The colossal hardcore force that is Winnipeg’s Propagandhi released its sixth album today, and you can stream each song from Failed States right here until Tuesday, Sept. 11. Failed States is the band’s first release on venerable punk label Epitaph Records, and it’s arguably the band's darkest onslaught of outspoken rage yet.
To gain some insight about the inspiration for this record, we turned to Propagandhi bassist and songwriter Todd Kowalski, who went through each of the 12 songs on Failed States — some written by him, others by singer-guitarist Chris Hannah — and gave us the back story. You can read his thoughts before hitting the play button for each track.
01. 'Note to Self'
This song is written by Chris [and] is about your own laziness and personal conformity and a yearning to rise out of a preoccupation with yourself. You’re watching TV or sports or, in my case it’d be excessive [time spent] listening to Razor. It’s about trying to get out and do something to make the world better rather than marinating in your juices at home. So many people spend too much time getting wasted and doing things that aren’t really helping anybody. They’re not creative, they’re not doing anything for themselves or anybody else. It’s just a note to self to go and do something.
Listen to "Note to Self"
02. 'Failed States'
That’s a similar analogy [to “Note to Self”] in a way. There’s what’s actually considered a "failed state" in the world and then there’s each of us, who have failed states in our heads, where we’re constantly failing. You wanna be perfect but nothing ever will be. Like, sometimes two or three people can’t even get along, but we expect the whole world to get along somehow. The idea is that every single one of us is a failed state of some kind, at least in some moments.
Listen to "Failed States"
03. 'Devil's Creek'
This is Chris’s song again and, I’m assuming, about little periods of depression, where you feel like you’re zoned out. Our whole band has them. It’s part of thinking about things and living and worrying about yourself, worrying about being perfect, worrying about the future of the world. Sometimes it feels like the only escape is to maybe go sit somewhere by yourself, hopefully in nature, and just come back to Earth. This past spring I had the same thing; I didn’t just want to get out of the city, I needed to, you know?
I think [Devil’s Creek] is by, maybe Stonewall, Man.? I think it’s a little creek by Portage la Prairie. It’s right behind where Chris lived and, I guess when he was a kid, he probably went down there and did whatever to feel isolated from adults and the other kids. I think that’s probably why we became punks. It was a thing to do when you didn’t feel like you belonged.
Listen to "Devil's Creek"
04. 'Rattan Cane'
That song is directly inspired by some punk kids in Aceh, Indonesia. They were doing a benefit show that was interrupted by the local police and authorities. They had all of their punk stuff stripped off 'em, their heads shaved, they were thrown in a lake and put in a jail for actual spiritual cleansing for a month or two. I just found that totally insane. A friend of mine who’s from Indonesia told me that one of the kids had their teeth punched out. It affected me and it’s happening all over. There were "emo" kids in Iraq who were considered effeminate and a bunch of them were murdered. It’s kind of a warning about religious authorities and how hard things can come down on you in this world.
It’s not a figment of our imagination. You can see it in the States, sliding towards people saying things like, "only certain kinds of rape can lead to pregnancy." Just crazy thoughts and we’re not immune to it and the world’s not very big. Kids who wanna listen to punk music are getting thrown into jail.
Listen to "Rattan Cane"
05. 'Hadron Collision'
The Hadron Collider is in [the CERN lab in] Switzerland, and is geared to find the Higgs boson particle, which people call the "God particle," so like searching for the answer to the universe. The Hadron Collider spins particles faster than the speed of light and, as soon as it gets going that fast, the mass grows so big that it slows itself down. I’m no scientist. The idea of the song is trying to ride your bike through traffic and disobey all of the laws, kind of like a Hadron collision.
The underlying theme of the song is to ride your bike instead of driving a car to save the world and keep your money from the hands of companies. It’s about self-propelling. Leave some stuff on the shelves that you don’t need. Even though the world is against you, just go and do your thing, get some exercise, have fun, ride hard and try to save what’s left of the world, even though the comfort and forces are against you.
Listen to "Hadron Collision"
06. 'Status Update'
I’m not really sure if it’s serious or ironic but it’s mostly about not being intimidated by people and trying to hold your ground. It’s said in a tongue-in-cheek way. Chris changed the words to "A bullhorn in my face and a billboard in my ear" and it’s not a tough-guy song, but it is about holding your ground. He thought it was funny and I thought it was funny and away it went.
Listen to "Status Update"
07. 'Cognitive Suicide'
This song was inspired by Caster Semenya from South Africa, a runner who did so well in the world’s in 2009 they put her through this humiliating gender verification because they thought she had an unfair advantage because she was "too manly." It really ruined her and her spirit. There was also a South African soccer player named Eudy Simelane and she was murdered for being a lesbian. So the idea of the song is to be yourself in a dangerous world and supporting other people who are also trying to be themselves.
It’s also about this idea that people in the world are such cowards and they bite on days that they’re feeling bad about themselves. So people are insecure about someone doing something they’re afraid to do or afraid to think of, so they start to point at other people and make them out to be a misfit or freak of nature because they’re afraid of falling behind in the world.
Listen to "Cognitive Suicide"
08. 'Things I Like'
I guess that’s a list of the things Chris likes. On the surface, it’s little things, but if you look a little closer and try to read into it, it’s about being who you are personally or sexually. Again, it’s "be who you are and like things that people don’t think you should like and admit that you like them."
As a side note, I’m personally a friend of Wab Kinew, who does 8th Fire on CBC, and he talks in the middle of the song in the language of the Anishinabe here in Manitoba. He says the same thing for Aboriginal people – that they should be proud of who they are and for white people to understand their contribution. So it’s about respecting yourself and also being interested in other people. One of the things Chris says he likes is history and trying to understand competing histories.
Listen to "Things I Like"
09. 'Unscripted Moment'
That’s about finding meaning in a world that seems harsh and empty. Whether that’s art, your family or volunteering — whatever you’re interested in. The world can be bleak and dark and you gotta find something that makes you tick, so you don’t become too much of an empty hole. And as the song says, if you become too much of an empty hole, you can’t wipe away the stink. How many people are there who’ve lulled themselves into a hole they can’t fathom or conceive getting out of? That again will make people turn on each other. Who can admit to themselves that, while they’re personally failing, other people are going hard and doing it?
Listen to "Unscripted Moment"
10. 'Dark Matters'
From the walk to my house to where we’re jamming, I have to walk past young, young girls — some of them seem like they’re 13 or 14 — and they’re prostitutes. Even in the middle of the day, you can see old men picking them up. They’re not all little kids; one of them is a friend of mine who’s on drugs. I was already writing a song about it and then, in that period, a lot of girls just disappeared. It’s something like 80 missing or murdered women in Manitoba alone. They’re not all prostitutes but it’s so dangerous. From the very corner where those girls are, a couple went missing in that time.
As soon as we were done recording, one girl was found in a garbage bag, after sitting there, murdered, for months. And then the snow thawed. And the very next day, all of those other girls were all still out there. It’s so dangerous and scary, but their situation is such that people are still putting them out there, even when there’s a serial killer in the neighbourhood, which there was. So the song’s about how dangerous it is for them and how predatory some people are, who will prey on you. There’s some people who’d have no problem just throwing us down a 2,000-foot hole in a mine to dig gold for them for 25 cents if they could get away with it.
Listen to "Dark Matters"
11. 'Lotus Gait'
This one is sort of similar to “Note to Self.” It’s about the things that might be haunting us from our past, if we’re trying to avoid them with TV or drugs or music or whatever our own personal lotus gait is. Lotus gait are the little shoes they put on people so their feet won’t grow. So, it’s like our own personal shackles that keep us from growing as people or individuals.
The song is based around memories that haunt you. Chris and his family saw a big car accident when he was a kid and they’d never talked about it again until a year ago. Chris asked his dad if it was actually true and if he’d really seen it and his dad couldn’t believe that he remembered it. So it’s about the dark corners of your mind that you’re trying to hide and really, there’s no way to hide those dark corners.
Listen to "Lotus Gait"
12. 'Duplicate Keys Icaro (An Interim Report)'
That one is about wondering about the world and not accepting easy answers or pretending you know the answers about just how great and crazy the universe is and all of history is. And perhaps even wondering why the general public doesn’t think about these things and why do they accept easy answers. That’s my interpretation from talking about it with Chris. In the end, you have to see the world as good and beautiful and you have to treat each other right.
Listen to “Duplicate Keys Icaro (An Interim Report)”
The new album by Propagandhi is Failed States and you can purchase it now. See the band on tour beginning this month:
Sept. 9 – Halifax, Halifax Citadel Garrison Grounds
Sept. 25 – London, Ont., London Music Hall
Sept. 26 – Toronto, Phoenix Theatre
Sept. 27 – Ottawa, Ritual
Sept. 28 – Montreal, La Tulipe
Sept. 29 – Chicoutimi, Que., Hotel la Sagueneenne
Sept. 30 – Quebec City, Imperial de Quebec
Oct. 2 – Cambrige, Mass., Middle East Club
Oct. 3 – New York City, Highline Ballroom
Oct. 4 – New York City, Le Poisson Rouge
Oct. 5 – Philadelphia, Pa., Union Transfer
Oct. 6 – Baltimore, Md., Otto Bar
Oct. 7 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Altar Bar
Oct. 9 – Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Grog Shop
Oct. 10 – Detroit, Magic Stick
Oct. 11 – Buffalo, N.Y., Town Ballroom
Oct. 27 – Atlanta, The Loft
Oct. 28 – Gainsville, Fla., The Fest
Oct. 29 – Charleston, S.C., Music Farm
Oct. 30 – Greensboro, N.C., Greene Street Club
Nov. 1 – Virginia Beach, Va., Jewish Mother Hilltop
Nov. 2 – Washington, D.C., Rock & Roll Hotel
Nov. 3 – Covington, Ky., Madison Theater
Nov. 4 – St. Louis, Mo., Firebird
Nov. 6 – Chicago, Bottom Lounge
Nov. 7 – Minneapolis, Minn., Triple Rock
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