Three oldies which had previously been recorded with precisely that biscuit tin sound were as follows;
Born Free - lets just say Hunt Sabotage has figured in the lives of most who’ve been in Active Slaughter. Hunt Saboteurs go out there in the hunting field and use a number of non violent methods to sabotage the hunt. When Born Free was originally written in 2004, the rules of engagement for ‘hunt-scum’ were slightly different. The rules changed slightly with the 2005 Hunting with Dogs Act, though to be honest the cops are always more willing to arrest a sab for fuck all then their fox hunting mates who are breaking wildlife laws any day. The lyrics to Born Free were slightly up dated as a consequence. Jake also informed me he removed a reference to Basil Brush when it emerged that sadly this fox is a bit of a racist fuck. Defiance of the Realm which had been recorded on no less than two occasions since it was written in late 2002, was given a new lease of life for the album as it remained a live favourite all that time. Terrorise was also included which was essentially written as a response to the British Government’s abuse of Terrorism legislation back in 2003. It also covers media bigotry towards asylum seekers and immigrants and how they often link them in as one and the same thing - terrorists.
The new album laid down nine brand new numbers as follows;
Nothing to Hide Nothing to Fear is simply a reflection of the times we live in. How often have we heard the likes of Blair’s cabinet telling us in regards to ID cards, increased CCTV and all the other erosion of our civil liberties that ‘if you’ve got nothing to hide you’ve got nothing to fear’. The song looks at how much of a Big Brother society ‘the surveillance state’ Britain today is. It’s no exaggeration to say we’re coming to a point where the authorities will “even have a camera to watch you masturbate”. It’s important to remember how much the police still stitch people up, the era of corruption and wrong doing by the Metropolitan Police is certainly not a thing of the past. Let’s just say Jean Charles de Menezes eh!
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We Want Some More of That was made up on the spot following news of a very inspiring demonstration by a group calling themselves Smash EDO. EDO are one of many arms manufacturers based in Britain though they are an American company who have now changed their name to ITT. The reality of this insidious form of corporation is that they are ‘Killing kids in Palestine, our right to protest gets denied’.
Ruling Class War can be seen as commenting on Blair’s legacy, which was built on intervention against Serbia and has made Britain the target for hate for decades to come, thanks to Afghanistan and Iraq. And what was all it for other than ‘war fought for oil, war fought for gas, war is in the interests of the ruling class’. The song also reminds us of how we are ”living in the shadow of A-bomb” (refer back to the information on Faslane and Trident). The Government are investing billions of pounds in tax payers money to find a replacement for Trident instead of building a future with prospects, to drive our kids away from knife crime. Let us not forget such kids would also probably be welcomed as cannon fodder in the next ruling class war.
Chernobyl Waiting to Happen is easily the most direct anti nuclear song the band has ever written. The lyrics have been constructed in a dream like (or rather, nightmare) sequence about waking up to a nuclear disaster. The song came out of concern that yet another ‘promise’ Labour went back on was to not invest in any new nuclear power stations. We are living in the midst of a serious energy crisis and what’s worse is the waste of energy is encouraged through a consumerist society. A song like Ruling Class war is topical for Briton’s who are getting stung by drastically increasing electric bills. Let us remember for a minute ‘electric didn’t come so cheap, those bombs never brought you peace’. The song makes reference to the fact there is an indisputable link between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. As a matter of fact the discovery of nuclear power in the late 1940’s was a consequence of the nuclear weapons programme. Active Slaughter hammer home in this song the danger from nuclear power is all about RADIATION!
Corporate Fascist (Berlin 1936, London 2012) looks at past, present and future. Not everyone is happy about the 2012 Olympic Games coming to London capitalism above communities is dealt with in the first verse. The second verse has a story in it, it’s all about how the Olympics brings jobs in the short term and then leaves the poor with nothing. Slum clearances are all part of the parcel with Olympic cities; the poor get cleared out and homes for the rich are built for the short term period. Corporate Fascist is making a few comments about London life or the vision those at the top have;‘No More Homeless on the Street, Beaten up by the Beat, Marching off to Death Camp, there’s no where left for us to dance’.
It’s worth noting as diversity of the bands musical influences a tribute is paid to Soft Cell in the lyrics, yes seriously ‘Say Hello to your Corporate Gods’, ‘Wave Goodbye to your culture’ that’s not plagiarism just healthy respect to a good pop song, which in a way is what the band were aiming at with this one, very rock ’n’ roll in terms of sound anyway.
One of the victims of the Olympic clearances is the legendary Astoria theatre, which is getting pulled down to make way for a railway just for the Olympic Games. You can guarantee that London’s poor won’t be welcome to the games but we’re the ones that will have to pay. So you’ve seen a bit on the future and present with corporate fascists. The past context is that Mussolini was a strong advocate and practitioner of corporate fascism. The song reminds us ‘Coca-Cola is the only choice’, coca-cola enjoyed a good relationship with the Nazi regime- enough said, other than we all have another choice than this and let’s not let Sky Media be out only voice.
RIP is making a comment about the environment, globalisation and this current craze; the credit crunch. We’re definitely living in the midst of an era, the media, at least, are telling us is a time of potential disaster. Issues such as food shortages and the energy crisis are a feature of our times, but most people in the UK will just carry on shopping with their heads buried in the sand. RIP looks at how it’s not just one thing that’s destroying the planet, rather it’s a combination of many; consumerism, the ‘need’ for more environmentally unsound energies always taking precedent over safer alternatives, the endless wars of environmental obliteration, and so on. Rather than waiting to die a painful death in Armageddon remember ‘we could have listened, changed some of our ways, we could have acted, instead of being enslaved’.
Leather and Studs is back to basic juvenile punk rock slagging off in the most tongue in cheek of senses, though as ever some of taken it too literally. Punk rock was supposed to always be about offending and shocking people and if you can’t shock and offend a punk rocker then who can you offend. If anyone takes offense at the sentiment of leather and studs then as ZoundZ said back in the day ‘If you’ve got something to hide then it must be bad’. Over the years A/S who’ve put on many benefit gigs have seen the leather and stud chaos punk claim to have no money and blag it into a gig, the first thing they’ll do is pull out a crisp twenty pound note and buy a pint- this sort of shit is what’s killed the DIY punk scene for years on end. What’s the betting these fucks don’t try their blagging in a gig held in a corporate venue policed by lard arse bouncers who have no love for the real spirit of punk rock. Leather and studs is an attack at hypocrisy, some of its inspiration was a MOB47 gig in autumn 2007 and a sea of leather jackets where waving their fist to the old and let’s be clear about this old anthem ‘Animal Liberation’, indeed!
V comprises the only direct comment on veganism and animal rights that Active Slaughter brought as a new offering in their already wide repertoire on animal rights. Rightly or wrongly the band has faced accusations and criticisms of being too ‘full on’ when it comes to AR. What is frankly bollocks is this idea of their stance on AR being too ‘preachy’, this just seems a way of people saying you’re telling me what to do and I don’t like it because I know what I am doing is wrong. There isn’t any real justification for the meat industry, the arguments of killing animals to survive are different and the fact is the majority of people who do eat meat are so totally disengaged from the entire process. The song reminds on the issue of veganism ‘It’s not just the animals in misery, it’s the death of our planet as well can’t you see’. In this era of scarce resources the vegan diet represents a viable alternative for example a meat eaters diet requires the use of fifty acres of land per year, whilst a vegan diet requires just two- as the band said back in 2002 ‘Be a fucking vegan, it’s the only way to go’ and I don’t give a fuck if that’s too preachy.
Price of Silence no it’s not a discharge song but just as Cal was commenting on Thatcher’s era this is totally about the need to fight back in the age of border line totalitarianism. The song ties in with the album’s title, the Government have been trying and recently failed to push in a power which would give the police the power to hold a terror suspect for forty-two days. Let’s just remember some of the victims of the 1974 prevention of Terrorism Act, the Guildford Four who were all innocent spent some 17 years behind bars that the police stitched them well and truly up for. Don’t be complacent that abuses won’t happen again. The Pogues commented in their 1987 epic ‘Birmingham six;’ In Ireland they’ll put you away in the maze, In England they’ll keep you for seven long days’, times have well and truly changed the police now have the power to hold a ‘terrorist’ suspect for twenty eight days and all the indications are the forty two days will come eventually. Incidentally China currently tops the record with thirty five days the fact Britain wants to beat the country seen as being amongst the worst for human rights violation should make us fucking worry. Let’s remember this period of detention denies a defendant’s right to a solicitor. Price of Silence also comments on the clamp down on protest such as the SOCPA legislation and it ties in with the themes of ‘Nothing to Hide’, we’ll soon be living in a world where kids are ‘micro-chipped when you’re born’.
The song was a collaborative effort with a very good friend of the band none other than Martin Von Loser of the now sadly defunct but not forgotten Terminal City Ricochet/ The Inciters. Martin not only shared the vocals, half of the words where his own, he also added some vocal contributions on a couple of other numbers on the album not least ‘Leather and Studs’. Price is a four way split on the vocals with JJ and Jake taking on the first verse and Jamie and Martin taking on the second, which very much shows the ethos of Active Slaughter being about rejecting leaders and not making any one person more important than the other.
The title of the album is word play on the forty two days detention period and the fact that fortitude means strength and that’s exactly what the slaughter want you to have in coming up against this fascist bullshit authoritarian big brother war loving scum sucking society we have to exist in, let’s have the fortitude to make an alternative eh!
4T2UDE was initially released as a download for charity in December 2008 the punter was given the choice to donate £4 to any of Rape Crisis, Chernobyl Lifeline, No Sweat or Rainbow Ark Animal Sanctuary the response wasn’t overwhelming but the choice remains. It’s not as if Active Slaughter are not up for Free downloading they are in fact big supporters as their back catalogue can easily be downloaded for free with the bands full endorsement. In February 2009 the CD version was released through Active Distribution cat no Active 19. Active Distro have along established history in DIY anarcho punk, as well as releasing some amazing literature encouraging veganism and resisting sexism to name just two, some notable bands have had releases via Active over the years including Doom, Cress, Dirt, The Restarts, Cross Stitched Eyes, ZoundZ and now the slaughter are amongst a great catalogue of anarcho releases. In true DIY anti profit orientated punk rock the band held a release party at Holloway Roads the gaff on Sunday the 22nd Feb and easily went down as one of the bands best gigs, I don’t think I can recall seeing so many smiling faces in years at a punk rock gig and to think some of the punk crowd think A/S are too serious and don’t know how to have fun. As part of the £5 door entrance for four great bands a free copy of the album was given away, this review should sum up how well the night went down; ‘That none of the bands sounded the same was a testament to A.Slaughter's top organistation - and, it must be noted, the gig ran to time and bands changed over within 10 minutes - a fucking punk rock miracle!’
The album is dedicated to those people around the globe who have the courage and fortitude to carry on fighting for just and meaningful causes, often against what appear to be insurmountable odds
So there you have the story so far, it’s only the beginning!
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