Here are some thoughts about the lyrics of the songs:
(english is not my native language, so I hope that you will understand what I‘m trying to say.)
There’s no nation but procrastination
Our whole life is influenced by the maxims of the capitalist society. We have to fit in, otherwise we are excluded from it. Every day and every moment of our lives, we are forced to do something – we are forced to function. Throughout our whole personal development, we learn to improve and to optimize our résumé and finally sell our work capacity in competition to each other. At the same time we are confronted with beauty standards (concerning the body as such) that only a few of us can reach and which causes many problems.
People who can‘t fit in this way of life are confronted with a situation of permanent insecurity, they are stuck in low-paid jobs, if they get a job at all. They have shady prospects in life and live in constant fear of ending in poverty. Society paints a picture in which people who are unemployed do not contribute productively in society because they don‘t do their bits of work and are characterized as living off society‘s money.
This pressure to do well – that we internalize throughout socialization – is omnipresent. It is stuck in our minds and contributes to our self-image and influences our thoughts.
I hate this kind of thinking and I know many people who do not want to function in this society and also can‘t do so because of different reasons. They have to struggle with social exclusion and bureaucratic penalties. In my opinion it is important to free oneself from these thoughts and to fight against the pressure to do well if one gets the chance and social security to do so. The more people refuse this way of life and try to live in an alternative way, the more this thinking looses its influence.
I know it’s a privilege to break out of these habits, to get the time to find yourself and search for the best way for your personal life, to get the time to look for your interests and passions and to get the chance to live them up. I‘m very thankful I got this chance because if I didn‘t, HC BAXXTER would not exist.
Zeckenkirmes
Friendship is a very important topic because you can‘t choose your family but you can choose your friends. There is a (big) chance that your family doesn‘t support you and your choices in life, that they are assholes and maybe hurt you (physically or psychologically). But friends are there for you and support you. This record is the result of the support of so many important people that I really like. Without them and their positive feedback I would have never had the courage to realize this project. It would still be a little funny thought, but nothing else. But now I‘m releasing a record and go on tour with this ‚little funny thought‘.
I‘m so happy that these people exist, that they‘re there for me, especially when I‘m down and struggling with this society’s shit. And maybe NOW is the best time to phone your friend(s) and tell them “Hey I just wanted to tell you that I‘m glad that you‘re my friend and that you are there for me. You are very important to me”.
The kids want unicornity
In the Punk and Hardcore scene or the radical left scene people try to create an alternative to the society with all its sexist, racist (etc.) shit. They want to create an emancipatory free space, where there’s no place for discrimination and exclusions and everyone is welcome. Of course, such a place cannot exist because it will also be linked to the society and
everyone of us is socialized by this society and its norms. So there will never be a place that’s totally free of discrimination. Mostly the exclusions and discriminations in the scene happen subliminal, subconscious and often without intention. Because of that it is important to get to know the processes and mechanisms of the exclusions in society, to know where they arise and are reproduced and what consequences they have. It’s important to reflect oneself‘s position and the own privileges and to say sorry if you unintentionally fucked a situation up. That includes the behavior at parties, demonstrations and shows, too. Espacially at Punk- and HC-shows it’s important to watch out for others in the pit, to respect the limits of others and to take care for each other.
Another aspect this song is about is the ‚unity‘ in the Hardcore-scene. I‘m not a big fan of this thought. I mean, it’s important to stand and fight together and declare one‘s solidarity with each other, if you fight against this society’s shit and for a better world. But that doesn‘t mean that you have to accept shitty behavior of people just because you like the same music and are active members of the same scene. If people are assholes, it doesn‘t matter what scene they are in, at first they are assholes. And on the other hand the ‚unity‘ also make us blind for the differences between us. We are not equal in todays society. A black lesbian woman isn‘t as equal as a white heterosexual man, even in the Hardcore-scene. There are mechanisms of exclusion in this society which work in the Hardcore-scene as well.
Refused to B.A.M.
The day we are born (and nowadays even before) we directly get forced into a specific (gender) role which is based on a person‘s sex. This role influences nearly every aspect of the upcoming life. If you were born as a girl* (the * is supposed to show that this category is made up by society) you get confronted with many requests and (gender-)norms. People expect you to do and like stuff that girls* ‚normally‘ do and find interests that correspond with your gender. At the same time people expect you to be heterosexual and monogamous and that you will raise a family and be a good mother*.
In the last decades the picture of what the typical interests, behavior and body-image for a woman* looked like have changed. Nowadays women* can be more independent and have more possibilities than 50 years ago. In the same way it changes for men*, too. But the gender-stereotypes still exist. They may have changed and got a bigger range but they are still forcing people in a certain direction. Most people still believe that the sexual binarity is the only way to see sexes. This thinking is still very powerful and has a big influence on everyone’s life. To break out of this stereotypes is still a challenge that needs a lot of strength and self-confidence. People who do so often get confronted with social exclusion, discrimination and violence. Sometimes they even get killed.
I think that it’s very important to reflect oneself‘s sexual identity, especially if you are raised as a man* because this society is patriarchal and there exists something that is called male-privilege, even if that isn‘t obvious for many people. These privileges don‘t appear to be privileges because they seem to be ‚normal‘. But that normality is only a result of the patriarchal structure of the society.
I myself struggled with my sexual identity for a long time (and I still often do). I didn‘t fit into the roles that society wanted me to fulfill and so I was bullied and discriminated. This had a negative effect on my self-confidence and also on my sexuality which continues until today. Because of that I think that this topic is very important. Thanks to the study of feminist theories and gender studies, I could see the social processes behind all that and it helped me to accept myself and to be proud of my sexual identity.
Ein Hirsch! Ein großer, toter Hirsch!
In 2015, when I wrote the lyrics of this song, the situation in Germany and Europe was not good. On the one hand Germany opened its borders to let refugees in for some weeks, which was positively surprising. But there was a big right-wing movement located in Dresden which is called Pegida. It have done demonstrations every Monday and had a big influence on the refugee discourse in Germany. There also was a new political party founded called AfD which is a right-wing anti-emancipatory party. They weren‘t really successful at that time and there were many internal fights. Besides Refugee-shelters have been attacked and a racist attitude was more and more accepted throughout many parts of this society. Altogether, there was a nationalistic and racist backlash in that days one could also notice by reading the comment sections in the media or on social communities.
Now, while I write these sentences (in June 2016) and just before I‘m going to release this record, another year is gone and it seems that things got worse. The lyrics of this song aren‘t topical anymore and if I could write the song again it would be more angry, and pissed but also more depressed. I‘ve been watching this development for a long time and I‘m scared and worried. I‘m afraid that nowadays many people want a big (anti-democratic) authority to lead society with a ’strong hand‘. I‘m afraid of the constantly growing hatred and ignorance that seemed to be invisible for so long but apparently has always been a part of society. I have no idea how all of this will develop in the future but I fear the worst.
But because of that it’s more important than ever to become active and to fight and resist this whole shit. It’s important to find a strategy along with other people who do not accept this situation and want to change something. It’s important to create an anti-racist and emancipatory alternative to the right-wing solutions to nowadays political issues. It’s important to leave the own comfort-zone to show solidarity with other political movements and fight for a better society.