With hollow cheeks, bright orange hair; and a thin, gangly stature,19 year-old Archy Bonner is usually physically compared to Rupert Grint of Harry Potter fame aka Ron Weasley. However, as soon as he opens his mouth and releases his rough baritone voice from the depths of his lungs, he's much more likely to be compared to The Clash's Joe Strummer. The thickly accented and deep voice certainly doesn't fit the face of the boy it belongs to, but it's unlikely that appearance matters to Archy anyway. What matters most to him is music, and his talent for it is unlikely to be matched by most people his age.

Archy's music is very difficult to classify, but it certainly has its roots in folk and jazz played with punk rock speeds and strumming patterns. It's as if he learned the right chords to play the chords of one of his idols Bob Dylan, and then decided to play them in a style more familiar to his peers. Though his backing band is entirely trained in jazz or classical music, Archy records his music by himself, playing every instrument. Live he prefers to stick to the guitar as well as his brash, almost overpowering voice.

"I'm certainly a punk rocker at heart" he says "But I also like to play music more melodically. Little distortion, pretty jazz chords, things of the like. But I can't completely get away from punk because of me voice, I think that's the area where I can let out my inner punk rock. In my voice and in my lyrics. I guess it's like...mixing beauty and chaos which is something that I'm a big fan off. Finding beauty in chaos vice versa.

Sound:
While his music usually has the upbeat guitar strumming of punk conjoined with shimmery jazz chords, Archy's music can often also take a more bleak tone in the vein of say, Joy Divison. In songs in this mold, Bonner tends to use his voice to croon rather than howl and snarl, a style more akin to a Bing Crosby than Henry Rollins. Live, his sound is tight and more lush, showing experience in a band where each member is below the age of 22. Archy's live shows, of which is has done dozens in the local pub scene, can go from low key and intimate, to being as loud an violent as any hardcore show. When asked what he considers his music he had this to say: "I don't really classify it as anything besides maybe Indie Rock or something like that he says while strumming his white Telecaster with a hand rolled cigarette between his lips "I really just think that I make good music. I think that it can be harsh, almost brutal. But it can also be pretty and easier to like and to appreciate. I don't really care what you call it as long as you listen, you don't even have to like it".

Inspiration and Influences:
Archy speaks slowly and thoughtfully on what inspires him, displaying a bit of wisdom beyond his years, but not to the point of being pretentious. He lights a joint to smoke while he speaks and takes a lot of time to think about what he says. He as a bit of an alluring presence about him for someone so young, this is what he had to say.

"I think my biggest influences would be Bob Dylan, Joy Division, The Clash, David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, My Bloody Valentine, and The Smiths. there are a lot of other artists I like and appreciate but I'd say in my sound it'd be those guys. As far as inspiration goes I think I'm a bit of an oddball. Like, for writing music I could be inspired by something as simple as a color. I really like gray and a few shades of blue. Bleak shit really. I love photography as well so sometimes I just walk around London and in the train stations and things with my Polaroid and take snaps. They always say a picture's worth a thousand words and I really believe it; I'll look at them after they've developed and try to tell create the vibe of what's happening in the picture musically. Like, I have a song sampling a train going across the tracks with like, slow sludgy chords and that's me trying to sound like a metro station. Lyrically sometimes I'll write about what I find in pictures or in magazines as well, but for the most part I write about what upsets me or my daily life, lost love, mundane teenage bullshit. Something fun I like to do is take music I wrote based off a picture, and then lyrically try to write something based on the emotion that the music gave me. For example, that metro song I was talking about has lyrics about me drunkenly trekking home after being stood up by a girl who I was supposed to meet at my mate's party. I guess I don't really have much to say politically so I write about what's relevant to me and hope it's relevant to somebody else too.

Though soft spoken and polite, Archy Bonner has a quality in his music that is larger than himself, although that isn't too difficult. His playing in pubs has shaken both the youth and adults of the London area and with an EP in the works, hopefully England and North America as well. Through lyrics of isolation, boredom, anger, and love; his music is relatable to most young people. Though he isn't a large name yet, expect to here more from him.
"I'm planning a revolution" he says with a cheeky grin, Archy, we can only hope so.

Examples:

His more fast and upbeat, punk influenced music

His sadder, slower croons.