Kerrang! – June 28, 2019

wordS:

JAKE RICHARDSON

14 KERRANG!

Prodigy to remix the track Light Up

The Sky.

“That was the greatest privilege

of our lives,” says drummer Pravvy

Prav proudly of the collaboration.

“I’ve been listening to The Prodigy

since I was

eight. They

gave us a

call not long

after our first

showcase and

were like, ‘Do

us a remix of

Light Up The

Sky – we want

it now!’ So we

bashed it out

pretty quickly,

and Keith Flint accepted it straight

away. We’re eternally grateful to

The Prodigy for that – I hope Keith

is now at peace.”

With this early success to build

on, PENGSHUi are making the

most of the wind in their sails. Their

debut album – which features a

number of high-profile guests

from the grime world – is slated

for release early next year. Singer

Illaman is hoping it introduces

grime fans to the world of heavy

music, and vice-versa.

“I’ve wanted to do a band like

this for a long time,” he states.

“I’ve worked alongside Goldie

and Flux Pavilion in the past,

and they make heavy, industrial

music which has this punk energy.

That gave me the desire to do

something in that style, but

even heavier. Grime and punk

are both rebellious; they give a

voice to the younger generation

and represent people from the

streets. They can be political,

outspoken and outrageous.

It’s freedom of speech, and,

ultimately, that means there

are no rules.”

PENGSHUi PLAY 2000TREES

FESTIVAL ON JULY 12 – SEE THE

GIG GUIDE for information

E

ast London is one of the

birthplaces of UK grime, spawning

genre heavy-hitters like Wiley and

Dizzee Rascal. It’s also the home

of Fatty Bassman, the conveniently-named

bassist with PENGSHUi, whose narrowboat

on the River Lea

serves as the band’s

unconventional

headquarters, from

which they mix grime

with rock force.

“I’ve got a studio

set up on it,” Fatty

explains. “We had our

first jam there, and

we record everything

apart from the drums

on my boat, too. It’s

a calm, peaceful place to get the music laid

down, and then I ruin the atmosphere by

playing loud, horrendous basslines!”

But whilst Fatty may joke about PENGSHUi’s

bass-heavy exploits, their unique fusion of

grime and punk has seen the band getting

plenty of attention since forming last year.

They were even recently invited by The

“GRIME AND

PUNK ARE BOTH

REBELLIOUS...”

ILLAMAN

PENGSHUi: the pick

of the bunch

Boat-dwelling grime-rock crew with famous

mates, straight outta East London...

NEW NOISE

Your guide

to PENGSHUI

GET TO

KNOW

THEY ARE:

London-based,

metal-loving grime-

punk crossover trio.

The Prodigy are

big fans.

HEAR: Current

single Nobody

Cares, taken from

their forthcoming

debut album.

SEE: The intense

video for Nobody

Cares. Gas masks at

the ready, people.

MORE INFO:

Facebook.com/

pengshuimusic

PENGSHUi