“TURN IT DOWN” INTERVIEW

Nora from TURN IT DOWN: A CAMPAIGN AGAINST WHITE POWER MUSIC was interviewed on the Roots Rock Rebel Radio show on Wednesday, November 18th. Nora talked about anti-racist organizing and the campaign around the NORTHERN AGGRESSION: PROJECT BONEYARD VOLUME II compilation. You can both stream and download the interview: HERE. In addition to the interview, host Aaron spins some great reggae, ska, punk and hardcore! Here’s a bit about the episode:

Roots Rock Rebel
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
10pm-12am
CKUT, 90.3FM, Montreal!

Greetings radio junkies,

Yes, this beautiful/miserable planet of ours is a racist racist place. In
Canada, migrants are being deported by the thousands every year while we
talk about “reasonable accomodations”, indigenous land is getting
swallowed up for the winter Olympics and to build condos for the rich, and
no, Palestine still ain’t free.
But luckily, people in the punk rock and ska community are fighting back.
Our special guest on the show this week was Nora Flanagan, who is the
project coordinator for the Turn It Down campaign against white power
music. Nora spoke with us about how her group is using community
organizing as a tool to counter a new rise in racist hate music, and also
about the new “Northern Agression” compilation, recently released on
Insurgence Records. Northern Aggression brings together some of North
America’s finest anti-racist punk, hardcore, and hip-hop acts to give a
big middle finger to racists everywhere. From the dirty rock from whence
they crawled, to the halls of the House of Commons in Ottawa, NAZI PUNKS
FUCK OFF!

Make sure you check out Turn It Down and Northern Aggression and SUPPORT
YOUR LOCAL ANTI-RACISTS!

www.turnitdown.newcomm.org
www.myspace.com/projectboneyard

CLASS WAR KIDS REVIEW FROM RAZORCAKE

Review of “Reflection! Rage! Rebellion!” from Razorcake:

CLASS WAR KIDS:
Reflection! Rage! Rebellion!: CD
Class War Kids is an inspired anarcho pop punk band from Newfoundland, Canada. It’s okay that Propagandhi started to suck because this instant classic easily fills their oversized vegan shoes. Some of the lyrics are embarrassingly trite, such as on the anti-rape song, “Never Her Fault.” But others are gleefully confrontational, even by subculture standards. The boldest song mocks present-day military worship and is called “Fuck the Troops.” Other hits include “Cherry Poppin’ Conservatives,” a track about breaking down sexual orientation barriers. Slightly faster and harder than Propagandhi, but Propagandhi is clearly their main musical influence. Female backing vocals add additional flair to an already amazing mix. I bet all of their PC goofiness is merely a ruse to get laid, but as long as they keep making killer records, let these geeks have their fun. –Art Ettinger (Rebel Time)

Just for the record…Rebel Time Records has no problem with Propagandhi!

OLD PUNKS NEVER DIE (OR LIE)

A few choice reviews from one of our favourite blogs: OLD PUNKS NEVER DIE. Well worth keeping an eye on, and, for those across the pond, The Old Punk stocks a good selection of Insurgence Records and Rebel Time Records material.

THE BRAT ATTACK – THOSE WHO SOW SORROW SHALL REAP RAGE

This is The Brats fourth album, and I don’t know how the fuck I missed the other three. This is anthemic rebel noise done right proper! Clearly designed to upset our enemies and fire us up in equal measure, the tracks are a finely-tuned and targeted assault on the stupidity that constitutes the current social order. It’s a big target, but The Brats main-line their attack straight into the system’s nerve centre. This is music that goes well beyond the meaningless clichés often found in lesser offerings. This mob know it’s 2009 not 1979 and, while they’re clearly well versed in our history, they’re also fully aware of the reality of the struggle today. ‘Those Who Sow Sorrow…’ is a beautifully angry response to the situation we currently find ourselves in.

That’s not to say they’ve forgotten their roots – there are definitely nods to the likes of Aus Rotten and The (English) Subhumans in their approach, but there’s also a strong flavour of bang-up-to-date melodic streetpunk underpinning the whole lot. Of course, without the intelligent, witty, and straight-talking lyrics, this would be nothing more than pleasing ear candy à la Rancid, and there’s more than enough of that sort of nonsense in the world already. The Brats are clearly not a part of that poseur punk mindset. It’s abundantly clear that they’re willing to accept the challenge of making punk rock a threat again.

The accompanying promo sheet nicely summarises the whole package as ‘a hummus-powered, positive & purposeful punk rock radical-left political primer… [that's] even got melody, hooks & a catchy chorus or two!’. This is the sound that fills you with hope as you put a match to the Molotov in your hand and in your head.

OP’s opinion: @@@@@

THE CLASS WAR KIDS – REFLECTION! RAGE! REBELLION!

I love this band! I want to have their babies and breed an army of punk rock superheroes hell-bent on creating regime-changing anarchy! OK, I know that I don’t have the appropriate ladybits required for babymaking but, if I did, my womb would be theirs. These young soul rebels have revolution etched into their genetic make-up.

This disc picks up from where the last one left off without simply being more of the same. It keeps all of the energy, urgency and humour that hooked me first time without sounding in the least bit rehashed. You could quite happily play their entire recorded output back to back and enjoy every fist-pumping, life-enhancing, sweat-soaked second of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you then pressed ‘repeat’ and did it all over again.

Even at their most serious, The Kids aren’t afraid of making you laugh while they fire you up. When they tackle sexual indoctrination and self-restriction in ‘Cherry Poppin’ Conservatives’, they do it with a literal ‘fuck you’ attitude, happily asserting that ‘it don’t matter who’s into penis or vagina, if you like ‘em both, best of ya!’. The remedy is to ‘whip it out, slap it around’ while also making sure that Christian Conservatives get their ‘ass cherry popped!’. Sounds like one hell of a party.

The funnies don’t always fit the theme, and that’s where the poetry of their message shines through. ‘The reason I’m so angry is because I’m so in love, I won’t give up but one heart can only bleed so much for a world so fucked up’ (‘Love & Anger’) captures the essence of why we feel so compelled to scream out, and how we’re building a future based on love as we kick down the world around us.

This whole package brings to life Raoul Vaneigem’s lesson that ‘people who talk about revolution and class struggle without referring explicitly to everyday life, without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constraints, such people have a corpse in their mouth’. In true punk rock style, The Kids spat the corpse out a long time ago.

OP’s opinion: @@@@@

THE ROTTEN – ENEMY OF THE STATE

On first listen, I was a bit underwhelmed by this offering. But I quickly realised that my mistake was playing this straight after the other two and not giving my brain a chance to reset. Much like wine appreciation, you need to clean your aural palate when enjoying fine music.

Suitably refreshed, I hit play again. What a difference a cup of tea makes to your ears. The Rotten may not have quite the same the musical or lyrical prowess of their label breathren, but that doesn’t stop ‘em expressing themselves in no uncertain terms. The noise is stripped down, punked up and gobbed out in the finest tradition of the old school style. There’s a decent dose of street politics and wrong-side-of-the-tracks anger aimed at the ‘great and good’, as well as tongue-in-cheek humour and the desire to just have fun. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

The influence of Canuck punk pioneers DOA courses through the veins of these 21st century (angelic) upstarts, underpinning but not overpowering this rough diamond of a record.

The Rotten – they’re anything but.

OP’s opinion: @@@@

REVIEW OF “NORTHERN AGGRESSION: PROJECT BONEYARD VOL. 2″

From Exclaim Magazine:

Various Northern Aggression — Project Boneyard Volume 2 By Brad Schmale This release is a compilation distributed with the intent of cracking down on fascist propaganda and White Pride organizations, using music as a message of unification and urgency. Comprised of punk, hardcore and hip-hop acts, and featuring 16 tracks of vigilant activism, this collection brings lesser-known artists out of the dark and onto the battlefield. Baltimore, MD outfit Fighting Chance set the scene with “Somethin’s Gotta be Done,” a call to arms that’s delivered in the true oi spirit. Toronto, ON street punks the Class Assassins and their outcast anthem, “Outside Looking In,” are a fitting contribution, as is hardcore faction Death in Custody’s abrasive and spastic “Car Bomb.” Remarkably, America’s premier working-class punks the Press also lend their assistance to the disc with “Just another Warning,” which has just as much relevance today as it did 20 years ago. Northern Aggression ― Project Boneyard Volume 2 is a propitious comp that successfully manages to connect different artists and genres together with the soul purpose of the masses following suit despite race, creed or gender. Amen. (Insurgence)

TURN IT DOWN STATEMENT ON “NORTHERN AGGRESSION” SAMPLER

From the folks at TURN IT DOWN! A CAMPAIGN AGAINST WHITE POWER MUSIC

 Throughout our ten-plus years of tracking and fighting hate across music subcultures, the Turn It Down Campaign has also made it our business to recognize and support bands and labels who take strong stands against bigotry.  As necessary as it is to track those who would hijack our scenes to promote hate, it is equally crucial to work with antiracist efforts.  We have published extensive resources, assembled rosters of bands and other elements of the music industry who support our efforts, and worked closely with touring bands to share information and ideas.

Now we’ve taken it a step further. 

Earlier this year, word trickled out that Tightrope Records – headed up by Bryant Cecchini, formerly of Resistance and Panzerfaust Records – planned a follow-up to the 2004 Project Schoolyard compilation.  While we’re happy to report that this sad sequel attempt to recruit youth to the white power movement has made barely a ripple, its release started a conversation between Turn It Down and Insurgence Records.

Insurgence has long been known as one of the most vital voices in the antiracist scene.  The Toronto-based label has produced such overtly anti-fascist bands as The Oppressed, Klasse Kriminale, The Press and The Prowlers.  Insurgence was just as irate as we were to learn that the racist fringe would once again target our youth with a collection of (truly awful) music.  So we decided to do something.

And now, a few months after that conversation began, we’re proud to announce the release of Northern Aggression: Project Boneyard Volume II – a compilation of hardcore, punk and more that Insurgence asserts is “without question, the best collection we’ve ever compiled.”  Turn It Down and Insurgence have pooled our efforts and resources to categorically answer the efforts of those who think music fans and youth can be so easily won over by lousy music and idiotic ideology.

This comp is stellar.  For starters, it has made us love hardcore again has renewed our faith in smart street punk.  We’ve found a bunch of incredible bands we didn’t know, and we’ve rediscovered a few we hadn’t heard in a while.  More than anything, though, Northern Aggression has proven that plenty of people will readily take a stand against hate in our music scenes.

This is where you come in.

While we’re thrilled and proud that so many great bands have stepped up, we need music fans to join the fight.  We want to get this comp out there in as many hands as possible, and we need your help to do that.  We’ve worked out a number of ways for you to get copies of Northern Aggression.  If you’re looking for a copy for yourself, go to www.insurgence.net, where you can get a copy free with any order, or on its own for a mere $3. 

But we’ve also set our sights bigger.  We want to hear from bands, venues, fans and others who can help us get the word and the music out there.  Below you’ll find information on how to get bulk copies of the comp for as little as 50¢ each.  Send us your order, and we’ll send your discs right out, along with some Turn It Down buttons.  You can pass them out to friends, or if you’re a band, you can give them away or sell them for up to $3 at your merch table.  It’s up to you.  But for all of you who’ve been asking how you can help, this is a huge opportunity to do so.  Let’s show the bigots that they can’t have our scenes.

Throughout our ten-plus years of tracking and fighting hate across music subcultures, the Turn It Down Campaign has also made it our business to recognize and support bands and labels who take strong stands against bigotry.  As necessary as it is to track those who would hijack our scenes to promote hate, it is equally crucial to work with antiracist efforts.  We have published extensive resources, assembled rosters of bands and other elements of the music industry who support our efforts, and worked closely with touring bands to share information and ideas.

Now we’ve taken it a step further. 

Earlier this year, word trickled out that Tightrope Records – headed up by Bryant Cecchini, formerly of Resistance and Panzerfaust Records – planned a follow-up to the 2004 Project Schoolyard compilation.  While we’re happy to report that this sad sequel attempt to recruit youth to the white power movement has made barely a ripple, its release started a conversation between Turn It Down and Insurgence Records.

Insurgence has long been known as one of the most vital voices in the antiracist scene.  The Toronto-based label has produced such overtly anti-fascist bands as The Oppressed, Klasse Kriminale, The Press and The Prowlers.  Insurgence was just as irate as we were to learn that the racist fringe would once again target our youth with a collection of (truly awful) music.  So we decided to do something.

And now, a few months after that conversation began, we’re proud to announce the release of Northern Aggression: Project Boneyard Volume II – a compilation of hardcore, punk and more that Insurgence asserts is “without question, the best collection we’ve ever compiled.”  Turn It Down and Insurgence have pooled our efforts and resources to categorically answer the efforts of those who think music fans and youth can be so easily won over by lousy music and idiotic ideology.

This comp is stellar.  For starters, it has made us love hardcore again has renewed our faith in smart street punk.  We’ve found a bunch of incredible bands we didn’t know, and we’ve rediscovered a few we hadn’t heard in a while.  More than anything, though, Northern Aggression has proven that plenty of people will readily take a stand against hate in our music scenes.

This is where you come in.

While we’re thrilled and proud that so many great bands have stepped up, we need music fans to join the fight.  We want to get this comp out there in as many hands as possible, and we need your help to do that.  We’ve worked out a number of ways for you to get copies of Northern Aggression.  If you’re looking for a copy for yourself, go to www.insurgence.net, where you can get a copy free with any order, or on its own for a mere $3. 

But we’ve also set our sights bigger.  We want to hear from bands, venues, fans and others who can help us get the word and the music out there.  Below you’ll find information on how to get bulk copies of the comp for as little as 50¢ each.  Send us your order, and we’ll send your discs right out, along with some Turn It Down buttons.  You can pass them out to friends, or if you’re a band, you can give them away or sell them for up to $3 at your merch table.  It’s up to you.  But for all of you who’ve been asking how you can help, this is a huge opportunity to do so.  Let’s show the bigots that they can’t have our scenes.

NEW REVIEW OF THE CLASS WAR KIDS

Review of THE CLASS WAR KIDS from EXCLAIM…

Class War Kids
Reflection! Rage! Rebellion!
By Brad Schmale

The Class War Kids go straight for the throat with their sophomore release, as each abrasive song rips into the next. Taking notes from Rancid, A Global Threat and Moral Crux, these Newfoundlanders play an energetic and conscious brand of street punk that drips as much passion and anger as defiance. The group prove their relevance by blasting out protest anthems like “The Vegan Avenger Ascends into Legend,” “Policeman” and the fist raising “Disinformation Age,” all of which are prime examples of the group’s politically motivated lyrics and infectiously gritty songwriting. The Class War Kids aren’t shy to point their finger, whichever one it may be, in the direction of greed, injustice and misogyny, revealing that the true problems in our system are often caused by those that run it. Reflection! Rage! Rebellion! is 14 tracks of devoted insubordination that carries its heart on one sleeve and conceals a Molotov cocktail in the other. (Rebel Time)

NORTHERN AGGRESSION: PROJECT BONEYARD VOLUME II

From the Project Boneyard Myspace (The Class War Kids are on this. Available from Rebel Time Records for just $3.00)…

Insurgence Records has teamed up with the Turn It Down Campaign and a host of bands, show promoters, crews, and individuals to bring you: Northern Aggression – Project Boneyard Volume II. The scene is stepping up again to challenge the spread of fascist propaganda (and bad music) like Project Schoolyard, a lacklustre sampler CD crapped out by a US-based bonehead label in an attempt to recruit youth to the white power movement.

Our subculture has always played to the tune of ‘having a laugh and having a say’. Our message to the fascists: Get out of what was never yours to begin with. The kids on the street won’t be fooled, and we will never abandon turf to self-serving freeloaders like you and the muck you spread.

Fans of real street music: Enjoy the music and smash fascism wherever it rears its ugly head!

See the Project Boneyard Myspace for more info about the sampler and the campaign:

Project Boneyard Myspace 

or go to Insurgence Records at:

Insurgence Records

Cheers!

REVIEWS OF THE ROTTEN AND THE CLASS WAR KIDS

From the crucil Equalizing X Distort radio show/zine/blog…both albums available from Rebel Time Records, Interpunk, CD Baby, Itunes, etc…

THE ROTTEN
ENEMY OF THE STATE

THE ROTTEN have been slugging it out for ten years now and this is their second CD. This is the follow up to “Circus of the Demented” that came out in 2003. The band is self-described as a ’77 style punk band, but it is ’77 style in that BLANKS ’77 way. It is a fusion of punk and hardcore. And with the vocalists gruff sounding vocals they totally remind me of DOA. It is a mid-paced type of hardcore. And the title of this release even seems like a combination of DOA songs “The Enemy” and “Smash the State”. The band has some drinking and fighting songs like “K.W.D.P.”, but they also have songs about unhealthy partying like “No Good at All”. They make good arguments for atheism with songs like “God’s Helping”. And then they express their appreciation for greaser culture with “50’s ….Pontiac….”. It’s all kids counter culture so chalk it up to kindred spirits I suppose. Songs like “Oh’ Dell” and “Human Disaster” are totally pointed commentaries which I love to see. And songs like “Scenewrecker” and “Punk Love” are totally scene specific, which I also like to see because you should write about what you know and if you are immersed in the punk scene you know about shit going down. What I am trying to say is these cats are well rounded and genuine as far as punk bands go. A healthy dose of serious and fun. This will be a long time listening release.

THE CLASS WAR KIDS
REFLECTION! RAGE! REBELLION!

THE CLASS WAR KIDS play a pop punk charged by hardcore not unlike WEDNESDAY NIGHT HEROES or KNUCKLEHEAD or PROPAGHANDHI or the FALLOUT or HOSTAGE LIFE. The examples in ….Canada…. are boundless. And as you listen to “Reflection! Rage! Rebellion!” the songs bleed one into the next which is an old RAMONES trick. Like a military drill sergeant the momentum runs from the politics of food to security culture to economic cheerleading. And it’s all set to sing-a-long choruses which makes for a soundtrack for your social conscience. Bands like this give me hope. Hope for the scene and hope for a chance at a tomorrow. Keep on keeping on.

AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH THE CLASS WAR KIDS

Check out an almost 2-hour interview with THE CLASS WAR KIDS…they were interviewed last week on AWOL RADIO (“Political outrage, ecology, anarchism and resistance are common themes on the show”) out of Kitchener-Waterloo…

Head to the AWOL RADIO webpage to download the show.

It’s the show labelled: “August 20 Dan and Alex host the Class War Kids for the whole two hours where we talk punk rawk, politics, robocop and more.”

Right click and “Save Target As”…

Deep Thoughts by Nick Handy of Broadcast Zero

From the Broadcast Zero Myspace Blog…

The Ontario Crossroads

So we’ve got like seven shows coming up to close out this month. After sweating to death for the past few days I am reminded why we typically do not play shows in August…we don’t fancy dying on stage Judge Dread style or any style for that matter. But there is a good reason for these shows…

It appears that all of our favourite bands felt the urge to converge on Ontario at the exact same fucking time. So what did we do, well not much. Hmmm..that story sucks.

No, we actually made sure as hell that we’d be playing a number of shows with our favourite people form East to West.

Obviously THE rebel spell is Canada’s finest punk rock band from Vancouver….and they’re good kissers, especially that Todd fellow. They’re playing like 15 shows in Ontario so make sur eyou check them out regardless of whether or not we’re playing.

Class War Kids….whatever….only one of the best pure political punk bands I know of. Some of you may wonder what I mean by pure…well, read their lyrics sheet….these guys are chalked full of message and no fluff: specific and to the point, a sign that they know what they’re talking about. Not like those cheezy quasi-politpunks that sing about stuff like “Someone start a revolution, we’ve got four but we need more” kind of non-specific slogan chanting like you find in some bands. If you didn’t catch them the first time through Ontario, catch them on their way back to Newfoundland.

Jesse Lebourdais from the band Cambridge (Vancouver) is touring his solo acoustic act which is some real wicked shit. He’s a super talented guy who is frightened of me when I’m drunk and bowling but he put together an excellent solo project and you shoudl all check it out….immediately.

Noelle from Chaos, Disorder and Panic is a longtime show promoter out in Chilliwack, BC and she’s put on countless shows for countless bands and does it because she loves exactly what we love: building and supporting a scene that stretches across the entire country. She’s been an important contributor to that development and she’s making her first trip across Canada with her friends in GSTS marketing her specific brand of spoken-word experimental message-filled songs.

Also bands that aren’t touring but are playing shows during this time period include good friends and also people committed to building a scene are End Program from Toronto who are affiliated with the collective High Art for the Low Down who also put on countless shows in whatever venues they can find to support touring and local acts.

Subsistence from Montreal will also be heading down here for a show. There was no better moment that watching Phil from Subsistence get dragged out of one of our many local pubs screaming, “I don’t speak English!! They don’t understand!!” He was absolutely bombed but I think he was getting dragged out bombed or sober so at least he was the funner of the two. Those guys are wicked though so check them out.

And of course Final Four are playing the Hamilton show and they’ve always been one of my favourite bands except I don’t actually know them beyond the brief time we spent at the last Hamilton show we played together but they’re awesome so check them out.

The who point of the story is that four years ago none of these bands knew each other and now we get the opportunity to set up shows and play shows across the entire country and it just goes to show that a scene for this kind of punk rock exists across the country and its held together by touring bands and promoters who love the music.

nick