About:
“Wonk Unit are a band from Croydon, known for their unique take on punk rock, their super proactive DIY ethos and cult like T shirt range.
The band are now on their 9th album. Curators of their own festival Wonkfest - the undisputed champions of the UK underground”.
The Wonk started life is 1992 when I formed a band called The Flying Medallions. We were young and very dumb. We courted chaos and controversy. Punk was very much dead in the UK at the time. We were super fresh and caught the eye of the mainstream media which championed our notoriety (similarly to Gallows and Slaves) until we crashed on tour in 1995. Sadly we lost our bass player Dougie Palompo.
I got sober in 1999
Wonk formed in around 2005. I hadn’t made any music for a while, everything felt so jaded and stale, so done to death, especially punk. Somehow I ended up in a rehearsal room with 2 insanely talented musicians, drummer Mez Clough and guitarist Gavin Kinch. Their playing lifted my songwriting. Suddenly everything sounded uber fresh.
Wonk Unit has always been about “me”. My songs are my diary. I make music for myself, exactly as I skateboard for myself and draw pictures for myself. I never wanted to force Wonk on anyone as it was such a personal thing to me. My original ethos which still stands to this day is that I would never ask for a gig or review or record deal or endorsement. Wonk only go where we are wanted and appreciated. I never needed the approval of others.