The godfathers of hardcore DOA have teamed up with their pal Jello
Biafra to produce an anthem for our age. The first single from the
band’s new studio album We Come in Peace, “We Occupy,” perhaps
surprisingly to the uninitiated, is an upbeat, ska-based tune, with
plenty of DOA rock guitar to power it along.
But it’s the lyrics that really make it shake. Punk pioneer Joe “Shithead” Keithley, a big backer of Occupy Wall Street, tells it like it is—
we’re getting ripped off by the greedy and powerful. Keithley asked
his longtime friend Biafra to sing on the song. The former Dead Kennedys vocalist, no stranger to taking on pompous asses and authority,
quickly agreed. The combo is powerful and timely.
The exclusive B-side “Who the Hell Do You Think You Are” was
written at the behest of playwright Michael Scholar, whose play
Hardcore Logo: Live is an adaptation of Michael Turner’s underground classic book Hardcore Logo (also a film by Bruce McDonald). Keithley took the lyrics in Turner’s book about a fictional punk
rock band and came up with a beery, sing-along number—an instant
punk rock classic.
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