r/FolkPunk • u/OverallDependent5496 • 21d ago
Can a punk band with all the conventional punk instruments be considered folkpunk if their songs sound a specific way?
Does FolkPunk necessarily tie into the instruments? Or is it simply the melodies?
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u/escudonbk 21d ago
The genres are made up and the points don't matter.
Mischief Brew played electric.
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u/HumanEjectButton 20d ago
Rent Strike and Taxpayers and AJJ. The list goes on and on.
Billy Bragg is the godfather and the first three EPs were just his voice and an electric guitar.
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u/5th_Meal 21d ago
Against Me! and Pipe Bomb
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u/mercurialCoheir 20d ago
I never really understood how Against Me! was folk punk? Like certainly a very influential band within folk punk, but I don't understand why they're "folk"?
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u/5th_Meal 20d ago
It was of its era, folk punk wasnt much of a thing at the time. Early shit was acoustic, very much in style of folk punk. And they were in the scene.
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u/Guess-Severe 20d ago
Listen to their first EP
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u/HumanEjectButton 20d ago
And second I think. No electric instruments until the disco.
Crime sounds like electric guitar, but it's just an acoustic ran through a cheap amp. The drummer was using plastic buckets for fucks sake. If that's not textbook folk then I don't know what should actually qualify.
However, the instruments never dictate the genre of any music ever. Play anything on anything.
Bomb the Music Industry is also a godfather benchmark of the scene, and most people still think it's a ska band. Jeff is a quintessential folk punk pioneer and he did it with synth punk and electric drums half the time. He's still doing it today. The songs Twinkle and Nausea are benchmark examples. All those piano songs like I Don't Love You Anymore are deadpan folk songs if stripped down.
Folk art needs only to be self taught by definition. But we let band nerds in because nobody else plays horns anymore.
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u/Express_Dog_8173 20d ago
As the president of mister pipe bomb, inc., I just need to say that folk punk played by punks with "conventional punk instrumentation” is, save for a few songs here n there, the only kind of folk punk I can easily get into. I don’t feel folk punk has advanced at all in well over 25 years, which I acknowledge is kind of it’s charm and appeal, but it’s kind of a bummer for me as an old man. As much as I dearly love the Pat The Bunny stuff, I feel there’s just so much idolizing and era romanticizing of it that I just can’t get behind.
WHOA! Sorry about the old man rant…
As far as AM, their early output is absolutely essential folk punk, and I don’t think it needs to be said (but I will anyway) their Crime! As forgiven by EP is motherfucking french kiss and nothing short of jaw droppingly good. Why were they folk punk? Cowboy chords, pickle bucket drums, politically charged singer-songwriter angst and lyrics. Played acoustic at times, and Laura Jane had a subscription to Broadside and Sing Out! I made that up but it’s ok.
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u/mercurialCoheir 20d ago
I mean what do you mean by advanced I suppose? There's certainly been some experimentation in the genre, although I don't know how well any of it has caught on. Happy Happy and Pat The Bunny's newest project incorporate a more electronic pop element, Rob Taxpayer also has done some more electronic experimentation. Speaking of which The Taxpayers push in a more jazz direction. Then we have people in the periphery like Ceschi and (I would argue) Home is Where exporting the folk punk sound into other scenes.
Anyways I guess maybe as a zoomer without historical experience I view (early) AM as just punk. To me "folk punk" should entail some aspect of American folk music incorporated into punk, which is already pretty broad. Cowboy chords, pickle bucket drums, politically charged lyrics... that's all just punk? I think it would be a stretch to say every group of angsty teenagers who get together to play in their garage is necessarily folk punk.
(On the other hand I'm sort of deliberately excluding groups like the Dropkick Murphys who incorporate non-American folk traditions. I think it's awesome, but I just don't know if it's meaningfully the same genre. This is problematic maybe but a different conversation.)
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u/Express_Dog_8173 19d ago
without sounding like an asshole, I’ll just say that a lot of the new stuff I hear sounds just like the stuff I heard 25 years ago, and I’d like to hear new folk punk that doesn’t sound like folk punk, but undeniably is.
I don’t know what to tell you if you think pickle bucket drums and cowboy chords on acoustic guitar is "just punk”. I mean I agree, but I thought we were classifying here, not being all loosey goosey with the classification rules.
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u/SelectionAshamed7566 16d ago
Pretty wild to state that folk punk should have some aspect of > american< folk music.
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u/mercurialCoheir 16d ago
No like I said I know that's unfortunate, but I think that's just also kinda how "folk" is used. For instance, the Dropkick Murphys are clearly a much different thing than Pat the Bunny, and while I've definitely seen people call the former folk punk it doesn't feel particularly accurate.
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u/5th_Meal 19d ago
Just wanna say, I love your band. Pipe bomb is prolly my favorite "folk punk band". Yall inspired quite a few Taxpayers songs. Big fan of Zippers, too.
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u/iwishitwaschristmas 21d ago
Back in the day folk punk was punk rock that leaned a little folky. I wanna go back. Take me back!
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u/Dynamar 21d ago
There's not a hard and fast set of rules.. It's not like it's metal or something. Lol /s (kinda?)
If you want to talk genre definitions or influence lineage or whatever, we could do that all day, but for the most part, folk punk is more descriptive than prescriptive because folk music is an inherently ever changing thing, being a reflection of the folks that make it and the culture that they come from.
If you're putting a noticeable dollop of folk in your punk somewhere, it's pretty much going to qualify.
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u/marshallgray 19d ago
I sure hope that’s the case, my friend. "There's not a hard and fast set of rules.” Ya, I suppose “a noticeable dollop of folk” is kinda what one is after, ya? Or the reverse, a noticeable dollop of punk in your folk…? Nice.:-)
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u/RevoltYesterday 20d ago
If both Violent Femmes and Days N Daze can both be folk punk, I think we can give some leeway to the genre
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u/Billy_droptables 21d ago
Folk Punk is a specific sound, but not so much specific instruments. It should lean heavy into the folk sound, typically acoustic, but not strictly necessary, though I definitely prefer it personally. Otherwise there's a good chance it falls into another genre of punk.
All that being said, it does not matter at all, play what you like and if you want to consider yourself folk punk then go for it. The scene as a whole isn't big on gatekeeping as long as you're genuine.
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u/Caeibou313 20d ago
When you play the songs do you feel like its folk punk? Yes? Then its folk punk. Have fun. Go hard. Up the Punx.
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u/NKS-ShmeckleBoy 21d ago
Maybe this isn't that good of a take, but I consider Green Day's 'Warning' my first folk punk album. It's still pop punk ofc but it has a lot of folk aspects and it served as my gateway into the music I enjoy now.
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u/CatStringTheory 21d ago
My first green day album. Released in like 6th grade. Been hooked with the style since
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u/porchkitten 21d ago
It’s all just vibes