It's London, 1978, punk is in full swing and a welter of snotty, angry bands have emerged from all parts of the city and its surrounding areas. Each is deadly serious about being anti-establishment and won't even brook the possibility of hitting the mainstream pop charts - that would mean selling out. One band, however, isn't afraid to be punker than punk and reject even the tenets of the anti-everything movement. Sham 69, from Hersham, west of London, have come together with an ear for a pop anthem and the attitude of punk. Unlike other punks, they don't come from art school and are known to be trouble. Under the tutelage of outspoken and yobbish frontman Jimmy Pursey, they stick two fingers up to the establishment both in and out of punk and the mainstream with a succession of aggressive songs that celebrate youthful swagger and street-gang glory: from Borstal Breakout's tale of defying the law to If the Kids Are United's chant of solidarity against mediocrity, they barge into the music world's consciousness like a battering ram. Thirty years later, they're just as snotty and still flicking the Vs at anyone who sneers at them - although now being in their late 40s and 50s, they aren't offering to fight as many people as they used to. And like swine flu wrapped in a dirty nuclear bomb, they're coming to Hong Kong. 'We're still definitely punk, otherwise we wouldn't still be doing it,' says Dave Parsons, the only remaining original member of the band. 'A lot of our audience now are young people who can relate to punk and need it as much as we did at the start,' he says. 'I have no interest in a nostalgia trip - this band is still evolving and while we still have something to offer and people want to see us, we will keep on keeping on.' A lot has happened to Sham since the late 1970s when the punk pandemic swept across the world, destroying complacent pop and progressive rock. The band collapsed and reformed repeatedly, and last year, Sham 69 sacked founding member and leader Jimmy Pursey. 'I sacked him,' Parsons says from Britain where the current lineup is preparing for a short Asia-Pacific tour that will take them to Australia and New Zealand before they headline a show at Backstage Live on Friday, May 15. 'He was ripping off promoters by taking advance money for tours - which he kept - and then cancelling tours days before we were due to start them, thus also ripping off the fans who had bought tickets. This situation just got worse year by year and in the end I just couldn't let it go on. His ego just exploded and he wasn't even concerned about the other members of the band. 'My opinion is that his lack of empathy is a mental problem and therefore not completely malicious, I have e-mailed him to start some sort of dialogue but have never had a reply. I certainly wouldn't consider having him back in the band.' Even when things were going well for Sham, problems persisted. Pursey was rarely out of the headlines for his often offensive outbursts, which garnered the unwelcome attention of Britain's right-wing skinheads. Sham were written off many times as a fascist bully boy band, a description Parsons is keen to dispel. 'The right-wing element was always a very small section and in my opinion has never had anything to do with punk. There haven't been any at our gigs for many years I'm very pleased to say,' he says. Sham is now as close as it has ever been to a professional working band and with the recent addition of former UK Subs bass guitarist Al Campbell, have become a last port of call for many old punks. 'This lineup is possibly the best I've had the pleasure to work with. We all get on really well and are 100 per cent behind the band all the time,' says Parsons. 'Musically the band has never been tighter or more full on. Sham has always had a constantly evolving membership.' In summing up the differences between Sham's 2009 and 1978 incarnations, it's difficult for Parsons not to take another swipe at his former bandleader. 'For the first time there is space for the whole band to contribute, and make full use of all our individual talents,' he says. 'With Jimmy this was not possible, it was more like working for a dictator. 'Also the fact that for the first time in 15 years the band is able to get out on the road and actually play to our audience, something Jimmy seemed to have no interest in. After all, punk rock is fundamentally a live situation, a meeting of band and audience, of communication. The fact that we're now playing all the time means that the band is really tight, this rarely happened with other lineups as we never played more than five or six gigs a year.' Punk has lost its potency over the past three decades as cartoon bands such as Sum 41, Fall Out Boy and the rest of the baggy shorts brigade denigrate its legacy of defiance by utilising their suburban popularity to sell fizzy drinks and computers in MTV adverts. Parsons keeps an open mind on the future of the genre, however. 'Every now and again we'll have a young support band that really blows me away, who really understand what punk is all about and are not just using it as some sort of fashion show. There is no uniform required for punk - just be yourself and be proud of it.' He still believes in punk as a force for change. 'Punk was about inspiration, it was all about getting people to believe in themselves and having the confidence to get up off their backsides and have a go. Sham 69's philosophy was always about bringing people together not dividing them. If the kids were truly united the possibility for positive change - whatever that may be - could be immense.' Sham 69, with No Name and Defiant Scum, May 15, 9.30pm, Backstage Live, 1/F Somptueux Central, 52-54 Wellington St, Central, HK$150 (advance), HK$180 (door). Inquiries: 9486 4648
