Punk Blues

Punk blues fuses the instrumentation and scales of Blues Rock with the rawness and attitude of Punk Rock, while not necessarily adhering to its traditional sound. The merge of Punk’s rowdy energy with Blues can be traced back to the Proto-Punk and Garage Rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s, with artists such as Captain Beefheart, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges and The Modern Lovers all having experimented with pushing the kinetic boundaries of blues rock. Punk blues first emerged as a genre in the early 1980s, split into two regional scenes. In the United States, the genre was more sonically akin to conventional punk rock, specifically Psychobilly (The Gun Club and The Cramps) and Garage Punk (The Gories and Pussy Galore). Meanwhile, in Australia, a band known as The Birthday Party took the concept of blues-tinged punk music in a more experimental Post-Punk fashion. Other acts in this scene included The Scientists and The Wreckery. The Birthday Party disbanded in 1983 but ex-members Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard went on to other projects, pursuing the sound of punk and blues with them. Bringing along members from Crime & the City Solution, Howard formed the group These Immortal Souls, a bluesy and melancholic execution on Southern Gothic literature. On the other hand, Cave went on to form Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.