A few people have been asking about Kellys, St Paddies Day Hooley and why we’ve decided to pull out of the show.

I hate to disappoint you all but its not as radical or as controversial as some people might have hoped. It’s a dullish story with no explosions or fast cars.

           Admittedly our motives for the feeling we got and our cancellation are possibly a bit incoherent or even hypocritical, also we risk alienating ourselves from some good mates, favourite bands and helpful people.  We’re also well aware of the fact that we aren’t going to be part of a BIG show, playing for lots of people which is a rare thing for Axis of. But it’s hard to argue with gut feeling and we didn’t feel that it was the gig for us.

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With love and solidarity to all who are understanding.

Big shout out for Donkey, Much love.

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Axis of…

So i am sitting here on this dull wednesday night, and doing my usual method of judging bands by listening to them while reading their lyrics at the same time. I was just going through an album i bought a week or so ago called "One Nation Under The Iron Fist Of God" by a crustish hardcore band called Behind Enemy Lines. Our boy bobby listens to alot of underground shit that i usually turn my diluted nose up at, but this is 1 band i will be eternaly greatful to him for showing me.
Apart from my love beloved Propagandhi, this band have the best political and social lyrics out there. Plus there fucking epic. So enough of this sounding like a review, there is a point to this.

The whole albums great, but i came across 1 song called, "Turning a Blind Eye". The lyrics kinda cought my ears when i was kinda just relaxing so i looked them up in the booklet and they are so spot on with what I am thinking about alot these days. I don't know the exact meaning, but its not to hard to decifer, its basically about the amount of apathy that circles the western world and how it especially linked with the horrifying reality of life in many african and 3rd world countrys over the world. I think it relates to the general public but mostly governments.

I know for certain i am just as guilty as everyone about being active on this situation, and its starting to hit home that we should take responsability, god knows how, but its deffinetly worth thinking about.  Many governments and media stations say never again, and action must be taken, but yet we seem to see the same patterns going on over and over in the same area's and seeing it spreading to other area's. I can say for definite i have overheard people talking in my school about the disgusting scenes that you see on the news of coverage from places like Darfur, Rwanda , Bhurma and many other places, and how its such a breach of human rights. Yet when it comes down to it, news of say Heath Ledger dieing, will be much more hard hitting to most people. I have nothing against him atall, but when sizing up importance, i have to say the death of thousands of innocent people in such brutal circumstances is a hell of alot more important than another Hollywood star dying of an overdose or what ever it was. I think this extremely relevent, because even after Hotel Rwanda, people say that these events should not happen, they always do. One of the first songs we wrote as a band, was about the situation in Darfur, and how its well and good making a movie out of such a terrible event as Rwanda, yet whats the point if the awareness it raises is not capatalised on atall. By the way as i write this i take full responsability as a person who has turned a blind eye, but im starting to realise that 1 person can make a difference, and the more people who take the stance, "what can i do im over here its miles away and i have my own problems", thats another person that could be getting up and making a difference. So from now on im going to do my best to look into even small things i could do to help, and small things we as a band could do to make a difference.

Anyways here are the lyrics, they probably sound silly without music, but i strongly recomment this band to you, because theyve helped me realise that asides from the fact that Marks an idiot for saying we should right more songs like The Casualties and less like this band, they are one of the best punk bands out there:

Too much agony and bloodshed for the perpetrators to hide
Too much apathy and bloodlust for us to justify
Too much western world indifference to keep this savagery at bay
Too much need for intervention to just look the other way
For the refugees of Darfur
The end result looks bleak
Our never ending evasion
Their end without relief
We sit and debate while the militias bathe in blood
The first world has forsaken all of those who died
Brutalized by bigotry, abandoned by the world
We have turned a blind eye to genocide
Not enough tolerance, attention or humanitarian aid
Not enough of an outcry to stop the bludgeoning with the blade
Not enough compassion to combat all of this despair
Not enough resources to be plundered for the western world to care
Atrocities committed
The machete swings again
As our population thinks
Their population thins
We sit and debate while the militias bathe in blood
The first world has forsaken all of those who died
Brutalized by bigotry, abandoned by the world
We have turned a blind eye to genocide
They plead
We look the other way
They bleed
We look the other way
They die and we just look the other way
Can't we utilize more than empty rhetoric? can't we do more than pretend?
Can't we show some real conviction when we say "never again"?
Can't we see where this is heading? Can't we see what is at stake?
Can't we ever learn our lesson and not repeat our past mistakes?
They pay with their lives
We pay them no attention
We bury our heads in the sand
As they bury their children
We sit and debate while the militias bathe in blood
The first world has forsaken all of those who died
Brutalized by bigotry, abandoned by the world
We have turned a blind eye to genocide

I know my grammer sucks, and some of my points are probably off the mark. But sure leave us a comment, its gd to chat!

Over and out for torres and kuyt! Niall