Propagandhi

One of the first punk bands I started listening to about 15-16 years ago. Oddly enough, despite being one of my favorite bands I'd never seen these guys until two nights ago in Melbourne, Australia a couple of thousand km's from our home country Canada. Random story, but I had actually met the drummer, Jord years ago (1999 I think) when me and a mate backpacked across Canada, and stopped in Propagandhi's hometown of Winnipeg. Prop at the time were running an indie label called G7 Welcoming Committee, and we stopped by their office to see if we could get some merch. We ended up talking to the one dude working there at the time for like a half an hour or something, before it finally clicked that it was Jord. We asked if we could get our photo with him, but I guess in true punk rock fashion, he declined to partake in that kinda rock and roll bs. While I think that's cool, the 16 year old kid in me is still disappointed...but life goes on.

Anyway, back on point, Propagandhi, as the name suggests our a highly political punk band. Yep, those kinda bands still exist! Regular topics include veganism, homophobia, sexism, racism, nationalism, religion, capitalism... you get the picture yeah? The only thing is, unlike a band like Anti-Flag (who I hate, which will become obvious in two seconds) who will champion similar causes (albeit with significantly less articulate lyrics and repetitive and boring song structure), but sign to a major record label and sell clothing made in sweat shops - Prop write highly intelligent, satirical lyrics and practice what they preach. They realize that integrity is #1 when making the points they make, and their albums tend to come with loads of social and political literature. Some I agree with, some I don't, regardless of that is that they make very compelling arguments, and they know how to get their point across. With that said, they can come off as preachy (which they have made fun of themselves), and have been known to ruffle a few feathers. Case in point, prior to me going to the show a friend from Canada send me a link to an article about how a white supremacist group here in Australia had publicly called upon its members to go to the venues and protest the band by both violent and non-violent means, due to the bands 'anti-nationalistic' message, or something stupid like that.

Another random Prop fact is that lead singer Chris Hannah was voted 2nd worst Canadian of all time (he campaigned for #1 to be fair).

Back to the music, sound wise these guys started off with a melodic-hardcore/skate punk sound (with a few satirical ska songs). Their debut album 'How to Clean Everything' off Fat Wreck Chords is great. Tight, melodic songs usually at a blistering speed. (another random fact, John Samson, who later went on to form the Weakerthans, played on the first two albums). The ska songs do a great job of breaking up the fast pace of the album, and they finish off the album with a Cheap Trick cover.

The videos below are all live, as these guys have never made a music clip that I know of...

Anti-Manifesto


Ska Sucks


The next album, Less Talk, More Rock (1996) is a little more of a mature, textured offering. Probably a little slower, and catchy too. But, you also see their metal influence coming out, a tell tale sign of the direction they'd take in the future.

Nation-States


title track



They released a compilation of rarities and live tracks not too long after...

True (Concrete Blond cover)



...the albums afterwards became increasingly influenced by metal (Hannah is an amazing lead guitar player, and seeing how he pulls of lead vocals and guitar live was a highlight!), and shifted away from being melodic and goofy in my opinion. TO be honest, I am not as big a fan of their later stuff, as their old - BUT they still rock and sound fresh, which is better than writing the same old album over and over again (*cough Anti-Flag).

Back to the Motor League (2001)


A Speculative Fiction


Dear Coach's Corner