I’ve always enjoyed a dose of dark & toilet humor – I
privately enjoyed reading Viz and listening to the Macc Lads ‘The Lads from
Macc’ CD when I was a youth. So when I saw Kunt & The Gang perform live at
Rebellion Festival it was hard not to enjoy it. It features the kind of lyrical
content that in the context of yesteryear, would fit right into those references,
yet in todays post-woke world, it is grounds for a social media witch hunt. No surprise
then when reading his autobiography ‘I, Kunt: How I became (and remained) and
minor internet hit singer’ that he cites
Viz as an influence, and media outlets refer to his musical output as ‘the new
Macc Lads’. It has its own unique identity beyond that though - and whilst not fit for public consumption, can be enjoyed in its own sub-cultural context.
Having seen him play live three times (twice at Rebellion
Festival, and once at Fab Café in Leeds), I always found that his songs stuck
in my head for many days after the shows. It’s no surprise then to find out in
his book how he uses popular strong structure methods employed by chart-topping
writers and strategies used by people who make advert jingles. In the book he
strips it all bare (not that kind of bare, although there are plenty of anecdotes
dropped in on that front), he provides a fully open insight into his life,
music, and touring life. This is what makes the book gripping – its integrity
and passion for everything he has done. They often say that the best wrestling
gimmicks are those that are an extension of the persons character – well in
this case, reading deeper into the life and mind of ‘Kunt’ – this is what made
him such a great musician/comedian – it is very much that, and not a front for
a bored suburban middle class insurance broker to provide an outlet for his repressed
feelings (you only have to read some of the books written about the Macc Lads
by their fans to witness that in written form – insert sick and embarrassing emoji
here). I digress, his ‘art’ is very much
an extension of the man behind it all, and whether you care to admit it or not,
there is a lot in here (the music and the book) that you can probably relate to.
The book goes through his childhood, life as someone just
starting off in the music business whilst working part time at the council, and
then the majority of it, covering his musical endeavors as Kunt & The Gang,
which is the real highlight - especially the tour diaries & the tales of disastrous gigs. It made me re-listen to some of his classic
material (much of it documented on his two greatest hits album), ranging from
the dark ‘Let’s send Nan to Dignitas’, to the toilet ‘Wank Fantasy’, and if you
want to dive it at the deep end of ‘Here’s how to wind up a gammon for dummies’,
then ‘Meet Jade Goody’ and ‘Shannon Matthews the Musical’ are the dirty heights
of outright wrongcockery / see you in hell epitaphs.
The book and his music are probably fit for certain people,
who can appreciate the Ying and Yang of this world, yet it was pleasing to hear
that all of his output had been added to the National Archives, so this unique
cultural insight into an unreported world will be forever vaulted in the confines
of history. You are probably only going to read the book if you are fan, and
that is probably expected from it’s conception, yet if you are a ‘Kunt’ virgin,
and end up checking out one of the aforementioned songs, then be careful, you
also may get flushed down the toilet bowl, and find yourself secretly enjoying
it and wanting more.
