RAW FUN are a typical London band in that they are all Londoners who came to live here from elsewhere. The band started just a year ago but between them they have a bit of rock and roll history.

Patrice Picard (singer, guitarist and songwriter) is also a member of the garage revival band The Cannibals who have released 10 albums and as many singles from the early 1980s onwards, headlined garage festivals all over Europe (Funtastic Dracula 2006, Beat Expo 2006, Primitive 2008) toured Japan twice and appeared on French and British television. They completed their most recent tour earlier this month in Italy. Drummer Manuel Santos played with the Spanish band Thee Tombitas and also with Michael Jackson (the infamously-named punk band who toured Spain twice in 2014 and played many successful London gigs, including support to Australian legends Radio Birdman, before splitting up earlier this year). Joaquin Gonzalez toured Europe with Las Aspiradoras as guitarist, fronted low-fi garage band Dedrines and now also plays bass with the reformed Johnny Throttle, who also supported Radio Birdman in London earlier this year.

Raw fun mix their influences – The Stooges, Link Wray, Wilko Johnson, Johnny Thunders, Stiv Bators – to create their own original sound. Their ‘Won’t Be Told’ seven inch was recorded by professional sound engineer Patrice on his eight-track tape machine and mixed by acclaimed producer Jim Diamond in his Ghetto Recorders studio in Detroit. (Jim Diamond is notable for playing in the Dirtbombs and producing bands like The White Stripes, amongst many others, including the recent album by sixties legends the Sonics. He heard the Raw Fun demo on Facebook and contacted them to offer his help. Not bad for a band who only started a couple of months before and played their fist gig three weeks after their first rehearsal!).