Interviews: Perp Walk talks hardcore at Outbreak Fest

Perp Walk recently played an explosive set at Outbreak Fest in the UK. Punknews' Sam Houlden was on the scene and sat down with the band to talk about their set, how the band came together, and cool new bands.

Did you enjoy your set? It was real lively, huh? Paul: I think I speak for everyone when I say was one of the craziest sets I think all of us collectively have ever played. We’re super grateful to everyone who showed up to check us out.

Do you guys individually have a history or background with Outbreak? Paul: Outbreak Fest was my ever hardcore fest outside of the south of England when it was still at the Broomhall community centre in Sheffield in 2013. Before that I had only gone to Hevy Fest in Kent between 2010 and 2012 and got into hardcore bands that played that I still love now at that festival and at outbreak from when I first attended to now. Collectively 4 of us came of age coming to this festival over the years with this years edition being Nat’s (Guitar) first time attending to my knowledge so it was cool to play it after so many years attending as punters. Massive thank you to Jordan and the team for having us!

How did you come about as a band?? Paul: In summary Dan (Guitar) wrote all the demos for what would be our first 7” The Chain Of Infection for a project that never got off the ground by a few years prior to the band forming. He sent them to me during lockdown when he knew I was interested in starting a punk hardcore band and I wrote everything lyrically within a month. Around that Dan recruited people around it and eventually our current line up fell into place.

Are you guys all Bristol based? Historically it’s been musically rich city. How’s the scene there at the moment? Paul: Dan, Connor (Bass) and J (Drums) all live in Bristol. I’m originally from Bristol but live in Cardiff and Nat was Bristol based when she joined the band but now currently lives in Lyme Regis in Dorset.
The music scene in Bristol, especially the punk and hardcore scenes are thriving in a way that it hasn’t been in many years. In comparison to the past it’s become more of a melting pot of people and is pretty inclusive of everyone of all races, sexualities and creeds. There’s some pretty great bands coming out of Bristol at the moment such as Overpower, Uncertainty, Gimic and Vibration Boys to name only but a few.

Two EPs last year… when’s the record coming out? Paul: We’re working on new stuff as we speak. It will be out in due course
Who are the bands on this weekend’s bill that you dig the most? Who are you definitely going to see? Paul: For me definitely bands like Harms Way, Have Heart, Ceremony, Angel Dust, just bands that solidified my tastes in hardcore. Balance and composure, basement and American football too in terms of bands on the softer side of things. It’s also cool to see UK bands such as Stiff Meds, Dynamite, Plastics, Despize, Impunity and Demonstration Of Power absolutely killing it at the moment too.

Has your sound evolved naturally or are there bands, or scenes, that you’ve always felt connected to, that you feel influenced by? Paul: From my perspective on things we all bring something to the table, we’re all influenced by different stuff but hardcore and punk has always been at the heart of the band since it’s inception. In spite of all of that there’s definitely bands we meet in the middle on: Spy, Gag and Bib have been a influence on us since pretty early on and something we all collectively try and centre our band and sound around. I can only speak for myself in terms of influence but I always tried to bring my own style to things while being heavily influenced by hardcore and drawing on my early influences in punk also.

Your sound, and especially your live show has a crazy, runaway train kind of energy to it. Is that what you aim for or does it just happen? Paul: For me it just happens, it’s a combination of the anger I bottle up every day and feeding off the energy of the crowd. You can’t replicate this kind of music in any way even if you tried and in the moment it’s a special thing to be part of.

I hear you’re off touring in Canada soon? Are you guys excited about it? Paul: extremely excited! It hasn’t felt real since our friends in Bad Egg offered us the chance to come over so it’s been a trip and we’re so lucky to get the chance to go overseas playing the music we love .

Finally, is there any message you want to give to the PunkNews readers in case this is their first introduction to you? Start a band. Attend local shows no matter the genre. Support your mates and your local community. Fight inequality whenever you see it.

Did you enjoy your set? It was real lively, huh? Jamie: It was amazing. Really great to see a lot of our friends going crazy but what was really magic was seeing so many new faces getting involved, moshing, stage diving and singing the words. Have to shout out Balance & Composure swapping days for the insane turnout, but I think every single person in that room had a blast, we certainly did.

Do you guys individually have a history or background with Outbreak? Jamie: Some of us have been going to this fest for years. Dan, Paul and I went Outbreak ‘22 at Bowlers together and drove straight home to open for Dare the day after. I remember seeing Scowl open up the main stage, I turned to Dan to say “We HAVE to play with these guys” and that ended up happening twice. Outbreak is maybe one of the biggest things you can do in UKHC so it’s always been a dream and was a real honour to be part of it.

Who are the bands on this weekend’s bill that you dig the most? Who are you definitely going to see? Jamie: There was a great mix this year, I guess that shows how broad the scene really is. Bib and Ceremony have been huge influences on us as a band and they were great to see. Plastics and Demonstration of Power had great sets too, really top tier UKHC. Less of an influence for us but Nothing and Basements sets were really special for me.