international festivals including

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

(2007), Summer Sonic Festival (2007), Nano Mugen Festival (2008) and Blue Balls Festival (2008). In 2006, they performed at the Nano Mugen Festival in Japan to 24,000 people.

TV and radio presenting

Hal Ritson, Simon Bettison and Nathan Taylor of The Young Punx also present shows in the media under The Young Punx brand. They hosted 2 seasons of the Japanese version of '' So You Think You Can Dance'', have presented several specials on UK Dance music TV station Flaunt, and since 2007 have hosted a dance music and entertainment Podcast – "The Young Punx FM".

Collaboration with Dizzee Rascal

In 2009, Ritson and Govan of the Young Punx worked on four tracks on Dizzee Rascal's album ''Tongue N Cheek'', leading to The Young Punx becoming Dizzee's backing band for several full live gigs, notably the 2009

BBC Electric Proms The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms (formerly the BBC Electric Proms) was an October music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006–2010. On 31 January 2011, the BBC announced that the event would be discontinued with immediate effec ...

and Glastonbury Festival 2010.

Working relationship with Han Hoogerbrugge

The Young Punx have developed an artistic partnership with Dutch digital artist Han Hoogerbrugge in which Hoogerbrugge has developed the visual identity for the band, record artwork and a number of animated videos. Built on a darkly comic cast of surreal hand drawn characters, later animated in flash and 3-D animated packages, Hoogerbrugge's distinctive creations act both as the main public identity for the band, and as an exhibited part of Hoogerbrugge's own portfolio.

Discography

*''Your Music Is Killing Me'' *''Mashpop and Punkstep'' *''All These Things Are Gone'' *''Hollywood Kiss''

References

External links

*
The Young Punx Album Review
at UKEvents.net * The Young Punx biographyon allmusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Young Punx, The Musical groups established in 2003 English electronic music groups English house music groups Musical groups from London Remixers Avex Group artists Ultra Records artists