GOD SAVE THE SCENE: Here comes The Piss
Kent punk supergroup The Piss celebrate the grassroots music heroes of Medway with chaotic live gigs
Image - ZAAC-CORNWELL
If you wandered into The Ship Inn in Gillingham on a recent Friday night, you might have thought you’d been dropped into a punk gig circa 1978. Hand-printed posters peeling off the walls and a sweat-soaked crowd ranging from fresh-faced teens to grizzled punks reliving their glory days. At the centre of the chaos is not just any band - it’s The Piss, a deliberately-assembled punk supergroup of Kent musicians who are turning nostalgia into a celebration of grassroots music.
Born out of pure passion and a tongue-in-cheek Spinal Tap-esque nod to punk’s chaotic heritage, The Piss aren’t just a tribute band. They’re a living, spitting, screaming celebration of 1977-1982 British punk - and they’ve become a popular highlight on Medway’s live circuit.
They have been put together by Jak Miller (formerly of Chatham’s Underground Heroes), who handpicked each member to test out the idea of a “manufactured punk band” - à la Sex Pistols - just to see what might happen.
“I’d always wanted to do something like that,” says Jak. “It was meant to be a bit of a Malcolm McLaren passion project, something jokey. But we were genuinely shocked when the first gig sold out immediately.”
Jak brought together longtime friends and collaborators including Tom Turner (Strangeways, Sittingbourne) on vocals, Zac Schulze (The Zac Schulze Gang, Gillingham) on guitar, James Colley (Feed The Rhino, Strood) on guitar, Lee Munday (formerly of The Chisel and Chubby and the Gang, Isle of Sheppey) on drums and himself on base.
The band only play covers from a tight window of punk’s golden era, pulling from the Pistols, The Damned, Buzzcocks, The Ruts, The Clash and The Undertones. There are no original songs, no pretence and definitely no plans to ‘make it’.
And yet they’ve been packing out iconic Kent music venues like The Nags Head in Rochester, The Ship Inn in Gillingham and Three Sheets to the Wind in Rochester, each time bringing that low-ceilinged, elbows-in-your-face pub-gig vibe back to life.
Punk isn’t dead. It’s in Medway.
Punk has always had deep roots in Medway. It’s the birthplace of Billy Childish, after all, and while The Piss might lean heavier on irony, their presence is a marker of something very real: the Medway punk scene is alive, kicking and multi-generational.
“We’ve got 16-year-old kids with Mohawks jumping in the pit next to their granddads,” laughs Jak. “It’s mad. Whole families are coming. One of our fans even brought three generations - granddad, dad and son - to the show.”
That cross-generational love-in is part of the band’s charm. Despite their intentionally ridiculous name and antics, they’re serious about the DIY ethos that has kept punk alive for decades.
They rehearse locally at Overboard at The Ship in Gillingham and DEF Studios in Chatham Dockyard. Their gig posters and flyers are printed by Stephen at Reed Printers in Rochester. Merch is screen-printed by Alex at Bad News Press in Canterbury. Guitars? Set up by Kent’s own Vern Hampton (The Camden Shades). Even their future recordings will be done the retro way - lo-fi and analog at Ranscombe Studios in Chatham with producer Jim Riley, who plans to dust off all his old gear to keep things suitably raw.
“We’re trying to make sure that everyone we work with is Medway- or Kent-based and DIY,” says Jak. “There’s other people I’ve looked at now that press vinyl, that do cassettes and all that kind of stuff that I just didn’t know about - real boutique little companies doing it. It’s showing that even on the artistic side, people that make posters, or put on gigs or whatever, they still just got that kind of punk DIY mentality.”
Even the photos are punk - shot on expired 1984 Ilford black-and-white film. Grainy, imperfect and totally authentic.
This surge in punk energy didn’t come from nowhere. Over the past few years, Medway’s live music scene has been steadily roaring back to life, thanks to the tireless efforts of promoters like Ben at Crow’s Nest Promotions, Zac Schulze and Nathan at The Ship.
Events like Battle of the Bands have drawn huge crowds - even on Mondays - with 100-200 people regularly turning up to watch local bands throw down. That’s how Tom Turner first met Jak, and the seed of The Piss was planted.
“There’s so much happening,” says Tom. “Every genre, every scene - it’s not cliquey anymore. Everyone watches everyone. The amount of people that were there for that Battle of the Bands this year was incredible. Every year it just seems to be getting better.”
Zac and Tom both have serious music careers, with The Zac Schulze Gang and Strangeways playing high-profile shows (including the legendary 100 Club). But for them, The Piss is a chance to cut loose.
“I can take on a bit of Johnny Rotten, a bit of Joe Strummer, and throw in a bit of myself,” says Tom. “It’s about having a laugh, paying tribute and keeping the scene alive.”
The band only play a handful of gigs each year, partly to preserve that fresh, chaotic energy, and partly because everyone’s busy with their ‘real’ bands. But that’s also what keeps it special.
Coming up is Merry Pissmas, a festive punk blowout expected to be one of their biggest nights yet at The Ship Inn in December. After that? There’s talk of a Pisstival at a yet-to-be-announced brewery (with a custom beer, naturally called A Can of Piss) and a cassette-tape release.
“We’re not trying to take it seriously,” Jak says. “That’s the beauty of it. It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s a love letter to punk - and it’s Kent, through and through.”
In an era of algorithm-driven playlists and sterile venues, The Piss and Medway’s resurgent live scene are proof that real music - loud, messy, imperfect - still has a place. Whether it’s kids discovering The Ruts for the first time, or old punks belting out Ever Fallen in Love with a pint in hand, the spirit of 1977 is very much alive. And for The Piss, that’s more than enough.
