Lockdown! at the Disco #13: The Punk Episode

Listen to the Episode!

Read the transcript of the episode!

Greetings and salutations, my little rebels! Come in and get comfy! Throw on your baddest look and your biggest boots and put those puppies into a stomp – let’s raise some hell… 

TRACK ONE: “These Boots are Made for Walking” – Pure Hell

That was Pure Hell with “These Boots are Made for Walking” and this is episode 13 of Comics Youth Radio presents Lockdown! at the Disco – a show made by and for young people, and the young at heart such as fossils like me! I am your host Amy Roberts and this is The Punk Episode where we’re gonna be celebrating punk music and punk ethos at its finest.

By which I mean, punk music made by marginalised people. Punk music made by LGBTQIA+ people, punk music made by BAME musicians and activists, punk music made by women, and punk music made by allies who use their privilege for good.

As someone who has been in punk bands and in the punk scene since I was a teenager, I know from first-hand experience how so much of it can still be dominated by white, cisgender, heterosexual, macho male nonsense. It’s not always intentional by the people in these scenes, but there also isn’t always a lot of action put into place to make punk scenes – at least at a local level - more inclusive and diverse.

And when any scene is predominantly occupied by one type of person, it isn’t always conducive to making anyone outside of that identity feel like they belong or are welcome there. So this episode is to remind each and every one of you to occupy and reclaim these spaces. Punk is for everyone and should be used to support and to elevate marginalised voices and issues above all else.

As a minor note on the content of today’s episode, while every effort has been taken to keep explicit language out of today’s playlist there may still be some language and topics of conversation that may not be suitable for younger listeners, so parental discretion is advised.

So, let’s get into it, shall we? This is Limp Wrist with “Thick Skin”.

TRACK TWO: “Thick Skin” – Limp Wrist
TRACK THREE: “Isolation Burns” - Spitboy

That was phenomenal 90s feminist punk band Spitboy with “Isolation Burns” and I think they’re probably one of the most underrated punk bands of that era. When we talk about 90s feminist punk rock, we often only talk about Riot Grrrl and bands like Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney, or Bratmobile.

And that’s a great scene and those are brilliant bands, but there quite rightly remains a lot of conversation about how white the riot grrrl scene was and how it wasn’t the most inclusive. Particularly at a time when there was a huge swathe of political and social activism taking place in the US concerning systemic racism – something which was more or less excluded from much of the dialogue that got raised in riot grrrl lyrics and subsequent activism.

Despite being a band made up solely of women who aggressively criticised gender roles and patriarchal systems, Spitboy have always maintained that they were not part of that scene and separated themselves from it, instead identifying themselves as simply being punk rock.

It’s also interesting to note that Spitboy are a band made up of Xicana women – which is a chosen identity for people of Mexican descent – which meant that while they may have touched upon similar topics to many other riot grrrl bands, that their perspective and experience was markedly different than those of their white contemporaries.

But they deserve to be held at just as high reverence as those bands, in my opinion. Likewise, Adrienne Droogas, who is the lead vocalist for Spitboy, also has one of the greatest punk vocals in the history of the genre too. So, let’s just take a moment to recognise and to respect that fact, shall we? She went on to sing with fellow anarcho-punk band Aus Rotten for a while too and some of the songs that she did with that band remain some of their best.

Thank for listening to my Ted Talk, everyone! There’ll plenty more of this type of thing as this episode goes on! I hope you’re ready for it!

This is the incredible Kenyan punk band Crystal Axis with “Nyayo House” and it was requested by Tom.

TRACK FOUR: “Nyayo House” – Crystal Axis
TRACK FIVE: “What Kind of Monster Are You?” – Slant 6

That was “What Kind of Monster Are You” by Slant 6 which is a great anthem about refusing to be intimidated by trash, hateful people. Resilience in the face of hatred and in the face of cruelty is punk rock, honey. It’s what it’s all about.

Which brings us into a conversation about being a good ally. Not just within punk scenes but also within every scene and within society itself. Even if we exist within a marginalised identity ourselves, there are still other identities that exist which need our additional support – and in turn those identities hopefully extend the same to yours.

And this is especially important if you exist within an identity which most would consider to be privileged. The mainstream idea of punk rock is that it’s music that has been made in the most-part by white, heterosexual, cis-gender men.

And a lot of hardcore punk, in particular, existed for a long time on the concept of macho men with big muscles stomping around hurling fists at one another and puffing our their chests at the big bad world and you know, getting completely loaded and partying all the time.

And you know, that’s fine for them. But that’s also very alienating to anyone who isn’t a big, white, cis-gender, heterosexual dude who just wants to get wrecked 24/7.

Which brings us to Ian MacKaye of bands like Fugazi and Minor Threat. MacKaye is credited with having coined the term ‘straight edge’ to describe a personal ideology that promotes abstinence from alcohol and drug-taking – as a particular push back against this notion that punk rock has to be debaucherous and wild and drug-adled in order to be valid.

MacKaye understood the carnage that indulging in such a lifestyle can cause – not just on an individual level, but also within communities. And an interesting element of that is how MacKaye was compelled to promote his gigs as being a space free of drugs or alcohol as a way to also protect women.

At that time, there was a spike of women being sexually assaulted at punk shows in which a direct correlation could be drawn between these attacks and the substances being consumed on a large scale at shows.

I think about this a lot and I love that MacKaye used his privilege to do this and took such a bold stance against it – particularly when it upset so many of his male peers in the punk scene in doing so. He was an outspoken feminist ally – amongst other shows of allyship – in a scene that was becoming increasingly macho.

This next song I’m gonna play is by his band Fugazi and it’s called “Suggestion” and it’s written from the perspective of a woman. Now, many feminists and that time and since took issue with the fact that this dude had the gall to write a song from this perspective.

Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill actually once said of this song, “I have issues with Ian MacKaye – who I love – singing as if he was a woman. But that song changed my life, because it was the first time I ever heard a man singing about something that was predominantly a woman’s issue.”

See what you make of it. This is “Suggestion” by Fugazi.

TRACK SIX: “Suggestion” – Fugazi
TRACK SEVEN: “My War” – Black Flag

That was “My War” by Black Flag, another band from that same scene who became great allies for a lot of causes. For a while in the 80’s they had a phenomenal female bass player by the name of Kira Roessler who I love because she used to dress conspicuously femme sometimes as a means to provoke an audience who were often super macho.

And it was during this particular line-up of Black Flag in the 80s which also saw Henry Rollins take the reins as the frontman of the band. And he’s a super interesting, intelligent and outspoken guy worth checking out if you don’t much about him.

And something I always loved about Henry is that though he looked like the stereotypical macho hardcore dude – you know, super muscular and tough – he also used this part of his identity to challenge toxic masculinity at punk shows and to keep guys in check in the crowd who were perhaps not being cool to women or even to other guys. If he saw any violence in the crowd or any creeps, he was big and tough enough that he could flick them away and put a stop to whatever they were doing.

Absolutely, can’t get enough of vibes like that. You know, people who use their power and their privilege for good.

And now we have a couple of songs as requested by Zoe - one of our wonderful resident punks here at Comics Youth who we miss very, very much. This is “Fall Out” by Days N’ Daze.

TRACK EIGHT: “Fallout” – Days N’ Daze
TRACK NINE: “True Trans Soul Rebel” – Against Me!

That was Against Me! With “True Trans Soul Rebel” and it’s been so wonderful to see Laura Jane Grace – who is at the forefront of that band – continue to be such a bold and outspoken role model for the transgender community within music.

And as we start wrapping up here a little bit today, a reminder that punk rock is and always will be the music of outsiders. It belongs to the queer kids, to women, to trans and non-binary communities, to the working classes, to neuroatypical folk, and to BAME communities.

It’s the music of people who are proud to not fit within whatever society considers to be standard and normal – and for those who are totally ok to live beyond those boundaries, too.  Who wants to be normal, honey?

It’s the music of people who have decided they don’t to have to live within the same structures and systems that have failed them time and time again or told them that they are somehow worth less than whatever society has deemed to be the default person.

Punk is about building your own structures and systems and creating your own scenes and communities wherein you find belonging and strength. It’s a method for dismantling the things that have held you back or held you down and for creating somewhere or something where you can be yourself and speak your truth as loudly as you want to. That’s what DIY or die is all about, babe.

This next track is by Like Pacific and it was requested by Lucas M who has said that when he saw them live he was obviously very impressed by the gay front man of the band when he apparently said something along the lines of, ‘follow me on Insta via hotgaydadddy69. I’m not a dad, but I am gay and sweaty.’

WE STAN.

This is Distant by Like Pacific.

TRACK TEN: “Distant” – Like Pacific
TRACK ELEVEN: “Garden” – Meet Me @ The Altar

That was “Garden” by Meet Me @ The Altar and it was also a request from Lucas. And he says of them, “They’re a three piece pop punk band made up of women of colour and they’re sick. The vocalist is killer, the drummer slaps, and the guitarist is chef’s kiss…” – that noise was supposed to be a chef’s kiss. I’m not sure such a thing translates too well over a podcast but it is what it is.

And I wanted to give an extra huge shoutout to Lucas here on today’s show as he’s currently recovering from a very exciting operation and we’re just thrilled for him.

Plenty of ice cream and comic books and loud music and sourdough bread for you, sir! And we hope you recover swiftly and comfortably and all of us adore you here at Comics Youth so bravo, sir. Bravo!

And that’s us done for another week! Next week’s episode is going to be all about Comic Books – I mean, it’s about time too, no? It is a big part of what we do here at Comics Youth, after all!

So we’re going to be talking about our fave comics and playing tracks inspired by comic books and that have been on the soundtracks to various TV and movie adaptations of comic books and manga over the years.

So, if you have anything you want to contribute to that then feel free to drop me a line via amy@comicsyouth.co.uk and we’ll make that happen!

Until then, stay safe, stay sassy, and stay punk – this is X-Ray Spex with Art-I-Ficial and it’s about to go off….

See yaaaaaaa!!

TRACK TWELVE: “Art-I-Ficial” – X-Ray Spex