2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Pete Holidai: 'We can't just sit still and do nothing. We have to try fight'
Irish punk legend Pete Holidai says people must 'join together and resist against this push to racism and fascism,' as he drops his newest album Electric Jukebox Volume One.
Pete, who was a founding member of Irish punk icons The Radiators from Space, released the 10-track record a fortnight ago after recording it at Pilgrim Sound studio in Dublin during 2024 and early 2025.
One of the album's standout tracks, A New Revolution, which features John Perry of The Only Ones on lead guitar and Paul McLoone of The Undertones on backing vocals, is a tribute to New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, Pete says.
'What happened was that Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls died,' Pete Holidai told the Star's Scene.
'So I just, I suppose the word I use, I've got a goo on me to come in the studio and sort of put down a New York Doll's type track.
'And then John Perry of the Only Ones… he lives in Dublin. I gave him a call because he'd been out to the studio to record some guitar parts for other projects.'
'That sort of gave me the idea then of how influential the New York Dolls and bands like that in the early 70s, how influential they were on the later artists who started punk bands.
'There was an energy, a similar energy in sort of glam rock movements, because that's what the Dolls were part of, that sort of glam rock movement.
'It was very much sort of bringing you somewhere, somewhere away from your normal, mundane jobs or life, and the punk thing was really back to realism again, like a kick in the nuts.
'But the energy between glam and punk, I think, is very similar, energises people one way or the other. So that started the ball rolling. And so once I got that focus once, I said, 'Okay, let's work towards this'.
'The original title for the album was Glam Rocker, Punk Shocker, which became one of the tracks on the album, obviously.
'But in the end, I was working towards almost like 10 singles, and then I got the idea of using the word jukebox, because jukeboxes have been replaced by playlists now, which is the same thing, like a virtual jukebox.
'So once I got that, I began to then really focus on just creating the songs that would accommodate this idea, and they came together quite quickly, actually!'
Pete said Volume One formed part of the record's title as a homage to the 70s. 'Volume One was an add on, because it harks back to that sort of era,' he shared.
'That 70s decade, for me, is the most important decade in my life anyway, in terms of formulating my musical interest, which I retain.
'I was lucky enough then to work with Tony Visconti, who produced the Radio's second album. Certainly, a lot of the techniques he used in the recording studio I still use today."
On working with Tony, Pete said: 'He (Tony) highlighted the fact that, to us anyway, recording your songs is a different thing altogether. You're capturing moments in time.
'In 50 years time, you will still be able to hear what happened… but playing live is very much a transient moment. He taught us how to serve the song.'
The punk legend says the world needs to 'push back' against the waves of racism and fascism taking over in places around the globe.
'I am mainly associated with punk, with punk as a sort of energy,' Pete shared.
'I just feel sometimes punk music has to be angry, but yet still have a positive message. It can't be all down with this and down with that, without saying what's the alternative?
'I tend to focus on, we need to push back against what's happening in places like Palestine.
'We need to push back what's happening with this right wing movement that's happening in America, which is appalling. We can't just sit still and do nothing. We have to try and fight back in whatever way we can.
'In my case, it will be put into the music…. I'm not going to make sort of my public persona, totally about it. It is a part of it. I'm as angry as most people are at what's going on in the world. It's just shocking.
He added: 'One of the things that punk always did was give a voice to maybe people that didn't have that opportunity.
'Like, for example, originally in the UK, there was a disenfranchised youth. They saw that there was no real future for them, etc and so on.
'And it still goes on and on, and you still have to speak up and give a voice to things that you see.'
'A New Revolution really focuses on, we have to join together and resist against this push to racism and fascism'.
Pete Holidai's newest album, Electric Jukebox Volume One, is out now. You can also purchase the new record on vinyl.
