PUNITIVE DAMAGE‘s new EP Hate Training is out today on Convulse Records — get it here! Right now, check out the band’s track-by-track below, and make sure to catch them on their upcoming tour dates…
“Hate Training”
Jerkova: This song is about having people earnestly try their damndest to convince me that I am wrong for extending humanity to those suffering. Never trust a single person who tells you not to believe what you see with your eyes, what your hear with your ears, and what you feel in your heart when you watch pain and suffering of people under brutal occupation. Never let someone convince you that there is a moral, righteous, and just reason to bomb babies, starve children, torture men, women, and children, and call for their annihilation.
Alejandro: Surprisingly, our resident rocker Czecho brought the main groovy riff of this track, and we quickly dubbed it “double half mosh” naturally because we always have stupid puni names for songs before Jerkova writes lyrics and titles. I think this song really exemplifies our sound, because it makes you think one thing and then it goes another way, and blends elements of d-beat, groovy hardcore, and straightforward fast punk parts. Also it’s Teejer1 who does the “oooh,” which personally makes me want to break a cinder block on my head and is my favorite part.
“Baptism of Fire”
Jerkova: This song was inspired by a very specific conversation I had in 2021. I used to be friends with a person I went to school with who was seemingly very normal, progressive and compassionate on all matters. Imagine my surprise getting a message that read, “Bombing Gaza with air strikes is how it works over there. I’m not wanting it either, but is it necessary? I guess it depends on how you see it.” This was her response to witnessing months of relentless bombing in Gaza in the summer of 2021. I couldn’t decide what was more repulsive — that I was friends with someone who could mock the death of human beings with just wave of a hand? Or that some random mid-thirties Christian piano teacher living in the Lower Mainland was openly justifying and moralising bombing innocent people? Whichever it was, that encounter is burned in my memory that plays often. Not because of the words, but because it’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone shut out humanity and compassion like they we’re turning off a light switch.
Kermit: For some reason, two random riffs from other songs got stuck in my head while we were writing this track, and I couldn’t help but try and sneak them in. One small part is inspired by 99 Problems by Jay Z and one of the bass licks is inspired by Big Take Over by Bad Brains.
“Humanity Upon Request“
Jerkova: This one’s pretty simple. The right to live, the right to know peace, to be free from oppression and violence, to be human extends to every single human being on this planet — full stop. And this extends to Palestinians. End of discussion. If your answer to that is anything but a full throated “Yes,” then you’re on the wrong side of history. And you need to sit back and reevaluate your head that allows you to consider what makes you believe denying any of the above is a normal thing.
Alejandro: This song includes gang vocals and a tambourine, which was a fun call back to our last record where we jazzed a few tracks up with piano, organ, etc.
“Chains of Hate“
Jerkova: I wish I could find a better way to condense everything I’d want to say to this. But look back on the history of this planet and ask yourself — when have we ever looked back at violent occupation and genocide in the name of land grab and empire and said, “Yeah. Those are the good guys.”?
Kermit: This song includes a sliding bass chord, which is one of my favorite moves.
“Plaster Saints“
Jerkova: This one’s for Germany Anti-deutsch nerds. The ones who harassed and policed every band I know who’ve so much as even hinted at humanizing the Palestinian plight. The ones who insist on silencing and policing the voices of our Palestinian and Middle Eastern friends. The ones who confidently say “ACAB” while simping for a violent foreign military occupation in the name of an ethno-supremacist land grab. There’s no way we’re going to be lectured on the morality of violent oppressive occupation when Terazin was built 15 minutes away from my paternal family home, who were forced into hiding. Punitive Damage isn’t in the business of making concessions to placate genocide apologists who’ve been on the wrong side of history three times in a century. If this is you, don’t ask us to play your venues or fests.
Kermit: This is a song Teejer1 brought to the table. When we brought the song to the group, we weren’t really sure what to do with the structure and we considered pulling a Salvation (the song by Rancid) where we just repeat the song twice exactly the same, but we ended up doing something different which ended up working better.
“Blight of Apathy“
Jerkova: I had a hard time writing for this record. Nothing I wrote felt even remotely adequate to what I’ve been witnessing this last year alone. I’d be lying if I said apathy hadn’t creeped multiple times with this record. I’m not Palestinian. I can’t speak to the Palestinian experience. I have no fucking idea what my friends have had to experience their entire lives every single day. I’m just an idiot with a microphone in a band with a small following. Just a blip in the music scene, and microscopic to the world. Realistically, this record will mean less than nothing in the grand scheme of things. A record does nothing to improve the material conditions of the genocide in Gaza. It does nothing to give my Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, and Iranian friends any semblance of reprieve from today. So why bother?
But even knowing all of this, knowing how little it all means — I still firmly believe that doing something, no matter how little impact it’ll have in this world in this time, is better than doing nothing at all. I have to believe that. If we’ve got a couple tens of thousands of monthly listeners to our stupid music, we’re gonna use it to talk about what’s happening. If it means one kid hears this record and goes to read, advocate, and fight for Palestinian liberation, that has to count for something. If it means pissing off genocide apologists, that has to mean something. If nothing else, even just to make it clear that we reject the hate training we’ve been spoon fed all our lives against our Palestinian and MNEA friends that we unequivocally and unapologetically stand with them, I hope more than anything that means something. Don’t let apathy stop you from trying. Get out there. Advocate for those who need it. Demand your representatives call for a ceasefire. Demand your money not be sent to bomb children overseas. Call out anybody who spews Islamophobia every time. Call out anybody who spews anti-semetic bullshit. Donate to aid organizations, read, talk to people.
Just fucking do something.
Alejandro: This song’s main riff came about because Czecho kept playing Welcome to the Jungle. The outro riff was developed as an AB part (the 2 parts alternate) because I misheard Czecho’s idea for the riff, so we ended up playing it his way, then mine, and so on, which isn’t the first time this has happened to us. I think because we aren’t trying to stick to one specific style of hardcore, we are always open to trying out everyone’s ideas.
Upcoming PUNITIVE DAMAGE Shows:
10/25 Chattanooga, TN @ Dragons Roast
10/27 Gainesville, FL @ THE FEST
10/28 Birmingham, AL @ Firehouse
10/29 New Orleans, LA @ Holy Diver
10/30 Hattiesburg, MS @ TBA
10/31 Dallas, TX @ Cheapsteaks
11/15 Tulsa, OK @ Flyover Fest Pre-show
