q and also a :: Kindling (Hate The Police Edition)
We are super excited for this next q and also a. Here is the Kindling (Hate The Police Edition) with Stephen and Gretchen.
q: What is the last song you (really) heard?
g: As I’m writing this, I’m listening to Eno‘s Before and after Science. “Through Hollow Lands” is on now.
s: We’ve been demoing stuff for the 2nd LP so I’ve spent my last few days listening to some of that stuff on repeat. Was just listening to it moments ago, so the truthful answer is one of those songs called “It Will”. Earlier today, Andy & I were talking about the song “No Doves Fly Here” by The Mob, and I listened to that a few times earlier, so that is the last actual fully-formed song that I listened to.
q: What is the first album you remember purchasing?
s: I have the benefit of having a really bad memory for stuff like this, so I’m only really going to remember the basic mainstream stuff that had an impact, like the Nirvana & Soundgarden & Pumpkins tapes, rather than, like, whatever other garbage I thought I was into at the same time or before, or, like, the fact that I’m sure a Biohazard or Mad Season song would end up on my “hit play when the radio plays something I like” tapes that I would make in my room. Op Ivy & Minor Threat were also early, but they came a little later, after a family friend got me into “My Brain Hurts” by Screeching Weasel.
g: So, I have a far more embarrassing response to this question. It was 1994: I was in fourth grade and had just received my first gift certificate to Peaches (a music store in Virginia at the time). I wanted to buy Warren G’s Regulate, but my dad wouldn’t let me as there was a parental advisory sticker on it. I ended up walking out with Aaliyah’s Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number. Later on, I was introduced to the Bad Brains by a Spencer’s employee in the mall, who let me borrow his favorite cassette (the self-titled ROIR release, which I still have because he quit the next week and I didn’t have a way to contact him) — true story.
ed. note: I have a clear memory of buying a Flaming Lips tape at a Peaches in Florida. RIP Peaches.
q: Is there an album you wished you knew about when you were younger?
g: Eccsame the Photon Band by The Lilys.
s: Yeah, that record would’ve changed my life if I had heard it when I was younger. Also, I didn’t fully vibe with The Replacements until I was a grown up. That seems dumb. I just realized this week that I like “Slip” by Quicksand. Andy was right all this time.
q: What is the last album you purchased?
s: There was a record fair in Northampton last week and I got “Good Earth” by The Feelies and re-bought the Great Unraveling LP, which I had owned & sold. Oops.
g: I bought a really early press of Pink Flag by Wire at the same record fair.
q: What is your favorite artist/band to see live?
s: Right now, probably Stove or Ovlov, whatever Steve is playing under. California X. I was really impressed by Dirt Devil when I saw them for the first time last week.
g: We played a few times with Infinity Girl earlier this year and they are a great live band. I really liked seeing Lady Pills a couple times recently, too.
q: What piece(s) of culture are you really really excited about right now?
s: I don’t know. I just kind of engage with the same things that I’ve always engaged with, do the same things that I’ve always done. Every now and again someone will introduce me to something new and I’ll really enjoy it, but as far as culture outside of music & movies or whatever, I don’t really even know the first place to turn to learn about it. It’s really easy in Western MA to stay in your routine, especially if you’re kind of a creature of habit like I can be. I went to a book & print fair a few months back and saw some cool work by some old friends. Bought a print by Zoárd Wells Tyeklár, that was a standout for me. My friends Esther White, Annie Sollinger, Trevor Powers, Meghan Minior, and so many more from out here are producing some incredible work that I think is really inspiring.
(UNTITLED (CHIPS), 2014, woodcut on rice paper, 12 x 6.875in. by Zoárd Wells Tyeklár)
g: Does science count? I think it’s really cool that scientists recently announced that they detected gravitational waves from two black holes colliding a billion light-years away. It’s also a little terrifying, but mostly cool. I’m also excited about the national conversations we’re finally having about structural violence and social injustice; discussions that have even made their way into election politics (despite many people’s best efforts to keep historically marginalized voices silenced).
Download: two black holes spiraling toward each other until they collide (mp3) (source: PRI)
q: Anything we should know about your latest project (whatever that might be)?
s: A lathe-cut 7″ of our cover of Hate the Police by The Dicks just came out on Disposable America. Somewhere in some stage of pressing is our first full-length LP, Everywhere Else, that’ll be out before too long.
g: The 7″ is benefiting an organization fighting for police accountability; 100% of the proceeds will go to it.
Listen.
You can purchase the physical (only 9 remaining as of publication of this post!) or pay what you want for the digital (remember, proceeds go to charity) @ disposableamerica.bandcamp.com
AND for comparison purposes here’s the original and the Mudhoney versions…
A statement from the band re police violence and their new 7″:
We recorded this song in our practice space and at home in May of 2015 in the wake of an incredible rash of police violence, mostly committed against some of the country’s most marginalized populations. Our hope with this song is to raise money for and lend support to an organization dedicated to ending police abuse and fighting for greater police accountability around violations of the law, the constitution, and basic human rights and dignity.
We’d love to tell you the name of the organization, but because of the title of the song that we covered, they have asked that their name not be publicly associated with the track. If you’re curious, or want to donate directly, please be in touch and we’ll point you in their direction.
Kindling knows that not every officer of the law is an inherently bad person, but the structure of the job—and the systems of inequality in which it exists—often biases the recruitment of officers, precludes officers taking action against other officers who are abusing their position, and may function to replicate abusive behavior among officers. The fact that we see it as a rare and courageous act for former officers to speak out about injustices they witnessed serves to underline the nature of the situation: the “Blue Wall of Silence” and loyalty to coworkers too often weighs heavier than justice and accountability.
Official versions of events justify police violence on the basis of the actions of the citizens affected—a narrative is molded to fit the outcome. That people of color are disproportionately targeted—and killed—by police points to the racism that suffocates our justice system and our country. Witness video and audio recording serves as a rare and insufficient means of defense for those unjustly pursued by the law. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans recently called for legislation that would mandate distance between people filming on-duty police offers. He is also advocating for legislation that would hold citizens accountable for not coming to the aid of officers engaged in a struggle with a suspect. To expect—and perhaps even require—support and cooperation from people who, on another day, may be unfairly in police crosshairs underscores the deep imbalance in power between the police and those they are supposed to serve. Any attempt to legislate trust, rather than build it, profoundly misunderstands and underestimates the situation.
We don’t have the answers, and the situation is far more complicated and culturally entrenched than any band could hope to unravel, but we’re committed to listening and learning. We figured that this would be a good opportunity to offer some funds to people who actually may have the beginnings of an answer to these problems that have long been experienced and felt by the disenfranchised and chronically underserved, but are only recently becoming part of mainstream discourse.
Thanks so much.
<3 Gretchen, Stephen, Andy
Some links (though there are many more):
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/01/black-americans-killed-by-police-analysis
www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archiv…emain-silent
www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ma…ll_of_silence/
www.fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/blacks-are-killed-at-a-higher-rate-in-south-carolina-and-the-u-s/
www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/05/abraham/XaRu4FOl7b273RMEQPOFwL/story.html
www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/police-shootings-michael-brown-ferguson-black-men
www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/03/03/390464149/source-probe-of-ferguson-police-uncovers-racist-comments-about-obama
www.buzzfeed.com/albertsamaha/bre…lence#.cav1V8nQM
www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/08/boston_police_commissioner_wants_law_to_push_back_on_camera
www.vox.com/2015/4/10/8382457/police-shootings-racism
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Kindling is on Disposable America
Kindling is on Mirror Universe
Kindling is on No Idea
MP3 BONUS: Eastern State (mp3)
