Well… The U.S. has always been on fire in one way of another since its inception, with its constant state-sanctioned violence, class war, enslavement, and all of the trimmings. But of course the conflagration’s becoming more obvious to those who have not been paying attention, either generationally or by choice.

While technically there’s never, ever been a ‘peacetime’ when it comes to the U.S. (for marginalized folks, and anyone who’s been the target of imperialism), music has always been made, either as a means to communicate what is happening, or to bring people a sense of calm as they go to fight the everyday struggles.

This post represents both elements.
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So many people have beloved punk elder Dave Dictor to thank, whenever they chant “No __________, no KKK, no fascist USA” at a protest.

The primary reference point for many in more recent years was Green Day’s performance of ‘Bang Bang’ at the 2016 American Music Awards; however, given the fact that they’re a Bay Area (California) punk band, it’s guaranteed they listen to MDC (Dictor’s long-running band), and most likely saw them at Gilman Street.

Born in Austin, Texas; MDC (which is an acronym for everything from Millions of Dead Cops, Multi-Death Corporations, Millions Of Dead Children, etc.) was one of several amazing bands from the area, such as Dicks, Big Boys, and D.R.I. They did eventually move to the Bay Area, and around this time they also released their first album, Millions of Dead Cops, in 1982. Like many of their peers the album addressed and critiqued capitalism and its many appendages and branches (such as state violence, homophobia, consumerism, racism, corporatism, and more). ‘Born To Die’ (the song where the chant was born) is a classic in the band’s catalog- in fact, the band reworked it in 2016 to add ‘Trump’ instead of the original ‘war’.

(i personally think ‘war’ is more fitting, since every president is a figurehead who ramps up war against the masses, whether that’s internationally or domestically… Yes, including Jimmy Carter. Please study what happened with Indonesia and the people of East Timor, among other things.)

For this cover of ‘Born To Die’, jesse (who is not really into hardcore at all) was kind enough to lend his voice to some gang vocals. Everything else (vocals, percussion, tambourine, cowbell, handclaps, bass, and melodica) is me.

i will be back on the drum kit soon; i’ve just not been in a headspace (or capacity) lately to go down and play a whole setup, even though i still have the desire to create and play music, which i have been doing- i’ve released a couple of EPs over the past few months.

i am hoping you who is reading and listening, enjoy these more ‘stripped down’ covers though.

The next song is from a band i have covered on this site before, despite already knowing i could never do them justice: NoMeansNo. They are one of my favorite ever bands in the whole entire world, and while i in no way have the musical chops to attempt even a quarter of this band’s catalog, i sometimes am up for a good challenge.

Like a majority of the covers i do on this site, i learn them in one to two days. Again, it is a challenge, and it is more for fun than anything else.

‘Joy’ is the opening track from their 1995 album The Worldhood of the World (As Such). It is a song i have wanted to cover for many, many years but never attempted, since (again) i am not a good musician. i have actually only seen one person ever cover it. As a lyrics person i actually don’t mind that the song only utilizes one word, and it truly conveys everything. The song sounds like pure joy, amid the sea of despair, cynicism, depravity and dark comedy of the band’s catalog. Not only is the song one of the greatest openers on a NoMeansNo album; it’s one of the greatest album openers of all time. It also contains one of my top five riffs of all time.

With so much happening in the world (from the hands of U.S. empire), i figured it would be nice to have a bit of a balance… by way of a band from Victoria, B.C. (Canada).

i sing here (obviously)… or yell? i also play percussion, tambourine, handclaps, bass and melodica.

i don’t cover a lot of pop songs on here, mainly for a couple of reasons:

• i (again) am not a good musician. i know people consider pop music in general to be vapid and/or derivative; however, the level of musicianship to play it tends to be ignored. While some of the more modern pop songs are built off of samples and/or sound very mechanical, the people who get hired to play as the backing band for the biggest artists are top notch musicians who can play a diverse range of genres.

• i am not a good singer. There’s not much else to say about that.

That said, ‘King Of Wishful Thinking’ by Go West is a song i’ve also wanted to cover for many years, but did not for the reasons stated above. i had no idea how i would have approached it. i almost considered trying it on piano, but i already knew it would not have sounded good.

‘King’ most famously made its presence around the world via the soundtrack of the 1990 film, Pretty Woman. Interestingly, i had the soundtrack on cassette when it came out, but i don’t recall anything about the movie, outside of one or two clips i’ve seen. i can’t even recall if i’ve actually seen it outside of those clips. In terms of the soundtrack, i don’t remember much about that either, except for three artists: Roxette, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Go West.

There was something about Go West’s song that was always the most memorable for me though; despite (again) primarily being a lyrics person, i am a sucker for specific chords and layers. Even the drum programming (by Peter Wolf) lacks the sterility of many songs of that era, and in future years. It also could not have hurt that significant players from the Michael Jackson and Earth, Wind & Fire universes participated in the recording: Jerry Hey (trumpet and horn arrangements), David Williams (guitar), Gary Grant (trumpet), Larry Williams (saxophone) and Dorian Holley (background vocals).

Co-writer Peter Cox’ Bill Medley-esque vocals also fascinated me when i first heard them. Go West were pegged solidly in the pop realm overall (particularly given that the main chord structure of the song is not unlike some other UK-based pop songs during that era), but those vocals were definitely giving ‘Blue-eyed soul’.

i was not aware there was a music video for the song up until a few years ago; the surrealist/absurdist ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ theme was a bit off-putting to me (especially when they brought the poor elephant and zebra in), and it immediately reminded me of the nonsensical spectacle that is the video to Michael Jackson’s ‘Liberian Girl’.

But then i began to think again about the concept, as i was working on the cover.

While it most likely was a logistical means of eluding any sort of copyright entanglements regarding the film; thematically, in the end it makes sense. The narrator is literally having a one-sided conversation, in regard to a romantic breakup which does not appear to be amicable- while it appears to lean on the side of the narrator being dumped, there’s no specificity as to whether or not this is the case. The person he’s separated from appeared to be a significant part of his world; and while he recognizes the futility of it all, he’s in sheer denial of the reality of the split. He specifically repeats before and during the chorus that he’s got to fool himself and pretend that the cessation of this particular pairing is one that he’s finally come to terms with. The stoicism he’s displaying on the surface is met with more than a tinge of hope- but deep inside, the shell has already cracked… and what comes out is the absurdity of the facade.

Continually telling yourself something that you yourself do not believe, makes about as much sense as that music video.

For the cover i make an attempt at vocals; i also play melodica, percussion, a salt shaker that a friend made for me, bass, tambourine and handclaps.

And coming full circle (in more ways than one), the final song for this post is another one i immediately fell in love with when i first heard it, but cannot explain why: ‘Coming Clean’ by Green Day.

i was a Green Day appreciator from the Lookout! days, so when they came out with Dookie, i was all over it. In fact, my first and only time seeing them was on the tour for this album- 17 March 1994 (at Irving Plaza), with another Lookout! band, Tilt, opening.

My two favorite Green Day songs of all time are ‘2000 Light Years Away’ from Kerplunk (1992) and ‘Coming Clean’. Do they have better-written songs than those two? Absolutely…. but i do not care.

There is validity to wisdom; however, if one claims to have life entirely figured out, regardless of age, i feel as if this person has ceased to experience life. If you are above ground, there are always experiences and mistakes to learn from.

i am about to be 50 this year, and i’m still figuring out what it means to be a being on this planet. Having experienced a near-fatal accident, i particularly am still figuring out, five years later, what it means to be in this amputee body.

17 though? That was an interesting age. It was when i started my first band. It was also the year after i officially came out to my mother that i was not hetero, and despite our (more than) strained relationship over the years she was supportive, in her own way. i don’t even think i felt any sense of significant relief in my reveal. There was nothing i recall that was celebratory about it. It just felt more as a ‘Why not?’ My guess is that she knew before i even told her, but i could not even tell you if she remembers this moment, as it was fairly uneventful.

When i first heard ‘Coming Clean’ i had no idea it was about Billie Joe Armstrong’s coming to terms with his bisexuality. i connected the song in relation to the general anxiety that comes with the liminal period between the finality of teendom and approaching adulthood. i’ve seen very few interviews with the band over the years (despite listening to the music), so i only found out about the actual meaning around 20 years later, and thus, i followed this knowledge up with a rabbit hole. i’ve seen so few interviews over the years, that i had no idea until recently there was actually Billie Joe and Tré lore. While Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett were amusingly (and beautifully) taking the piss at the hypermasculinity and queer-antagonism in the metal and rock scenes via the portmanteau of KLARS; and while they are open allies to queer and trans folks, they both (as far as i know) are heterosexual. i was also familiar with KLARS as it was going on in real time in the 90s, so while Billie Joe and Tré’s antics do remind me of that, at least one (if not both) of the pair is openly queer.

It all ended up making so much sense to me- and it made me love the song even more.

i initially was going to give this cover the full band treatment at some point last year, but as previously mentioned, i haven’t been in the headspace to do it. Speaking of liminal spaces…

About 15 or so years ago i used to play the ukulele all the time; it was always tuned to my favorite key of all time: F#m… at least i think it was.

Given that i still want to play music in some capacity (despite my headspace), i’ve currently been gravitating toward the melodica (obviously), and re-gravitating toward the ukulele. So of course, i did what i had to do, and learned the chords of ‘Coming Clean’ on the ukulele. In the initial version i did (just trying to work out the song), i ended up hearing a bossa nova beat in my head, so i ended up playing it in the way you are hearing it in this recording.

It’s just vocals, a ukulele and the salt shaker.

Thank you for listening… This post is dedicated to anyone out there who needs some positive energy, in the midst of struggle.

Also: Fuck ICE and fuck fascism.