ShareThisBy SCOTT MERVIS
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
As the Warped Tour gets up there in years, it's gotten harder to find those reckless hardcore bands with the mile-high mohawks who just get up there and thrash away like it's 1981.
Good thing for The Casualties.
The veteran New York band is doing its part to keep that street-punk spirit alive, taking its cues from the likes of The Exploited, Black Flag and GBH.
"I don't think there are a lot of bands playing the kind of hardcore punk we're playing," says guitarist Jake Casualty. "I think a lot of bands are concerned with getting on the radio and appealing to a mainstream audience."
The Casualties formed in 1990 as a shout-along punk band with a rowdy, beer-soaked streak, but recent circumstances have sparked "Under Attack," a seventh record that has them raging on about politics.
The title track has Jorge Casualty screaming about us being under attack _from our own government. "Without Warning" takes on global warming, "System Failed Us Again" deals with the struggling underclass, and "No Solution _No Control" lashes out against rampant commercialism. "In It For Life" is a shout-out _ and we mean SHOUT _ to Woody Guthrie.
"Whatever effects us is what we'll sing about. We're getting older and you can't pretend to sing about just drinking beers all the time," Jake says. "We don't want to become a totally political band, but we did want to bring new things to our fans' attention.
"It was a light change of scenery," he adds. "Why are the Clash loved so much? They sang about the same stuff, but changed up the music. So you have all these different angles of the Clash you can get into. If you do the same thing, people just get bored with it."
"Under Attack" won't be confused with that kind of musical experimentation but, Jake says, "there's definitely a progression, but not a different style of music altogether."
The Casualties put the politics aside and vent their anger on other punks in "Fallen Heroes."
"It's about a lot of punk people that you looked up to and all of a sudden they're just a shell of what they used to be. Fallen heroes of punk rock," Jake says. "These bands that get back on stage and do these reunion shows and the heart and soul is not there anymore. It's like, why bother?"
How will the Casualties, now 16 years in, know when they've hit that point?
"As soon as it's not real anymore, we won't do it anymore. Now, we're touring for six or seven months and recording records; everyone's truly into it. It's not just doing a reunion tour 'cause someone flashes money in your face. The day it's not like that anymore, we're not going to do it anymore."
(Scott Mervis can be reached at smervis(at)post-gazette.com)
