Following the success of their debut single Bad Odour, Hull’s explosive punk outfit Culture Clash return with the dramatic new single Sanitizer inspired by 70s & 80s slasher horror movies like Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), Basket Case (1982) & Maniac (1990).
Produced by renowned local indie producer Adam Pattrick & released on Warren Records, the track follows a serial killer called “The Cleaner”, a school janitor who, having been driven mad by years of messy teenagers, kills anyone who doesn’t clean up after themselves. With this song, the band were keen to create something grungier & heavier than their normal punk sound, which was initially inspired by Nirvana’s album Bleach, with songs like Swap meet & Floyd the Barber being a key focus, as well as The Misfits, with its horror-based theme.
Vocalist Kaii states “This song is important to me as it represents a shift in our song writing format. ‘Sanitizer’ takes Culture Clash as a group of vague floating ideas & shoves those ideas into a bag creating a tight concept of what we are as a band & what we want to do – in short, it gave us a sense of direction”.
The video’s a direct homage to various horror movies & follows the band being murdered by The Cleaner for various crimes against cleanliness! The deaths are mainly carried out practically with real fake blood & each is a reference to a different horror movie – Rymer’s death relates to The Evil Dead 2 (1987) with lots of blood, intense camera movements & facial expressions, Freddie’s death is a homage to Psycho (1960) with him being killed in the shower & Kaii’s death is inspired by Death Becomes Her (1992) as he gets a hole cut through his torso.
Comprising of Kaii Boulton (guitar, vocals), Freddie Abbott (bass, guitar, BVs) & James Rymer (drums, BVs), Culture Clash describe themselves as a three-piece noise making machine that mixes various musical influences with a big serving of distortion in a witch’s cauldron, who then serve it up straight to their audience. They focus on mixing many elements from their influences (The Misfits, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Nirvana, Bikini Kill, Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Pixies, The Cure & Talking Heads) to tell a narrative that they hope people will relate to.
According to Kaii, Culture Clash exists as a band because “the sky looked nice one day” & he thought it would make a good album cover! Having spent 30% of an early recording session talking with their producer about Star Wars (a mistake they will not be repeating), this determined group have learnt from their mistakes! Headlining gigs in their local area during 2025, Culture Clash are definitely on the rise. Be sure to keep up ….
AA
Aural Aggravation 