Numerous have known as Propagandhi a punk band throughout their 39-year profession, however the Canadians’ first mission assertion upon forming was to tear the style down.

“We had been actually important of the punk scene,” singer/guitarist Chris Hannah tells me on a video name from his Manitoba residence. “There have been numerous issues we didn’t like about highschool and society – hierarchical buildings, social standing – that we noticed mirrored within the native underground. We had been like, ‘What the fuck?! I believed the entire concept was to get away from that!’”

Loads has modified since 1986. Hannah and drummer/fellow co-founder Jord Samolesky now have their ranks rounded out by Todd Kowalski (bass) and Sulynn Hago (guitars). They’re eight albums deep into their profession and have toured all around the world. One factor stays the identical, nonetheless: Propagandhi are nonetheless proud outsiders.

“I nonetheless regard the music scene the identical manner,” Hannah continues, lots of his sentences preceded by lengthy, cautious pauses for thought. “I really feel very disconnected from any music scene anybody’s ever advised we’re a part of.”

In protest in opposition to pigeonholing, the band have tried their hand at skate punk, hardcore, metallic, grindcore and extra, steadily touching a couple of subgenre at a time. Their new album, At Peace, stamps one other flag into the singular territory they’ve cordoned for themselves. Hannah – whose first true musical love wasn’t punk, however the excessive metallic of such mavericks as Loss of life, Sepultura and Celtic Frost – likens its 13 songs to a cross between UK legends Judas Priest and Canadian hardcore underdogs SNFU. “Their riffs and lyrics had been floating round me,” he explains, “and I’d attempt to sense their presence and mix the 2.”

Opening tune Guiding Lights kicks off with a marching riff that wouldn’t have been misplaced on Metallica’s landmark ‘Black Album’. The title monitor is a hardcore/thrash metallic scurry – threaded with fast-paced, technical riffs – whereas God of Avarice, No Longer Younger and single Rented P.A. serve up lashings of delectable alt-metal melody. None of those dalliances can be new to longtime followers, however the ratio of top-shelf songs makes At Peace greater than worthy of the eight-year wait.

For all that sonic selection, the album’s lyrics are constantly as perplexed on the state of the world as they’re sarcastic. On the only Cat Man, Hannah presents an moral conundrum: if a new child Adolf Hitler and your loved ones canine had been each drowning and you possibly can solely save one, which might you decide? He ultimately concludes that the one manner for the query to not drive you mad is to dissociate from it. “At all times been a cat man anyhow,” he shrugs.

It’s a neat abstract of the 53-year-old’s worldview. As involved as he’s with present crises – animal cruelty, fascism turning into more and more mainstream within the West, the atrocities in Gaza – being consumed by them if you’re in the end powerless doesn’t assist anybody. “I’d like to bury my head within the sand, actually,” he admits. “What fucking good does [paying attention] do? Would it not be higher if I simply turned a full-blown alcoholic and sat there watching hockey on a regular basis? It appears interesting, however I can’t assist it. I can’t assist however simply level and say, ‘That is complete bullshit.’”

One subject Hannah can’t keep away from feeling concerned with is Donald Trump’s said need to make Canada the 51st American state (the frontman says it’s “galvanised” even the least political individuals round him). Nonetheless, At Peace was written and recorded earlier than the sitting US president’s re-election in November.

“If Trump had not gained that election, and we had been enduring one other 4 years of a Democrat administration within the States presiding over a live-streamed genocide, it could nonetheless be the identical file,” he says. “Perhaps it wouldn’t stand out as a lot. With this ridiculous, cartoonish Trump administration, it stands out a bit extra.”

Hannah isn’t simply conscious of the world’s bullshit, although – he’s additionally an aficionado on the music that protests in opposition to it. So, for the second half of our dialog, we speak concerning the albums that he thinks may change issues for the higher, supplied listeners take the morals that they categorical to coronary heart.

Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)

“[Opening song] Struggle Pigs is likely one of the finest examples of financial system in lyric-writing: it tells you precisely the reality about one thing on this world. Even when that tune had been made at present, I’d be like, ‘Holy fuck. That’s simply nice.’ It’s so easy and direct but it surely captures all of it. However, consider when it got here out. Within the 80s, I went via this entire political punk factor: I ended listening to bands like Sabbath and immersed myself in DIY, political hardcore and punk. For all its nattering and liner notes and grand statements concerning the world, Ozzy Osbourne already stated it 15 years beforehand!

“Musically, Paranoid is such a loopy file. It has Planet Caravan! I simply discover it so distinctive, even to this present day. I’m considerably embarrassed that I shunted it apart like this outdated and dusty factor from the previous for therefore a few years. I simply need to rejoice it now for what it was that entire time: a genre- and culture-changing file.”

MDC – Thousands and thousands of Lifeless Cops (1982)

“The primary time I heard it at 14 or 15, I used to be trying on the tune titles, like John Wayne Was a Nazi. I grew up on navy bases [Hannah’s father was a fighter pilot–Ed.] and had this very insular view about how issues work, and I used to be like, ‘What the fuck are you speaking about? John Wayne was a struggle hero!’ He wasn’t, however in my thoughts…

“I used to be fascinated and performed my very own thought experiment: let’s go downtown, take a look round and maintain my present worldview up in opposition to MDC’s. It was like, ‘Oh, yeah, my worldview is bullshit in comparison with what’s really occurring!’ What they had been singing about was actuality. It’s a fairly apocalyptic file, speaking about gender dysphoria in a society of bigots and experiences within the psychological well being system. I lived in a bubble as a baby, so I didn’t see numerous these issues. It was like that well-known scene in The Matrix the place he’s supplied the blue tablet or the purple tablet.”

Unhealthy Brains – I In opposition to I (1986)

“I’d by no means heard something prefer it earlier than. After I first heard it, I used to be like, ‘What’s going on right here?! How are they melding reggae with these metallic riffs and this punk stuff, and what’s this man singing?’ I used to be fascinated, to the purpose the place I needed to preserve listening to it.

“I In opposition to I was game-changing as a result of it ignored the established guidelines for what a hardcore band was presupposed to sound like in an enormous, massive manner. And it wasn’t insignificant that it was 4 Black guys, as an alternative of one other bunch of white guys, and the way in which they noticed the world. In its personal cryptic manner, it talks about white supremacy and the police state, of the African-American expertise with the police. It simply oozed authenticity to me: it appeared very actual. It stated you possibly can do no matter, you don’t have to stay to the foundations, and if that creeps into tradition, that makes music higher.”

Steve Earle – El Corazón (1997)

“Steve Earle’s catalogue, even when it’s not nice, may be very genuine. These late 90s, early 2000s information, they’re mainly dwell information. There’s one thing enticing about him placing out information that had flaws in them. The way in which he approaches music jogs my memory of DIY pop at its finest: throw up the mics, run via the tune, that’s the file. It’s inspiring, in a manner.

“Usually, Steve Earle will not be your typical American. He’s somebody who’s been very important of prevailing orders, Democrat or Republican. That’s the way in which I additionally see the world, so it’s attention-grabbing for me to see it from an American Southerner: there’s one thing that connects us, regardless of the stereotypes that we now have in Canada about white, American Southerners. Additionally, from a guitar-playing perspective… I assume he information in Nashville, the place apparently the perfect musicians on this planet collect to make these information. I discover them so musically lovely.”

The Insurgent Spell – 4 Songs About Freedom (2007)

“The Insurgent Spell had been a Canadian band. Their singer, Todd Jenkins, died a couple of years in the past in a climbing incident. They didn’t have the business reputation that we did, however I appeared as much as them due to Todd and the way in which he expressed himself. The guitar participant, Erin [McGillicuddy], she has a Gibson Les Paul Junior and I beloved her tone. I used to be all the time emailing her, asking, ‘What did you play on this file?!’

“Todd’s lyrics projected vulnerability but additionally confidence. The lyric that stands out to me is, ‘I will help you up. I received energy to spare.’ The fucking man… not defeated. He doesn’t simply have energy for himself to face up, he’s received energy to spare. I all the time thought that was fucking superior! However, on the identical time, there was a lot of vulnerability. Once more, it was the sense of authenticity that I discovered inspiring. I appeared as much as them in that sense.”

At Peace is out now by way of Epitaph.