PROPAGANDHI + Strike Anywhere + Humanifesto @ Club Soda

By Josh Mocle - The Kids are So-So - 06/22/2009

Now let me just start this review by saying I was slightly worried while going in to the latest Montreal appearance from Manitoba’s Propagandhi (and that worry had nothing to do with the overzealous bouncer at Club Soda taking the batteries out of my portable recorder for fear that I would bootleg the show…although I was then half inclined to go buy new batteries and bootleg it on principle…but that’s neither here nor there.) Rather, in the months leading up to the show I experienced the following interaction more times than I can count with dudes who were wearing polo shirts: “you like punk rock?! Dude have you heard the new Propagandhi (pronounced “propaGANDI” as most French Canadians are wont to do) record?!?!” Now, don’t get me wrong: I love Propagandhi…I love what they stand for, I love the way they go about getting their message across (living entirely within the harder void of melodic-hardcore) and I cannot deny the impact they have had on the North American punk and hardcore scene throughout the course of their over 20 year history (specifically in Canada.)

However, (again, specifically in Canada) they are in every sense of the term “that band.” The band that every poseur who likes to fancy themselves a rebel gravitates to because, if I had to guess, they are loud and swear a lot (this is what Rage Against the Machine was in the 90s and Anti-Flag is in the U.S. now.) Therefore, I was expecting the usual Montreal almost-but-kinda mainstream punk show audience: guys in polo shirts who understand zero English, swilling Heineken with their buddies and frequently forgetting they aren’t at a hockey game and their loud and equally francophone girlfriends. Generally, shows like this make me want to commit poseur genocide. Were it not for CJLOs own Brian Hastie and his manservant Alexander keeping me distracted and the promise of what was sure to be an excellent opening set from Richmond, Virginia’s Strike Anywhere, I very well might have.

Speaking of distractions, while checking out the mass amount of activist propaganda the band brought on tour with them, I heard a charging drum beat coming from the main room and remembered there were actually TWO openers on the bill. After making our way inside to gawk at Montreal’s own Humanifesto, we found ourselves back outside in search of pizza five minutes later. Overly nasal and lyrically contrived, I’m fairly certain the only reason these mooks were allowed to open the show was because of their name. Thumbs down.

Following some delicious pizza from our friends at “that-place-across-the-street-from-foufs” we made our way back inside for the band I was unquestionably the most excited to see: Strike Anywhere. Having been a fan of their politically charged street punk stylings for many years but not having seen them for over a year, I was jonesing for some sweet sweet almost southern-fried punk rock. In this regard, I was not disappointed: their slightly more than 30 minute set hit all the right marks with tracks from all three of their full lengths and their upcoming record out this October and all the requisite intensity and sincerity one would expect from one of the most earnest bands out there today. My problem was the fact that while the room was more than packed, only about ten or fifteen people (including Hastie and myself) really seemed to be into it, which only hammered home the disconnect between the material being put forward by the bands and the audience that had rolled up because they like it when people swear. Simply put: if you like Propagandhi for the right reasons (well crafted hardcore with a message sharp enough to cut through concrete) then you should like Strike Anywhere and if you don’t you are wrong.

Which I guess brings us to Propagandhi themselves. After a relatively earnest presentation by volunteers from the Rainforest Action Network (good kids…I felt for them slightly given that NO ONE gave a shit about what they had to say), the band took to the stage and the room exploded as a lot of now very drunk French Canadians finally got to punch something. I know the band opened with the title track of their latest release, Supporting Caste but I can honestly say I tuned out after that. While it’s probably the number one crime all music snobs commit, I finally let my disgust with the audience take over.  Even though I should be used to it by now, it still boggles my mind how so many people can be so absent minded. Here are some of the smartest, well versed punks the nation of Canada has to offer and I’d say only about 6% of those in attendance knew and appreciated what they had to say. Of the other 94%, I’d say give or take 50% didn’t understand the lyrics AT ALL (thanks language laws), and the other 50 just didn’t care and were there because the band was loud and swore a lot. I’ve often called the band the Canadian Anti-Flag and I’m gonna stick to my guns on that one. However, the comparison stems not from anything the band does themselves, but how people react to them. Now, the jury is still out on how I feel about the whole “throw political jargon at a bunch of blockheads and eventually one or two will get it” line of logic, but I will say that I see little point in laying this good shit out for a bunch of drunken assholes who will wake up the next morning and make zero changes to their lifestyle.

Or maybe I’m just an overly sentimental pseudo-activist with an axe to grind. Either way I just got you to read 960 words chock full of slanted ideas and musical elitism…I somehow think Chris Hannah would be proud.

Tune into the last episode of The Kids Are So-So with Josh this Thursday at 6PM. If you miss it, check out the ongoing saga that is the No Division Podcast over at NationalUnderground.org