Propagandhi Interview

by Garreth on April 25th, 2009

Fresh off the release of its fifth full-length Supporting Caste, Canadian outfit Propagandhi continues to impress punk fans everywhere. Guitarist David Guillas recently answered some questions for us regarding artwork, growing up in Manitoba, and of course, politics.

Hey Propagandhi, how’re you doing?

We are doing well! Thanks for asking!

Which one of you is answering the questions?

This is Beaver (David “Space Beaver” Guillas – guitar)

You’ve got a new album out, Supporting Caste, released March 10th. You’ve got some pretty great reviews from it from a whole bunch of punk sites – are you pleased with the way it came out? Tell us a bit about putting it together and working with Bill Stevenson (drummer and songwriter for Descendents and All).

Yeah, so far the album seems to have been pretty well received. We worked really hard on this one, spending months and countless hours working on the tunes and recording them. As with anything you invest an incredible amount of time and effort in, inevitably you look back and wish you had done some things differently or better. But these are lessons we can apply to the next record; it’s all a process of progressing and (hopefully) getting better as players and songwriters. And working with Bill was definitely a great experience. Bill and his recording partner Jason Livermore run a very tight ship and–except for Bill’s legendary face-melting farts–are true professionals, which at times was a bit intimidating, for me at least. But they are really nice guys and hopefully they didn’t get too frustrated with us.

I’m curious about how you compose songs that have such rapid and constant changes of time signature – are they this way because the music is following the lyrics, or did you shape the lyrics to fit the changes?

We don’t really have a set process for writing songs. When I sit down to write some riffs or try to put a song together, I’m not really thinking about time signature or anything, just what I think sounds cool. And I think when you put the diverse ideas that the four of us bring to the table together, you end up with something that is kinda strange, but hopefully good!

The album has some great artwork. Who are the paintings by?

The front cover is a piece called “The Triumph of Mischief” by Kent Monkman, an artist here in Canada. He has some very thought-provoking and mind-blowing works, so I would definitely check some more of his stuff out. That drawing of us eating a human corpse was done by Todd (Kowalski – bassist and singer). That turned out pretty amazing. I always laugh when I see a kid wearing that shirt. (Readers, if you click on the image above you can see “The Triumph Of Mischief” in all its glory.)

The cover art is fantastic  - why did you choose it and what do you think it means?

Well, first of all it’s just a cool fucking painting. But it has a lot of depth and each time I look at it, I notice something different and get something new out of it. I think, very basically, it’s a commentary on colonialism and its legacy, past and present. And aesthetically, it feels almost like a backdrop for a fucked up play which is one of the reasons we thought it worked with the title of the record, Supporting Caste. For an actually intelligent explanation of the painting, I’d say check out what Monkman himself has had to say about it.

The CD itself has got a rather jolly scene of cannibalism painted on it, illustrating the song ‘Human(e) Meat’, a sardonic look at the current fad for “happy” food. Would you mind explaining to us why you are vegans?

The simple answer is that we live in a very insane world built on a very unnatural edifice of cruelty that we should all be ashamed of. In my view, living a vegan lifestyle is an effort to reclaim our humanity by extending compassion and empathy to our kin on this planet. It is probably the best decision I have ever made.

How did you find growing up in Manitoba? Did it have an influence on your politics?

I think any place you grow up in is going to have an influence on the person you grow up to be. But as for my politics, I’m not sure how much living in Manitoba has affected that. I grew up in a very small town where typical “men” were racist assholes who hunted animals. I remember being a kid and thinking that my Dad was a nerd because he wasn’t big and fat and super racist and a hunter. All the other men around me were these things, and this was what I aspired to be for a long time. It wasn’t until I moved to Winnipeg and my good buddy Robbie introduced me to some punk bands with some new ideas that the course of my life began to profoundly change for the better. So I think music has probably had more of an effect on my politics than anything else.

So how do you feel about Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper?

Lizard-faced, shit-tongued piece of creationist shit.

Nice. What about Elizabeth II?

Decrepit and barely living embodiment of an insanely anachronistic institution.

Haha! How hopeful/cynical are you about Barack Obama?

Sadly, I’m not hopeful at all. Obama definitely seems like way less of a lunatic than the idiots that preceded him, but that doesn’t change the fact that he has become the figurehead of a system that is completely fused with and dictated by the interests of corporations. I fear that changing the person in charge every four or eight years will never bring about the drastic change this world desperately needs.

‘Last Will And Testament’ is a great argument for activism. Do you see much evidence that young people are getting involved in it any more?

I’m not sure. It’s hard to think so when anywhere you go you see kids plugged in to their iPods or texting on their cell phones, completely disengaged from the real world around them. Or when you witness the rampant consumerism that seems to possess the mind of every dick you see.

Tell us a bit about your influences: who are your 5 favourite punk bands?

Right now: NoMeansNo, Fugazi, Bad Brains, Television, Gang of Four. To be honest, though, the vast majority of my influences are not punk bands.

So what do you listen to when you’re not listening to punk?

Except for NoMeansNo and a few others I barely listen to “punk” music. Bands and musicians I love right now include Rush, Voivod, King Crimson, Opeth, Derek Trucks, Cynic, Brian Eno, AC/DC, Al di Meola, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Alan Parsons Project, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, Joe Zawinal, etc.

Would you be so good as to recommend us a book, a film, and an album you think we should pay attention to.

I read a book about a year ago called The World Without Us that was pretty compelling. It was written by Alan Weisman and is a thought experiment which postulates a future in which every single human suddenly disappears from this planet and all of our infrastructures and widgets are left to the mercies to the natural forces of this planet. It is a powerful reminder of the amazing resilience of life and the havoc we humans are capable of wreaking against it. As for a film I’d recommend, check out Predator. Seriously–good fucking movie. And an album I think everyone who claims to like “punk” should watch out for is the new one that will be released by NoMeansNo in the next year or two. These geezers create music that is way, WAY more interesting and powerful than anything all these young bands calling themselves “punk” today put forth.

When and where are you touring next?

We are in the middle of a European tour as I write this. We just played 5 shows in Britain and will be playing Colgne, Munich, Solthurn, Bolgna, Rome, Venice and Prague in the coming week or so. After this we will be heading to the south-western United States to do some shows, then in June we will be touring the mid-western US and south-eastern Canada. I believe we will be back in Europe in July, but I’m not sure where exactly at this moment.

Finally, anything you’d like to get off your chest?

Yes…this copious and disgusting hair.