Violent Disorder: A United Front of Punks, Skins, Hardcore Kids, and Rastas

Violent Disorder is a UK-style Oi! band made up of Sean Muttaqi, Patrick “Rat” Poole, and Sina Khanum. Sean is known for his work with Vegan Reich, Captive Nation Rising, and Pressure, while Rat has been involved in projects like Statement, Unborn, along with the anarcho-punk legends The Apostles and Riot/Clone. He currently plays in Collision Course. Sina also drums for the hardcore band Clique.

Violent Disorder’s debut EP Skinhead Worldwide traces the Jamaican roots of the skinhead subculture and mirrors Sean Muttaqi’s own musical journey through rock, soul, and reggae to 2-Tone, Oi!, and punk rock. Their follow-up, the five-song 12-inch United Front, continues those working class skinhead themes, drawing on the historical battle of Lewisham and the clashes with neo-Nazis at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool. A full-length LP is already in the works, set to complete what the band considers a conceptual trilogy.

Although Sean is best known for his role in Vegan Reich and the Hardline movement of the late ’80s and early ’90s, Violent Disorder marks a full-circle moment—his very first band, formed in 1981, was an Oi! group called Legal Suicide.

In your first single “Skinhead Worldwide” you trace the culture from its Jamaican roots through 2-Tone and Oi!. Yet in some punk scenes around the world, people remain skeptical, some even call this a revisionist take, saying the Spirit of ’69 was never that great and that skinhead culture has always been problematic.

Well, I think the truth exists somewhere between the fantasists and the cynics.

Our song “Skinhead Worldwide” pays homage to a style and cultural phenomenon that had a deep impact on everything that came after. One doesn’t have to be a skinhead (or have ever been a skinhead) to sing along and acknowledge the debt that all of us within the broader subculture owe to that moment in time and what happened.

Was that scene perfect? No. But was it a cultural watershed where barriers began to be crossed and a distinctive style was born from the cross-pollination between Black and white working class British youth, fusing hard mod and rude boy styles? Absolutely.

It’s easy to look back and be either hypercritical or overly romantic, but its beauty lies in exactly what it was: working class youth from different backgrounds interacting and building something unique. A forerunner of things to come, and one that didn’t come to its full fruition until 2-Tone was born ten years later. But without the skinhead reggae scene breaking some cultural and racial barriers, 2-Tone would have never happened. Likewise, it’s doubtful we would have gotten punk rock as we know it without skinheads, bootboys, and bovver rock.

None of this is to say that there wasn’t some racism present among certain members of that scene, whether it was white against Black, or Black and white against Asian, etc. With such a large movement, you’re bound to get a broad range of attitudes and actions among its adherents, reflective of what was going on in society at the time. But what is certainly true, and without dispute, is that it was an early example of British youth from various racial and cultural backgrounds coming together in unity, and that it had in no way been co-opted by the far-right at that point in time.

Did you discover skinhead culture and reggae around the same time as punk?

I come from a family of musicians on both sides. I grew up listening to soul, reggae, rock, jazz, etc. My mom was into Blondie, took me to see The Runaways, etc. I was also a skater at a very early age in the ’70s, hanging out with older kids, hearing the music they were listening to: The Damned, The Clash, and Sex Pistols. My uncle was a soundman and worked the LA clubs where X and The Germs were playing. So there was always a proximity to it. But it wasn’t until 2-Tone hit that any scene really grabbed my attention in terms of feeling it was mine. I think being from a racially mixed background, its message just appealed to me.

That interest in a UK subculture ultimately led me to discover Oi! around the same time I was getting involved in the local punk scene and going to shows with my friends.

My dad lived down the street from The Cuckoo’s Nest in Costa Mesa—and before long all the skaters were going to shows there and getting into punk. I cropped my hair, bought some boots and braces, and splattered my jeans with bleach. Nothing special or unique about it, just what we were all doing at that time.

Simultaneous to that, my mom was living in an area with a strong reggae scene—so I also grew up being around Rastas and seeing a lot of great Jamaican roots bands from the ’70s onward. That never stopped during any phase, and by the ’90s I was opening up for some of those same touring bands.

So getting back to any of these gatekeepers, our entire experiences are different. To me, all of it is intertwined. I’m as at home in the world of punks and skins as I am in the realm of reggae and Rastas.

Can you tell me a bit more about your understanding and experience of skinhead culture as the years went on? Were there times in your life, like during your anarcho-punk involvement, when you were critical or dismissive of it all?

I think when something is foundational in your youth, it’s ever-present as part of who you are. It’s one of the layers.

In our area, in my era, a lot of us had gone through some sort of skinhead phase when we were young. In the local anarcho scene, more than a few people still wore their bomber jackets and had Docs.

During the first era of Hardline, one of the earliest people involved with us was a SHARP skin (John Justice). The Vegan Reich drummer on Wrath of God was a skinhead.

It’s just something I’ve always had a connection with.

It never leaves you. You can see that with someone like Steve Ignorant, who had been a skinhead in his youth. Over the last 15 years or so, he’s begun wearing a lot of those styles again.

For me, I’ve always gone back and forth between having dreads and shaving my head—though it’s just been the latter for the last couple of decades.

In terms of being critical or dismissive of it, I’m a huge fan of the traditional skinhead reggae and ska scene that’s existed in Southern California over the decades. As far as Oi!, my era was first generation, and I’ll always defend that historical movement as a whole. No doubt, some of the people involved were problematic, but I stand by the belief that it was not a right-wing scene.

As far as the American Oi! scene, it largely started after I became more involved in the reggae and anarcho scenes. And even though that late ’80s and early ’90s stuff was anti-racist, I was never a fan of its patriotic tendencies or musical direction. That said, today’s Oi! scene in both America and worldwide is amazing, with tons of very left-leaning participants and interesting bands.

I’ve seen people online call you a trend-hopper, saying you’ve gone through a lot of different styles and that Violent Disorder is just another attempt to gain cred. How do you respond to that? And do you think gatekeeping is especially strong in the Oi! scene?

The few haters I’ve seen trolling us online, taking swipes in comment sections of interviews or arguments I’m having online with bootlickers, weren’t even around for the original era of Oi!, nor are they involved with the current Oi! scene, which has completely embraced the band and records with positivity.

For the most part, it’s people who have some sort of axe to grind—liberal hardcore folks who only know of me from a three-year involvement with Hardline some 33 years ago, incorrectly thinking I was conservative or right-wing then or now, or conservative East Coast guys whose understanding of skinhead culture revolves around their late-to-the-game era (end of the ’80s or early ’90s) and who only associate it with being a scene related to crews, drinking, and patriotism. My favorite part is watching those two disparate groups find common ground. In both cases, neither were in SoCal or the UK during the early ’80s and have no idea about what me and Rat’s histories are. We’re older than all those guys and already spent our time immersed in our own youth cultures long before the bands we’re known for, and years before these clowns were even around.

A perfect example is people associating me with the straight edge movement because my old band Vegan Reich is known within that scene.

The fact is, I didn’t grow up as a hardcore kid and have never identified as “straight edge.” I love and support that scene for its positive thinking, but my youth was spent drinking and smoking weed. I’m not saying that as any disrespect to straight edge kids or idealizing that behavior, but their history is just not my history. I became drug-free via influence from some very specific things Rudimentary Peni and The Apostles had written. I wanted to be clear-headed for radical change and made that decision as an adult, within the realm of punk rock, not hardcore.

If I was after clout or “cred,” my entire life would have been different in regards to music. I disbanded Vegan Reich just as vegan straight edge was becoming a huge scene and started playing reggae instead—opening up for touring bands in small local clubs, all because I preferred playing that music. Similarly, if I was currently after popularity, I’d just join a mainstream band as a guitar player.

My youth culture roots were reggae, ska, and punk (and by that I mean all of its subgenres: ’77, Oi!, UK82, anarcho, etc.). And I’ve always loved rock. I don’t need to justify playing the music I grew up with and love. Neither does Rat. We’ll play the kind of music we want to.

At any rate, for those who know me personally, or people who have followed my interviews over the last few decades, I’ve always been very clear about that history. Being into ska and skinhead stuff as a youth, involved in the SoCal punk scene in the early ’80s, then becoming more connected to the anarcho-punk and reggae scenes when most of the skins I knew took a turn to the right in ’83.

What was the Southern California skinhead scene like back in the day, and did it feel more working class than the punk scene? Have you always identified as anti-racist and anti-fascist, and how did that outlook intersect with being part of these subcultures?

I think it’s a really important clarification or distinction to make that in Southern California, circa 1981–’83, there wasn’t a skinhead “scene.” There was just one punk scene with different subsets of fashion styles. There was the sort of homegrown California punk thing, which itself took a huge influence from Chicano culture (Dickies, wife beaters, flannels, etc.), or UK and New York punk styles, plus goth, new wave, and of course, the Oi! skinhead thing (bleached jeans, boots, short-cropped or shaved heads, etc.). And there was a mixture of these styles as well. Sometimes skins in California wore combat boots instead of the more expensive Dr. Martens. Likewise, Dickies were worn just as much as Levi’s.

At that point, there weren’t really any ideological differences between the camps. It was also quite normal for someone to move from one style to the next within what, in retrospect, was a brief period of time.

The bigger tribal divides during that era had more to do with skins vs. mods, punks vs. hessians (heavy metal fans), and jocks vs. punks.

The polarization within punk just hadn’t happened yet.

As far as working class demographics and scenes leaning more one way or the other, that’s historically much more of a UK thing in terms of those strong class divides. Here in California, the punk scene, whether punks or skins, was made up of people from both working class and middle class backgrounds.

As for whether I was always anti-racist and anti-fascist, yes. But my circumstances made those choices logical and easy for me. My family background is very racially mixed, and my parents were both leftists, so these beliefs were just inherent in how I was raised. A lot of the guys I knew who went down the wrong path were often raised by shitty, racist parents in abusive households. Not making excuses for them—and once someone is on the opposing side, they’re the enemy as far as I’m concerned—but my point is, I can’t pat myself on the back for having progressive views. It’s just how I was raised and who I am.

As far as how that intersected with skinhead stuff, at first, there were no issues. But Skrewdriver coming out with the White Power EP in ’83 changed everything.

It’s not that every skin became white power, but our area was certainly an epicenter of those who did. And even those who didn’t go down that path started to become more conservative and patriotic over time, getting more into the whole American flag/American skinhead thing. It just wasn’t for me.

What initially were purely fashion or style choices for everyone started coalescing into different camps. There were exceptions, of course, but in general, the skinhead thing started leaning more conservative or right-wing in Southern California. And unlike Chicago, which had a large scene of anti-racist skinheads, Southern California did not in that era.

You gotta remember, this was also well before SHARP existed. Much of the resistance in our area came from anarchists in those early years. I remember later meeting Kieran from ARA—if my memory is correct, at one of the mid-to-late ’80s anarchist gatherings—and really being impressed by what they had going on in terms of skinhead involvement where he was from.

At any rate, over time the opposition grew in our area with the addition of kids from the hardcore scene, SHARP skins, etc., and eventually we were all able to drive the Nazis completely out of the scene.

Your album closes with a cover of The Apostles’ “Mob Violence,” one of the most radical working class songs of the early UK anarcho-punk scene, back when class themes and militant direct action weren’t even part of the anarcho-punk canon. Rat played on The Apostles’ Punk Obituary LP, and you’ve also released Apostles material on your own label, No Master’s Voice. We’ve already published a long interview with Chris Low about the band, but I’d love to hear your own take on The Apostles and their legacy.

I have a very old and close connection with The Apostles. I was writing to them in their demo days and was distributing those tapes and records long before releasing a record of theirs on my own label. I still have stacks of letters from Andy Martin to this day, as well as artwork from him and some of his infamous “letters on tape.” The band had a very important ideological influence on me, especially when it came to subjects like class war, violence, and drug use, among other things.

Rat is one of my oldest friends, and I’m really tight with Chris Low as well. It’s just a shame that Andy has gone off the deep end, both mentally and politically.

You have a song about Martin Lux, the educated working class man who became a street fighter against the boneheads in London’s Hoxton and East End. Could you share a bit of his story for readers who might not know him? In 1990 he published the book Anti-Fascist. Do you find it an important and inspirational read, or is your tribute more rooted in a personal connection with him?

It’s a great book, and a lot of our song about him is based on that, and on interviews he’s done. But really, the inspiration to actually sit down and write the song came from Chris Low, who sings backup vocals on it and is good mates with Martin.

In short, for your readers, he’s a longtime anti-fascist who was at the Battle of Lewisham, as well as the legendary Crass gig at Conway Hall, beating the piss out of fascists.

Your newest record is called United Front. Politically, a “united front” means a loose alliance of groups against a common enemy. In your music, you twist that idea into a subcultural alliance: punks, skins, Rastas, hardcore kids. That’s the old call for smashing divisions and striving for unity. Do you think today’s youth movements and subcultures are ready to combat fascism in the way they need to?

Although the record does deal with some modern stuff, in concept it’s thematically influenced by the Rock Against Racism era in the UK, with reggae, punk, and proto-Oi! bands coming together to play those events; bands like Sham 69, The Clash, Misty in Roots, The Specials, and Steel Pulse playing to mixed crowds of various racial backgrounds and scenes (punks, skins, Rastas, etc.). A united front coming together to fight the National Front in the Battle of Lewisham. That’s the inspiration, and one that we hope to see happen in the current times, a united front against the current rise of the far-right in both Europe and America.

At the same time, the title represents how I’ve always seen things in terms of my interest and involvement in all these scenes. To me, they’re all interconnected and represent an innate commonality and unity.

I do think young people are willing to protest and fight, and I couldn’t be more proud of my kids’ generation and all of the activism surrounding Palestine, or the anti-ICE protests and riots on the streets.

You’ve been friends with Rat, the godfather of vegan straight edge, for a long time. Was this band something you’d planned together for a while?

We’ve always discussed doing something, but various things have always gotten in the way. The pandemic really gave us the time and space to start working on something. Rat started sending me demos of songs, and I started writing lyrics. Things finally just fell into place.

Even though I’m singing for Violent Disorder, in principle it’s a UK-oriented band. Rat writes all the music, it’s UK-style Oi! music, etc.

And with these first two records, we really wanted to explore the history of the subcultures as they played out within the UK. So the first record, as you’ve mentioned, deals with the Jamaican influence in the UK, giving rise to the skinhead subculture. And the second record, as we just discussed, focuses more on the various subcultures in the UK that came together to fight fascism and racism during the late ’70s Rock Against Racism era. The follow-up full-length that we’re working on now sort of forms a trilogy, dealing with our own youth in the early ’80s, both in the UK and stateside. Not everything we do is going to be a history lesson, but lyrically, I really like having a concept or theme for whatever record I’m working on.

There’s always been this notion of being “apolitical,” which often ends up as an excuse for having fascist friends or sharing bills with terrible bands. Do you think today’s scene is making a more conscious effort to draw clear lines and for bands to state their views openly?

I do think people are making more of an effort, and to some extent, at least here in the United States, I think there’s more vigilance with regards to having zero tolerance, precisely because of how much more diverse and representational things have become in the subculture, whether punk rock, Oi!, or hardcore, etc. So it becomes personal, people are invested in the resistance because it affects them directly. I can’t really speak for Europe as a whole, but observationally it seems like it’s gotten a lot better there as well in this regard than in decades past.

I won’t mention any names, but the Oi! scene seems to have grown a lot in popularity recently, with some bands making money from the hype even without releasing a proper full-length. What’s your take on the current Oi! scene? Do you think the style naturally attracts more listeners than niche hardcore or crust offshoots because of its simple lyrics, catchy tunes, and the tough image and attire that go with it?

Well, although both Oi! and skinhead have become popular trends, I don’t think Oi! is actually as big now as it might be perceived. I can’t really compare it globally to niche hardcore or crust offshoots, but if we look at some prominent hardcore bands right now on one of the major streaming services, they all dwarf one of the top Oi! bands of the last few years.

Speed has a few hundred thousand monthly listeners, Turnstile has millions, and Terror almost a couple hundred thousand. Compare that to Conservative Military Image, who maintain a consistent 35,000 or so monthly listeners.

And if we’re talking show attendance, at least here in SoCal, the shows with crust-influenced bands draw much bigger crowds than the Oi! shows do.

But all that said, there’s no doubt that Oi! is having its moment these last few years. I think it appeals to people who are looking for something a bit more grassroots. What I mean is, hardcore for a long time has been affiliated with bigger labels, bigger festivals, booking agents, PR companies, etc. Same goes for the bigger mainstream punk acts.

So it’s a similar situation to when Oi! first came along as this “sound of the streets” and working class thing, compared to the bigger, more polished punk bands and the mainstream success they were getting.

And because a lot of Oi! tends to be fairly simple in terms of musicality, it means anyone can give it a go in terms of starting a band. That’s why it seems to be everywhere now.

But yeah, I do think the image is an important aspect of it. The look is timeless and will always come back into style—until people inevitably grow tired of it and move on to another trend. It’s the way it was back in the first generation, and it will be the same now.

Back in the day, Nick Knight and George Marshall’s skinhead books were hugely influential for anyone getting into the style, alongside all the classic bands. Now we have social media, TikTok, and the full commodification of subcultures and aesthetics. What are your thoughts on that shift?

Times change. What means something to one generation doesn’t always mean the same to the next.

I’m a collector of books, records, tapes, even old VHS, antique furniture, etc. It all means something to me.

And because I personally love vinyl, I’m really focused on that as my medium of choice for the record label’s second incarnation. I go out of my way to treat it as an art form in and of itself, having records properly mastered with an analog sound in mind, getting lacquers cut instead of direct-to-metal plating, really paying attention to detail in the color variants and quality of print.

But the new generation as a whole has a different way of relating to and appreciating the arts. It’s cool when young people also appreciate physical media, but I know the majority of new fans will just stream the records.

I try to roll with the changes. I primarily use Instagram and don’t mess with TikTok. But that said, a lot of young people used TikTok to expose the genocide going on in Palestine, etc.

So however people relate to art and music, or learn about what’s going on in the world, I’m fine with it.

Yes, the label’s second incarnation. Besides forming Violent Disorder, you also resurrected Uprising Records and released the new seven-inch from Conflict before they put out their latest album and their legendary singer Colin Jerwood sadly passed away. What’s next for Violent Disorder and Uprising Records? Are you working on any other new projects, and what about the other members of Violent Disorder?

It was really good to be able to help Conflict with their first record in decades. I had been in touch with them back in the ’80s and a bit here and there with Colin over the years. So when it came time to do something new, he reached out to me. It’s such a shame that it all ended so quickly, but at least he got to have a final swan song.

As far as Violent Disorder goes, we’ve got a lot going on. There’s the new five-song 12-inch United Front, and we’re finishing up a full-length LP as well, which is the third piece of what’s really a conceptual trilogy. We also have some other EPs in the works, some of which may drop before the LP comes out.

Uprising is back, so I’m always on the lookout for new bands—anything in the punk, Oi!, hardcore, reggae, or hip-hop realm. Bands can always get in touch with me via the label’s Instagram or email me at [email protected].

Rat is always working on a ton of new musical projects. He’s currently in the Scottish UK82 band Collision Course.

Our drummer is in the hardcore band Clique.

As for me, where to start…

I’ve got the band Blood Money that actually started before Violent Disorder but got derailed during the pandemic. It’s a much more melodic Oi! than Violent Disorder—some may call it proto-Oi! Very influenced by Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, and a bit of The Clash and The Ruts. We’re currently finishing up an EP and full-length from that band.

I’ve got some reggae I recorded a while back with Chuck Treece (McRad and Bad Brains), Michael McDermott (Bouncing Souls, Joan Jett), and Roger Rivas (The Aggrolites). A couple of new Captive Nation Rising records are also in the works—one boss reggae, another more roots-oriented.

Pressure is having its 30th anniversary next year, and we’re doing a record around that. Treece is involved with that as well.

Now that my kids are grown, I’ve got time to be back out there, really involved in playing music again.

Even after this interview, some people will still see you as a controversial figure and won’t really understand the idea of doing a band centered on skinheads, unity, and anti-fascist militancy. Don’t you feel a bit tired of it?

I mean, I guess I get the “controversial” label when it comes from mainstream people or those on the far-right. But it does start to get old when people on the left have some skewed notion of me because they know one thing I’ve done, don’t like Vegan Reich or whatever, and fail to look at the entire arc of someone’s life.

I’m not apologetic about my past, and I’ve got no regrets. But it was also a brief period and doesn’t define the entirety of my life. I’m always trying to learn from past mistakes and grow with each passing year.

A lot of the heroes people worship were always full of shit or have sold out long ago. I’m still here fighting the good fight—still vegan, still supporting the arts, still playing music. I’ve raised two amazing daughters into adulthood, both of whom are college-educated women of color, carrying on the family tradition of resistance. So as far as I’m concerned, I can hold my head up high.

As to the band, I wouldn’t say it’s primarily centered on skinheads. The first record certainly deals with that subject matter, and we are an Oi! band, but United Front is just as much for the punks and hardcore kids as it is for skinheads.

Me and Rat have spent our lives fighting against fascism and oppression. We believe in equality and liberation for all oppressed people and animals.

If anyone reading this shares those basic values, I hope you’ll check out the new band with an open mind. And to any anti-racist or anti-fascist bands out there looking for a label, definitely get in touch with me. Uprising is looking to be quite active in 2026.

I’m really sorry to hear your dog Evie is on chemotherapy and saw you just launched a fundraiser for her. Do you mind if we share it here?

That’d be great! We were so shocked by her sudden illness. Health care in the States is so insanely expensive, whether for animals or people. She’s started treatment and is doing amazing.

Even the smallest amounts are helpful, and more than anything, if we can get other people to share the GoFundMe, there’s strength in numbers.