Iggy Pop, THE ROGERS SISTERS and Radio 4 soundtrack the latest American fitness craze, PUNK ROCK AEROBICS – and it’s coming to the UK.
The brainchild of Maura Jasper and Hilken Mancini, Punk Rock Aerobics classes launched in Boston in 2001 and mix exercise with live bands and DJs spinning tracks by bands like Ramones, Buzzcocks and the Iggy And The Stooges. People wanting to get fit pull moves such as guitar windmills, kicks, devil horns and pogoing.
“We’d never worked out before, but we’d get drunk and start moving the furniture in the house to clear a space, then put on a Buzzcocks record,” Jasper told NME.COM. “By 3am, we’d be worn out, so we thought it would be a good idea to turn it into a class.”
J Mascis and Evan Dando have already got in on the act and formed a supergroup for one class in America. “We start off by doing 20 minutes of air guitar, teenage kicks, Iggy Pop sit-ups, pogos, and skanks,” Mancini added. “We then break it up with some weights – usually with bricks and cans of spray paint – then another 20 minutes of cardio! We have a mosh-pit at the end, with people going fucking crazy.”
As their empire expands, Punk Rock Aerobics will soon be available on a DVD workout with covers of seminal punk songs by artists such as The Roger Sisters and Radio 4 backing the routines. Original punk band Mission Of Burma, back in the studio for the first time in 20 years, have covered The Dils’ ‘Class War’.