The DIY Rock Revolution

Bomb Factory

- interview from Red Pages

In which Bomb Factory talk about about naturism,pop bands and their first explosion.

Bomb Factory is a three-piece punk-poetry group.
Sound strange? Indeed, this is not a boy-band. Their singer, who prefers to be known as "Ranting Jack", explains: "Basically, the idea is that I stand at the front and rant like a lunatic and the other guys stand at the back and produce a punk rumble."
Talking about their gig at The Junction last year, RJ describes the crowd reaction to Bomb Factory: "It's funny, I don't think people know what to make of it the first time because it doesn't sound like anything else." In his poetry, RJ's words are so full of politics, passion and anger that he spits them out like week-old coffee. Their trademark song, Bum Cambridge Burn describes the divide between Cambridge the university town and Cambridge the residential hamlet. During his chat with Red Pages, RJ amiably talks about capitalism, resource re-distribution, guns, swords and the cost of living in Cambridge. When we suggest anarchy, he's all for that as well.

So is it all just political gumph? Well, when Red Pages expresses a preference for naturism over anarchy, RJ is up for that too. "We've got a sense of humour" continues RJ, whose song topics range from night bus journeys and obliterating pop music from the face of the Earth.
Or maybe everything does revolve around politics: on the topic of pop bands, RJ adds; "Up yours to a trash celebrity elite created in boardrooms to keep you passive and obedient." Red Pages trusts that this doesn't apply to Kylie.

But back to the musical stuff. Bomb Factory have built up a decent reputation in a very short space of time. Having been together for just 18 months, they've already had some interest from record labels and are just about to launch their first vinyl release with Attila the Stockbro-
ker, a fellow punk poet who has been in the business for over 20 years. RJ explains that Bomb Factory supported Attila the Stockbroker when he played a gig in Cambridge last year: "He really liked our stuff and off the back of that, he agreed to put out a coloured vinyl seven inch with us. His music is on one side and ours is on the other."

And so Cambridge gets a double-bill of punk poetry once more when Attila and his band Barnstormer return to launch the split single. Red Pages wants to know what the audience should expect from Bomb Factory on the night. "A punk rock explosion", declares RJ, "plus some anger, passion, humour and inspiration. Do-it-yourself rock revolution is what we're about."

The Bomb Factory / Attila the Stockbroker split 7 inch asingle is out now on R*E*P*E*A*T Records