PROFESSIONAL 101 aren’t just another rock band playing shows, they’re rewriting what it means to be a live band in 2025. Their monthly London headline series, has quickly become a word-of-mouth phenomenon—part rock ’n’ roll freakshow, part cultural experiment, and entirely its own thing. Now it’s evolving into its next iteration: Neon & Noise: The Rock ’n’ Roll Freakshow Experience. Sword swallowers, fire breathers, and full-throttle live energy collide in a night built around one core belief; that live music should feed the scene, not drain it.
The idea was simple: keep tickets cheap, keep spirits high, and make sure every penny goes back into the music. What started as a way to support local bands has evolved into a revolutionary model- every ticket sold now fuels PROFESSIONAL101 debut album campaign. The band’s fans aren’t just spectators; they’re investors, co-conspirators, and part of the story.
“We wanted to create something that gives back, where people feel like they’re building the album with us, because they are,” says guitarist Rob Hennebry. “When we got described as ‘rewriting what it means to be a live band,’ I was personally, extremely
proud. That’s what we set out to do.” Fronted by the magnetic Mani Waldner (vocals), with Rob Hennebry and Paul Fifield on
guitars, Daniel Butcher on bass, and Jonny Brister on drums, PROFESSIONAL sound is urgent, lean, and unapologetically alive. Think jagged riffs, biting social commentary, and widescreen ambition. Rock music that’s not looking backward, but dead ahead.
Their upcoming debut album, This Is The Sound (due September 2026), produced and mixed by Grammy Award–winner Danton Supple (Coldplay, Suede, Morrissey), captures that ferocity in recorded form. Singles like “In The City” (with its video directed by Gorillaz collaborator Seb Monk) showcase their punch and precision, while unreleased fan favourites like “Atomic Children” have been road-tested live, evolving directly through audience energy. “The live shows have fed back into the record,” says Waldner. “They’ve made the new material more anthemic. The crowd shapes what we become.”
The band’s origin story has a touch of serendipity… or fate. PROFESSIONAL 101 began when Rob injured his shoulder lifting beer kegs and was referred to Mani for physiotherapy. Mani, a poet who’d never been in a band, spotted Rob’s Hendrix T-shirt and asked if he could play guitar. One cancelled client and a spontaneous session later, they’d recorded their first track, “Madam G”. The rest was inevitable. Paul joined soon after, and through Danton Supple’s recommendation, drummer Jonny Brister, fresh from touring with Echobelly and Jake Shears, came on board.
The band name itself was born from irony: Mani, stranded beside his broken-down Mini Cooper (his “unrequited love”), was told by a mechanic, “Sure thing, you’re the professional.” That moment stuck.
Before PROFESSIONAL101 , the members had carved their own paths across the music world: sessioning, touring, and, in some cases, stepping away entirely. But when the five of them met, something bigger took shape. “There’s an energy in the room when we play together,” says Rob. “It’s greater than the sum of the parts. It’s what keeps pulling us back.”
Onstage, PROFESSIONAL 101 are feral, unrelenting, and impossible to ignore. They’ve already cut their teeth supporting Marky Ramone, The Levellers, and The Luka State, and as main support for Sir Bob Geldof’s Boomtown Rats. Festival crowds from Beautiful Days (alongside the Sex Pistols) to Metronome (with Alanis Morissette and Die Antwoord) have felt their full-force live assault, earning them International Festival’s Forum Favourite Showcasing Band. And each PROFESSIONAL101 show is chaos in motion, stage-diving fans, carnival energy, and a crowd that dresses up for the occasion. “It’s fun,” says Mani. “We want people to have fun watching live music again. For one night, it’s a freakshow, but it’s also a movement.”
And that movement is growing fast. PROFESSIONAL 101 aren’t chasing rock’s legacy- they’re building its future. Their blueprint blends independence with invention, studio ambition with stage adrenaline.“When people come to a PROFESSIONAL 101 show or listen to the album,” says Waldner, “I want them to feel seen and heard. We get each other. We feel what they feel when we look around the world and the future’s still there.”
But their upcoming album, This Is The Sound is more than a debut record. It’s a mirror held up to the world, honest and unfiltered. Or as Waldner puts it, “We worked hard not to curate or soundscape, just to be real. It’s our reflection of what’s going on out there, and our way of owning it.”
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