Punks Unite to Rock the Vote POLITICS
By Sam Sutherland
"Bush is just so out of hand. It would be like if someone took a shit on my face, and I didn’t wipe it off, to not try and do something about him," says Bill Stevenson, punk producer and drummer for Descendents, one of many punk bands currently mobilising against the current Bush administration under Fat Wreck Chords’ Rock Against Bush campaign. Accompanied by a website in the form of www.punkvoter.com, the aim is to have more than 500,000 young Americans registered to vote by the November election.
With several tours planned under the Rock banner, as well as a recently released compilation, the message seems to be getting out — and sometimes, the messenger is not the person you would expect. Bands who normally shy away from political commentary are throwing their names behind the cause: Sum 41, Alkaline Trio, the Get Up Kids, the Ataris, and New Found Glory, to name a few. As Bill puts it, "Even a monkey would know to get behind this."
The inclusion of apolitical groups, like Descendents, has helped to put a humorous spin on the grim current situation. "You get to talking to some of these socio-political experts who are in punk bands, and they may kill you with big long words. Descendents can talk about it in terms of shitting on your face." In the end, however, this is a cause dedicated to uniting kids and bands under one common goal: defeating Bush.
"Until the ballot shows up as a sidebar on your porn site, I don’t think people are going to go out and vote. The point is, he is a malfeasant, ill-intended person. I’m not the most intelligent person in the whole world, but I have a good heart. So I’m up for doing what I can to make sure there’s still a world for my kids to grow up into."
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