Folk punk
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Folk punk is a genre of music that combines elements of folk and punk rock music. There are two distinct types of folk punk. The first is artists like The Knitters - punk music musicians who play in a traditional folk style. There are also modern artists who perform acoustically in the folk style, this is the "riotfolk" genre.
Like much punk music in general, folk-punk tends to be quite political, most often on the radical left and anarchist side of the spectrum. Folk punk is seen as exploring the legacy of traditional American folk music, which often contained themes of working class solidarity and community resistance facing the encroaching problems of industrialization and modern capitalism. Classic folk songs such as "This Land is Your Land" and "Sixteen Tons" have been covered by folk punk bands.
While the genre has grown greatly recently, much credit to the establishment of folk punk in the USA has gone to Plan It X Records of Bloomington, Indiana for helping popularize the sound. Many staple folk punk bands are either currently on the label or have previously had some connection to it. Among these are Against Me! - perhaps the best known folk punk band - although their sound has been moving more and more towards general punk rock and has moved away from the DIY (do it yourself) ethic that is central to the genre. However, some of these bands don't actually have any real relation to (or even sound like) actual folk music. The only relation could be pointed at the use of "obscure" instruments (or instruments hardly used in punk rock) like a violin, banjo, or a mandolin. Other notable folk-punk labels and bands include This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, [Fistolo Records], (Philadelphia, PA) and the Riot-Folk! Collective
Other locations significant to the North American folk punk scene are Athens, GA and Gainesville, FL. There are also a few folk-punk acts from the northeast such as [Bread and Roses], The Can Kickers, [Evan Greer], and [Sharp Teeth], all from the greater Boston area. Also, Salt Lake City, UT has a large folk punk scene with bands such as [Bombs and Beating Hearts], James Miska, [xacrox] and xJoshx. The scene is also taking shape in Toronto, Canada with artists such as Timothy Cameron, and the collective based band PondScum, in DC with artists like Spoonboy and Rachel Jacobs, and Ohio, with the very popular band Defiance, Ohio (also involved with plan-it-x.). Kanadian Posi Kidz (http://kpk.revolt.org) is another collective label of folk punk artists from across Canada, mainly in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Edmonton, Alberta, and Calgary, Alberta.
Other significant folk punk artists and bands include ArnoCorps (www.arnocorps.com) Erik Petersen/Mischief Brew (www.fistolo.com): Chris Fredda: Madeline Adams (madelinesongs.com): The Heroic Livers (http://www.angelfire.com/ga4/theheroiclivers): Defiance, Ohio (defianceohio.terrorware.com); [Ghost Mice; Saw Wheel, Rumbleseat, Spoonboy,] ,Tennessee Whiskey Tots, American Lies, and the artists involved in the Riot-Folk! Collective.
In Great Britain, a revival of interest in folk punk and celtic punk was triggered by The Levellers who developed a huge live following amongst alternative music fans in the late 1980s and 1990s. Having played to the largest ever crowd at the Glastonbury Festival, the Levellers retain a devout following in the UK amongst students and left-wing idealists. The band were never as popular in the USA however, as a disastrous tour in their early days put the band off ever launching a large tour of America again.
A symbol commonly used by the folk punk music scene is the anarchy heart. This is similar to the anarchy symbol except that instead of the A being set in a circle it is set within a heart. This symbolises "love is freedom" while the A within an O symbolises "anarchy is order". This may have originated in northern Florida.
See also
| Folk music |
|---|
| American folk music - Anti-folk - Celtic music - Counterfolk - Filk music - Folk metal - Folk punk Folk-rock - Folktronica - Neofolk - Pop-folk - Psych folk - Roots revival - Urban Folk |
| Festivals - Folk dance - Folk clubs - Instrumentation - Protest song - Singer-songwriter - Traditions - World music |
| Punk rock |
|---|
| 2 Tone - Afro-punk - Anarcho-punk - Anti-folk - Art punk - Celtic punk - Christian punk - Cowpunk - Crust punk - Dance-punk - Dark Cabaret - Deathcountry - Death pop - Deathrock - Digital hardcore - Electro rock - Emo - Folk punk - Funny punk - Gaelic punk - Garage punk - Glam punk - Gothabilly - Hardcore punk - Post-hardcore - Honky punk - Horror punk - Jazz punk - Mod revival - Nazi punk - New Wave - No Wave - Noise rock - Oi! - Pop punk - Positive punk - Post-punk - Protopunk - Psychobilly - Punkabilly - Punk blues - Punk Pathetique - Queercore - Riot grrrl - Rock Against Communism - Scum punk - Ska punk - Skate punk - Streetpunk - Synthpunk - Taqwacore |
| Other topics |
| DIY ethic - Punk pioneers - First wave - Second wave - Punk subculture - Punk movies - Punk fashion - Punk ideology - Punk visual art - Punk dance - Punk literature -Punk zine |
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