An Interview with Chris Hannah of Propagandhi

High expectations tend to lead to disappointment, especially in regards to punk rock music.  Every few years I convince myself that the forthcoming Propagandhi record will never live up to what I expect of it, and just as often I'm proven wrong.  Propagandhi have consistently shown the ability and willingness to move forward in creative and exciting ways, alienating much of their fan base in the process.  Rather than repeat an established formula, Propagandhi recordings have evolved from the intelligent and thoughtful (if slightly irreverent) mid-90's output to a more nuanced songwriting approach.  Fortunately, the band has matured (musically and lyrically) without losing their collective sense of humor, disregarding the ham-fisted tendencies of many of their self-proclaimed "political" punk contemporaries.  The result is a range of subject matter broader than one might expect. While many bands integrate social commentary into their music, few do so as well as Winnipeg’s Propagandhi.

Propagandhi live up to their name, having addressed topics from animal liberation, capitalism, human rights abuses and the plight of refugees since their 1993 debut record, "How to Clean Everything."  Along with "Less Talk, More Rock" (1996), this era was characterized by polemical stances for the band.  Those more familiar with this earlier melodic punk period might be taken aback by the changes which have occurred since 1996, when the band went through a lineup change.  Though only one member was replaced, Propagandhi moved in a marked new direction.  Founding members Chris Hannah (guitarist/vocalist) and Jord Samolesky (drums/vocals) worked with replacement bassist Todd Kowalski to develop a style embracing a more heavy metal sound.  

These band members have voiced their admiration for the pioneers of progressive rock, Voivod and Rush among them, the end result being something the band prefers to call, "progressive thrash."  Two records followed: "Today's Empires...Tomorrow's Ashes" (2001) and "Potemkin City Limits" (2005).  In 2006, David "The Beaver" Guillas joined the band on second guitar, and Propagandhi commenced work on new songs.  "Supporting Caste," the fifth full length Propagandhi record, was recently released for North American distribution by Smallman Records.  Shortly thereafter, I corresponded with Chris Hannah via e-mail to ask some questions about the new record, as well as to get his thoughts on veganism, animal liberation and anarchism.

Is the current U.S. tour any different than the ones that have come before?

Only in the sense that we have a fourth body on stage with us!  Not too much different than that I think, although I must say this will be our first time in Florida where we haven't received any credible death threats from white supremacists!  That's an improvement.

Supporting Caste is similar to some of the band's earlier work in at least one respect, which is the number of songs pertaining to the inhumane treatment of animals and the bonds that humans are very much capable of forming with non-human creatures.  Of course, the first song that many listeners will think of is Human(e) Meat, which satirically attacks the idea of humane slaughter.  Explain to readers not familiar with the song who Sandor Katz is and why you wrote a song about killing, cooking and eating him.

Sandor Katz is someone who writes about food. He has a book called  The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, which is a largely interesting and worthwhile book about food politics.  In it, he has one absurd chapter where he tries to rationalize the confinement, terrorizing, torture, mutilation and killing of a pig to satisfy his "craving" for flesh.  He refers to the end product of the mutilation and killing as "humane meat."  I thought I would try to illustrate the absurdity of the rationale by applying his own logic to rationalize the confinement, terrorizing, torture, mutilation and killing of a different animal...in this case Sandor himself.  Of course, it got the reaction I was anticipating: He was outraged and publicly sniveled about how "violent" we were and characterized himself as a victim and expected everyone else to be outraged along with him.  I think it's revealing that he demands to be free to commit real-life violence upon another living creature but wants to deny us the freedom to employ make-believe, tongue-in-cheek violence (based word for word on his logic no less) to respond to outlook.  The "humane meat" movement is a pathetic, self-absorbed, hippy sham, and Sandor embodies it in his treatment of animals.

Otherwise, his book is worth reading.

Propagandhi are known for supporting both animal rights and anti-capitalist causes.  What links, if any, do you make between animal liberation and anarchism?

I'm not sure really.  Any links I would personally make would only be subjective, as much of what I understand to constitute both of those concepts tends to resonate strongly with me.  But for a more thoughtful exploration of that question, I would recommend a book by Bob Torres called Making a Killing, from AK Press.  Bob is the host of Vegan Freak Radio and has put together an interesting appraisal of the putative connection between the two.

What book(s) do you recommend to those animal rights activists who refuse to see parallels between the commodification of animals and the role of workers in a capitalist economy?  (This is a stacked question; I'm hoping you'll say Making a Killing by Bob Torres!)

Making a Killing, by Bob Torres! haha

Please recount how you and the rest of your band mates were turned on to vegetarianism.

I was sent out on my first hunting trip when I was 6.  As some twisted rite of passage, I was forced to carry the dead creature back to the truck and hold it in my lap for the ride back to our town. I knew something was wrong even then.  The moment is burned into my mind.  Over the following years of other kids trapping and skinning gophers alive, pulling the legs off live frogs, staring at deer hanging from garage rafters bleeding out into a bucket, watching hatchery workers stomp live chicks to death, etc, etc, so on and on and on and on and on, I knew something wasn't right.  It wasn't until I was a teenager and moved into a big city that I even heard of vegetarianism or animal rights.  Almost as soon as I discovered that other humans shared my doubts about how we treated animals and took steps to do something about it, I became vegetarian.  Before that, I had no idea that withdrawing your support from the animal exploitation industry was even an option.

What books/records are you enjoying on the road these days?

I've been reading Land of the Headless, by Adam Roberts, and The Accidental Time Machine, by Joe Haldeman, in the van recently. Land of the Headless is a very interesting dystopian novel about a near-future where citizens who break religious laws are beheaded, but have their consciousness downloaded to a little box on their backs and wander the countryside as untermensch.  Pretty good book.  

Joe Haldeman is usually one of my favorite speculative fiction writers, but this "time machine" book borders on awful.  It's almost like some crappy creative writing student put together an awful imitation of a Robert Sawyer book and then slapped Haldeman's name on it.  It's almost terrible. haha

Thanks for your time. Any final remarks?

Thanks for your time, too, David. We really appreciate it. 

David Feldmann is a START member as well as member of the anarcho-syndicalist labor union Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He lives in the Gravois Park neighborhood with his feline friends and works as a clerk at the University City Public Library.