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GRASSROOTS
Well, do ya, punk? (Vote, that is.)
BY MIKE MILIARD

As a bassist in the ’80s with definitive DC hardcore band Minor Threat, and now as a guitarist with LA pop-punk politicos Bad Religion, Brian Baker has done time in two iconic groups that play two very different strains of punk rock. But although he’s familiar with the disparate factions of a genre that’s often riven by differences of geography, ideology, and commercial success, Baker — to crib a phrase from our prevaricator-in-chief — is a uniter, not a divider. So he’s signed on with Punkvoter, a new coalition of artists, labels, and fans, founded by NOFX frontman Fat Mike. The organization looks to educate punk’s sometimes-fractious fan base about the importance of voting, with the goal of registering 500,000 of them. In mobilizing that sizable 18-to-24-year-old voting bloc, Punkvoter hopes to help kick Dubya — the man NOFX razz in their soon-to-be-classic song "Idiot Son of an Asshole" — to the curb once and for all.

After three-straight years of Bushie perfidy, it’s time punk fans stop worrying about who within their ranks is straight-edge or hardcore or a sellout, and stand together against a common enemy, says Baker. "These are serious times. There’s an urgency that transcends the politics of ‘how punk thou art.’"

The musicians who make up Punkvoter are a diverse bunch. Members include ’60s "White Panther" activist and MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer; ex–Dead Kennedy, onetime San Francisco mayoral candidate, and political firebrand Jello Biafra; and current MTV poster boys Blink-182 and Sum 41 (Boston bands like Dropkick Murphys, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Avoid One Thing have also signed on). But they’re united in the effort to remind apathetic fans of punk’s progressive principles, and of the potential power the fans wield. And the organization’s not above a good ol’ fashioned punk-rock guilt trip to get the point across.

"In the 2000 election, Bush ‘won’ Florida by only 537 votes," the group’s Web site (www.punkvoter.com) reads. "Additionally, only 38% of young people voted.... This is not only sad; it is pathetic.... Think about it, the crowd at a large punk show could have changed the outcome of the presidential election. Well kids, right-wing groups like the Christian Fundamentalists and NRA throw their weight around, isn’t it time we started doing the same?"

Punkvoter knows which tales of the Bush administration’s depredations will hit home with its audience. The group points out that "kids under our country’s legal drinking age are fighting overseas and dying" and that states are passing their budget deficits on to future generations: "That means you."

Baker, of course, is no longer a young punk. But he thinks like one. While rattling off everything from the Patriot Act to Bush’s disastrous foreign policy as reasons he’s "scared to death of this current administration," he singles out the stealthily adopted "RAVE" Act — which makes it easier for the feds to prosecute the organizers of nearly any public gathering (a concert, say) for the drug offenses of attendees — as just one Bush-administration initiative that’s "incredibly disconcerting. I grew up playing in moose lodges and venues like that, where kids had pooled together lunch money [to rent them out]. I’d be less inclined to organize a show now, knowing I could wind up in federal prison."

These days "punk is definitely a mainstream form of music, and when you get to the mainstream, it’s more and more difficult to be political," Baker says. Punkvoter aims to reclaim and reassert some of the righteous anger that’s fueled many of the genre’s best performers — from the Sex Pistols to Crass to Baker’s old band, Minor Threat.

Punk is not just a music, but a lifestyle, he says — one that, historically, has spoken to the disenfranchised. Moreover, its ability to "elicit a visceral response" in fans makes it an ideal vehicle to "encourage people who don’t believe their vote matters" to speak truth to power in the ballot box.

"Let’s just say that if music has as much to do with molding the minds of young people as the radical right would have us believe, I’d rather use it for the forces of good than evil — to paraphrase our president."

For more information, check out www.punkvoter.com


Issue Date: November 14 - 20, 2003
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