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: @@@@@

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: @@@@@

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: @@@@

From the crucial Equalizing X Distort radio show/zine/blog:

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.

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"...

Here's some excerpts from an interview with The Class War Kids that was done a little while ago...

From what I understand, The Class War Kids are really involved in an "activist organization" called The Applecart Collective. Maybe you could tell us what kind of activity you are organizing?

Mostly we are bringing radical zines and literature to the island and making it accessible to people here. We have vegan bake sales from time to time; we publish a leftist zine and run a bookmobile too. We're probably the most wholesome radical organization around.

Errr...a bookmobile?? I have a mental picture of you guys in a big Library-On-Wheels, driving around the island, with a long line-up of kids clamoring for radical literature...accurate? What's the Bookmobile all about?

Well it's less a "mobile" than perhaps the name lets on, we basically drive our books to our shows along with our gear and we lay it out, it's not like we're serving out radical literature like ice cream cones (though perhaps that's an idea) but there are always books/zines/pamphlets at our merch table.

I understand that the Applecart Collective has even drawn some attention from the local police??

Yeah, there was a little bit of a fuss over the whole thing. In May of last year we put out our first (and to date only) zine. In it we outlined radical actions that one could take to create change and to express ones discontent with the system at hand.

Basically someone went around and smashed the windows out of cars and left our zine as their calling card. The wonderful folks at the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary got a hold of it and went bananas, they highlighted the sections they felt were most offensive and sat down to have a chat with some members of the group. They explained to us that people here are happy with the status quo and we don't need young upstarts trying to whip everyone into a blood-orgy-sex-frenzy with ideas about autonomy. They have since gotten off our back but I'm sure they're keeping a close watch over us.

Yikes! So what in particular about Mayday pissed off the cops?? What parts of the Zine did they highlight? Were can I get a copy...?

It's available at our merch table for a buck or if you wanna copy through the mail you can email us for one and we'd gladly send it out. In one section we outlined counter-revolutionary tactics that are used by those in power to keep radical movements grounded. One such tactic is the use of murder by the status quo to wipe out any voice of dissent. They highlighted that part and said "So you are advocates of murder?" and we're sitting there like, "No! That is something you folks do to help maintain control!" They totally didn't get it.

You guys say, and I quote, "The Class War Kids are a political punk rock band who believe that music can be a force for positive change in our world, and that music should be catchy as shit!" Having said that, what's more important, the music or the message? Do you want people dancing or debating?

I'd like to see both happen at once to be honest, I think debates would be way more interesting if people had to do the Hucklebuck or the Twist or something and talk politics at the same time; it'd be a challenge for the mind and the body. But seriously, I don't think that one can be accomplished without the other, at least not in a greatly significant way. Music is the easiest way to reach the entire world; it speaks to us all regardless of what our mother tongue is. I have learned more from well thought-out music than I ever have from any other medium. Music not only has the ability to change the world, there are examples of that actually happening.

The Hucklebuck?! Don’t know that one? You’ll have to teach me…!

Paul Williams outlines the movement pretty well in the chorus to The Hucklebuck :

'Push your partner out,
Then you hunch your back,
Start a little movement in your sacroiliac,
Wiggle like an eel, waddle like a duck,
That's the way you do it when you do the Hucklebuck'

Okay…dance lesson is over, back to nitty-gritty…any bands in particular with a “well thought out” message that have influenced/inspired your song writing and lyrics?

I'm a huge Clash fan, Joe Strummer inspires me, he said 'the world is worth fighting for' and I think that that is beautiful, I totally agree. It is worth fighting for. Jesse Michaels is also a huge inspiration, I really grabbed on to Operation Ivy after hearing the song "Unity".

OK, what strikes me about the songs on the album is just how optimistic and, well, joyous, they are. Songs like "Break Me" "We're Gonna Be Alright" and "Song For The Broken Hearted" are incredibly upbeat, both in terms of the music and the message. You seem pretty sure that "we're gonna be alright"...how come?

The world has some pretty big problems that need to be solved, but it is a world worth fighting for and a fight worth romanticizing. Every time I turn around, I realize I am surrounded by love, hope, and that provides the sense that everything is okay, that we are gonna be alright. People just seem to easily forget that united we are strong and that fighting one another is a useless struggle that is getting in the way of the bigger issues, and so I like to remind them. Our greatest asset in struggle is a positive outlook; negativity is defeating.

Speaking of issues, are there any in particular that The Class War Kids are trying to get across?

I think we're humanists, we believe in equality. We're anti-fascist. I write about a lot of things, violence; poverty; racism; sexism; homophobia; I realize those are broad issues and I try to be specific, thoughtful and inspire a message of hope.