Random Records with Steve O

The Suicide Machines - War Profiteering Is Killing Us All

So, the other day Phil talked about how great the new Suicide Machines record, Revolution Spring is. It’s fantastic and you should go listen to if you haven’t already. But I wanna take a minute, or more accurately a half hour, to visit their previous output – 2005’s War Profiteering Is Killing Us All.

You remember 2005, right? Back when we had a horrible Republican president with an overactive imagination who decided to agitate and invade a foreign country. Oh, remember those days when we thought it couldn’t get worse than George W. Bush? Simpler times. This is also back when people bought CDs. Remember what those are? Well, back in 2005 I picked up the CD for War Profiteering Is Killing Us All, which stands up as my favorite Suicide Machines record. Yeah, that’s right, I prefer this one to Destruction By Definition, which is a close number two.

Anyways, you’re probably aware of the Suicide Machines because of “New Girl,” which was on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtrack and is a ska song. If so, you’ll be in for a shock when you first put on War Profiteering… and hear the title track. “War Profiteering Is Killing Us All” is a blistering hardcore track, that feels closer to what frontman Jay Navarro would later do with Hellmouth than the ska-punk stylings of the Suicide Machines. (As an aside, he has stayed quite busy in the intervening years with rad bands like Hellmouth, Break Anchor, and J. Navarro & the Traitors.) Even the vibe in the video feels more hardcore than ska. And this is the point where I inevitably remind you how much I prefer loud and fast and heavy and it makes sense why I prefer this record; it is absolutely full of those songs. The title track, “Red Flag,” “17% 18 – 25,” “Rebellion is on the Clearance Rack (and I Think I Like it),” amongst others, all sound furious.

But War Profiteering… is a great two-face record. The Suicide Machines haven’t quite abandoned their ska-punk sound, with songs like “Nuclear Generators,” “Hands Tied,” “Junk,” “Bottomed Out,” “Capitalist Suicide,” or the brilliantly titled “I Went on Tour for Ten Years and all I Got was this Lousy T-Shirt” balancing out the hardcore blazers. If you want ska songs like it’s the mid-90s again, they’re here. If you’re fucking pissed off about the sad state of affairs in the world and just wanna rage and scream, the hardcore songs have got you covered. In short, either way, this record is for you.

And that brings up one last note – the lyrical content. It’s been fifteen years since War Profiteering… and holy fuck does anyone else find the amount of similar storylines that show up here and also show up on Revolution Spring absolutely fucking terrifying? Phil mentioned “Flint Hostage Crisis” and the line “Third World America,” which just rings so damn close to “95% of the World is Third World.” “Black Tar Halo” is basically revisiting of “Junk.” “Capitalist Suicide” raises the problems with capitalism and growing income disparity, while “Nuclear Generators” warns of the irrevocable damages if climate change. The military is still big business and making some people absolutely filthy rich – and it’s harm is in the record’s fucking title. Yeah, we’ve done a great job on those fronts in the past fifteen years. So War Profiteering… is still a relevant soundtrack for fighting the good fight.

Listen to War Profiteering Is Killing Us All here. Skank and rage along, let it all out. We all need the exercise right now and need to release some of that pent-up energy.