The Terror State
Anti-Flag
Fat Wreck Chords
US$10 from
Review by James Vassilopoulos
Punks across the USA are debating, organising, building websites, thrashing and rocking against Bush. Bands that are part of this movement include NOFX, Green Day, the Offspring, Against Me, Pennywise, and Bad Religion. One of the punk bands at the forefront of this rebellious, musical-political movement is the band Anti-Flag.
The name Anti-Flag originated as a result of the late 1980s Pittsburgh punk scene. Band member Justin Sane explains that "we just wanted to make a point that we weren't there only to entertain, we had something to say, there was a fundamental belief behind the band."
This dissent goes back to the genesis of punk music in the mid-1970s where English working-class youth rebelled against the system. This occurred at the same time of the 1974 oil-price shock and of the first major recession since the 1940s. Young people felt that they had no future and that they were alienated from society. A little later on, the election of British PM Margaret Thatcher and US President Ronald Reagan, drove punks to sing proud songs against the neoliberal octopuses, death squads in El Salvador and cop violence. The threat of what appeared to be imminent nuclear annihilation powered a sense of despair and urgency.
Today a new sense of activism and urgency has entered the music. Anti-Flag along with releasing a new CD, The Terror State, have also set up a website the Underground Action Alliance (UAA) On this website they have a 'Get off your arse interview' with ex-Rage Against the Machine guitarist, Tom Morello. Morello states that politics is about "control over your life" and it is an awareness of what happens in your world, place of work and school. When asked how he first became active Morello said, "the first day someone used a racial slur on me on the playground. Growing up black in America is a very politicising experience in and of itself". Morello along with Serj Tankian from the metal band System of a Down has set up the Axis of Justice - a new organisation that includes networks of local grassroots organisations that people can get involved in.
Anti-Flag's Justin Sane is not your average muso, who, it's always good to receive support from, but who know little about politics. He is angry and articulate. In April 2004 he wrote an article on the media posing the question: Why is it okay for a reporter on CNN to give their opinion but it is automatically attacked when someone of the left does so? This is exactly what has been happening with Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11.
Sane wrote another piece in October 2003, called "George W. is a Gangsta". Here Sane describes how US President George W Bush stole the elections. He doesn't let the Democrats off the hook either. "Not only did they steal the election, the actual winner (and can you find a sorrier excuse for a Democrat than Al Gore?) rolled over and played dead, and so did the Democratic Party!", wrote Sane.
A different view is expressed by the band Bad Religion. They argue that Ralph Nader cost the Democrats the 2000 elections because 93,000 people from Florida voted for him. They say "voting Green. Or for any third party in a presidential election, is not a solution or a statement against the current government. It is most likely a wasted vote, and quite possibly a vote for the candidate you oppose... it's quite possible that voting for Nader whose policies were the exact opposite of George W. Bush, was directly responsible for the Republican victory."
The Terror State is raw, energetic and authentic punk music. With potent guitars, screechy vocals and anger transformed into electrical energy this CD is dripping with pongy sweat. The quick fire music, like busy pedestrians sprinting, makes you feel like head-butting the closest giant speaker to you. Millions more of your brain's neurons fire, stimulated by the clever lyrics.
For me "Turncoat" is one of the best songs on the album. This song shows why Bush is a turncoat, killer, liar and thief. It made radio station 2JJJ's top one hundred songs this year. The brilliant cover of Woody Guthrie's "Post War Breakout", written in the 1940s, is an extremely moving song. It's reggae sound, high-toned guitars and screechy lead and follow vocals transmit tingles up the spine. The only criticism I have of the CD is that it is a little one dimensional in places.
The CD comes with an educational booklet with lyrics, explanations of songs and more information. For example the song "Kill the Protestor" is dedicated to: strikers murdered by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in Colorado, 1914; WWI veterans protesting for veterans benefits attacked by General Douglas Macarthur using tanks and cavalry; Carlo Giuliani killed by the Caribinieri during the 2001 anti-G8 protests in Italy; and to 17 Iraqi people protesting peacefully in Fallujah, Iraq.
From Green Left Weekly, October 27, 2004.
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