From the brewing town of Burton On Trent, England, where industry, working-class culture and music often collide, emerges a band unafraid to speak loudly, live boldly and challenge the world as it is, Mukka & The Wizard Sleeves. A raw, relentless poetic punk collective, the group is formed by Mukka, Dingle, Joe, Tamu, Riley and Huw, six musicians brought together by a shared love for funky beats, sharp lyricism and the adrenaline of live punk energy. Their art thrives in chaos, humour and honesty, merging high-octane riffs with rapid-fire rhymes and socially conscious storytelling. Their creative identity finds its backbone in influences pulled from the likes of Soft Play, Rage Against the Machine, Riskee & The Ridicule, The Chats and broader punk-political-metal aesthetics.
Mukka & The Wizard Sleeves are not a polished industry product, they operate with a DIY ethos, building their sound and progress through personal effort, self-funding, community support, and grit instead of glamour. Their music carries the voice of real life, mental battles, addiction, hedonism, societal pressure, all wrapped in raucous energy and unfiltered truth. What sets them apart is the balance between riot and reflection. One moment they are delivering fierce, chest-thumping riffs; the next they are unmasking the quiet weight of the everyday mind, reminding listeners that behind closed doors, everyone is fighting something, and no one is alone. With their raw poetic edge, the band stands poised to break beyond their hometown scene and make waves in the wider punk landscape.
Released on 05 December 2025, “Born2graft” by Mukka & The Wizard Sleeves is a single that arrives not as a song alone, but as a statement. Recorded in Burton On Trent by Chris at Electric Fields and mastered by Thomas Marshal, the track stands as an anthem of defiance for the working-class heroes whose labour keeps society running while their struggles go unseen. Influenced by Riskee & The Ridicules and Rage Against The Machine, the single strikes with grit, fire and political sharpness, rejecting the idea that life’s worth is measured solely by exhaustion and endless work. With snarling guitars, commanding beats and razor-edged vocals, “Born2graft (F*ck That)” tears at capitalism, grind culture and the narrative that people should be grateful for scraps. The song imagines something bigger, purpose, freedom, community, self-defined meaning. A favourite opener for the band and a pure reflection of who they are, it is the sound of rebellion, of frustration turned into fuel, of a generation standing up to say enough is enough. “Born2graft” isn’t just heard, it’s felt, loudly and unapologetically.
The opening of “Born2graft” by Mukka & The Wizard Sleeves arrives with the kind of explosive immediacy that grips the listener by the collar before they even realize what is happening. It comes alive with a gritty, snarling guitar tone that slices through the silence like a blade, setting up a confrontational mood in the very first second. There’s a sense of unrest in the atmosphere, an electric tension that vibrates beneath the surface, hinting that something raw, emotional, and unfiltered is about to unfold. The overdriven guitars create a wall of sonic abrasion, while the subtle rumble of the bass creeps in with a dark, brooding undertone. The drums enter with tight snare hits and a punchy kick pattern, adding weight and urgency to the growing soundscape. Altogether, the introduction feels like a collision of lived experience and pent-up energy, shaking the air with a visceral force that immediately pulls the listener into its gritty universe.
As the track moves deeper into its main instrumental groove, the sound becomes fuller and even more textured. Multiple layers of guitars weave in and out, one delivering the raw, distorted riff that forms the backbone of the track, while another adds supporting grit with chordal strikes that give the music extra thickness. The bass guitar doesn’t just sit quietly underneath; it throbs with a muscular presence, filling the spaces between the guitars with a deep, resonant hum that intensifies the song’s heaviness. The drums lock everything into place, using crisp hi-hat patterns, aggressive snare hits, and a solid, grounded kick rhythm to create a driving pulse. This instrumental conversation creates a sense of controlled chaos, every element pushing against the other, vibrating with restless energy, yet all held together by a tight rhythmic framework. The groove has a raw swagger to it, a kind of rough-edged momentum that feels like both a march and a fight.
When the vocals enter, the track gains an entirely new dimension, suddenly, the emotional core of “Born2graft” becomes unmistakable. The vocalist of Mukka & The Wizard Sleeves delivers each line with a throaty grit, a kind of sandpaper texture that carries both intensity and vulnerability. There’s a sense of urgency in the phrasing, as if each word is being pulled straight out of the chest, shaped by personal battles and inner tension. The voice rides the instrumental wave with force, weaving itself into the distorted guitar textures rather than simply sitting on top of them. Breaths between lines, slight cracks at the edges of sustained phrases, and the gravelly projection all add richness to the emotional storytelling. The vocal timbre reinforces the themes of struggle, grafting, inner turmoil, and resilience that define the track’s spirit. It feels like someone speaking from the center of a storm, allowing the listener to stand in that wind with them.
The progression of the song is deliberate, powerful, and tightly structured to maintain an upward climb in intensity. As the verses unfold, the instrumental layers subtly evolve, extra guitar harmonics shimmer in the background, the bassline becomes more pronounced, and the drum patterns grow heavier, adding complexity without sacrificing cohesion. When the track shifts into the chorus, the energy heightens dramatically: the guitars expand into a broader sonic wave, the vocals rise with more force, and the rhythm section becomes more forceful, almost chest-pounding in its impact. Yet despite the dynamic leap, the transition feels natural, guided by the band’s careful control of tension and release. The progression functions like a rising tide, each section swelling with greater weight and emotional density, ensuring that the listener never loses the sense of forward motion.
The middle section of “Born2graft” acts as the song’s emotional apex, where everything, instrumentation, voice, theme, peaks in a fiery surge of expressive intensity. Here the guitars roar with increased distortion, almost growling as they tear through the mix. The bass becomes even darker and more insistent, pulsing with a heartbeat-like rhythm that deepens the emotional pull. The drums hammer out sharper fills and more accented strikes, adding a sense of almost frantic energy, as if the track is wrestling with its own internal pressure. This section feels loud, overwhelming, cathartic, as though every emotion the song carries has suddenly erupted through the speakers. It captures the raw moment where pain transforms into expression, where struggle becomes sound, where the act of “grafting” becomes not just a lyric or idea, but a physical sonic experience. The groove here is intense, charged, and deeply engrossing, hitting the listener with wave after wave of unrestrained force.
A raw punk rebellion, ‘Born2graft’ roars for the unseen working class, gritty, defiant, cathartic, and unapologetically alive.
The final stretch brings the song to a powerful, resonant close, maintaining the energy while allowing hints of release to seep through. The guitars begin to tighten again, repeating motifs from earlier sections, creating a feeling of narrative unity. The bass steadies the atmosphere, still heavy but slightly more controlled, while the drums ease into patterns that taper the intensity without flattening it. The vocals deliver their final lines with a worn, almost exhausted passion, as if the emotion that powered the song has now been fully expended. There is a fading grit in the voice, a final exhale that mirrors the closing textures of the instruments. As the track ends, the sound doesn’t simply disappear; it leaves behind a lingering echo of its raw energy, a sense of emotional residue that stays with the listener. The ending feels like stepping out of a whirlwind, still catching your breath, still hearing the ghost of the guitars ringing in your mind, still carrying the intensity of everything “Born2graft” has poured out.
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