The Bad Engrish: Keepin’ the Street Punks Kicking
by Tim Wenger
“I got kicked out of Canada, I was 16,” says founder and front man Gordy Roscoe about an adventure across the bridge from Detroit into Windsor as a teenager. Perhaps being a little rough around the edges isn’t quite as appealing to upstanding Canucks as it is to the stud-sporting players in the street punk world, but then again, that’s why Denver’s own The Bad Engrish have found much more success in the world of oi! than in international security.
The group, a five-piece that resembles the early days of hard-core punk rock complete with studded jackets, brash first impressions, and (I’m guessing) a love for mail order catalogues, has become a household name in Denver’s punk community. “We started in 2009 in a small garage up on Federal,” says Gordy. The band played some of their first gigs at former Denver DIY spot The Wasteland and other such venues, finding a home amongst the all-ages punk rock community that has remained strong in the Mile High City throughout the coming and going of the trends of modern music. Shortly, the group found themselves touring the mid-west, putting out a record on New York’s Joe Pogo Records, and securing a strong fan base of oi! supporters around the country.
While that sounds like a lot to accomplish in just a few years, especially for a DIY band with nearly no budget, it is merely proof that hard work and solid marketing towards a specific audience can pay off big-time. The Bad Engrish spend a good amount of time touring the mid-west, a place they have found both easy to tour and easy to secure dedicated fans. “There’s so many cities close to each other, there’s a short distance in between once we do the eighteen hour drive to get there,” says Gordy. “There’s a big scene out there too.”
Street punk has been around since the seventies, and while time and evolution have twisted the punk rock world in a multitude of directions, Gordy still feels that there are new things coming out the scene and that The Bad Engrish are a solid part of what is happening. “There’s definitely progression in the genre,” Gordy says. “It’s pretty popular right now, it comes and goes, some years are better than others. But we’ve been true to ourselves and playing the same music for five years now.”
The Bad Engrish are also taking full advantage of the resurgence in the popularity of vinyl records, having put out multiple releases, with plans for a new comp and other releases this year. The band has put out releases on Joe Pogo Records, Oi! The Boat Records from Lafayette, IN, and are about to be on a compilation from Charge Records. “We’re mostly a Joe Pogo band though, they put out most of our records,” says Gordy. “My brother is in the Chernobyl Babies, they put their 7 inch out on there, and that’s how I was introduced to the owner of Joe Pogo. I gave him our demo that we recorded in our kitchen, he loved it, and he’s been putting out our stuff ever since.”
Upcoming, the band will be hitting the road from Seattle to Tijuana, Mexico in April with The Virus. The band credits online promotion and constant touring for the recognition they have received. “Tour , tour, tour,” says Gordy. “Kids from Tijuana are emailing us telling us what songs they want to hear, that’s pretty cool. They will also be playing the Fuck You We Rule OK festival in Tulsa, OK over the 4th of July weekend.
Online: facebook.com/thebadengrish
Category: Buzzworthy2
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