“Those who make peaceful protest impossible, make violent protest inevitable.”
– John F. Kennedy.
With the recent release of their EP, Awake, California skate punks Trash Talk have thrown down the gauntlet. Whether it’s on purpose or not, Awake is a rallying cry for a smash-all-the-windows-and-burn-the-place-down-style revolution. Even the cover of the record is an inverted peace sign.
Trash Talk are pretty much saying, ‘Fuck Gandhi!’ These guys don’t want your drum circle kumbaya non-violent pussy protest; a far as they’re concerned, the revolution is over and the nice guys lost. Now they want to tear off the limbs of the bankers, CEOs, and anyone else that takes capitalism to obscene levels by riding on the backs of the nobodies. “You take and you take and you take,” shrieks singer Lee Spielman in the song Blind Evolution. “I don’t care where you’re going. I just care that you’re gone.”
Musically, it’s a short fuse that leads to a warehouse full of grenades — the album itself is five songs and clocks in at less than ten minutes, but it’s crafted for maximum impact. Almost every song opens with the commanding high pitch siren of guitar feedback, before launching into lacerating thrash punk hooks. It’s as noisy as hell, but don’t mistake that for sloppiness — it’s also as tightly controlled as a curled up fist.
This is a stellar little hardcore EP, where social angst is met with frenzied rage. With all the protests on Wall Street and beyond, Trash Talk seem to have suddenly become a band of their time. Or more likely, they’re a band from ten minutes in the future, when peaceful protest does become impossible, and violent protest becomes inevitable.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ3AZWthRd8&w=425]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG5YJvcbEl4&w=425]