Tom (Smash The Statues)
SPB: What is your favorite cover to play? Why?
Tom: Covers could be really fun to play. Back in the days we played a bunch of covers that suited us both musically and lyrically. As a political band, you want to get your message through, so it wouldn't make sense for us to play coversongs without powerful lyrics, just because the music was cool. So throughout the years we covered songs by bands like I-Spy, Good Riddance, Adhesive and As Friends Rust. I still get goosebumps from Damien's lyrics “You like your coffee black, your neighborhood white” from AFR's classic Coffee Black. But all those songs somehow fitted the melodic hardcorepunk we're playing. What might make it more interesting is covering a song that is way out of your musical comfortzone.
Fastforward to 2020. In January of this year we recorded a song by UK/Austrian feminist post-hardcoreband Petrol Girls. Right now they're constantly touring Europe and the US. We've been lucky enough to share the stage with them in the past. Some of their members have been long time friends and when we heard one of them is fighting a defemation case, because of sexual misbehaviour allegations to a well known UK musician, we decided to chip in for their Solidarity Not Silence crowdfunder. We asked our mutual friend Roos to join us on their song “Touch Me Again”, a song about sexual harrasement and violence. I got shivers down my spine when I first saw them playing it live. We rearranged the song so it would fit our own style of hardcorepunk. I hope we did the song just. Before it will appear on the usual streaming services, it will be on our bandcamp for donation. All donations will be forwarded to Solidarity Not Silence. To us, that's what punk should be all about.
Is it our favorite cover to play? So far we didn't play it live. But in June we will be playing a Solidarity Not Silence benefitshow, so who knows we might find out if it's our favorite coversong. At least it's the most meaningful.
Check it out via bandcamp, or listen below:
