Råpunk – Swedish for ‘raw punk’ – was the apt name given to the country’s punk and hardcore movement in the 1980s, which birthed underground heroes like Anti-Cimex, Mob 47 and Totalitär. A DIY affair, and with music often even more aggressive than British bands like Discharge, G.B.H. and The Exploited, though small its huge influence can be found across the underground scenes that came after. Not least in future generations of Swedish bands like Refused and Raised Fist, as well as in the country’s death metal outfits like Entombed and At The Gates. Indeed, future Arch Enemy/Carcass guitarist Michael Amott earned his spurs playing guitar in the hardcore band Disaccord.
Råpunk is also the title of the new book chronicling the scene by David Andersson, a member of the band Identity, and editor of the punk zine Bubble-Bad. Collecting together a history of the music, an exhaustive look at its bands and their releases, plus an incredible wealth of photographs, it is a lovingly-compiled, beyond-detailed document, with a foreword by former Napalm Death and Cathedral singer Lee Dorrian, who was among the small group of UK punks to bring Råpunk artists to Britain.
To celebrate its release this month, here David shares a selection of shots from the book that celebrates an oft-overlooked, but brilliant, corner of punk history…