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History, Protest Tunes

Celebrating Dr. King: DJ General Strike’s Top 40 Martin Luther King Day Protest Songs

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Photo filed under a CC0 1.0 Deed Creative Commons.

Greetings comrades, and happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today. I’m DJ General Strike, host of the weekly protest music radio show, Protest Tunes on 91.3 KBCS FM in Seattle. In celebration of MLK Day I’ve compiled an extensive list of protest songs about, inspired by, that mention, quote or sample Dr. King, and broadcasted two distinct 2 hour MLK Day shows.  You can listen to my most recent MLK Day show on the KBCS archive here.

For readers outside of the US, Martin Luther King Day, celebrated annually on the third Monday of January, honors the legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., who advocated for racial equality and justice through nonviolent resistance during the American civil rights movement, until he was assassinated in April 1968. Martin Luther King Day, established in 1983, commemorates the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This day, observed since 1986, not only celebrates Dr. King’s contributions but also calls attention to the ongoing pursuit of justice and equality for all, urging activists to carry forward his legacy.

Musicians of all genres have been writing protest songs about and inspired by Martin Luther King since the 1950s. I’ve compiled over 150 MLK-themed protest songs, most of which you can hear in this Spotify Playlist. I’ve narrowed that down to my top 40 MLK themed protest songs, which I’ve organized by genre below.

Folk

Mike Millius & The Spiritual Warriors – The Ballad of Martin Luther King
Mike Millius is a singer, songwriter and producer from Bedford, New York, best known for writing the song “Lord Only Knows” which Beck reinterpreted on his album “Odelay”.. Millius wrote The Ballad of Martin Luther King, in 1968 immediately after Dr. King’s assassination. Pete Seeger, Brother Kirk covered the song for the Sesame Street album Pete Seeger & Brother Kirk Visit Sesame Street in 1974.

Anne Feeney – Have You Been to Jail for Justice?
Anne Feeney was a singer-songwriter, political activist and attorney from Pittsburgh. She began her music career in 1969 as a student activist playing a Phil Ochs song at a Vietnam War protest. Her business cards described her as “Performer, Producer, Hellraiser.” Feeney sadly passed away last year from Covid 19, at age 69. This 2001 song celebrates the history of nonviolent civil disobedience.

Frederick Douglass Kirkpatrick & Jimmy Collier – You’re Just a Laughin’ Fool
Singer-songwriters and civil rights activists, both Jimmy and “Kirk” worked with Dr. King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and were on the streets with KIng organizing the Poor Peoples’ Campaign until Dr. King’s assassination. They released their civil rights album Everybody’s Got a Right To Live in 1968, which included this song, just after King was assassinated, a month before the Poor People’s March on Washington.

Pete Seeger – Take It from Dr. King
Pete Seeger, a legendary American folk singer and social activist, played a pivotal role in shaping the folk music revival of the 20th century.  Seeger, who helped popularize the Civil Rights movement’s protest anthem “We Shall Overcome,” first met Dr. King in 1957 at Highlander Folk School, a social justice leadership training school and cultural center located in New Market, Tennessee.

Grace Petrie – Farewell to Welfare
Grace Petrie is a socialist-feminist folk singer-songwriter from Leicester, England. She was hailed in The Guardian as “a powerful new songwriting voice” in 2011. She wrote this song in 2010 about the advent of the Conservative-led coalition government following the (UK) general election. This song is about the erosion of the anti-poverty programs which Dr. King fought for.

Country

Old Crow Medicine Show – Motel In Memphis
Old Crow Medicine Show,  an Americana string band based in Nashville, that has been recording since 1998.  Bluegrass musician Doc Watson discovered the band while its members were busking outside a pharmacy in Boone, North Carolina. They wrote this song in 2008 for the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination. 

Iris Dement – How Long
Iris Dement is a legendary folk, country and gospel singer-songwriter and musician from the Arkansas delta, now based in Iowa. This gospel song,  off her 2023 album Working on a World, is based on an MLK quote, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Kris Kristofferson & The Borderlords – They Killed Him
Kris Kristofferson is a retired country singer, songwriter, and actor, best known for writing songs for other artists. This track was originally written by Kristofferson for Johnny Cash who released it as a single in 1984, then Kristofferson recorded it himself in 1986 on his album Repossessed and Bob Dylan covered it a few months later on his album Knocked Out Loaded.

Rock

James Taylor – Shed a Little Light
This six-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and guitarist, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide. This Dr. King tribute track is off Taylor’s thirteenth studio album New Moon Shine released in 1991.

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – Johnny Appleseed
The legendary frontman of pioneering punk rock band the Clash wrote this metaphorical song about the struggle for freedom in 2001 with his backing band The Mescaleros.  The song tells the story of how 18th century environmentalist Johnny Appleseed and Martin Luther King Jr. both used nonviolent means to achieve social change. It had a second life as the theme song of 2007’s HBO series “John from Cincinnati.”

Stevie Nicks – Show Them The Way
Legendary singer, songwriter, and producer Stevie Nicks is best known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac, and also as a solo artist. In this autobiographical 2020 single Nicks sings about her political experiences in the 1960s, including when she sang for Martin Luther King Jr.

The Entrance Band – M.L.K.
The Entrance Band is a band started by Guy Blakeslee, from Baltimore, Maryland. Blakesley said about this 2008 song, “The reason I wanted to make a song about Martin Luther King is because I felt that, even in a time when we have an African-American president and that’s a revolutionary thing for this country, it’s still a president that’s sending so many people to war and is, I believe, kind of just a much more charming, much more intelligent face of the same system that still has yet to change.”

U2 – Pride (In the Name of Love)
The best selling, 22 Grammy winning, Irish rock band from Dublin, released this MLK tribute track in 1984. The song was intended to be a critique of Ronald Reagan’s pride in America’s military power, but on reading the book Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Stephen B. Oates’s, Bono was inspired to rewrite the lyrics to make the song about MLK.

R&B

Lenny Kravitz – Black and White America
Born in New York City to TV news producer Sy Kravitz and actress Roxie Roker, Kravitz was exposed to the entertainment industry at a young age. Kravitz won the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, four years in a row from 1999 to 2002. This song is the title track of his 2011 funk album, Black and White America is about the insults endured by his interracial parents in the 1960s.

Ben Harper – Like a King
Ben Harper is a three-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. The lyrics of this 1994 song draw parallels between the experiences of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rodney King, African American man who was brutally beaten by LAPD officers in 1991, to highlight the lack of racial progress in American society.

Cameron Forbes – If I Was White
Chicago-raised, Los Angeles-based R&B singer & hit songwriter Cameron Forbes has written songs for Tyga, Carrie Underwood, Sean Kingston & G-Eazy among others.  He wrote “If I Was White” about police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.  Forbes, his co-writers and his label, donated a portion of all proceeds from “If I Was White” to Mother’s Against Police Brutality and Campaign Zero.

Calypso

The Mighty Stalin – The Immortal Message of Martin Luther King
The Mighty Stalin AKA Black Stalin was a prominent Trinidadian calypso musician,  known for his lyrics against European colonial oppression. He brought his unique style and social commentary to the genre, addressing issues of politics, inequality, and Caribbean culture. He wrote this MLK tribute song in 1968 not long after King’s assassination.

The Mighty Sparrow – Martin Luther King for President
Trinidadian calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist, known as the “Calypso King of the World”. Sparrow paid tribute to MLK not once but twice, advocating for the civil rights leader’s election to higher office in this 1963 track, and then again shortly after King’s 1968 assassination in the song “Martin Luther King.”

Reggae

Max Romeo – Tribute to Martin Luther King
Max Romeo is a Jamaican reggae and roots reggae artist formerly of the rock steady group The Emotions. This song was written in 1978, 5 years before MLK Day was established. While the hook “No one remembers Martin Luther King” sounds rather dated now, it was poignant at that time.

Morgan Heritage – Black Man’s Paradise
Grammy-winning Jamaican reggae band formed in 1994 by five children of reggae artist Denroy Morgan. This song from 2000, addresses the ongoing struggle for equality, justice, and freedom for black people, reflecting on historical figures and movements, like Martin Luther King Jr., Marcus Garvey and Nelson Mandela..

Burning Spear – I Stand Strong
Burning Spear is a Grammy winning Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist and musician, and one of the most influential and long-standing roots artists to emerge from the 1970s. This 1993 track is about standing strong against the oppressive system as his heroes Martin Luther King and Marcus Garvey demonstrated.

Gospel/Soul

Brother Will – Hairston Alabama Bus
Brother Will Hairston was a gospel singer and preacher in Detroit, Michigan, called “The Hurricane of the Motor City”. In 1956, Hairston wrote and recorded “The Alabama Bus” with Washboard Willie on percussion, about the Montgomery bus boycott. Hairston’s recording, was the first song to reference by name the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Nina Simone – Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)
Nina Simone, “The High Priestess of Soul” was a 4 time Grammy winning singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. She first performed this song just 3 days after King’s assassination at the Westbury Music Fair.

Rap/Hip Hop

The Last Poets – Blessed Are Those Who Struggle 
These forefathers of hip-hop were founded in Harlem in 1968, named after a poem by the South African poet Keorapetse Kgositsile. This 1977 song honors MLK as well and other historical figures who were assassinated while fighting for black liberation.

Common & John Legend – Glory
Conscious rapper, actor, and activist Common, and singer, songwriter, pianist, and actor John Legend wrote this song with Rhymefest in 2014 as the theme song from the 2014 film Selma, which portrays the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. This song was awarded an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy in 2015. 

The Game – Letter to the King (feat. Nas)
This 2008 hip-hop duet by West Coast rapper The Game and  East Coast rapper Nas was written on MLK Day as a tribute to MLK. The Game said about it “‘Take me back to ’65. Martin Luther King is getting dressed in the morning. Coretta Scott King is dusting his shoulders off. He’s about to go out. The dude waiting in the car, I’m him. I don’t know if I’m his homie; I’m just gonna drive him to where he’s going, and I’m gonna talk to him.’

Three Times Dope – Increase the Peace
Three Times Dope was an American hip-hop group from Philadelphia, consisting of EST, Chuck Nice and Woody Wood. They released this conscious track about nonviolent social change, in 1989 as part of their album “Original Stylin’.” The song starts with a powerful introduction, featuring a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

King Dream Chorus – King Holiday
This song was composed by Phillip Jones, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Melle Mel and Bill Adler, and spearheaded by Martin Luther King Jr.’s youngest son, Dexter Scott King. It was released in honor of the first Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which was first celebrated as a national holiday in the US on January 20, 1986. All proceeds from the single were donated to the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

Big Daddy Kane – Word to the Mother (Land)
Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper, producer and actor who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in hip-hop. This 1988 song about African American pride and history is off BDK’s debut album Long Live the Kane.

Vic Mensa – Go Tell ’em
Vic Mensa, a conscious rapper and singer from Chicago, was a member of the group Kids These Days, which broke up in 2013, and a founding member of the hip-hop collective Savemoney and the rap rock group 93Punx. This track is off The Birth of a Nation: The Inspired by Album, the companion album to the 2016 movie The Birth of a Nation, about 1831 slave rebellion leader Nat Turner.

Talib Kweli – All of Us
Talib Kweli is a conscious rapper from New York, best known for being half of the hip-hop duo Black Star with Mos Def. This 2017 anti-police brutality track, features Jay Electronica & Yummy Bingham. It highlights the struggles that people of color face in America and calls for unity and solidarity in the face of oppression as Dr. King did.

Run-DMC – Proud to Be Black
Run-DMC, founded in 1983, in Hollis, Queens, New York, was the first hip hop group to achieve a Gold record and a platinum record,  the first hip hop act to have their music videos broadcast on MTV, the first hip hop act on the cover of Rolling and the first hip hop group to be nominated for a Grammy Award. This 1986 track is a powerful affirmation of Black identity and history. 

Micah Bournes – All Hands on Deck
Micah Bournes is a musician and poet born and raised in Long Beach, California. His work centers on themes of culture, justice, and faith. This 2018 track is a cipher that links the civil rights movement and Black Lives Matter movement and features Izzie Ray, Jackie Miclau, Liz Vice and Lucee. 

Jasiri X – Dr. King’s Nightmare
Jasiri X is a Pittsburgh-based conscious rapper and net-neutrality activist. This 2010 song is written from the perspective of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in response to conservative political commentator Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln Memorial, on the 47th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, in which Beck was accused of co-opting Dr. King’s legacy to spread his racist right-wing ideology. 

Run the Jewels – Thieves 
Run the Jewels are a Super-duo composed of Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P, and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike, taking their name from a lyric in the LL Cool J song “Cheesy Rat Blues” This song about the 2014 uprising in Ferguson, Missouri was inspired by the MLK quote “riot is the language of the unheard.”

Public Enemy – By the Time I Get To Arizona
Political hip-hop group founded by Chuck D and Flavor Flav in 1985. By the Time I Get to Arizona” is a song from their 1991 album Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black,  written by frontman Chuck D in protest of the state of Arizona, where Governor Evan Mecham had canceled Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the people voted against its reintroduction.

Punk/Metal

Rage Against the Machine – Renegades of Funk
RATM was known for melding heavy metal and rap music with punk rock and funk influences, as well as their radical leftist views. This track is a cover of a 1983 song by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, off Rage’s 2000 cover album Renegades. The song draws a connection between historical activists and revolutionaries like MLK to present-day social movements. 

Good Riddance – Shadows of Defeat
GR is a punk rock band from Santa Cruz, California. They released seven full-length studio albums then disbanded 2007 and reformed in 2012. This 1999 track from their album Operation Phoenix begins with a sample of Martin Luther King’s 1964 Poverty of the Soul speech.

The Vernon Walters – M.L.K.
The Vernon Walters was a punk band from Hoorn, Netherlands founded in 1986. The band’s lead vocalist and guitarist Hans Engel was murdered in Spain in 2003 and in 2007, the Hoorn Culture Committee campaigned to have a Hans Engel street named after him. This song was the title track of their 1988 Martin Luther King tribute EP, MLK.

Anti-Flag – 911 for Peace
Political punk band from Pittsburgh, formed by Justin Sane and Pat Thetic in 1988. The band is well known for its left-wing political activism. This post-911 anti-war song off their 2002 album Mobilize features excerpts from MLK’s  “I Have a Dream” speech.

Happy MLK Day! I hope listening to these protest songs inspires you to carry on Dr. King’s legacy. Peace Out!

Interview

Transcending Politics: Interview With Magna Zero And Exclusive Premiere

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Lifelong friendships, a longing to inspire a kind of oneness among all creatures and some good ‘ol basement jamming is some of what makes up Magna Zero. Three friends who, after some time apart, got back together to once again make music.

This time their jamming together has resulted in a debut album as Magna Zero. It means The Great Nothing, and it is also the title of the album. The band explained to me, that what they experience when they play together is ” a melting away of the ego into a state of oneness with all things in the universe”, hence the Latin derived name and album title.

Through groovy bass lines, some epic guitar solos and lyrics that convey the strange experience of living in today’s turbulent world, Magna Zero tries to unite the people of the world through themes of mortality, grief, purpose, selflessness, connection, and compassion.

I had the pleasure of interviewing the band briefly about their music and specifically about the single, Endure, which Shouts is thrilled to premiere for you all.

Exclusive Premiere: Endure by Magna Zero

Halldór: First of all, for those not familiar with Magna Zero, who are you and what’s the story behind its creation?

Chris: Magna Zero is simply 3 long-time friends getting together to jam. For me it’s a reprieve. No egos. Just getting to play my guitar freely and exploring new sounds. 

Jason: We decided to form this band shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown first started, and then the studio where we rehearse in Los Angeles basically became a ghost town. We were able to continue playing there, so we found ourselves in this incredibly unique situation where we had this amazing, creative space pretty much to ourselves for about a year. And that particular year happened to be one of the most monumental spaces of time in recent human history, a time of collective introspection through the quarantine we all found ourselves in, and also a time that served as a catalyst for social change. Both of these aspects fueled our band’s creative process, and we just exploded with new music every time we got together, which was quite often. Playing music together was really the only in-person interaction we had with other people besides our time with our families, so the studio was a gift not only for our artistic expression, but also for our psyches.  

Dave: We’re a true collaborative based on the bonds of brotherhood and the bonds of the known and unknown universe. The music is inspired by that core. From this the music shapes itself into what it has become—songs that speak to the soul of our Moral Universe.

Halldór: You are about to release your debut album. Can you tell us a bit about the creative process behind this album, and specifically the song Endure?

Chris: Most of the tracks came out of free jams. We were smart enough to record most of the jams on Dave’s cell phone. I think we got close to 100 of these live jams before we then took turns picking out a favorite track to turn into a song. I believe Endure started with a baseline from Jason. I just tried to play around with it and add some color. I wanted to be as spare as possible to let the bass and drums groove. There’s this tension with trying to hold on to the sparseness until it kind of explodes in the guitar solo.

Dave: The album spans from death giving birth to life. Giving up oneself to find the ‘self’. Death is the center of life. Black holes give life to all galaxies known. It’s an entire journey of ultimate, unashamed, bare- bones nothingness equivocating to everything living in the entire Universe. The ultimate album of self-preservation and self-love. 

Jason: What Dave’s describing reminds me of the age-old saying, “Die before you die, so that you can truly live”. Our album is titled, The Great Nothing. The phrase is literally our band name translated from Latin into English. It’s the closest expression in words for what we experience when we play music together, a melting away of the ego into a state of oneness with all things in the universe. The path to this for the band is to become nothing, and paradoxically, experience a sense of unity with everything. The song Endure is a message of love prevailing over strife. Even when we experience the darkest moments imaginable, it is love that ultimately lifts us back to our natural state of harmony with each other and with the earth. Since the pandemic, we’ve been seeing a shift in consciousness that is heart-based and that is bringing people together on a scale that was unimaginable just a few years ago. Now more than ever before, strangers from the other side of the world are supporting each other and standing together for compassion, kindness, and justice. Throughout the massive challenges we’re seeing and experiencing in modern times, it’s love that brings us together for positive change forward into a future of hope.

Halldór: Do you all have a background in writing political music? Do you consider your music political or rather more spiritual?

Chris: I’m not a fan of politics, as I feel it creates unnecessary division. I don’t want to be a ‘political’ band. As cheesy or cliché as it is, I feel like we need to focus more on peace and love. And I hope our music conveys that.

Jason: I’d describe playing music together as a spiritual experience shared between us and with our audience. For me, this transcends politics. It’s like a glimpse into something much bigger than any single one of us, while connecting us all. Music is a peak experience. Like painting, mountain climbing, meditating, or a thousand other things, it brings us closer to something deeper yet familiar, as the material world falls away and we feel at one with each other and the universe. When we are playing music together, the space between all things and the time that separates them collapses, and we are completely present to the ever flowing moment of the now. Echoing what Dave said earlier, it’s as if we are tapping into something void of form, a Great Nothing that connects us back to everything, much like a singularity links the nothingness of a black hole to the creation of something words simply cannot express.  

Dave: Our music is the continuous evolution of earth and all that inhabits it, to lose themselves in order to find themselves, to become the NOTHING that shapes this planet into something positive.

Halldór: What do you hope to achieve with your music?

Dave: I hope to inspire all things, for people to hear the sound we make to be inspired, to be moved, to be changed, to be humbled, as this is what the music does to me and my rough edges.

Jason: As word spreads about our songs and visuals, we feel a tremendous sense of fulfillment because we believe that the work we do adds to the momentum of positivity, peace, and love in the world today. 

Halldór: Do you feel resistance or lack of interest from people when they understand your lyrics or that you make critical music? Do you feel like a lot of artists specifically use their music for change or to send out positive, constructive messages?

Jason: Our music resonates with people who share in the values of kindness, compassion, and unity. There are so many great bands and artists out there doing similar work. While some of them are household names, many are independent, lesser-known folks who are incredibly talented. It’s inspiring to hear music that not only moves you, but also is a catalyst for positive change in the world. As a musical artist, why wouldn’t you want to do that?

Magna Zero (L-R) David, Jason, Chris

Halldór: Life in your country, the US, does seem turbulent, as in most places. What are some of the things that affect you or drive you to pen down some lyrics or come up with a tune?

Jason: When we look at what’s happening in the world today, all the cruelty and suffering we’re inflicting on each other and all of the damage we’re doing to our planet, it’s easy to get down and feel like the problems we face are insurmountable, like nothing we do in our individual lives really makes a difference. But it does. What we’re seeing in our local community is an overwhelming response to call out and end bigotry and hatred. There’s a rallying cry against the destruction of our planet, and a willingness on the part of the individual to take personal responsibility for the actions made in daily life. It’s a choice to live with optimism, hope, and positivity towards ourselves and others. Creating this music with Dave and Chris helps anchor me in staying true to that choice.

Chris: If anything, I hope The Great Nothing shows that life is good.

Halldór: Can you recommend other likeminded bands or musicians from your scene or any artists that inspire you?

Jason: My short list these days includes Bob Marley, Rage Against The Machine, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, and Black Sabbath…these artists move me with their groove and especially with their lyrics.

Chris: Influences are tricky. There’s just too many. Bands that just make me feel good when I listen to them and especially see them live. Guitarists that play with soul and express themselves through their playing.

Dave: I’m inspired by so many, where to start? The pages continue to be written on my inspiration…from my childhood: The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Zeppelin, The Eagles. My teenage years: Metallica, Sabbath, Rush!!, Iron Maiden, The Police, Boston, Dr. Know, Subhumans, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Excel, D.R.I. My 20’s: Alice In Chains, NIN, Soundgarden, Fugazi, Radiohead, Ani DiFranco, Elliot Smith, Gang Starr, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, WuTang, Beck. Now: Jungle, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Tame Impala, St. Vincent, My Morning Jacket, Father John Misty, Angel Obel.

Halldór: Outside of the music, do you partake in any projects or activism of any kind? Anything you’d like to share with the Shouts audience?

Jason: I’d like to share that as a public schoolteacher, I’m inspired by the thousands of kids I’ve worked with over the years, who despite differences in color, creed, gender identity, or politics, choose to accept each other for who they are and be friends. From my experience, I have a strong sense that our young brothers and sisters growing up today have a sense of moral responsibility to ensure there is a planet for their grandchildren to live in. Every day I see reminders from our youth of the goodness that is within the human spirit. Based on what I’m seeing in kids today, I believe we have strong reason to be hopeful that together, people from all over the world can continue to partner for a better future. 

Interview

A Protest Music Interview: The Sprawl

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Kurt Vonnegut once said: “If I ever severed myself from Indianapolis, I would be out of business. What people like about me is Indianapolis.” Something about the city of Indianapolis was woven into his being and impacted his art greatly. Now, a new generation of artists in the form of political, post-grunge band The Sprawl have now sprung up from the same city roots and they just released their debut album Cancelled Future.

I spoke to the band members and got their take on the city’s music scene, how artists there use their voices and talents for activism and how so much is broken in the society around them, and, in turn, how all that weaves into their music.

Halldór Kristínarson: On your Bandcamp page it says that The Sprawl is angsty rock n roll. What are you anxious or upset about regarding where you live and the people you share your country with? What is it that motivates you to pen down a lyric and make a song?

Nate Dirck (guitar/vocals): Hi, thanks for taking the time to reach out and interview us! Right now is a very interesting time to be making art because with the pandemic and all, we’re starting to see the normal hum-drum of current events translate to day-to-day desperation in a very real way. All of us are entering adulthood during the worst global crisis of our lifetime and there’s a persistent feeling that the world we were raised to function in won’t exist much longer. So I guess the short answer to your question would be, well, everything. We’re anxious and upset about current events but also about rent, the shitty jobs we work, and generally navigating life during what is an incredibly difficult time to live in. Most of my lyrics are inspired by my own experiences and observations but I try to use the mundane nature of day-to-day life as a way to understand widespread social problems.

HK: Following up on the previous question, how do you experience the music scene in Indianopolis in regards to artists using their voices for good or in protest?

ND: Indianapolis is definitely the kind of place where social problems tend to be very in-your-face and hard to ignore so there’s naturally a lot of protest activity among people in the art community. I’d venture to say the vast majority of our peers in the music scene use their art to speak on important issues to some extent. Indianapolis is in a very conservative area so those of us who exist outside of that culture tends to be quite vocal about how we feel.

Drew Hampton (Drums): I think it’s sort of an action-reaction consequence between conflicting groups. The high concentration of conservative political beliefs in our immediate area leaves us and a large number of others feelings constricted in our beliefs. I think many would be surprised to learn how activism-centric our scene is. So while Indy’s scene is relatively small, I agree with Nate that a sizable portion of it is like minded folks like us who just needed a place to vent their protests. 

HK: You recently released your debut album, Cancelled Future, which is an incredibly tight and catchy album that Shouts HQ’s have been blasting non-stop in the past days. Can you tell a bit of the creative and production process behind creating this band’s first piece of work?

ND: Hell yeah, so glad y’all are enjoying it! It’s interesting because we actually had no intention of putting out an album right away. Most of these songs accumulated from failed attempts to be productive during the first part of the pandemic. After we ended up with like eight songs we just said “fuck it” and decided to write a couple more to make a full album. This was a lot different from other projects I’ve been involved in where everything is usually thoroughly planned out before going into the studio. It was cool to be part of an album that sort of came together in real time like that because I (like most people in 2020) was struggling quite a bit to make ends meet while these songs were being written and it definitely had an impact on my lyrics. In fact, a good chunk of them was written on the notes app on my phone while my supervisor wasn’t looking at this really shitty overnight job I was working at the time.

June Smith( Lead Guitar): Thank y’all for blasting the album, we really appreciate it! As far as my portion of the creative process, I’m very lucky to be in a band with Nate. They write most of the material and give us free reign to put our own spin on the songs. I play in a few other bands, but I use The Sprawl as an outlet to push outside of my comfort zone. I’m a rhythm guitarist in my other projects and Nate gives me song ideas I would honestly never think of! It’s always a fun challenge to figure out the most suitable way to add to their songs and not distract from their core. It’s also been great to co-write some material like “I’m Not a Democrat I’m a Nihilist”. I show Nate a riff or two and they usually run with it, finishing the song with twists and turns I’d never expect. I’m also very influenced by our local music scene.  The solo for “Safe Word” was inspired by watching some of my peers perform noise sets.

DH: I too am lucky to be in a band with Nate who is such an excellent songwriter and like June said, gives us a lot of freedom to be creative. I’ve had the privilege of playing in bands with Nate consistently for what is approaching a decade now. This puts me in a super favorable position as a musician and songwriter because Nate is incredibly aware of my capabilities, strengths, and limitations. I think this allows Nate and I to push my limitations and help me reach for things I never would have thought possible because I have someone who knows me so well to push me. From a production standpoint, I reached out of my comfort zone on this record. I went beyond the drum set to write some glockenspiel parts that I’m really proud of, and I’m happy to say that I plan on writing many more. 

HK: One of your songs speaks of nihilism. Can you elaborate on how the process is behind creating songs with a certain social justice message but mixed with the idea of human existence being meaningless? 

ND: I think the song you’re referring to is “I’m Not a Democrat, I’m a Nihilist”. That title is a reference to a comedian named Eric Andre who said that in response to a conservative pundit who mistook him for a Democrat. The Democratic party is considered to be the primary representation of the left in American politics even though their actual ideology skews right. There’s been an increasing call for American leftists to establish an identity independent of the Democrats so the title is meant to be a somewhat tongue-in-cheek nod to that.

I’m glad you brought that up though because that contradiction is one of the things that drives the overall narrative of the album. The album starts out with an emphasis on social justice messaging but grows more existential and introspective with each song. The point I’m trying to make with that is that social justice rhetoric might as well just be nihilism if it’s just being used to identify problems in the absence of real organization and action. A lot of my lyrics on the album are really just me venting frustration at the lack of meaningful progress despite the endless amount of discourse we all engage in.

DH: I would like to add that the whole idea of being a Nihilist as opposed to a Democrat evolved into a deeper meaning for me. Often we on the far-left get called skeptics, critics, negative, and of course, nihilistic for feeling like our system is completely broken and that the most fastidious solution would be to simply start from scratch on practically everything. However, from my perspective, we are some of the only people who acknowledge that the way things are transpiring, a lot of people are being left behind, or much, much worse. From my perspective, we’re some of the only people who really care about all the people being hurt or even killed, and I find it ironic that we get called cynical for insisting something needs to be fixed, or more accurately, replaced, while those who often hurl these names and insults at us care less about the problem than we do. If feeling so strongly that things need to change somehow makes me a nihilist, then yeah, I’m not a democrat, I am a nihilist. Actually, it seems more accurate to say that our opposition are the nihilists, not us. Perhaps I’m reading too far into it, but all good jokes have an underlying truth, right? 

HK: What is your take on artists using their work for activism? Should these two things be intertwined or seperated in any way?

ND: I feel like it’s hard to make art in an open and honest way without talking about social issues because a lot of what gets labeled as “political” is really just peoples’ lived experiences. I always find it funny when people suggest those kinds of things should be off-limits as if that’s not what art is meant for.

DH: Nate and I have had some recent conversations on creating politically slanted art and my personal struggle with finding where I/we fit on that spectrum. We’re gearing down the overtly political messages in our songs and moving towards societal and existential problems that surround us instead. This might seem simply semantic, however, the difference is important. Our songs used to be political to the core. Many years ago, we wrote what was pretty much a Donald Trump diss track at the start of his political reign. I’m glad to have helped create that track because it helped me to where I am today, however, I don’t ever see myself creating art of that nature again. I’ve been incredibly lucky to grow up and live as a straight, white male in America, which pretty much means I’ve been on easy street. So what do I really have to say or add that the people who are actually affected by these people and problems can’t? It feels disrespectful to say, “I can more accurately describe your experience than you can.” I don’t mean to speak for the other members of the band in that regard, as they have not necessarily had the windows-down cruise I’ve had in life, but I personally feel like being a part of art describing things that legitimately impact your life is not only ethically correct, but I think the end result is better. 

To boil it down, art should be used for activism, and we’ll probably write a couple more politically overt punk bangers before our time is through, however it is absolutely paramount that we, and others in similar positions to us, lift artists up who have important things to say from beyond our perspective, and acknowledge that sometimes the most powerful voice you have in a privileged position is to allow someone else to say something. I know I could do a lot more in that regard, and I’m trying to work on that. To clarify, I am not talking down to anyone, I’m describing the recent change of heart I’ve had where I’ve personally come to regret some of the art I’ve created for ethical reasons. Art and activism is a really, really tricky subject, especially for people in positions like me, and to be honest with you Halldór, I don’t have a simple or easy answer. (Obviously 😉 )

JS: I’d just like to add that even if music isn’t  political, it’s still important for us as artists to create an environment geared towards activism. Especially in a conservative state like Indiana there are not many “safe spaces” for all the groups that experience oppression.  We are lucky to be around people that want to hold each other up , and create spaces where everyone can be comfortable. 

ND: I think it’s also worth noting that not everything has to be overtly political to be a valuable part of political discourse because damn near anything somebody could write a song about has social ramifications when you think about it.

HK: What do you hope to achieve with your music?

ND: I just hope these songs are something people can relate to.

HK: Are you following any like-minded bands that you’d like to give a shout out to (and introduce to Shouts readers)?

ND: As far as immediate peers in Indianapolis, Chelshots and Pat and the Pissers are two bands that I would recommend to anyone who digs our stuff. I also just recently got introduced to a band from northern Indiana called Tigershark Don’t Quit who make really good music in the same kind of vein. I also want to take the opportunity to shout out our label Sauna Suit Records ( https://saunasuitrecords.bandcamp.com/ ). I would absolutely recommend digging through the rest of their catalogue if you enjoyed Cancelled Future. Beyond the local level, I’ve been really into this punk band from the east coast called Drug Church lately and they definitely informed my lyrical approach on the album.

JS: Definitely check out Sauna Suit. I help them with whatever I can and am loosely a team member! Both of my other projects are located there The Sick Boy Method and D.R.L.N. if you enjoy what I do in The Sprawl I’d recommend checking them out!

DH: In our local scene, Anti-Feds and Dope Sweater are probably the best Indy has to offer in terms of punk and punk-adjacent music. Across the pond, a band named Squid just put out a record called Bright Green Field that we’re in love with. 

HK: What is on the horizon for you?

ND: We’re almost done writing an EP that we hope to release by the end of the year and we’ve definitely got another album in our future along with a few one-off singles here and there. We’re also planning out some tours for 2022 right now. If you’d like to see what we’re up to, be sure to check out our assorted social media accounts @TheSprawl317.

HK: Anything else you’d like to shout from the rooftops?

The Sprawl: Stay hydrated and don’t trust the government.