South London sibling duo PUNCHBAG talk joy, self-worth, and the highs and lows of their debut EP “I’m Not Your Punchbag”.
South London siblings Clara and Anders Bach are the dual visionaries behind left-field pop supernova PUNCHBAG. Only emerging in February this year, the forward-thinking pair are writing their own rulebook, bringing undeniably infectious melodies with idiosyncratic yet often uplifting production picks.
They’ve just shared a rousing and resplendent debut EP, “I’m Not Your Punchbag”. The main thematic thread is emblematic of the title — these two won’t allow you to feel defeated. The four-track work showcases a wide reaching yet startling cohesive sonic identity, begging a multitude of questions: Where’s it come from? What’s next? The duo drop by Wonderland to reveal all.
Listen to “I’m Not Your Punchbag”…
Read the interview…
PUNCHBAG! Where does the name originate?
Anders: Hey!! The name actually comes from the song “I’m Not Your Punchbag”, which seems simple but took us months to realise that that was the perfect name, oh boy did we have a lot of bad ones, months of going into bookshops and opening books on random pages thinking we’d Rick Rubin our way to a meaningful band name on the page in front of us.
As siblings, was working together creativity always on the cards? Or was it something that emerged as you got older?
Clara: It was low key super random to be honest! We were both doing separate music stuff and then in lockdown I (Clara) wanted someone to make some demos for me to send to producers but we got really excited and just did it for about 4 years haha. And now we here.
Your approach is such an amalgam of styles. Where did the PUNCHBAG sonic approach come from? How did you work on merging your influences into this eclectic but refined identity?
Anders: Thank you! I think we’re always trying to push things as much as possible and our approach has always been to try and pair two completely opposite things together and always try and contrast things especially when it’s a challenge to get them to sit beside each other. I guess it could also be to do with low attention spans and all this damn brain rot.
What lies at the core of it? What is the essence of PUNCHBAG?
Clara: Agressive hopecore, joy, jumping, pink and yellow.
Congratulations on your debut EP, “I’m Not Your Punchbag”! How are you feeling about the release?
Clara: Thank you! Ahh it feels pretty damn good. It’s a crash course in PUNCHBAG (can never escape that pun, apologies) and it’s just a wee slither of what’s more to come.
Talk to us about its creation. What was the process? What was the most challenging aspect of putting together a body of work?
Anders: Trying to get our mic stand to stand up in Clara’s wardrobe. A spider web of tape and elastic bands is the key to a perfect recording. Writing it in Whitstable, Berlin and South London. It was all a lot of firsts, ‘Fuck It’ was our first statement into the world, ‘I’m Not Your Punchbag’ is where the name came from, ‘You Used To Be So Sexy’ was our first ever session and ‘Pretty Youth’ was the first song we made for PUNCHBAG.
What inspired the EP, both in terms of sonics and thematics?
Anders: We like The Pixies but we also like early Katy Perry so a big ol’ soup of them. We think of the EP as a phone peering into 21st century life for a day. It’s about right now.
What do you want a listener to take from the project?
Anders: A sense of self worth.
You’re active across the live sphere this summer with support slots for Zimmer90, festivals and your own headline show. How would you define your live shows? Rumour has it they’re raucous.
Clara: Hell yeh we are just in the van as we speak! We try and make them as sweaty and high energy as we can, but you will take what you want from it, so you’ve just gotta come see it! We’ve got our first ever headline show on the 29th may at Bermondsey Social Club that shall be hella special.
How do you translate your maximalist, energy-laden recordings into a cohesive live show?
Clara: I guess it’s cohesive in the fact that we really fkn care and we practise a lot but when we are on stage it is just one big sweaty joyous, jumping up and down kinda event. It’s just really fun to be honest!
What else is to come from you—this year and beyond?
Clara: We don’t wanna go to space but the sky is our limit.
