The Bacillus - Music Meets PoliticsWe are very pleased to be performing for Designer Magazine at The Roadhouse on Feb 16th, alongside Gold Jacks, Wasted Daze, The Rocket and Sedaris Arcadia. We always enjoy discovering and working with other unsigned bands, so we’re writing this piece to introduce ourselves.
We are The Bacillus. We’ve been on the Manchester live circuit since 2009, and our current incarnation is our second. Our original quartet recorded and released the album “I Can’t Adapt To This Prison You Call Society” in 2011, to a great reaction from our fans and local scene supporters; we’ve received regular airplay on Salford City Radio and even on US radio, including a whole show dedicated to our music on Indie station Wool.fm in Vermont last September. Our original members went their separate ways following the album’s release, and are now all involved in different music projects, but have remained close. Our current line-up consists of Aidan (vocals, rhythm guitar), Graham (bass, backing vocals) and Jeremy (drums). Since uniting in late 2011 to form the second phase of The Bacillus, we have been working on new material while performing live throughout Manchester, and have also had gigs in Liverpool and London.
Our music comes from a wide variety of influences- Punk, Post-Punk, 60s Psychedelia, 80s New Wave, Classic Rock, Rockabilly, Folk… We’ve never attempted to fit into one particular genre, we just play what comes naturally to us, and love nothing more than to jam and improvise, so that no two gigs are ever the same.
We sing mainly about the political and social state of the world today. The corrupt nature of world politics, societal superficiality and the need for revolution feature heavily in our lyrics. In an age of cultural repression and the media’s tyrannical control of the population, true artists are hard to come by in the mainstream music scene. Especially when even so-called ‘Alternative’ acts have become manufactured and complacent, while Simon Cowell’s X-Factor dictatorship throws one after another formulaic wannabe our way to the point where it becomes plain nauseating. Where are the real artists? Where are the true unique individuals that used to make up the music scene? They’re still around, as much as ever. They’ve just been pushed underground by the political and media forces that have no desire to see real free-thinking individuals threaten their façade and expose the corruption of the system.
We do our bit to expose this corruption and incite others to do the same. As the ConDems tighten their grip on the nation, destroying the quality of life for every individual who doesn’t fit their idea of the perfect, über-rich toff, ruthlessly stealing money from us all to be ploughed into their shallow empire of big businesses and media corporations, there could be no more drastic time in recent history for a total revolution. With recent political scandals such as the News of the World’s ‘surveillance’ operation, and the Savilegate revelations that will hopefully see the downfall of the whole political system and the monarchy, everyone should be encouraged to speak up and rise against the system. There is no time for subservience to corrupt political powers- it’s time for artists and musicians everywhere to rise up and speak the TRUTH.
Our first album was titled “I Can’t Adapt To This Prison You Call Society”. Its title track was written as a rallying cry to all who feel pressured into subservience and rigid conformity. (“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society”- J. Krishnamurti) The newer songs in our set, most of which will be featuring on our second album, to be recorded early this year, deal with subject matters such as the surveillance culture being imposed on us by the media (“Surveillance”), victimization of individuals perceived as a threat to the state (“John Doe”), historical distortion of the truth by mainstream media (“Arandora Star”), religious extremism (“Late Sky”) and the ultimate need for resistance and rebellion in the face of it all (“The Protest Song”). The intended title for our new album is “Conspiracy Theories”- for now that we live in an age of paranoia, where conspiracy theories formerly ridiculed are constantly being proved correct, and government depravity seems to know no bounds, what subject matter could be more relevant to these crucial political and social times in world history?
We look forward to playing for you and meeting the rest of the bands on the bill. Viva the Unsigned Revolution!
Listen to The Bacillus here http://www.facebook.com/thebacillus
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