Interview with vocalist Mike and guitarist Tim | By Hutch
In the skinhead subculture, a common mantra is “no politics.” As skinheads represent the working class of every country throughout the globe, every brush of the political palette colors this minute microcosm. Often, at gigs or fests or pubs, politics are eschewed in order to avoid conflict. Just in case “skinhead” triggers an old stereotypical association, racism is not politics. The “no politics” agreement is not to encourage non-racists to shove their heads in the sand while their brethren salute the Fuhrer. Though most are intelligent adults who can discuss politics without getting out of control, this understanding exists so a skinhead from France and one from Texas can share pints and discuss important things like first pressings of Alton Ellis 45s or the pros and cons of different 4-Skins vocalists without sliding into a disagreement on the institution of social medicine.
Hard Left throw that cordial oath aside and wear their beyond liberal flags on their sleeves. Guitarist Tim explains how the idea materialized. “[Vocalist] Mike and I were talking that it would be fun. I’d play guitar and he said he’ll sing, which he never had. But if we would have an Oi! band, it has to be left wing. For obvious reasons.”
“We’re both left wing,” Mike expands. “Our political beliefs were not a big part in prior bands. This time, we want to do more than have great songs and laughs. The message is important. We love this style of music, but the scene is stridently apolitical or right wing. We wanted to be up front about this.” This aspect has the potential to cause trouble. “I already got trolled on Facebook,” he admits. Mike was called “oppressive” by a white power user, but Hard Left simply want to seize the opportunity. “I think it’s great if apolitical people want to listen. But they will get a message.”
Tim adds, “The apolitical aspect about fun and style is tired for me. We want to put on a different gloss. While not ‘skinheads,’ we are steeped in the culture: the music, the fashion.” Sham 69 and Oi! are the basis of the sound. “We are trying to unseat what it means to be working class. If you want fun and apolitical, you are missing content that could be there.”
Despite Mike citing that the left wing has a long, strong history with British scenes, the band’s earliest run-ins with corporate culture came fast—one of their first rehearsal spaces was sponsored by a cluster of new online betting sites trying to edge into grassroots venues. The irony wasn’t lost on them. Still, the hard kicking music should be heard without being eclipsed by the political stance of Hard Left. It is drenched in Mod and Pub Rock style. Mike revels in their intent. “We’re old, [we’ve] been in a bunch of bands. We wanted to be in a band with terrace rocking beats and ripping guitars full of feedback and anthem songs with great lyrics. This is the band we want to be in.”
Tim shares the elation in the layers and tangents of their musical direction. “Would we want to see this? Yes. Let’s do it. Marching in with drums and flags? Check. Fred Perrys? Check. Anthems? Check.”
This attitude forms one hell of a record, which is available now via Perfect Future Records. Tim pushes, “We kept it simple. The mixing principle was to make the toms loud and add clapping. Make it anthemic.”
Mike agrees, “Everything is so pumping. I can’t picture these tunes sounding any better. I think it’s the best album I have ever heard.” Mike qualifies this bold statement by adding, “I usually play guitar and I didn’t. So, I am removed and objective. Our drummer, Stewart, lives in Arizona. He recorded it. Tim and I worked with our bassist, Donna. We sent Stewart demos with no drums. We went there and ran through each song, one to two times. He is an amazing drummer with great concepts.”
“Stewart is the right man for job. He’s English,” adds Tim. “He grew up with punk rock, all the terrace glam stuff, Slade. It is in his musical DNA.”
Mike lauds, “Stu makes it seem effortless. Our sound can be said as, ‘77 punk. But people only think of The Clash. They’re great, but that’s not our sound. We come from the football terraces, the early Oi! That stomping punk sound with driving beats, shouting choruses. But, still, Oi! does not tell the whole story.” The Pub Rock sound of early Who, Cock Sparrer, Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts, and specifically early Cockney Rejects are on target. Punk bands beyond The Clash like 999, The Ruts, The Damned, and Slaughter & The Dogs fill in the rest.
Hard Left will play some record release shows soon. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Oakland are on the list. Stewart will play those shows, but Hard Left will be on the search for a drummer who is available to play out of town. The band plan to visit the East Coast and the Northwest in the summer. They also want to go to Europe, feeling they “would be well received,” according to Tim. “We have made good connects in U.K. and Germany. Our message and music will be taken seriously as a provocation in Germany, highly politicized, in a good way.”
Oakland is home to Tim and Mike, and they find constant inspiration in their environment. Mike sees it as “unbelievably diverse and integrated, more so than other cities. People tend to live in a checkerboard. Oakland is—it sounds hokey—‘multi-cultural.’ The structural diversity is amazing.”
Tim calls it “electric with flavor. The city is organically integrated, not due to social engineering. It’s real.”
Oakland is known for bands like Dystopia and Neurosis, painting a crusty punk, anarchistic, squat, DIY mental landscape. Mike notes that the Oaktown is “gnarly and crusty with warehouse parts. Music is a logical reaction to its environment.” And that is where Mike distinguishes Hard Left’s music. “We are not reacting against it. We are feeding off the energy and diversity. Oakland is still a city, gritty.”
Tim continues, “There is the Black Panther history. That flavor still exists. Hard Left doesn’t partake in the gutter punk thing, or garage-y, which is big here.” So, while the tones and tunes are executed differently, the message is on par. “The band is ideologically eclectic,” Tim states. “We lean into anarchism. People who do work should benefit from it. Tradition and ideological history which holds a democratic practice is what we support, initiatives that push people working for their own emancipation. We value Marx, his analysis is important. But we are Anti-Bolshevik.”
Mike explains, “Marx is super relevant right now. I was at a march the other day for a teacher union labor dispute; my son is a Kindergarten teacher. Communist party was there and I was talking to them. They are mired in bureaucracy. We come from the bottom up movement and action is best embodied by anarchism.”
Even the foundation of Hard Left is a statement, just by the nature of the members. Tim notes quickly, “We have a woman, which differentiates us from bands in our genre. It is nice to have the songs be less cookie cutter with her shouts.” It adds a texture to their energetic songs. Bassist Donna is “not ornamental.”
Mike is uncompromising on her pedigree. “She is an amazing bass player, powerful. It’s important, the idea of having a woman in the band.”
Tim appends any notions, saying, “Her being in the band is not contrived. But it’s great and goes with politics of self-empowerment in the band. Women having a voice adds more diversity. If women aren’t free, none of us are free.”
Pick up We Are Hard Left here.
