The Occupy Oakland encampment has struck a chord with the local punk community.
John Eppard, better known as “John The Baker” because he once owned a bakery in New York, is an active member of both the Occupy movement and punk community. His band, Fucktard, recently released a free demo, featuring pro Occupy songs, in support of the movement. But, this is not the first time John has fought against what he sees as injustices.
While living in Woodstock, NY he was arrested for the lyrical content of songs he was playing in a park. After proving the case against him unconstitutional, and unearthing sexual misconduct with minors that lead to several Woodstock police being fired, he settled out of court for $20,000 and moved to the Bay Area in 1997.
John feels like the Occupy movement is totally allied with his music’s message and that the Occupy movement is like the “seeds of Dead Kennedy’s blossoming, reaching towards the sun.” He says that the Occupy movement has “enhanced” the punk community, and his band has skipped band practice several times because he believes “the magic of the movement is what I want to get in our music.” He explained “For me the best part of punk is the political message of revolution and anarchy. And these are the places that occupy and punk are related.”
John’s political activism didn’t start with the Occupy movement. When the first gulf war started he quit driving cars and rode a bicycle across the country to protest “wars for oil”. He has been using a bicycle and skateboard as his primary source of transportation ever since. Some might doubt the effectiveness of his protests, but John says “One punk standing up against injustice can change the world.” John is just one of many punks who are now heavily involved with occupy.
The occupy movement has gained traction amongst several different sub-genres of punk. NOFX, from San Francisco, play a style of punk a little more pleasing to the ears, and have sold over 6 million albums. They recently released a new song titled “Wouldn’t It Be Nice If Every Movement Had A Theme Song” which they played at Occupy LA and Occupy SF. In the song, the singer admits to being part of the one percent, but explains that he’s “here to drink a beer at Occupy.”
Scootch, as he chooses to call himself, is 20 and lives in Oakland. His local punk band, Side Effects, played an outdoors concert at Frank Ogawa Plaza on Sunday Dec. 4, to benefit the Occupy movement. He supports the occupation, even though he feels different than the average protestors.
“I think the occupation is a good thing because it gets a lot more normal people politically involved, not just punk rockers or other political activists. And although there will always be a separation between punks and normal people, meaning the 99 percent just as much as the 1 percent, I feel like the occupation supports a lot of punk ideas.”
Scootch said that even though punks march with the 99 percent, there is still a feeling of orchestration. “Even though punks are part of the 99 percent, we are also still kind of separate. I feel like a lot of the occupiers aren’t as down with the punk people as much as the punk people are down with the occupiers. And I think that is because a lot of times punks have a more nihilist and violent view on things compared to most of the occupants.”
Aaron Cundy, 18, who lives part time in a music studio in Oakland, and plays in Easy Livin’, agrees that although some aspects of occupy and punk are similar, punk is more nihilistic than occupy. He says the punks at occupy Oakland represent a fringe group from the punk community, and that they may negatively effect the occupy movement.
“I feel like the punk community has a lot to offer the occupy movement, but a lot of the punks who actually do get involved represent a fringe group from the punk community that don’t really care about helping anyone. That’s not the way most punks are, but the group that does show up from the punk community makes us all look bad.”
Conor Crockford, 20, is a student at USF, and member of the local punk band Deadset. In his spare time spins punk records on the radio station KUSF-In-Exile. The station used to broadcast on 90.3 FM, but was sold by the school to a media conglomerate, and now only broadcast via the internet. Crockford feels that both Occupy and punk are about fighting the oppressive forces around you. Punk, he says, has always been about fighting capitalism and finding yourself. He points to a classic punk band, The Clash, and the lyrics of their song “White Riot”.
“White Riot is based on the Jamaican riots in England. The Jamaican immigrants were angry about the lack of wealth distribution in their country and they had a major riot, and Strummer and Simmons (members of The Clash) were there. ‘White Riot’ is incredibly similar to how people are feeling right now. In the verse they sing “all the power’s in the hands of people rich enough to buy it, while we walk the streets, too chicken to even try it” and then in the bridge Strummer screams this incredible line “Are you taking over, or are you taking orders? Are you going backwards, or are you going forwards?””