As things have been going on in the background for the site, but no real new content has been posted in a couple of months, I wanted to post an update here for anyone who is following the site.
Originally I'd planned, somewhat randomly, for the site to solely be dedicated to the UK horror punk scene that I was re-discovering after several years pursuing other interests. I was - and still am - really digging finding new bands and wanted to do something vaguely creative to have an outlet whilst doing so. I had a blog and a name but a very vague idea what I was going to do - some reviews, the odd interview, some random playlists. No real grander plans aside from that.
But delving into the local bands delivering some killer releases in a genre I've always loved led me to widen my horizons. I realised very quickly that whilst I knew plenty of horror punk bands from around the world, there were dozens, hundreds even, that had passed me by. There were plenty of sites online showcasing them, but nothing really seemed to leap out at me as a place to go to discover the wide world of the genre. Seeing as I had this blog in it's early stages it seemed obvious to widen the scope a little. International reviews, a worldwide horror punk band map and list (because I do love a list) and just a wider view of the genre.
Moving into 2026, the horror punk world map has developed into something pretty cool, with over 1,000 bands on it at the moment plus a further 800 already penned in to be added in the next couple of months. After tinkering with some HTML, I also got a working template for the horror punk band list which, whilst still in very early days and not populated by more than one proper entry at the moment, is now setup to allow me to add many more bands quite easily. I'm restarting reviews, have some killer artwork on the way (and attempting to get 100% away from any AI art in the process any that I did use was always placeholder artwork until I got proper bits sorted) and my passion and enthusiasm is at a very high point!
Which leads me to the future. A UK based perspective will obviously remain - I am, after all, from here - but I am currently weighing up whether to change the name of the blog to 'Horror Punk versus the World' to better reflect the direction the blog will go in (and giving me a chance to get some killer b-movie inspired artwork in the process!). I've managed to somehow convince myself this will be a good change as I've written this post, but need to do some checking online to make sure the name hasn't been used before before making the change. So what will happen now in the future, if that change does happen?
- The world horror punk map and band list remain and will be the focus for the next few months. It's nerdy as hell sure, but I love lists and geography (yes, I know!) and from feedback from numerous bands this seems to be a genuinely useful resource.
- I will add a new section to the site retaining all the 'UK Horror Punk' bits, and still focusing on the UK scene. This hopefully retains my original view of what I was going to do here.
- If I do indeed change the name of the site, I will change address and everything - and fix any links that would therefore not work! Best to do this change before I add tons of content!
- I'm very keen on showcasing horror punk style artwork on the blog and will be, throughout the year, getting in contact with artists to hopefully do this. Not only because the artwork is sick, and it will make the blog look cool as hell, but any very minor thing can I do to shine a spotlight on artists alongside the focus on bands and the horror punk genre has to be a good thing. I will hopefully be commissioning artwork from various sources throughout the rest of the year.
- When I get the above sorted, and settle down a little bit, I'll see about expanding other bits - as always I've got 9000 ideas and time to focus on 2. Putting on some gigs down here in the south west of England is on my agenda (it's been 20 years since I put a gig on, time to get back to it!), a compilation would be cool, and down the line would be great to do some merch - but that's all very far off, and I need to put some proper content up here before thinking about most of that!
- The site will still remain horrendously and gloriously D.I.Y. Whatever I decide to do in the future it will be messy at times, always independent of any bands and labels and very much punk rock. At the moment it's just me, but hopefully that will change as the year progresses and I'm always looking out for similar minded people who are as insane as me and may share some of what I think the site could be!
Just want to finish up by thanking all of the bands and people who have reached out to me since I started the blog. I'm not going to get all sentimental here, but horror punk has literally saved my life this past year (and punk saved me 25 years ago too) and this blog is giving me something to really focus on and which - I really hope - will be of some use to people. The music deserves some more attention and if I can do that at all, even in a small way, and have some fun along the way that's pretty damn cool.
