After releasing their debut EP in 2017 and IDIOTEQ-featured split EP with Genital Jiggling in 2018, Lille based high-octane hardcore punks JODIE FASTER are back with their debut full-length record called “Blame Yourself”! Today, we honor the band and give this fast and frantic, clean-guitared, bitter and cheeky delivery a proper nod with the full album presentation, including first hand commentary and track by track breakdown below! Check it out and find more insights from JODIE FASTER about their local scene, plans for 2020, and recommended bands – our extra feature extends below bottom of the track by track commentary.
The band commented:
We’ve been tracking it down between august 2018 and june 2019, which was a long process for such short songs ! We’ve been touring a lot in the meantime, and some of the songs had no lyrics when we first started the recording sessions, so that’s probably why it took so long.
Asked about their organic sound, the band replied:
We tried to keep the stage feeling through bass and drums live recording and the choices production-wise. We worked with R3myboy to have the instruments as natural and dynamic as possible.
Content wise:
The title is taken from one of the songs, which question the guilt that capitalism makes the people endure. Art cover was made by the talented Tom DBC (Death By Coffee) to illustrate this idea.
Recorded by Nicolas Tarridec at BBK Studio Lomme, mixed and mastered by R3mboy, and spiced up by amazing cover atwork by Tom Bornarel of Death By Coffee, the record comes out via Belgium’s LONER CULT records, Swiss label INHUMANO, TNSrecords (UK), ROUGE ET NOIR (Germany), Hungary’s DRINKIN’BEERS IN BANDANA Records, ACOUPHENES Records (Lille, France), DON’T TRUST THE HYPE Records (Lille, France), CRAPOULET Records (Marseille, France), EMERGENCE Records (Rouen, France), DIRTY GUYS ROCK (Tours, France), and KLVR records (Dunkerque, France). Tape version will be released by DIRTY SLAP Records (France) & DEAF PUNX Records (France).
Still Not Loving The Police
For decades, french police have harassed and killed pauperized people with impunity, and no media coverage. Under Macron’s presidency, there have been social movements, strikes and street resistance for 3 years now, and the police is now using their violent tactics and weapons on the rest of the population aswell. Since the Yellow Jackets strikes in 2018/2019, more than 30 people have lost an eye or a hand, and 3 persons died in protest context. This escalation of violence is the government’s new doctrina : scaring people off the streets to make the opposition invisible. But the rage is boiling, and people aren’t scared enough not to demand justice.
J.D.S.
A love letter to all our talented friends that life bruises. Depression hits hard and long, and it’s always a shame to watch a friend losing oneself in dark thoughts and/or substances to cope with it. Keep doing good out there, you’re loved and important.
Punk Police
This song is a kind of “punchline” for all what i call “punk police” or “underground elite”, All these people in the punk scene, who thinks they are the only ones who hold “the keys to the solution”, the only ones who can legitimize their underground side. We will never be diy or underground enough for them, for no particular reason. I just think that they have an ego problem, which pushes them to act very stupidly.
The last riff of this song, the “moshpart” was on the other hand a great opportunity to quickly clash the “dance floor karate kid”, who often forget that they are not alone and that the pit does not belong to them, I think that you all clearly see what I’m talking about. Pogo over Mosh.
Mad Marx Stadt
The city of Chemnitz, East Germany, has been in August 2018 the theater of a huge fascists rise because of the death of one guy in the middle of the night, a murder perpetrated by two refugees, according to the justice. The AFD organized a white walk for the victim, spreading around all their shitty immigration politics and making the AFA answering in the streets but without enough members at the time of the demonstration. One week later was organized the Wir Sind Mehr fest in order to fight this ideology, with pretty famous antifa bands playing for free in front of almost 65000 people from all over Germany. But where were they one week before ? Chemnitz was originally called the Karl Marx Stadt as a part of the DDR and is now a kind of symbol for a relax fascism and so a city that dies….. Ja. Karl Marx is dead twice.
Push The Button
A nihilistic view of solving the world’s problems, and achieving real equality through global nuclear warfare. Because when everybody’s dead, nobody’s rich anymore. This song came out of the blue in a moment of despair, frustration and sarcasm.
Did Not Vote
The french electoral circus, during the last presidential elections, resulted in a president elected not because the people voted for him, but only because the people voted against the far right candidate. Let’s not forget that less than a fifth of the French voted for Macron. It is in no way representative of what the people want. News, in the other hand, are sadly representative : our government is breaking one by one our social gains, only holds up thanks to state violence, terror and a strong, repressive and socially destructive policy.
Gloucester’s Finest
A song about the bass player’s personal rock n roll history, the small city of Gloucester, UK, and some of its nicest representatives. This one goes out to all the DIY promoters around the world.
No Gain Just Pain
This song is dedicated to all the people we met during tours, every person involved in diy scenes. We met so many passionate people, that no matter how tired we are, or how many people came to the gig : we will always play fast and hard for them.
The Chicken & The Gorilla
A song about the dance moves of the singer and the guitarist, who only reveal their skills when the room is on fire.
Your Gods = Outta My Way
I grew up in an atheist family. However, my parents always taught me to respect believers and their beliefs, whatever they may be. But human have killed so much in the name of religions, which only serve the mighty and enslave the weak, that it is hard to stick to that guideline. They should be a symbol of tolerance and solidarity, but instead : priests rape children, fanaticism and religious terrorism still kills every day.
Grab & Go
An ode to the generosity of service stations.
Blame Yourself
Capitalism is holding on the guilt it carries within itself. It’s your fault if you don’t have a good situation, if the climate is changing, if the state is in debt, and you shall not seek for other responsibilities. This one focuses on acknowledging the real enemy : an economical system that wants you to believe it’s the only one reliable, while it crushes all forms of collective organisation for the common good.
Don’t Take It Bad
Relative to Mad Marx Stadt, Don’t Take It Bad notices that the event from Chemnitz can be felt kind of everywhere in Europe those days, since several years, and in a so easy way reminding some troubled past times we don’t want to live again. Many ways are certainly possible to prevent this from happening, and unfortunately fight becomes necessary to protect a way of life as safe and tolerant as possible.
Be Nice Or Go To Hell
Behave well or die. Machismo is omnipresent. The weight of patriarchy is also very heavy in the punk scene, it’s a fact and it has to end now !
Grit Your Teeth (Youth Avoiders cover)
We stole so much from YxA, it was about time we give them proper respect. Here’s our version of the song that started all.
We All Bleed Red
This is a song of strikes and protest, which praises the braveness and solidarity of the people in France at this moment. The violence of our lyrics, of our slogans and sometimes of our actions is nothing compared to state violence. Direct action seems to be the only solution left to deal with our oppressors.
Tempus Fugit
This last one deals with the bittersweet consciousness of time passing by and choices that conceal deeper consequences that you first imagined. Everything is pointless if you have a large enough time scale, and we’re missing out precious moments with our loved ones by chasing illusions.
Continued below…
JODIE FASTER in 2020
We’re celebrating the release of Blame Yourself on a french weekender (Lille and Paris) with the allmighty Vitamin X at the beginning of february. Then we’re going to play a lot of week-end shows in the first half of 2020, mostly in France, Belgium and Germany. There’s a UK minitour coming in september, and probably an euro tour by the beginning of 2021. We’re looking forward to be back on the road and meet a lot of old and new friends, bands, and passionate people all around Europe, and spread some love and some rage.
Lille and French Punk scene
The French scene is at the moment very vivid, with lots of cool punk bands, labels and promoters. The crazy and violent times we’re living seem to have brought back politics in the scene, which we can only be pleased with. There’s a lot of support gigs going on at the moment, in favor of refugees, strikes and anti-repression funds, feminists and LGBTQ+ activists. There’s a lot of touring bands around, including some of the following (mostly french, except for some belgian ones that we consider as cousins : we live closer to Doornik and Brussels than to Paris after all) :
Other bands worth a check
Gummo, Veto, Meurville, Genital Jiggling, Toxic Waste, Løvve, LMDA, Otage, Monde de Merde, Mental Distress, B.polar & the spacefuckers, Chiaroscurro, Boris Viande, Avorte, Chien, Krav Boca, Sick Nerves, SpeedJesus, Pedigree, Grabuge, Geraniüm, Filthcult, SmokeBomb… sorry to the ones we forgot, can’t be exhaustive here.
