While Manchester has always been a city synonymous with music, its punk scene has always played second or indeed third string to its more indie-orientated output. Enter Proletariat, a band who’ve been doing the rounds for scarcely a year, and who successfully bridge the gap between the snarling swagger of ‘70s punk, and the effortless cool of contemporary indie.
Despite their short space of time together, it’s clear that the Manchester four piece are already turning heads and ticking the right boxes. Having been personally asked to support Cabbage on their recent UK tour, not to mention selling out a headline show at Soup Kitchen in celebration of the band’s one-year anniversary, Proletariat are reaching milestones long before some of their more established contemporaries.
The band’s latest single, ‘Ignorance’ exhibits their trademark intensity perfectly, switching between the dark throb of brooding verses and the frenetic aggression of its chorus with effortless abandon. In a testament to Proletariat’s chemistry as a band, it’s a noticeable progression from earlier releases; the band’s recent run of festivals, such as Tramlines and Y Not, and live dates acting as a maturing process evident across the entirety of the track.
