PUNK: The Last Word - (or is it?) - a no doubt lively panel debate

As we approach the 50th anniversary of punk, our #Louder2025 Punk Panel promises to be pertinent, informative and hell of a debate! Chaired by Louder's John Robb, we canNOT wait!

Delving deeper into the birth of punk than ever before, Punk: the last word is an explosive chronicle of the movement that shook the world between 1975 and 1979. Authors Chris Sullivan and Stephen Colegrave piece together the chaotic, frenzied, and often incoherent world of punk with unrivaled insight, capturing its raw energy and rebellion as it burrowed through Andy Warhol’s Factory and the early 1970s New York underground, emerging triumphant, kicking and screaming at the top of the British pop charts.Comprised of original interviews with the era’s most iconic figures—Don Letts, Adam Ant, Siouxsie Sioux, Howard Devoto, Glen Matlock, Mick Jones, and many more—this book is a vivid, firsthand account of punk’s rise and explosion.‘Punk has become a word that denotes an attitude, a tenet, a philosophy used by people who have never heard of The Sex Pistols or The Clash. It is all about rebellion, individuality, much more than just a music genre. So, this book is about an attitude and a viewpoint, not just music.’

Russ Bestley and Mike Dines join us from the Punk Scholars Network (PSN). From its rather humble beginnings, the PSN has transformed into an international forum for academic and scholarly debate, conferences, publications, talks and public exhibitions. Punk is a conflicting and diverse culture, and the Punk Scholars Network aims to mirror this multiplicity through a genuinely interdisciplinary approach to our subject and the contribution and participation of punk scholars, fans and enthusiasts within and outside traditional models of academia. Taken from the PSN's mission statement, their approach perfectly encapsulates the spirit of our #Louder2025 Punk Panel:

The PSN endeavours to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices of academics, including those of any age, gender, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability and ethnicity. Core to the values of the PSN, therefore, is the creation of an environment where anyone, from any background, can feel safe in presenting, discussing and disseminating their research in the areas of punk and post-punk.

Helen McCookerybook brings the perspective of a performer, writer and a teller of actual lived stories of a she punk.

Ryan Walker is a writer and musician from Bolton. He lives in Manchester. He is a member of Volk Soup, Quick Drop and formerly, Gad Whip. He is passionate about the preservation of independent culture and believes everything in life to be rooted in the true spirit of Dub.

Panel Member Bios:

Chris Sullivan has been a key figure in underground style and music since the early 1970s. At 18, he pioneered the UK’s first warehouse parties while studying at St Martins. He founded The Wag Club in Soho, which he ran from 1982 to 2001, and fronted the Latin punk funk band Blue Rondo a La Turk, who sold over a million records and toured worldwide. A renowned DJ, Sullivan has played for stars like George Michael and Paul Weller and regularly performs at festivals such as Houghton and Secret Garden. He hosts a regular show on Totally Wired Radio and is also an artist. As a journalist, he was GQ style editor and contributed to outlets like The Times, The Guardian, and Italian Vogue. He's also an author of books such as Punk: A Life Apart and Rebel Rebel: How Mavericks Made the Modern World.

Stephen Colegrave is the cofounder of Byline Times, Byline TV and Byline Festival. He has also co-authored several publication including Inside Music 2005, and Leee Black Childers’ Drag Queens, Rent Boys, Pick Pockets, Junkies, Rockstars and Punks. Previously he was international marketing director of Saatchi and Saatchi, a trustee of the Young Actor's Theatre and a film producer as well as curating rock art exhibitions around the world.

Writer and designer Russ Bestley is Reader in Graphic Design & Subcultures at the London College of Communication. He is lead editor of the journal Punk & Post-Punk, series editor and art director for the Global Punk book series (Intellect Books) and a founding member of the international Punk Scholars Network. He also writes regularly for Vive Le Rock magazine. Russ recently designed Pauline Murray’s autobiography, Life’s A Gamble, along with Ian Trowell’s Throbbing Gristle: An Endless Discontent and Barry Phillips’ In Search of Tito’s Punks. His most recent book, Turning Revolt into Style: The Process and Practice of Punk Graphic Design charts the story of a seismic cultural shift in the music graphics industry that was to have a lasting impact for decades to come. His research archive can be accessed at www.hitsvilleuk.com.

Writer and designer Mike Dines is a British musician,writer, scholar and publisher. He founded Itchy Monkey Press with thepublication of the anarcho-punk novella thedarkening light (2014), followed by TalesFrom the Punkside (2014), Some of UsScream, Some of Us Shout (2016), and AndAll Around Was Darkness (2017) withGreg Bull. As a scholar he has written widely on subcultures and popular music,co-editing The Aesthetics of Our Anger:Anarcho-Punk, Politics, Music (Autonomedia/Minor Compositions, 2016), Punk Pedagogies: Music, Culture and Learning(Routledge, 2017), The Punk Reader: ResearchTransmissions from the Local and the Global (Intellect, 2019), Punk Now!! Contemporary Perspectives on Punk(Intellect, 2020), and Trans-GlobalPunk Scenes: The Punk Reader Vol. 2 (Intellect, 2020). His chapter, ‘ArtSchool Manifestos, Classical Music, and Industrial Abjection: Tracing theArtistic, Political, and Musical Antecedents of Punk’ has been recentlypublished in The Oxford Handbook of PunkRock (2020). His current writing takes him in the direction of punk andspirituality with the co-edited collection Exploringthe Spiritual in Popular Music: Beatified Beats (Bloomsbury, 2021). He iscurrently Programme Leader for BA (Hon) Music at Middlesex University and anavid supporter of Portsmouth Football Club.

Helen McCookeryBook played bass with Brighton’ punk band Joby and the Hooligans in 1977 (‘the worst band in Brighton’), before forming The Chefs and recording with local label Attrix Records (compilation here: THE CHEFS - Records & Tea: The Best of The Chefs and Lost Second Album - Damaged Goods). Several John Peel sessions later, they disbanded and she formed Helen and the Horns, again Peel favourites (compilation here: HELEN AND THE HORNS - Damaged Goods). After realising on signing to RCA records that independence had more appeal than fame, she worked on estates in London’s Southwark as a music worker before entering academia. During a career at The University of Westminster and the University of East London, she wrote two books, The Lost Women of Rock Music The Lost Women of Rock Music: Female Musicians of the Punk Era - Equinox Publishing and She’s at the Controls She's at the Controls; Sound Engineering, Production and Gender Ventriloquism in the 21st Century; Helen Reddington - Equinox Publishing, and made a DIY documentary, Stories from the She-Punks; music with a different agenda with long-time collaborator Gina Birch. In January she released Showtunes from the Shadows (Tiny Global) Showtunes from the Shadows, by Helen McCookerybook and continues to tour as a solo artist/songwriter, as well as creating documentary illustrations of working people she comes across on her travels.

Ryan Walker is a writer and musician from Bolton. He lives in Manchester. He is a member of Volk Soup, Quick Drop and formerly, Gad Whip. He is passionate about the preservation of independent culture and believes everything in life to be rooted in the true spirit of Dub.