UK · punk · alt-rock

Janus Stark

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Gizz Butt's post-Prodigy punk vehicle, faster and more melodic than the day job — guitar-hero chops in three-minute bursts.

Janus Stark formed in Peterborough in 1997 as a vehicle for guitarist Gizz Butt, known for his work as a touring guitarist with The Prodigy and for his earlier time in English Dogs and UK Subs. The band's name comes from a character in the 1970s British comic books Smash and Valiant.

The band plays fast, melodic punk rock with the technical guitar playing Butt brought from his metal and hardcore background, arranged into short, hook-driven songs. Their sound fuses punk with hard rock, heavy metal and alternative rock, with influences ranging from Helmet and the Ruts to the Beatles and the Clash.

Their 1998 album Great Adventure Cigar, released on Earache Records, was praised by both Foo Fighters and Die Toten Hosen, whose singer Campino invited the band to support Die Toten Hosen's 2000 tour. The track 'Every Little Thing Counts' appeared on the soundtracks to the films Disturbing Behavior and Varsity Blues, both released in 1998.

The band split in 2002, after which Butt led a harder-edged project called The More I See. He reformed Janus Stark in 2018 with Richard Gombault, Fozzy Dixon and Simon Martin, playing a reunion show at the Hamburg punk festival Booze Cruise.

Since then line-ups have continued to shift around Butt, who handles vocals and guitar. The 2018 single 'Shuffling the Pack' preceded a second album, Angel in the Flames, released via Time & Matter Records in November 2019, and the band has kept recording and playing live intermittently since.

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punkalt-rock