The Usual Suspects played their first show in December 2001. All members, also active in the Leuven squat scene, listen to different kinds of music and that’s where the mix they make comes from. Apparently, people liked it ‘cos requests to play came in and the band went on from there. After having done some gigs in Switzerland and on the shores of France and Holland, the first album, Hasta la vista Commandante, was released in 2002 and was a mix of Suspects –songs, partial covers and nicked bits of songs by other bands. Musical Piracy it’s called. Wicked. The second release, the Classwars EP, on Filth Ear Records was a split with Agathocles, a Belgian grindcoreband and record holder in the Olympic discipline of releasing split albums. After this, The Usual Suspects toured and played a vast number of gigs across Europe and the Uk. Numerous party’s, bars and squat festivals were the scenery of yet another ska-dub-reggea-punkgig. In the meanwhile another album was recorded in November 2006 and released in December 2007. The little scoundrel was baptised in anarchy under the name of: Breaking Bars and Crushing Codes. A new album and quiet a different sound then the first one. No covers (well ok, just the one) and a sound that’s more mature then it used to be. I know other band members will not agree with me here, but I’ll take the risk and state that cheese gets better once a bit older as well. This baby was co-released by Maloka records from Dijon and is out on vinyl as well. We'll be doing some touring again this year (2009), starting with the UK on the end of august and beginning of September. Further on we'll be doing a weeks' tour in Switzerland the first week of November. We're (as always) looking forward to this and hope to see you all there for a laugh and a brew, a can of cider, shredded shirts, lost equipment, a jumped-through dance floor (that wasn't us), and more non-sense. In the mean time, behave, and have a nice one!
Anarquia, Luz y Libertad para todos,
The Usual Suspects
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2007.our third musical contribution to the global war on capitalism, individualism and governments alike. And why not mention everlasting apathy while we’re at it? Fair enough, but a little word of explanation first.
Imposed values and an imposed way of life. Mixed with a fair share of unawareness towards the matter you get the ultimate recipe for a society where people don’t know each other and by a result of that don’t even care. Or do they? Good question. People do care; do worry about where life’s taking them and how they are played out to one and other. However, they get the feeling that they are not in a position to change all this and feeling out of control because of this causes them to be scared and bitter. Once scared and bitter it’s easy to be kept in line. It paralyses the part of your brain that keeps you thinking in a progressive, self-aware and constructive manner. We felt like and still feel like telling people that they do have a choice here. And lucky us, we’ve had the chance of surfing the anarchist/punk/activist landscape for quiet a while since our last release, and came to the conclusion that there are still a vast number of active people out there and as we hope, we even might have inspired the odd one.
On the other hand it hasn’t been all smiles. Controllers and oppressive mechanisms have multiplied the amount of cameras (smile, you’re on fucking CCTV!), biometric id-cards, prisons, population control and so on. All of this to contain any possible threat to capitalism and the powers that be. We’re not talking about the United States here. Today everyone’s having a go at G.W.Bush and the United Shades of Oppression, the accepted and safe target for anyone claiming to be left and progressive. Meanwhile, the European Union is silently and comfortably tightening its grip, making terrorists out of just about anyone that fits the vague descriptions in their insane laws. So talking about direct action is one thing, getting involved is another. We cannot continue endlessly waving banners led demonstrations, spending time on fucking internet-petitions while the world is caught up in a destructive process led by corporate greed and sick religions and nationalist feuds alike, not to mention the bigotry of the human follower. Please! Wake up to reality: activist strategies which may have worked 5 years ago are now playing in the hands of police that are sharpening their response and using us as training material as they go. Don’t smile to the camera, smash it up! Be cautious in front of big brother, but join the struggle while you still can. Curfews in more and more cities, anti-conspiracy laws and more up-to-date riot cops are making 1984 look like a sweet dream, third world-refugees are deported in Kristallnacht-style . Can we watch ourselves in the mirror and say “wir haben das nicht gewusst” with the few but loud voices of resistance urging us to join the call? Will it end when we vote different? Haha… The voices are still calling out loud. Or they whisper in the dark just before the bomb bursts out on yet another toasted multinational getting theirs for years of slavery. So yes, we did have a laugh when steelworkers took their management hostage in south Belgium, when the Nigerian natives attacked shell’s pipelines and company men ruining their land and stealing their resources on the back of child labour, when banks and company depots got trashed overnight by people deprived of any other voice (a bleak payback for the worldwide misery caused by shameless investments in arms trade, deforestation and worker’s exploitation), when fascist bookstores got bombed in France, when cops were crying over death threats little different from how they’ve been treating people over the years. We’ve had a laugh alright, but now is the time not to stick to the comfort of our squatted sofas and the complacency of being part of an alternative/counterculture. Support the people who got caught for speaking out, realise you could be next and start making plans.
See you on the barricades!
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