YCG Editor Kath headed along to a rehearsal room one evening to find out more about Jenkem Revolt…

Trying to actually interview Jenkem Revolt is a bit like playing that game, Two Truths and a Lie. The conversation is peppered with statements delivered deadpan straight, yet seemingly incongruous with expectations. For example, will they actually be covering Adamski’s Killer, will they be shaking maracas at their next gig, and are they really aiming to provide the soundtrack to the resistance? Any and all of these things could be true or false. As always, you’ll have to get to a gig yourself to really know the score.

This quintet broadly term themselves as hardcore punk, but tell me that their friend Noel (of local outfit The Sub-Gents) dubbed them as akin to ‘Minor Threat having a baby with Glassjaw’. As to their own birth as a band, it was actually matchmade for them. Alan Santos, originally from Bilbao, Spain, where he describes band culture as being 24/7, was looking to get together with like minded musicians in his new home of Scarborough. He was lucky enough to get chatting to Mister Jim (Jim Taylor, musician and Associate Producer at Beckview Studios) who listened to him talk about his preferred styles for about five minutes, before knowing exactly who to set him up with.

As we chat, we jokingly make the connection that they could be classed as a ‘supergroup’, because those matches include the remnants of two disbanded but much-missed local bands; Jonny May and Rob Grieveson from Olivine, and James Koppert and Ryan York from Our Own (Ryan also played with Satanic Malfunctions until a few years ago). Like many a local band, the family tree is convoluted and intermingled, but the fruit here is fresh; with their first gig having taken place in the summer as part of the Sound of Scarborough showcase events, they already have the honour of being set to perform on the line-up for next year’s Scarborough Punk Festival. Asked which bands or artists from the current local scene they’d most like to play with besides those they’ve already set a bill with, Serial Killer Glasses are the band whose name comes out most clearly. (Check out one of our recent features here for a flavour of SKG).

Musical matchmaking took place about a year ago, and whilst they started out trying a few covers, it was clear that was never going to be their passion (Adamski’s Killer aside; it’s currently 3 vs 2 on whether that one makes the set list). The writing process tends to start with Ryan and Alan, but is a collaborative melding as they all bring ideas together into the finished tracks. I learn that they are working towards recording an album in 2025, with about 8 songs in the bank so far, they are working on a few more to make the cut. After some years out of the musical circuit for most of these veterans, it is clear how much they are enjoying the experience again; and how comfortable they feel with each other.

In their rehearsal space (one they share with Active Minds and Ante-Inferno, and as local rehearsal spaces go, they know they are lucky to have a permanent base in a good location) they are welcoming, gently bantering with each other, and when it comes time to play a few songs, straight down to business. I’m witness to ‘Giz a Kiss, I’m an Anarchist’ and ‘Let Them Burn Bright’, a song about domestic abuse. Their ethos is anarchic, politically charged, and musically vibrant; I don’t want to give you spoilers, but as a taste of what to expect at a gig, I suspect there’ll be a thrashing, moshing swirl of appreciative movement.

You can see for yourselves this coming Saturday, 7th December 2024 – they are on the epic line up for the last night at Indigo Alley, joining Shindig, Graham Watson, Ten Foot Tom and the Leprosy Crooks and a whole host of others – the event starts at 4.30pm.

Scarborough Punk Festival takes place 29th & 30th March 2025. Click here for tickets.