Meanwhile – A Conflict of Memory EP
The Swedish masters of worshipping at the altar of Discharge are back after an 18-year absence, and they're still as raging as ever.
Okay, here’s another new release that I could use as a perfect opportunity for a little d-beat history lesson. Back in 1989, a bunch of English lads from West Yorkshire formed a band called Disaster with the idea of sounding just like the classic Discharge records, which resulted in their now legendary 1990 demo and 1991 War Cry LP. In Sweden, the Discharge worship was also a thing, and in 1990 Stockholm’s Discard, who shared members with Mob 47 and Protes Bengt, put out their flawless Death From Above EP.
About 100 km from Stockholm, in the town of Eskilstuna, Dischange formed in 1989 in very much the same direction as Disaster: to play the kind of d-beat that sounds just like Discharge. The band featured members of No Security, who were playing the Swedish so-called kängpunk variation of d-beat in the vein of early Totalitär and Disarm, but Dischange were going to be a full-on Discharge clone.
After the split EP with Excrement of War in 1991, Dischange recruited Jocke Hammar as singer, one of the best Swedish d-beat vocalists, with the proper Cal-inspired shouts. The band only got better in their Discharge worship, but somewhere around 1995 changed their name from Dischange to Meanwhile, after a Discharge song. Why? Why? Why?
Probably because they got bored of so many dis-random-word bands out there, but as early adopters, I think they had one of the best names, since they just changed a single letter. 30 years later, the names of bands called after Discharge songs have also run dry, so I think some of the best ones are bands like No Fucker from the US, who called themselves after the handwritten line “thanks to no fucker” from the liner notes of the iconic Realities of War EP.
Anyway, Meanwhile’s latest recording output was the 2008 album Reality or Nothing, which was a brilliant Discharge rip-off, as is their entire discography, and it was a huge surprise to see a new Meanwhile 7-inch released in 2026.
A Conflict of Memory contains four songs with a classic Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing sound, but with excellent DIY production and Jocke’s vocals sounding as perfect as ever. And while Jeff Janiak is a great frontman, I guess if you had a show with current Discharge sharing the stage with Meanwhile, the Swedish band might sound closer to original 1980s Discharge.
What’s most important about Meanwhile is that their sound stays away from any crust influences. Instead, they play the kind of orthodox d-beat that focuses on classic UK82 Clay Records riffs and wailing solos. As you might guess from the title, lyrics and artwork, these are songs about the world’s refusal to learn from past history. More specifically, about the drunk with power psychopaths, making the same myopic decisions, profiting on everyone’s toil. When Discharge released their classic records in the early 1980s Britain, it was a time of a global shift towards social conservatism, nationalism, and arms race, aligned with the scare of social movements and all out attack on the left. Sounds familiar?
Another big surprise, besides Meanwhile releasing a record after an absence of 18 years, is that the EP was released by a single label only, Kick Rock in France; Luc A., the drummer for pretty much all the d-beat bands in Bordeaux, handled the artwork. As far as I know, there are no Swedish, US or British labels involved in this release. So it’s no wonder if that EP went under your radar. If you like the OG Discharge sound, you shouldn’t sleep on this one. These four songs are proper Discharge homage from start to finish, and it’s brilliant stuff.
