“Neanderthal cyber-rock formed by god-like beings across the Balkans, Russia, China and the sweeping plains of Mongolia.” No, not the latest Disney knock-off from something George Lucas or Jack Kirby created before you were born – This is your introduction to the world of Punt Guns, a little band with big plans, currently based in London.
Punt Guns is a twin attack of baritone guitar, six string bass and a whirlwind of cinematic atmospherics and industrial depth charges thrown in for good measure. Gearing up to release a brand-new album, with new single ‘Nemesis’ out now and described as “a journey through dark corridors and forbidden zones”.
Cast your eyes over the accompanying videos, featured here at RAMzine and you might get a better appreciation of where the band is coming from!
Formed in 2017 by Marek Bero (bass/lead vocals) and Giampaolo Guarnieri (guitar/unearthly sounds), who allied themselves with crack producers Andy Wright and Gavin Goldberg, – Whose credits include the likes of the KLF, Jeff Beck, Simple Minds and Massive Attack.
Their debut album was a mix of skewed pop melodies, violent rock riffs and alien orchestras, barely hinting at the direction they were heading with their forthcoming release. Now augmented by drummer, Dan Western and guitarist, synth player and producer Jiri Novotny, their sound is derived from a sonic stew of classical, baroque, Balkan and Slavic music, soaked up by the band as their lives took them around the world, from years spent in such disparate locales as Mongolia, Slovakia, Italy, the Himalayas and Lebanon.
However, the band take their influences from outside the world of music also, not least maverick sportsmen (Giampaolo travelled the world as an extreme skier in a previous life) and film, with transgressive directors like Argento, Godard, Vadim andBava all casting shadows on their work.
Marek came up with the name “Punt Guns”. Long forgotten and then banned, this absurd gun with a gigantic, long canon was used to hunt fowls, leading to the angry duck that represents the band, as well as the ‘quacks’ that drown out any naughty words in the radio edit of ‘Nemesis’.
Esteban Ron in Buenos Aires designed the band’s logo, and came upon the idea by using an angry picture of Donald Duck and reducing it to the band’s own Punt Guns duckling. You’ll have to wait until later in the year to hear the new album in full, with work currently underway at the legendary Rockfield Studios (Queen; Pixies; Royal Blood) in Wales but new single ‘Nemesis’ is out now.
