The Young Punx
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The Young Punx are a UK based electronic dance music act whose eclectic and energetic style encompasses french house, nuskool breaks and drum and bass, mashed up with elements as diverse as 1980s pop music, heavy rock, disco and glam rock.
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[edit] Personnel
The Young Punx's music is created by producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer Hal Ritson. He works in collaboration with Cameron Saunders on songwriting, production and DJing.
[edit] Bootlegs, mash-ups and white labels
They initially came to prominence in 2003-2004 after releasing a string of white label bootleg dance records which drew attention by sampling unlikely source material such as 80s Madonna tracks (foreshadowing the trend for 80s pop sampling records in the following years), Heavy metal such as Motörhead's "The Ace of Spades" and pop culture trends such as The Matrix movies. "Got your number" - their tongue-in-cheek disco house bootleg of the iconic 118 118 (UK) TV adverts featuring music sampled from the Rocky theme gained widespread attention in late 2003 after BBC Radio 1 DJ Judge Jules played an mp3 of it on his show. Despite having only been created as a joke, the track became a UK clubland phenomenon. It was put at 25-1 odds to be Christmas Number One by William Hill bookmakers, featured in The Sun newspaper, signed to EMI and entered the UK Club Chart Top 10. However the full commercial release of the record was ultimately cancelled due to legal wrangles.
In 2005 The Young Punx produced a satirical remake of Mylo's "Destroy Rock & Roll" entitled "Destroy Celebrity Crap" which replaced the original's list of 1980s pop stars with a list of the main celebrities who were currently dominating the UK media in a lighthearted backlash against the dumbing down celebrity focus of the media. Distributed for free on mp3, the track received in excess of 20,000 downloads within one week after exposure in Popbitch newsletter.
[edit] Remixers
Building on their reputation as bootleg remixers, which lead to them being voted number 2 bootleg remixers of 2003 by listeners of BBC Radio One, The Young Punx have increasingly become one of the most in-demand remix artists in the UK. Some of their most well known mixes include "Hideaway" by De'lacy, "Stoned in Love" by Chicane and Tom Jones, "Come on get it on" by Studio B, "I like girls" by Hound Dogs and "Rocket (a natural gambler)" by Braund Reynolds along with tracks by the Scissor Sisters, The Similou, Krafty Kuts and Space Cowboy.
[edit] Original material
The Young Punx have released a number of original tracks commercially on vinyl and mp3. 2005's "Young and Beautiful" was described by Fatboy Slim as "The most insane/catchy song I have heard all year".[1]. 2006's "Rockall" continued their trend for incorporating elements of popular culture into their work through sampling and re-editing the shipping forecast as read by BBC radio 4 announcer Alan Smith.
[edit] Live performance
In addition to performing as a DJ duo, The Young Punx have started performing as a four piece live act including guitarist Guthrie Govan and vocalist Tiffany Gore.
