Defluge – Gaza Stripped EP
D-beat project Defluge have a clear message that we all need to accept a level of complicity in what has happened and is happening to Palestinians if we aren't taking action against it.
Defluge play D-beat in a style not too dissimilar from Swedish greats Meanwhile. I reached D-beat saturation point a few years ago after overdoing it a little, but this release has the right ingredients to pull me back in. Fair enough, I do know the members, which helps, but they really go for that early Discharge style, while too many D-beat bands these days lean into a more metal approach.
Defluge stick to straight-ahead, fast Discharge-style riffs with cheeky guitar breaks. The title track is the only one that slows things down into a more crusty style. The vocals fight their way through the wall of guitar, raw but still clear enough to make out the words, with shades of Oi Polloi in places. So, yes, this is D-beat as anarcho-crust.
You will also notice similarities to Collision Course, whose members are also involved in this project. If you’ve not checked them out, they are well worth a listen, like a time warp from the era of Riot City and Clay Records, but singing about environmental issues.
What makes this lathe-cut 7-inch, now available digitally, particularly interesting and important is that while all the songs relate to the genocidal attacks on Gaza, they approach the issue from several different angles. I’ve put them into three distinct groups, though not in the order they appear on the record.
“Despicable Hatred” and “Lies and Death” focus on the genocidal actions of the Israeli Occupation Forces, while “Indefensible Death Forces” gives the true meaning to the initials IDF. “Hind Rajab” tells the story of a five-year-old child murdered by the IDF, whose death was minimized by the media. So half the songs remind us of what is going on, although very few people will have missed the first live-streamed genocide in history.
“One Day They Will Come for You” looks at how a nation founded in the aftermath of attempted genocide has gone on to perpetrate similar crimes against humanity. It stands as a warning of what happens when the formerly oppressed become the oppressor.
The remaining songs look at the connections with the outside world. Who is enabling these war crimes? Who is backing them? Who is making money from them? And what are we doing about it?
“Rise and Resist” speaks to our complicity in the ongoing famine if we do nothing to oppose it. “Gaza Stripped” points the finger of blame and responsibility at shareholders in arms dealers profiting from the destruction of Gaza, companies with factories in the UK that Palestine Action has targeted through direct action. “Traitor for a Wage” looks at the behaviour of the UK legislature and police in their treatment of Palestine Action supporters. Hundreds of mostly elderly, respectable people have been arrested for holding paper signs, all to satisfy the needs of Israel, a foreign power, and help it escape scrutiny and criticism for its war crimes. This is despite the terrorism designation being ruled unlawful.
These three songs in particular resonate even more in light of the young activists convicted for criminal damage but sentenced on June 12 under terrorism laws, even though they were not tried or convicted under them. Their crime? Destroying weapons in a UK factory destined to be used in further war crimes in Gaza.
The lathe cuts are all gone, but Gaza Stripped is available digitally from the Bloodless Bandcamp. If you love D-beat with a topical political angle rather than a trite “war is bad, kids” message, then get this.
