(Andy Synn stands up to be counted alongside Washington D.C. Hardcore crew NØ MAN)
People sometimes (and by “sometimes” I mean “frequently”) get very mad at the assertion that all music is, in some way, political.
And I get why, to an extent.
After all, for a lot of people the use of the term “political” is a negative thing… they think of it as being lectured, being told what to think, who to vote for, etc.
But that’s not really what it means.
In fact it’s the very act of making music that’s an inherently political statement, especially when it comes to Metal/Punk/Hardcore… genres that various government and regimes around the world have frequently decried as decadent, degenerate, and a threat to the youth.
That’s what we really mean when we say that it’s “political”, because by picking up that guitar, screaming into that microphone, bashing away at those drums, what you’re doing is taking a stand and asserting yourself, creating art that is for yourself, not to serve the state or the economy but to express something freely and openly and – perhaps most importantly – loudly.
And, on their new album (out this Friday), Washington D.C. quartet NØ MAN are as loud, as proud, and as in-your-face about who they are as they’ve ever been.