Episode 150: Politics and Punk Music with Total Massacre

<p>Southern California punks Total Massacre, a self-described band of "anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-capitalists," have just dropped a raging and politically charged new track titled, "Get Rich or Try Dying." Of the track, singer Cap’n No-Fun says, “Get Rich or Try Dying started like most of our songs do, with a suggestion for a funny song title (this time from our drummer Tommy) combined with the unshakeable sense that literally everything has been fundamentally stacked against us. So not exactly new territory for us as far as songwriting goes but I feel like this one does a good job honing in on one of the really important points that I think is pretty important, and all too easily overlooked: That our lives are the commodity that is being bought and sold.” For the music video, the band enlisted the creative mind of Dylan Howard, the drummer from LA punk band The Lungs, who directed the clip. “Get Rich Or Try Dying” music video: https://youtu.be/LhWcVFjnIvcStream the track on digital platforms here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/totalmassacre/get-rich-or-try-dying &nbsp;The punk ethos is present in everything Total Massacre does, and has earned them an international following in an extremely short amount of time. Committed to bashing authority and calling out the dog whistle of fascism whatever the source, Total Massacre plays every song with a sense of urgency and dread as if at any second some lunatic in the White House might unleash nuclear annihilation upon us all. The LA-based 4-piece channels the breakneck pace and buzzsaw guitars of 80’s hardcore with lyrics drenched in the sweat, tears, and disaffected rage of life today. Explicitly political and anti-fascist vocals bark an outraged retort to both the ineffectual, self-defeating cynicism of neoliberal centrists and the greedy, craven nihilism of modern-day conservatives. The self-titled Total Massacre (2018) and the blistering follow-up The System Works... (2019) laid the foundation for what this band stands for. Their live show came a long way, g