1. Having been around in one form or another since the late 80's, you have seen the L.A. Punk/Grind/Crust/Anarcho scene and culture grow and change over the years. How would you describe the current situation in your city and other cities and what role do you see Resistant Culture playing in this ever-evolving community?
The LA
scene has changed a lot. It used to be dominated by constant violence, over the
years it's mellowed out a lot which is a good thing. Also, the scene has become
more intelligent over time and the raw angst of the music has found meaningful
channels and outlets in real social movements.
The current situation in L.A.is hard to describe because it's so big and
diverse. There are subgenres and scenes that exist on all levels of
consciousness. You can find totally nihilistic apathetic scenesters and you can
find front-line activists. RC's role, we hope, is to be a positive empowering
soundtrack for personal revolution. We don't take sides in ideological
disputes, nor do we claim to represent any movement. No matter what your
struggles are or what your beliefs are, RC tries to provide sonic medicine for
all who resist oppression of any kind.
We tour
much of the U.S. about once a year and do mini tours whenever possible of the
East and West coast. We've configured our lives to be flexible so that we can
tour whenever we want or when an opportunity arises.
3. Resistant Culture is
obviously a very socially and politically motivated band. Explain the bands thoughts on Political
Resistance, Social Responsibility, Direct Action, Anarchy, Equality...
A lot of our
lyrics focus on the destruction of nature and the oppression of people and
animals. We also focus on raising consciousness about the past, present, and
future of traditional indigenous peoples worldwide. We believe that we need to
deepen our understanding of the state of world and the state of our minds since
we are heading toward an uncertain future.
Creating a dialog through music for people to discuss new ideas for
change and new possibilities for community empowerment is the substance we try
to bring to the music world.
We don't
have any criticism of the movement. It's too diverse and complex to really
judge anyone. It's healthy that there are no formal leaders and that everyone's
voice is validated. The movement has worked in that it's brought the concerns
of the people to the mainstream media, and thus has been able to connect with
millions of people who may have felt alone in their struggles. It's building
much needed unity and solidarity across diverse sectors of society.
No offers
at this time. We'd be willing to play in most cases and feel solid in the
following logic: if only the bands with no message play for the bigger crowds,
the consciousness of the crowds will never grow beyond whatever hollow fashion
is en vogue, but if bands with messages share them, there's a positive impact
that otherwise wouldn't take place. There's hypocrisy in touring on fossil
fuels, putting out petroleum based vinyl records, using electricity to run
amps. Every barcode is a compromise, we feel lucky to have the opportunity to
share our music and art with anyone who will listen and support us on our
journey. We don't have a dogmatic rule-book that we follow at this time. Not
every show we are invited to play necessarily represents our values, however
when we organize events of our own we have more control and we create an
environment that is aligned with our values as much as possible. As far as the
sponsorship by giant beer conglomerates or other mega corps, it's probably safe
to say that almost every punk show of all time has been an advertisement for
big beer companies. Of all movements, the punk movement is one of the most
proud consumers of corporate macro-brew. It will be great when every punk show
is lit up by home-brew made from home-grown ingredients, and when partying to
just "pass the time" shifts and transforms into the celebration of
the fruits of collective labor to design and build sustainable communities.
Imagine punk houses and venues covered in berry vines, surrounded by food
forest gardens spanning acres with fermentable fruit orchards, corn guilds,
agave plants, culinary and medicinal herbs, and more. This evolution in the
cultural ecology of the punk movement won't happen overnight, but it's a dream
to move towards one day at a time. If any movement can do it, the punk movement
can. It has the D.I.Y. ethics, tight-knit communities, and commonality of
vision.
6. Has Resistant Culture ever
played off the continent? Any plans for touring overseas?
Nothing off the continent yet, but we're hoping to tour
Europe and Mexico asap.
We work as
independent contractors in various fields. We don't always have control over
what our clients think and do, but we all do non-profit/charity/volunteer work
in our spare time and donate what we can (including a portion of mp3 sales of
our albums) to our favorite causes. Again, we don't have a totalizing ideology,
even within the band we're all different, though we have a common vision and
our individual perspectives can be honored for their diversity and synergy.
8. Considering the band
works as a collective, what movie would you say best encapsulates the beliefs
of the band and why?
Dreamkeeper!
It's a modern film about Native American traditional stories. It depicts the
struggle to live by the ways of Earth, a struggle that sooner or later all of
humanity will have to face.
9. Any final thoughts?
We
encourage folks to start learning to grow food, find local sources of fresh
clean water, and develop personal and family disaster preparedness strategies
that include emergency kits, food and water storage, and plans for sheltering
in place and evacuation. There’s a lot we can do to be prepared for small to
large scale, short to long duration disruption in the systems of support that
we are unfortunately completely dependent on for survival in modern industrial
society. The collapse is happening rapidly and the time to prepare is now. We
don't believe in an "end of the world" doomsday, it's just undeniable
at this point that artificial stability is an illusion and the resources we
take for granted today may be in short supply or gone tomorrow. Most
importantly, we encourage people to be their own leaders, follow their own
paths, think for themselves, make their own choices, and question everything.
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