“Unhinged pop that is both infectious and confrontational”
CLASH Magazine
South London sibling duo PUNCHBAG today (2 May) release their highly anticipated debut EP I’m Not Your Punchbag – out now via Mute. PUNCHBAG have also announced their debut headline show at London’s Bermondsey Social Club on 29 May 2025.
So distinctive is the music that Clara and Anders Bach make as PUNCHBAG – where unapologetically sugar-sweet pop hooks clash with radical leftfield production; where emotional overwhelm can be purged in the space of a single throwaway lyric; where lines are blurred and redrawn between aggression and joy, softness and toughness – that they’ve had to come up with a term of their own to describe it: Aggressive Hopecore.
As that tag suggests, debut EP I’m Not Your Punchbag swings between dizzying extremes. “We want to be the most pop thing we can in a left-field context, and be the most left-field in a pop context,” says Anders. “We’re constantly playing with the idea of how far we can take each direction.”
Completing their debut EP today is new single ‘You Used To Be So Sexy‘ – a sweeping sad-banger which craftily reframes phone addiction through the lens of a toxic relationship. Proof that whichever way PUNCHBAG’s emotions swing, their central catharsis remains: “I think being able to dance about something really awful can be quite important,” says Clara.
Clocking in at just under 15 minutes, PUNCHBAG’s debut EP is a breathless introduction. Take ‘Fuck It’ for example, which opens the EP in a grand wash of entrancing synths, piercing beats. Clara sings of a life buffeted by anxiety and the fear of wasting time – “We might as well just say go fuck it!” she exclaims. “’Cos we’re all gonna die, die, die!” This central refrain might be viewed as PUNCHBAG’s manifesto, although “it’s not nihilistic,” Clara insists. “It’s more like, we only have so much time, so do the thing you want to do. Kiss the person you want to kiss, say that thing you want to say.”
The title track ‘I’m Not Your Punchbag‘ follows – a combative cut of razor-sharp pop that offers a message of defiance. “It comes from a ‘harmless’ small remark made to me at a dinner table once that really cut deep,” says Clara. “From this small seed, if you like, the song grew into a kind of anthem for fighting back – a refusal to let people dump their shit on you.” It was after writing it that they realised that ‘PUNCHBAG’ made a good band name too. “This song helps explain the band name and our ethos,” Clara continues. “It’s something to scream along to; a perfect therapy. ‘Don’t take it out on me, bitch!’”
‘Pretty Youth’, meanwhile, is a purge of manic synths and guitars, hinging on another of Clara’s instant-earworm chants: “Scammer! Conner! Thief thief thief!” It’s an anti-coming-of-age anthem, she says. “We’re sold that this is the most romantic time of your life, but really a lot of it is spent in the dark suffering.”
PUNCHBAG’s debut EP makes a perfect mirror for the relentless headfuck that defines modern existence. “It’s not escapism, we’re not making a fantasy world,” Clara points out. “It’s reflective of right now.” Nor, however, should this record be reduced to political tub-thumping. “We’re not chasing the news, or just writing about what’s going on – we’re making music that is about people’s reactions to what’s going on. Their feelings, emotions and thoughts,” she continues.
PUNCHBAG are the kind of band who think about all aspects of their art. Nowhere is this clearer than onstage, where their extreme duality is at is clearest. Their first ever show, on the storied stage of the Brixton Windmill, was less than a year ago, but from the off they demonstrated an uncanny skill for commanding a crowd. “We take it seriously,” says Clara. This steeliness is paired with a chaotic stage presence, defined by improvisatory dance moves and infectious energy. “At the end of the set, I just scream until everyone’s jumping,” she says. “We want it to be cathartic, but also really joyful. Joy is one of the things that you can’t really argue with, it’s not an opinion – you can either get involved or not.”
“We’d rather someone had a strong adverse reaction to our music than it be just played in the background,” says Anders. He needn’t worry, of course – PUNCHBAG’s chaotic, compelling, utterly cathartic debut is guaranteed to grab attention.
PUNCHBAG’s debut EP ‘I’m Not Your Punchbag’ is out now on Mute. PUNCHBAG play The Great Escape Festival in Brighton this month before headlining Bermondsey Social Club in London on 29th May. Follow PUNCHBAG on Instagram for news of more live shows in the coming months.
‘I’m Not Your Punchbag’ tracklist
- . Fuck It
- I’m Not Your Punchbag
- Pretty Youth
- You Used To Be So Sexy
LIVE DATES (info / tickets)
- 8 May – London, Heaven, London (supporting Zimmer90)
- 9 May – Manchester, Gorilla (supporting Zimmer90)
- 11 May – Glasgow, King Tuts (supporting Zimmer90)
- 13 May – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club (supporting Zimmer90)
- 14 May – Birmingham, O2 Institute 3 (supporting Zimmer90)
- 15-16 May – Brighton, The Great Escape Festival
- 24 May – The Hague (NL), Sniester Festival
- 25 May – Newcastle, A Stone’s Throw Festival
- 29 May – London, Bermondsey Social Club (Headline)
- 31 May – Paris (FR), Supersonic’s Block Party Festival
- 14 June – Bergen (NO), Bergenfest
- 17 July – Kristiansand (NO), Ravnedalen Festival
- 19 July – Nordfjordeid (NO), Malakoff Festival
- 15-16 Aug – Trondheim (NO), Pstereo Festival
- 29 August – Tromsø (NO), Rakettnatt Festival
