CityLife

Bye Bye Johnny rise from the ashes

BLESSED: Bye Bye Johnny

"WE’VE GOT divine intervention on our side," exclaims Danny Seasman, singer in Rochdale punk upstarts Bye Bye Johnny.

“There must be forces from above making sure this band are here today.”

But Readers, please don’t run away – Bye Bye Johnny are, thankfully, not God-bothering rockers here to preach and sermonise. Rather, they’re a unique punk band blessed with the most divine kind of fortune. 

To explain: Just over a year ago, the band’s rehearsal rooms, housed within a huge warehouse complex in Rochdale, were burnt down in a devastating fire.

Witnessing the vast plumes of smoke and ash stretching over the skyline, the band feared the worst – that all their musical instruments had gone went up in flames.

“That’s the bizarre thing,” says Danny. “All our instruments survived! It was like some miracle. The whole of this building burnt down to the ground.
“It was just this pile of rubble and ash. But this one little room, which stored all our instruments, was safe. There was barely a scratch on our guitars and equipment.

“I’d call that divine intervention – someone wanted us to continue making music.”

Fast forward to the present day and Bye Bye Johnny have firmly made the most of their second chance.

Propelled by that potentially fatal fire drama, they Bye Bye Johnny have risen from the ashes to cause a few punk rock infernos of their own on the Manc music scene.

Of all the bands emerging from Manchester’s underground punk scene, it’s Bye Bye Johnny who seem the most brashly militant.

Armed with a riotous set of yob rock anthems (like a more tanked up Buzzcocks) and a pugilistic old-school punk philosophy, they Bye Bye Johnny are like a one-band mission to reacquaint Manchester with its punk roots.

Year Zero

For this band, Manchester music’s Year Zero will always be 1976, the year The Sex Pistols played the Lesser Free Trade Hall and punk rock revolution seemed ever so enticing.

“Alternative music has become so commercialised,” says Danny.

“We’re living in a culture where indie-rock bands are just the norm. And what’s worse is, they just all sound the same.

“Everyone is jumping on this indie bandwagon and hoping to get signed. But there’s no soul in those bands. We want this band to offer something different – to kick against all that rubbish and make it on our own terms. That’s how punk started and that’s what we’re all about.”

If punk music is all about proving your credentials, then Bye Bye Johnny boast a most formidable CV. All five members of the band – singer Danny, drummer David Yazdi, bassist Russ Davies and duel guitarists Dean Hulse and Johnny Rib – were young punk fans on the Rochdale band scene and they religiously attended gigs by local heroes like The Ciderfects.

Danny explains: “People forget that Manchester, and Rochdale in particular, has this amazing history of punk music. Rochdale has this whole scene of older punks, all first generation punks, who discovered bands like The Clash and The Sex Pistols first time round.”

 Johnny adds: “We used to knock around with all these older punks and through them we discovered bands like The Buzzcocks, The Ramones, Rancid. That’s basically where we got our education in punk music.”

Emerging with first-class honours in punk rock history, the five youngsters formed Bye Bye Johnny – the punk children determined to make Manchester music rage with anarchic venom once again. 

Combining a DIY ethos with a love of the classic punk canon has left these five young men with a twisting and grungy gothic arsenal of pop-hearted but abstract anthems.

Punk music

“It’s important for us to make relevant punk music,” insists Russell.

“We used to like Green Day when we were 13 but I don’t think they’re relevant any more. They’re just middle-aged men who aren’t in touch with what’s going on in the world.

“For us, punk music is about having your own sense of identity and doing things without compromise. I think the Arctic Monkeys are more punk rock than most bands around now.”

And like all the best punk bands, Bye Bye Johnny have urgency foremost in their minds. Following that career-propelling fire incident at their rehearsal room they (‘Horrible – we can’t believe how lucky we were’ says Danny), Bye Bye Johnny have barely paused for breath over a breakneck 2008.

Relentless gigging in the past twelve months has brought their punk rock revolution from the dingy pubs of Rochdale to the larger venues of city centre Manchester. But Bye Bye Johnny have no interest in just parochial stardom.

“Manchester’s an easy place to become recognised,” argues drummer David.

“In Rochdale, where we come from, you have bands thinking they’re big ’cos they have 20-30 people coming to see them.

“But you’ve got to look beyond that. We’ve played sold out gigs in Manchester and we’re building up fans outside of the north west.”

One of those fans is a certain Liam Gallagher, a man not usually known for expressing a love for anything that isn’t The Beatles. 

“Liam Gallagher is a fan, yeah,” says Danny. “We blagged our way backstage at an Oasis gig and he’d heard our stuff! Liam loves punk music but people often seem to forget that.

“His favourite album is Nevermind The B**locks and his singing style is influenced by Johnny Rotten. It’s amazing that he knows who we are.” 

Divine intervention AND Liam Gallagher? It seems Manc punk rock revolutions can bring out the most unlikely of fans.

Bye Bye Johnny play The Roadhouse on Saturday, December 6. For more info visit – myspace.com/byebyejohnnylive.