Maruja saxophonist and vocalist Joe Carroll has spoken to NME about playing the 50th anniversary of The 100 Club’s Punk Special, and the whirlwind year since the release of their debut album.
Taking place tonight (September 21), this is the second of two gigs commemorating 50 years of the iconic venue’s now-legendary two day festival, which has hosted the likes of Sex Pistols, The Clash, Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Damned, Buzzcocks and plenty more. Following on from last night’s headliners Sprints, Maruja will headline the event tonight London post-punk sextet Opus Kink,with ticket prices also going back to 1976 and just £1.50 each.
Carroll told NME that the Punk Special anniversary has “definitely come at a very fitting time”. “Ed Sheeran and Macklemore are definitely at the forefront of our conversations at the moment,” he reasoned, after the Seattle rapper was removed from Sheeran’s tour due to his “Free Palestine” speech at the Gillette Stadium. The venue’s owner, billionaire Robert Kraft, threatened to ban future Sheeran shows at venues across the US if Macklemore stayed on the tour.
Maruja, who are vocally pro-Palestine, told NME that they hoped the furore surrounding Macklemore would direct people “back to what is actually going on in Palestine and using this as a kick up the arse – constantly using your voice, putting pressure on your local MPs and going to rallies”, adding that this “isn’t about Macklemore and Ed Sheeran”.
“You get misled that you have to pick a side, but this is a genocide,” Carroll continued. “There shouldn’t be any ‘picking a side’, it’s just basic human morality”.
Check out the rest of our interview below, where Maruja spoke to NME about the recent one year anniversary of their rallying debut album ‘Pain To Power’, how they’ve witnessed its lyrics resonate with fans, what it means to be a punk in 2026, and how support act Opus Kink once challenged them to a duel.
Maruja live at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NMENME: Hello Joe. It’s been one year since ‘Pain To Power’ came out. How has your life changed since?
Joe Carroll: “I feel like we’re in a unique position where we had two EPs that allowed us to tour the world, but having a full body of work has always been the big dream of ours. Seeing the way the lyrics and the message and the music have moved people at the live shows is where we get the honest reflection, the interactions from people about how the music has affected them. It’s been a very life-affirming year for sure.”
Do any particularly inspirational stories spring to mind?
“There’s a Maruja tattoo epidemic that we started seeing. We just get sent them all the time, people getting the artwork or some lyrics tattooed on them. To have that impact on people that we’ve never met before is pretty wild.”
Are there any recurring lyrics that you see in these tattoos?
“The one that I see at live shows is the second verse to ‘Look Down On Us’. It’s about a lot of what we’re still experiencing today, which is the oppressive culture that we’re in and a message of hope about how you can get through that with solidarity – being aware of what’s going on in the world, but using it to empower you, as opposed to making you crawl back into your shell.”
‘Look Down On Us’ is actually quite a relevant song to talk about, given the recent news of Macklemore getting kicked off of Ed Sheeran’s tour and your lyric “When it’s money over minds, there will never be a truce”…
“For sure. That’s a very public example of stuff that’s been going on behind closed doors in a more political or economic sense for a very long time, but with what’s been going on in Palestine, it’s so explicit.
“I was listening to a radio interview of a guy that was brought up in Israel with a Zionist background, and he’s turned his life and mind around about the whole thing. He was saying that with everything we see now, to not see it for what it is, is to have your eyes closed.
“That’s what’s been strangely positive, because you need to take positives from anything about the situation. It’s such an obvious example of putting money over morals, and from a recognisable figure that everyone knows. To do it in such a heinous way, it’s probably turned a lot of heads that it wasn’t turning before, and it’s created this huge community of backlash against that aspect of the music industry, which I think is really important, because it’s riddled with oppression and people putting profit over morals all the time.”
One of the criticisms levied against Ed is that he’s been unwilling to change his public-facing “I don’t take sides” attitude. You guys, on the other hand, are very pro-Palestine. If you were Ed Sheeran, would it be difficult to pick a side?
“No. Like, what’s the point in having ‘fuck you’ money if, in a situation where children are getting murdered, you’re not gonna say ‘fuck you’? It really does show which side his bread’s buttered.
“Looking back at his history, you could expect it all along. There’s the history of him and grime [Wiley accused Sheeran of being a “culture vulture” in 2019] and even Irish culture – then, when it’s come to actually taking action or showing support, he’s bottled it and never shown that strength that you need from huge artists.
“When he’s playing in front of hundreds of thousands of people a night, and they’re people that worship and idolise him, for him to not stand up for them shows a real lack of backbone. When it gets to that level of the music industry, there’s so much money to be made, and there’s so many people with other agendas.
“But the whole point of being an artist is to do what you think is right and share that with the world. He obviously puts money first and values that more than the lives of innocent children… but with this level of backlash, it looks like the tour’s gonna get cancelled anyway. I mean, it probably should. He can use this as an opportunity to look at himself, look at where he’s gone wrong, take a stance and go, ‘I’ve made a mistake’ and be willing to change his mind for the best.”
Maruja. Credit: Tom Oxley for NMEAlong with Macklemore, entertainers like Zara Larsson and Susan Sarandon have spoken out about losing opportunities for supporting Palestine. For you guys as a band, have you sacrificed anything to speak out for the cause?
“To call it a sacrifice, I do understand, but like in Macklemore’s statement, it’s such a little act. In situations like this where you feel so helpless, all you can do is what you can do. For example, any show that we do, if we can’t put a Palestine flag up on stage, we don’t play. That is something that our whole team knows.
“With our music and our message, we attract a lot of like-minded thinkers and weed out the ones that don’t agree – but as I say, it’s such a small sacrifice to feel like we’re doing something when we’re seeing such atrocities take place.”
You’re playing a special anniversary gig at The 100 Club’s ‘50 Years Of Punk Special’. What does it mean to be a punk in 2026?
“It’s definitely come at a very fitting time to platform what the punk movement has always been about and is about today. Although it’s aggressive, it’s always fundamentally been about love and being able to say, “’fuck you: this is what we believe in, and we’re not gonna be quiet about it’.
“It’s always been inherently political and strong-willed and not willing to sell your soul in any way, which is what’s happened with this Ed Sheeran situation. So yeah, we’re very excited and honoured that we’ve been thought of to play such a momentous anniversary. The other acts on the bill as well, we’re really happy to see that they’re getting the opportunity to recognise such a historic event.”
Could you tell us about the special guests joining you on the day?
“One of them is Opus Kink. We actually go way back with Opus Kink – they challenged us to a duel at Green Man. There was a guy going round with letters, like on Valentine’s Day in primary school, and he was like, ‘Are you Joe?’ And then he handed me a letter. I opened it up and there was a fork that had been used to eat curry, and there was a letter inside that said, ‘Opus King challenges Maruja to a duel. Meet us here at this time’. We never actually did it because we were all partying… but yeah, we supported them years and years ago, and they had a huge sonic and aesthetic influence on us, in terms of the stage presence and the swagger and the energy that they play with. So we’re really excited to be sharing the stage with them once again.”
View this post on Instagram
Plenty of huge names have attended and played the Punk Special in its 50 years. Who are some of your punk heroes?
“We’re so inspired by all the acts that we’ve had the chance to play with over the years and seeing the way that they speak up about Palestine and important topics – Lambrini Girls, for example, are always shouting out trans rights. Wherever they tour, they do a lot of research into the places they are playing so the people there feel like they are being heard, which I think is so important.
“Enola Gay as well; they’re from Belfast, which is a very inherently political place. You need to have a really thick skin to make it in Belfast, and they’ve certainly done that. Musically, they just are constantly pushing the boundaries. I’d say Gilla Band as well. I’m really excited for their new album… apparently it’s absolutely bonkers!”
Can we expect any surprises at your 100 Club show? Any new music, perhaps?
“Perhaps not! It will just be the original material, but we are definitely always cooking. We’ve got a few big announcements coming about the band, so people can keep their eyes peeled for that…”
Maruja headline The 100 Club’s 50th anniversary of punk celebrations conclude with Maruja performing alongside Opus Kink, Wax Head and a DJ set from Jehnny Beth tonight (Monday September 21). Visit here for tickets and more informaiton.
The post Maruja on their “life-affirming” year and punk’s anniversary: “Do what you think is right and share that with the world” appeared first on NME.