By Nick Mabey.
Punk rock, Disney songs and sausages; in the words of Maria Von Trapp, these are a few of my favourite things. And so it was I keenly put my hand up to interview Peej Edwards, singer and guitarist with South Wales on-line-turned-live band Punk Rock Factory, ahead of their forthcoming gig at the 1865 in Southampton.
Speaking to me from a studio in Cwmbran, where the band are rehearsing for their upcoming UK tour, I started by asking about their back story. The fearsome foursome knew each other through school and previous bands. Peej picks up the story.
“Punk Rock Factory was never going to be what it has turned out as, it was never going to be a touring live act. It was very much an online thing for a bit of fun.
“The factory thing was that we were just going to churn out covers and put them up online. We did a few songs (in 2014 when they formed) and then life took us in different directions. Then in 2019 we found we had some time again, so we came back to it and put an album out, which was a bit of a collection of guilty pleasure songs.
“But then of course COVID happened in 2020, and that’s when everything kicked off for us. It was a terrible time for the world but it worked quite well for us, because we were this sort of an online presence. Everyone was at home, no-one could go out and all they had was Netflix and TikTok. We were suddenly being seen by loads of people on socials. Us, Joe Wicks and Sam Ryder did really well out of lockdown.”
From there the band’s fame encouraged them to venture out into playing live, and so the touring began.
“We played the Engine Rooms in Southampton on our debut tour in 2021 and it was amazing. Probably one of our biggest and best of that tour. We’re really looking forward to coming back. The 1865 has been sold out for a while now and we can’t wait.”
Having played over 50 gigs now, and regularly selling out despite venues getting bigger, Punk Rock Factory have a clear identity and purpose, forged in the instant impact on-line world of TikTok. Peej’s personal music tastes are eclectic and wide; I was not expecting him to cite the Eagles and Queen, though Nirvana was more predictable. There’s also a lot of metal and skate punk influences among band members.
“We are a covers band and proud of it, I can’t see us ever doing our own material as Punk Rock Factory. If we are ever do our own stuff it will be under a different name; there’s a lot of bands wearing masks now, perhaps we’ll try that.”
Fresh from a lightning 10-day tour in Australia, Punk Rock Factory are clearly on the up and up. After twelve shows in the UK, mostly sold out, next stop will be fifteen dates in mainland Europe, and mostly in Germany, where the ‘wurst’ sausage references are sure to go down very well.
- Punk Rock Factory are playing The 1865, Southampton on Wednesday 1st November. Review to follow. The show is sold out, but dates over other forthcoming gigs are on their website, www.punkrockfactory.com
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