Wonk Unit, the unique punk phenomenon born out of the South London town of Croydon, return with a new single ‘Cyclists’ that furthers the bands inimitable take on punk rock, and finds them this time taking aim at selfish cyclists.
“Last Summer on route to a festival on some country lane we were unfortunate enough to get stuck behind two cyclists, yes two abreast,” explains frontman Alex Johnson. “Did they care about the motorcade snaking behind them? Cause not! Go read the highway code – two abreast is cool but ONLY IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS. DO NOT OBSTRUCT THE FLOW OF TRAFFIC. It’s the rules. So, I was tapping my hands on the dashboard when the funk took hold. “Cyclists riding 2 abreast blocking traffic, blocking traffic”. Then I did some rapping (but thankfully that never made it onto the single.) After about three months the cyclists decided to fix a puncture and we made it to the festival. By then the song was already a Wonk winner in the van! We jammed it in soundcheck and was a hit in our set later that night. The end.”
The end result is just over two-minutes of uniquely additive wonk genius that once ingested, is almost impossible to get out of your system. In short, you’ll be humming this for weeks. That combined with a video that perfectly captures the songs frustrations and message, and we have another winning wonk track to add to the bands vast catalogue.
The band are now on their ninth album, curate ‘Wonkfest’, their own successful festival and are fuelled by their own super-proactive DIY ethos and individual sound, artwork and imagery.
The roots of Wonk Unit stretch back to 1992 with a band called The Flying Medallions who were young, dumb and up for fun, courting chaos and controversy at a time when punk was very much dead in the UK. Wonk Unit formed in 2005 and have since created their own ever-expanding peerless world of sound, colour, art and friendship. A creation that is inclusive to all…unless you ride two abreast in front of them when they’re trying to get to a festival, that is.