![]() ![]() Hinds: Are you asking what it was like being incarcerated by commercialism, or what it was like going back to our roots? Which one is it? Q: You did an interview back in 2000, where you talked about Steel Pulse returning to its roots, and you said, “We lost our souls, but we got them back.” What was it like, going through all that? I also think the vocal delivery on this album has more energy, and the lyrics are more focused. We don’t stack the horns a million times, like we’d normally do, to the point where they started to sound synthetic. Hinds: Well, back when we were doing albums like “Babylon the Bandit,” we leaned toward electronic drums and keyboards. Q: How would you say the music has changed with this album? And then we started playing some live shows to raise money for the album. And I did that for nine or 10 years, sometimes in the U.S., sometimes in the Caribbean, sometimes in Europe. ![]() Hinds: Well, when it comes to the personal aspect, I was going through some domestic issues at the time, and I just got up and left England and started hoboing - for want of a better phrase - around the world. Q: Getting back to the present, 15 years is a pretty long time to go on hiatus. So it was, like, welcome to the South, man. And then, on our next stop in New Orleans, we switched on the TV in the hotel room, and they’re talking about this guy who’d just gotten lynched about 100 yards outside his home in Mobile, Alabama. I remember all the black people were in front, and the white people were watching from behind. And I remember when we got to Birmingham, Alabama, he was sh–ting himself and saying, “Are you sure you want to perform in this town?” The cops jumped onstage, dropped him, and dragged him off.Īnd then on our 1981 tour, we had this merchandise guy who’d follow us all over the United States, selling T-shirts out of the back of his car. We were playing a hotel ballroom in Boston - it was our fifth show of the tour - and a guy jumped onstage and attacked the percussion player who was wearing the costume. Hinds: Well, it didn’t feel that way at the time, until we arrived in the United States. That strikes me as a pretty risky thing to do. Back when you started playing “Ku Klux Klan” live, you’d wear white hoods and robes. Q: So let’s talk about the Klan, who’ve lately been having a resurgence here in the States. And then what softens that blow is the music. It’s like the iron fist in the velvet glove. Whereas I’ll write about the Ku Klux Klan or the National Front. ![]() But the strategy is also different in that we tend to be more direct in what we’re saying, right? If you listen to Bob Marley’s lyrics, he never really mentions specific individuals or collectives. ![]() Would you say you use a similar strategy?ĭavid Hinds: I’d say so. Q: On the new album, you’ve combined really pleasant melodies and arrangements with politicized lyrics like “Built your goddamn country / And reaping no rewards / The land of milk and honey / We’ve even fought your wars.” It reminds me of how Bob Marley would lure you in with songs that were so catchy, you didn’t even notice how militant the lyrics were. Hinds, who also boasts the most impressive dreadlocks in contemporary music, recently spoke with us about onstage violence, commercial confinement, and the circuitous route that’s brought Steel Pulse to where they are today. They are on the bill of the Good Vibes Summer Tour 2022, along with Rebelution and DENM, which makes a stop June 5 at Coffee Butler Amphitheater. Founding vocalist, guitarist and songwriter David Hinds - along with co-founding keyboardist and arranger Selwyn Brown - have delivered a lyrically uncompromising and musically engaging album that can stand alongside the band’s best. It would take more than a decade for Steel Pulse to return to its militant roots on albums like 1997’s “Rage and Fury” and 2004’s “African Holocaust,” after which they unceremoniously dropped out of sight for 15 years.Īgainst all expectations, Steel Pulse has returned with “Mass Manipulation,” a 17-track condemnation of police brutality, human trafficking and other social injustices. Meanwhile, the success of perfectly polished singles like “Steppin’ Out” prompted accusations of selling out. Onstage, they crossed even more boundaries, stirring up controversy as they donned white hoods and robes to perform “Ku Klux Klan” in punk clubs and on BBC Television.īut as time went on, Steel Pulse would create a different kind of controversy.īy the mid-’80s, the band’s resistance to record industry pressures had weakened. Soon they were sharing bills with The Clash, The Specials and other like-minded bands, while expanding their own Bob Marley-influenced sound to incorporate elements of jazz, Latin and punk music. As the sons of working-class West Indian immigrants, the young Birmingham musicians were naturally drawn to the nascent Rock Against Racism movement of the late 1970s. ![]()
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