Alex ready to bring Wonk and awe to Tooth and Claw
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
You would expect that Alex Wonk might have seen everything by now.
The frontman and creative force behind Wonk Unit – one of UK punk rock’s most interesting, diverse and plain fun bands since their formation in 2006 – has had more than 25 years on and off in the music industry. Over the years he’s been part of a band signed to a major label, toured the world, and started his own all-day punk festival at Tufnel Dome called Wonkfest.
Yet he’s still discovering new things, new places. When Wonk Unit travel to Inverness for their gig at the Tooth and Claw – bringing their friends The Raging Nathans from Dayton, Ohio along for the ride – it’ll mark the furthest north the band have ever been in the UK.
“The last UK tour we did was in November, and so this tour now we’re hitting the cities we didn’t play on the last one,” Alex said. “So it’s quite nice, you know, we’re gradually ticking them all off the list, you know?”
“On the last tour, we actually played a couple of cities that we’d not played before, and it’s really interesting to see where Wonk Unit are as a band, you know – how we’re doing.
“The cities we’re playing now for the first time, we’re getting really great turnouts! I think the Wonk are slightly transcending the punk rock scene – we’re dancing across both worlds a little bit.”
But then Wonk Unit have always been slightly more diverse than straight punk rock – their songs jump from straight punk rockers to country-tinged efforts, from quasi-ska riffs to soft acoustic numbers.
All of these are underpinned by Alex’s lyrics – sometimes wry, often blunt and, since third album Muffy, almost always coming from the poetry that he has been writing for more than 20 years.
Coming from a career as a builder and plasterer, Alex enjoys the irony of playing with people’s perceptions. “It’s funny, because everyone thinks your average builder is a Sun-reading Neanderthal, you know what I mean?
“It used to make me laugh because there’d be me going off and writing and having poetry published in newspapers across the world and this and that. So I quite liked that, this builder ankle-deep in mud doing a footing, laying concrete, breaking his back – and at the same time he’s been going off in the evening to read poetry to BBC executives.”
It’s an approach that’s worked for Alex so far, making his words something special. “I wouldn’t write these poems if they didn’t mean anything to me. Poetry for me, the poems that end up on my blog, there’s like a burning desire to get them out of me, you know – I have to write them out of me.
“So when I bring them to life by adding music to them, so they suddenly become something even more special to me. I think everything’s very very honest.
“I just think we make very honest music and I think people relate to that – I definitely write about the every day, I don’t think I write about anything that your average person couldn’t relate to, you know?”
He isn’t kidding. Over six albums and countless tours, Wonk Unit have built up a fanbase across punk rock and beyond wherever they’ve gone.
It vindicates Alex’s decision – not that he would ever need vindication – to start making music again in 2006 – a decision that was inspired by the rise of MySpace as a way for bands to get their music out there.
As somebody who was previously signed with a major label as part of short-lived hellraisers the Flying Medallions, he has a foot in both the old worlds and the new of the music industry. “Back then it was about being successful. We didn’t care what we was doing, we were crazy, but back then music was seen to us almost as a career.
“So when I formed Wonk Unit, I hadn’t made music for a few years prior to it and I made music purely FOR me – for no other reason than the fact that I was just going to form a band
“MySpace changed the playing field for musicians, you know – it levelled the playing field, you know. It enabled small bands to function and tour and stuff like that, you know – that was a complete revelation to me.
“So here I was just making music for myself, but because of the likes of MySpace and then Facebook, suddenly my music was getting out to audiences – it’s just been amazing to have lived in both worlds.”
Now that Alex is making music again – and making music on his terms – he doesn’t want to stop. “It’s the most simple reason – I make music because I love making music.
“Gigging is such a buzz, to this day gigging for me is a huge release – I’m an alcoholic, I’m a drug addict, and I’ve been sober for 19 years, so for me music and gigging is a huge release, you know. Music for me is so enjoyable, it’s not something I have to force.”
Reaching this point now after his early days in the Medallions, seeing music as a career, Alex – now 45, still touring the world, still seeing new places – sounds content.
“I remember in my late 20s thinking, ‘ohhhh, if I haven’t made it by the time I’m 30 I’m giving up music.’ And it’s such a strange concept to me now, you know?
“I travel the world in my punk band – it’s incredible, I have the most amazing life! And you know it’s just funny. I’m just grateful for everything I’ve got with Wonk Unit, you know. I love what I’ve done, and the opportunities that it’s given me, it’s been mental – it’s great!”
Wonk Unit play the Tooth and Claw, Inverness on Tuesday(, APRIL 24) alongside The Raging Nathans. Doors open at 8pm. Tickets cost £8 (plus booking fee) and are available from behind the bar or online at Skiddle.com
