“We might be older and slower than we used to be, but that won’t stop us having the most fun.”
Interview by Sarah Williams.
In a year that’s been blessed with exciting ska-punk reunions, Stand Out Riot are the latest to bring us exciting news. It’s been four years since the Manchester/New Mills sextet have played together regularly, but they’re joining forces once again to release their 2007 album The Gentleman Bandits on vinyl for the first time.
The Gentleman Bandits is a stomping, brassy riot of fast ska-punk – good luck standing still when you get this on your turntable for the first time! Stand Out Riot take cues from bands like Streetlight Manifesto in their more complex composition, incorporating heavier hardcore sections and party-folk elements that are reminiscent of Gogol Bordello. Announced last week, the record is now available from TNS Records, in a gorgeous translucent blue and yellow splatter. If, like me, you want to expand your unnecessarily large collection of merch from defunct ska punk bands, you can also order a new t-shirt while you’re at it.
They’re also getting together for a one-off reunion show, headlining Anarchistic Undertones’ New Year’s Eve shindig at Gullivers in Manchester, accompanied by the likes of Revenge of The Psychotronic Man, Riggots, Wadeye, Habits and The Mighty Bossmags. On top of there there are rumours of more appearances next year, although nothing’s announced at the moment. Very exciting times indeed.
Sarah recently jumped at the opportunity to catch up with bassist Will Garland, to find out more about why they’ve chosen to get together now and what else there is to be excited about in future.

Apart from a one–off gig at Manchester Punk Festival in 2015, Stand Out Riot haven’t been together for quite a few years. What’s prompted your return to music?
Yeah, we haven’t had regular gigs since our last European tour back in 2013! Most of all, we really miss playing. It’s strange because we never really said we were going away – there was no farewell gig or last hurrah. The gigs just became less and less frequent because we got busy with our other lives. But now it’s been far too long and we’re very exciting to be playing again.
The band went through some line–up changes over the years. Who’s involved in the current incarnation of the band?
We’re back to a classic line up – almost the same as when we recorded The Gentleman Bandits back in 2010. We’ve known each other in one way or another for 25+ years now which is pretty crazy. Ben Streets on Drums, Francis Hunt on vocals and trombone, Hannah Hunt on sax, Tessa Hunt on violin and vocals, Ste Anthony on guitar and vocals. I play bass and do some vocals too.
What’s been keeping you and the rest of the band busy in the years without Stand Out Riot?
We’ve all done a lot of travelling, but also started settling down and getting real jobs. Hannah has gone around the world a few times. Tessa was in France for a year. Francis is in the US right now on tour with the Front Bottoms. I moved to Denmark to be a research scientist; that’s kept me super busy for the past 3 years. A few of us are now teachers. Ste is married and has a baby! Real life is pretty damn time consuming.
At the moment it looks like a temporary get–together for a few shows. Would you consider a permanent reunion?
We would love to be back playing regularly. For us in the past, we never made the band full time – it was always something we enjoyed doing in between everything else. When we were at school and university it was much easier to do that, but now we have proper jobs and responsibilities it’s very hard to co-ordinate that with all six of us. Continue reading “Stand Out Riot: Reunions, Releases and Rumours [Interview]”
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