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 and drum and bass, mashed up with elements as diverse as 1980s pop,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, disco and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. 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 Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was releas ...

Count Bass D Dwight Conroy Farrell (born August 25, 1973), better known by his stage name Count Bass D, is an American rapper, record producer and multi-instrumentalist who resides in Millheim, Pennsylvania. His production style is characterised by layers o ...

, Amanda Palmer and

Laura Kidd Laura Kidd is a record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist releasing music and podcast episodes as Penfriend, and formerly known as She Makes War. After releasing four full length albums between 2010 and 2018, She Makes War was formal ...

Career

Bootlegs, mash-ups and white labels

They initially came to prominence in 2003/2004 after releasing a string of

white label A white label record is a vinyl record with white labels attached. There are several variations each with a different purpose. Variations include test pressings, white label promos, and plain white labels. Test pressings Test pressings, usua ...

bootleg dance records which drew attention by sampling unlikely source material such as '80s Madonna tracks (foreshadowing the trend for '80s pop sampling records in the following years), Heavy metal such as

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

's " The Ace of Spades" and pop culture trends such as ''

The Matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantolia ...

'' films. "Got Your Number" – their tongue-in-cheek disco house bootleg of the iconic 118 118 TV adverts featuring music sampled from the ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...

'' theme gained widespread attention in late 2003 after

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

DJ Judge Jules 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 EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

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 Myles MacInnes (born 10 May 1978), better known by his stage name Mylo, is a Scottish electronic musician and record producer. His 2004 album '' Destroy Rock & Roll'' peaked at number 26 in the UK Albums Chart. He is best known for his 2005 si ...

's "

Destroy Rock & Roll ''Destroy Rock & Roll'' is the first and only album by Scottish record producer and Disc jockey, DJ Mylo (real name Myles MacInnes), released in 2004. The album samples many 1970s and 1980s soft rock songs that Mylo heard on the radio as a child ...

" 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 Dumbing down is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content in education, literature, and cinema, news, video games, and culture. Originated in 1933, the term "dumbing down" was movie-business slang, used by screenplay writers, mean ...

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 Popbitch is a weekly UK-based celebrity and pop music newsletter and associated dating website from the early 2000s. Much of the material for the newsletter comes from the Popbitch message boards, frequented by music industry insiders, gossips an ...

'' 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" by

Chicane A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...

and Tom Jones, "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 Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) ...

Don Diablo Don Pepijn Schipper (; born 27 February 1980), better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, digital artist, record producer, musician and songwriter of electronic dance music from Coevorden. He is one of the pioneers of the future h ...

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing voca ...

The Similou The Similou were an electronic music duo from Gothenburg, Sweden, comprising Dizzy Crane (Joel Eriksson) and Jesse Nectar (Erik Niklasson). Discography Albums Singles Internet meme "All This Love" is the base of an Internet meme, particula ...

, Krafty Kuts, Space Cowboy and

Norman Cook 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 ...

'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 is a Japanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. By 2002, Hamasaki had earned the nickname "Empress of J-pop" due to her popularity in Japan and throughout Asia. Due to her success and relevanc ...

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 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 The Shipping Forecast is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. ...

as read by

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

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 ''FIFA 07'' (also known as ''FIFA Football 07'' and ''FIFA 07 Soccer'') is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was the last game in the ''FIFA'' series to be relea ...

''. The Young Punx's track "Ready for the Fight" is also featured in the demo and final release of

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

'' Fight Night Round 4'', a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

videogame on the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

. Their debut album ''Your Music Is Killing Me'' was released in 2007/2008, features in

game ''

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

''.. Their second album, entitled ''Mashpop And Punkstep'' was released in March 2010 and was co-produced by Phonat with guest appearances from

. In January 2011, their collaboration with Amanda Palmer "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 Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was v ...

at the world's largest club,

Privilege Ibiza Privilege Ibiza, originally known as Ku Club (1979–95), is the "world's largest nightclub"according to the Guinness Book of Records, also defined as a superclub with a capacity of 10,000 people and encompassing 6,500 m² (69,940 ft²). It is ...

), The Young Punx perform as a live band including renowned guitarist

. They have performed at major international festivals including Glastonbury Festival (2007),

Summer Sonic Festival The , also known as Supersonic, is an annual two- or three-day rock festival held at the same time in Osaka and Chiba, Japan. The majority of the bands playing in Osaka the first day go to Chiba the following day and vice versa. The line-up co ...

(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 ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and ha ...

'', have presented several specials on UK Dance music TV station

Flaunt ''Flaunt'' is an American fashion and culture magazine based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, with an office in New York. History The magazine was founded in 1998 by the current C.E.O. Luis Barajas, and Creative Director Jim Turner, who had previousl ...

, 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 Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. D ...

'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 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 biography ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

on 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