Embrace Punchbag’s freewheeling, cathartic rave-pop
“We might as well just say ‘go fuck it’ – ’cause we’re all gonna die die die!” vocalist Clara Bach shouts with carefree abandon. That’s the euphoric chorus of Punchbag’s debut single ‘Fuck It’, a blast of punk-infused rave-pop that embodies Bach and her brother Anders’ no-rules ethos towards making music. With his pounding drums and siren synths, it recalls Icona Pop and Charli XCX’s 2014 banger ‘I Don’t Care (I Love It)’ while tackling anxiety, fear of wasting time and low attention spans. “With everything we write, we’re always trying to push it and be uncomfortable,” Anders says. “We’d rather someone have an adverse reaction to our music than be like ‘ah, that’s kinda nice’,” Clara adds.
The south London duo have embarked on a long journey to reach this clear artistic vision. “We’re just clueless siblings who accidentally started working with each other,” laughs Clara. She initially pursued performance art at college and “made some jingles thinking I was Grimes on my bedroom floor”. Though she thought “they sounded really shit” and initially hid her voice in these early creations, Clara continued to sing and started writing too: “I thought ‘maybe I can learn to keep doing this and then it’ll sound good’.”
That all changed, however, when lockdown hit. Clara had gotten to the stage where she wanted to work with producers and, because Anders had studied music and played guitar at college, suggested he produce a song for her. “They were so bad, but we thought they were amazing,” he laughs. Nonetheless, it excited them, and they decided to take making music as a duo seriously.
With influences ranging from LCD Soundsystem and Pixies to Katy Perry (“her hooks are exactly what you want,” Anders says), it took several years until they understood their direction. “When we were first trying to work out who we are, the things we would make always sounded so different and, therefore, we didn’t think they fit in,” Anders says. “We were very much making pop stuff for years,” he reflects, “but we worked out there was this other missing element – the grungier side – which completes it.”
“We want people to feel able to laugh and cry at the same time” – Clara Bach
Enter “aggressive hopecore” – a phrase the duo coined to describe their sound, which fuses elements of pop, punk, indie, electro and rave. “We really have enjoyed trying to make a little soup of all that,” Clara says. “We like being unpredictable,” she adds, suggesting that this is the case whether the track in question is a slow ballad or a hyperpop banger. Punchbag songs are deliberately packed with contrasts, but there is a throughline: Clara’s voice. “We noticed that, on some songs, she sings like an indie band from the 2010s, and we soak that sonic nostalgia up a lot,” Anders explains. “That will always bind them,” Clara confirms.
Deciding on a band name in 2024 gave them the extra artistic clarity they needed. “That was the hardest five months of my life,” Anders laughs, recalling that they had loads of “rubbish ideas”. “It’s like naming a kid, but you already know what it looks like and they’ve already been in the world for a tiny bit,” Clara adds. After writing the defiant scream-along anthem ‘I’m Not Your Punchbag’ (their second single), they felt Punchbag suited their music because, as Anders says, “it’s attacking but also self-inflicting”.
They channel such physicality both in the studio and on stage. “Often when we’re writing, we’ll be standing up and it’s like ‘go, go, go!’” Clara explains. They’ll spend months perfecting a verse, and hours on finding the right kick drum. “It’s so guttural and honest and raw and fun to make.” Their frenetic, infectious performances have gone down a treat on the London live circuit – and beyond, thanks to YouTube videos – and started building word-of-mouth hype even before they released any music.
“For us, the live element is the most important thing, and it always will be,” Clara declares. Anders agrees: “you can’t argue with a live show – it’s raw and there’s literally nothing that can compare.” They value the “honest feedback” that comes from playing in front of people too; some formative sets (one of which saw Norwegian pop artist Sigrid in the crowd) inspired the duo to tweak some demos afterwards. “We learned so much,” Clara adds. “Even if you can’t see a single person’s face, you feel uncomfortable if something doesn’t work,” Anders says.
“With everything we write, we’re always trying to push it and be uncomfortable” – Anders Bach
While they always hoped their songs would connect with people, something felt distinctly different when they started performing as Punchbag. “We’re always making sure that we’re having as much fun as possible on stage,” Anders says. “It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but anywhere we play, it’s about finding the people in the audience that get it.”
For anyone yet to experience a Punchbag gig, prepare to get sweaty. “I scream at people until they’re jumping at the end,” Clara says, describing their energetic performance as “really heavy and, hopefully, joyful. We want people to feel able to laugh and cry at the same time. There can be anger in catharsis, but being truthful and brutally honest about things is important.” Anders continues: “It’s like we’re saying to the audience ‘this room is your emotional punching bag’ – it’s a place where people can get things out of their systems”.
All this comes to a boil in their razor-sharp debut EP ‘I’m Not Your Punchbag’, whose lyrics satirise social media obsession (‘Pretty Youth’) and fight back against toxic relationships (‘You Used To Be So Sexy’). “It’s a very quick crash course into Punchbag, no pun intended,” Clara laughs, adding that the four-tracker is just a taste of what’s to come. “We’ve got tons of music, we’re overcooking,” Anders teases. Adds Clara: “We want to keep people on their toes.”
Punchbag’s ‘I’m Not Your Punchbag’ is out May 2 via Mute
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Ben Jolley
NME
