Germanic Panic (It's Like, Freudian and Shit)

Firstly, we're playing some Ontario shows in the next few weeks and then we leave with Coliseum, we cannot wait to catch up and hit the road with these boys all summer. East Coast dates are below, West Coast (Aug/Sept) dates are coming soon. Second, the Don't Ever Change / Jack The Ripper 7" is OUT NOW (Deranged). The LP will be out either by the time we leave for tour or during it.

May 19 - St.Catharines @ Mansion House w/ Barnburner

May 20 - Hamilton @ Casbah with Barnburner, Crux of Aux +2

June 17 - Toronto (NXNE) @ Garrison w/ Metz, DD/MM/YYYY

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Oh god, please don't let me be misunderstood.

Hey, so we're coming to Europe and back to the UK this November & December (this is awesome), and I've been asked to explain a shirt graphic from last year. Fair enough, it's a striking image. And striking images must be bad, right?

I don't hate Germany. I really don't. I joke about it only because so very many sour, unpleasant things tend to happen to me always and only there. Complaints, one-sided fights looking for a reciprocating second party, accusations of cannibalism, other isms and all form of roguish banditry, and a disproportionate amount of lefty over-defensiveness tend to emanate from there. (I have a theory about this regarding leftism, national guilt, self-image and a certain world war, but another time). Then the utterly humorless reaction to me even joking about joking about it, only makes it more funny to me - not funny ha-ha but that socially disastrous, Andy Kaufman kind of funny. Painfully awkward. And the whole thing just spirals further into the ground from there. So, for the record, I really do love your cities, your squats, your de-alcoholized beer, the vegan pate that comes out of a tube and makes my shits smell like cat food for two weeks after tour, and the many fine German people that don't make me want to eat my own face.

Now, if you actually want to know what the meaning of this shirt is, please read this:

The shirt, if it helps anyone sleep better tonight, is about Eros and Thanatos, Freud's depiction of the two conflicting human drives: Eros, or the life drive - the drive toward (or reaction against) sex (the instinct towards survival, propagation etc) and Thanatos: the unavoidable and conflicting march towards death which is always in mind at the same time. To say "This Is The End" is to say that we are less complicated than we like to appear, and that this is what most of human life as an animal species has always boiled down to, regardless of how flatteringly we like to dress it up. Or as Motorhead put it just as well as Freud, "The answer to life's mystery is simple and direct: sex and death." That's really all there is to it, it's meant neither in cocky irony nor intentional ignorance. So in the unlikely event that you are asking honestly and will be satisfied by the explanation, there you have it. If there's more to argue, it's between you and anthropology.

If you feel that seeing or supporting a band who flirts with Freudian philosophy compromises your belief system, please feel free to stay home that night. If you're looking for that ignorant, apolitical "American" band to fit your stereotype, please fuck off. If you want to play Judgement at Nuremberg and make someone kiss your ass because you put them on the defensive, please fuck off. If you want help on how to market your liberal arts degree, go here.

To Mike from Persil who's booking our Europe tour, bands, clubs, squats, people that come out and interact and everyone involved in making this happen, thank you. It's a lot of hard work. We're all so stoked to come over there and it's gonna be a great time.

I don't ever mind explaining myself if something I write comes across as ambiguous, and I'm glad to see that people are vigilant and protective about the sentiments that float around their scene. If this is you, I hope the above helped clear it up. But when it turns to pure, unproductive games of attack and defend, as sadly, it usually does, I have no fucking time for it. It's not real dialogue. If this is you, you can think what you've already decided to, I'd prefer not to even hear about it. It just pisses all over the hard work and enthusiasm of the people that bring bands across the world and into your backyard.

As always, lyrics to all BL songs can be found at the bottom of this page (or follow link on right), and if you'd like some further clarification about any of it, feel free to get in touch with me via comments. Increase the peace in the Middle East.

*PS: I'll take Timeless Dead Kennedy's lyrics for $600, Alex:

...Where's the common cause?

Too many factions

Safely sulk in their shells.

Agree with us on everything

Or we won't help with anything

That kind of attitude

Just makes a split grow wider

Guess who's laughing while the world explodes

When we're all crybabies

Who fight best among ourselves?