The primary style of H-Block 101's music is known, in the industry, as '77 punk. This name originates from the punk music scene of 1977, which is widely regarded as the most influencial and defining year for the punk rock genre of music. The genre incorporates musical styles set by bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Clash, The Saints, The Jam and many others.
The drums, for example, are particularly reminiscent of the punk rock style. These are characterised by a fast beat, often alternating between a hit of the kick drum and the snare drum every second beat. This form of drumming is evident in many of the bands songs, for example Group Dynamics, Workers Wage and most of their other songs.This type of drumming was first implemented into punk music by The Ramones, in tracks such as I Wanna Be Sedated and Sheena is a Punk Rocker.
Here are some examples illustrating how H-Block 101 are using a drum techniques from '77 punk (listen to the drum beats in these two examples)
Drums in Group Dynamics (H-Block 101)
Drums in I Wanna Be Sedated (The Ramones)
H-Block 101 also play thier guitars true to '77 punk. For example, the introducing guitar of the song On Your Way bears more than just a passing resemblance to the intro of Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols. It seems H-Block 101 have used the same guitar distortion as the Pistols; and in effect the songs sound very similar.
Guitars in On Your Way (H-Block 101)
Guitars in Anarchy in the UK (The Sex Pistols)
You can see how similar these two intro's sound, and its easy to realise that H-Block 101 have been greatly musically inspired by early punk bands in this way.
Along with influence from '77 punk, H-Block 101 draw from many other musical genres, including Reggae and Ska, Roots, Blues, Soul, '80's Hard Rock, and others, probably too many to mention here. It is by combining these numerous styles in their own unique fashion which forges their identity as an individual band.
The Ska genre of music is one which has gone hand-in-hand with Punk for many years, since the days of The Clash particularly, who were one of the first punk bands to incorporate Jamaican styles into their music. Ska music is like reaggae, and it often utilises horns and upstroke guitar methods, which are usually the defining elements of this form of music.
One very popular and influencial ska band of the 1980's and beyond (they are still together today) are Madness, who had several popular hits and did a lot for the identity of ska music. This is another band who had a great influence on H-Block 101's music. Here are some examples of how the two group use similar techniques;
Ska example - Soul No. One (H-Block 101)
Ska example - House of Fun (Madness)
As you can hear, both these songs utilise horns to a similar effect, although the H-Block 101 example is still a bit more punk oriented, as you can hear from the faster and heavier drum beat.
Blues music also has had an influence on H-Block 101. We have just seen how they have used horns in their music, such as the saxaphone, which is an important aspect of blues music. H-Block 101 also often use bluesy guitar solo's and riffs, and sometimes incorporate a harmonica, which is very reminiscent of blues music. Here's an example of how they have used a harmonica in the song Group Dynamics, incorporating blues inspiration;
Harmonica in Group Dynamics (H-Block 101)
Harmonica in Good morning Little Schoolgirl ('Sonny Boy Williamson')
These are some of the most evident examples of how H-Block 101's music has been inspired by a great diversity of musical types, particularly '77 punk. The overall effect of these many and varied inspirations to H-Block is a band that cannot be pigeonholed as one type of music, such as punk, but rather one which incorporates many styles, and does not hold itself to creating music in one specific way.
