Shropshire Unsigned duo PUKK discuss their new record Feckless

It’s beautiful; PUKK frontman Joe Chalmers baring his heart and soul as he talks us through his little-known duo’s debut record, Feckless, and how it came to be.

Everything is DIY. The signed album cover, created using free software on Chalmers’ phone and individually stickered by the band. That disc, crafted to look like a record and hand-stamped before being sent off to critics and fans around the county.

And straight off, they annoyed the status quo.

“It originally started life as PUK, which was an acronym for ‘P***ed Up Karaoke’ – one of my old demo tapes which sounded awful,” says Joe, who turns 45 today. “I changed the name from PUK as there is a Finnish metal band with the same name. They weren’t pleased when our first single came out and was automatically listed with their songs on iTunes etc.”

It was an inauspicious start, but didn’t put the Irishman, who’s lived in Telford for four decades, off. Instead, he began a long and trying journey to make his dreams of releasing an album a reality. The amount of love and hard work that went into this is staggering.

“It’s only been the past five years that I started playing properly,” he adds. “I’ve tried on and off playing guitar since I was 20 but I never took to it. I’m now at a reasonable busking level. It’s not pretty but it’s functional.

“It’s taken a long time to get here. Better late than never!

“I paid for the album as and when I could get a few quid together. I bought and sold stuff, such as my guitars and amp and a bunch of vinyls to finish the album. It only took six days to record and mix. They were spread over two years though due to being skint. “I wrote all the songs on an acoustic guitar and brought them to Gavin Monaghan, our producer. I also roped in an old college mate Mark Beamson on drums.”

Gavin is a bit of a local legend on the music scene. And his reputation preceded him when Joe and Mark – 46 and also from Telford – got to work. “The first session with Gavin was a nervous affair but the end result was beyond my expectations. We recorded at Gavin’s studio, Magic Garden Studio in Wolverhampton.

“It has a great feel to it. Gavin and engineer, Joseph Murray, are welcoming and great people. It’s a really good atmosphere.

“The songs would be played to Gavin and we’d discuss what we’d do with them. Some stayed stripped down acoustic with Gavin adding keys. Others had me playing rhythm guitar and Mark on drums while Gavin added lead and bass to give the songs a full band sound. He’s a talented multi-instrumentalist.

“If you have an idea he can make it happen.”

Despite never having played live, PUKK are making (air)waves via the radio. BBC Introducing in both Shropshire and the West Midlands have picked them up, and their last single For The Birds caught the attention of Radio 6’s Steve Lamacq – an ‘unexpected mega bonus’. It’s not bad recognition considering the instrument nearly all the tracks were crafted on cost just over £25.

“My acoustic was bought for £26 and was found in a shed and then sold on eBay,” Joe says. “It’s a 1992 Yamaha F310 which is pretty basic. It’s old and battered, like me, and can still knock out a decent tune.

“The only track not recorded at Magic Garden was Rank Amateur. It was mixed there but recorded in my back bedroom on a knackered laptop using a £5 mic and free software. I’d made a proper mess of trying to mix it myself but Gavin took it and made it sound amazing. It’s a trippy musing about 1990 and was written about 10 years ago.”

With the music laid down the DIY aspects of the album’s production came to the fore.

“The CDs are vinyl replicas and hand stamped. I created all the artwork on my phone using free apps and had the sleeves professionally printed. I made the covers myself to keep costs down, not because I am a designer. I cut grass for a living!

“The vinyl replica CDs are as close to a real vinyl run as I could get on my budget. They are all signed by ‘Beamo’ and myself, stickered, stamped and shrink wrapped using my wife’s hair dryer. It’s DIY as much as possible.”

Due to having no cash for promotion, sales of Feckless have so far been pretty small. But Joe and Mark hope that by taking part in Unsigned this may change. While hard copies are only available from PUKK’s page on the Bandcamp website, it is more readily available digitally. But Joe hopes the chance to own something slightly unique by buying the CD will entice listeners to invest in the PUKK product.

“If people want to support PUKK, buying the CD from Bandcamp sees the money go direct to us and back into recording,” he says, adding that a four-track EP called Crashing will also be available by November.

For more information on PUKK, find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under @officialpukk and their ‘badly made’ website is www.officialpukk.co.uk. Copies of Feckless are available from www.bandcamp.com