Snuff: 30 years of UK pop-punk pioneers

Snuff: 30 years of UK pop-punk pioneers

By Ashley Partridge

Feb 5, 2016 15:20

It’s easy to overlook the influence Snuff have had on the pop-punk sound. In a world where Green Day have produced a touring Broadway musical and 5 Seconds of Summer are given awards by mainstream rock magazines, Snuff have been plugging away with the template they perfected in the late 1980s. Ahead of their 30th Anniversary tour, founding-member Duncan Redmond (vocals/ drums) reflects on the changes of the past three decades and I stoke the fire by asking him what he thinks about the 21st century sound.

“Later day stuff, like blink-182 and what people would consider pop-punk doesn’t fit with me as punk. It’s just pop. It’s just presented in such a stylised way. I stopped thinking about what people call punk these days as punk about ten years ago,” he says.

“But on a different tip,” he continues, “there’s a group of punks that I see hang around outside Morrison’s with their cans of cider. They’re old enough to be my kids but they really looked the part, like something out of the early 80s.

“On one hand, I thought it was great but, on the other, I thought: ‘That’s my punk! Get off it!’. Just do your own thing!” he chuckles.

Snuff formed in London, way back in 1986 and Duncan recalls how he watched the original Anarchy in the UK of 1977 give way to the pure aggression of GBH and The Exploited. By the time Snuff entered the scene, punk had strayed from its roots and closer to metal.

“There were some melodic bands but the melody of The Buzzcocks and The Undertones had just gone. It was a wall of noise. We stepped into it and just wanted to sing some melody over the fast-paced stuff that we’d heard, like Minor Threat and Bad Brains. The world was a bit crusty but we liked the mod bands as well. We just liked a bit of melody,” Duncan explains.

Scenes existed in underground pubs and clubs, glued together by fanzines and traded tapes that have long since been lost to time. The original trio of Duncan, Simon and Andy split up in 1991.

Cut to 1996 and Snuff returned in an evolved form, led by Duncan. The world was different. ‘Dookie’ and ‘Smash’ had changed everything. NOFX’s Fat Mike signed Snuff to his Fat Wreck label and put out their ‘Demamussabebonk’ record, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a special edition reissue.

“It’s a short run of vinyl. I’ve got a soft spot for vinyl. I love it and it’s what I grew up with. It’s also an album that goes back to the old line-up but I’m still interested in new stuff. We still tour but we don’t want it to be just nostalgia. New stuff is vital to that,” Duncan asserts.

So, can his body still take another national, week-long tour?

“We’ve always had to factor in the physical side because singing and drumming is very physical. I belt it out, I don’t just sing it. Things do slow down, that’s for sure, but it’s always been a factor. I don’t feel any different but when I listen to the original singles, I think that sounds like a young voice!”

Snuff will be hitting a string of dates during February, including Newcastle, Manchester, London and Norwich. They’ll be supported by the exquisite pop punk quartet Bad Cop/ Bad Cop, whose debut record made it onto Punktastic’s best albums of 2015 list.