Keeping punk alive with original music

Punktuation, a three-piece band of Te Puke High School students, is carrying the punk music tradition forward with original songs and energetic performances. The band features Will King on guitar and vocals, Jack Taylor on drums, and Ahliyah Reihana on bass. Formed last year, they won through to the Smoke Free Rock Quest Bay of Plenty final, winning the best song category with just their second original song.

The band has been performing regularly at Totara Street's monthly College Colab gigs, The Jam Factory at Tauranga Historic Village, and Blackbird Records in Te Puke. King explained their musical approach: "We are a punk band, we have a lot of punk songs, but we dabble in all genres, we take so many influences." Their only song on Spotify so far is called Procrastination, though they hope to release a full album soon. Punktuation will perform at the Loserpalooza festival on June 21, which is raising funds for Lifeline.

Originally published in Te Puke News by Sun Media.