Let's Make Some New Mistakes--Celibate Rifles' The Turgid Miasma of Existence!

The Turgid Miasma of Existence is probably my favorite album title ever. The fact that it was made by one of the best Australian band ever, Sydney's Celibate Rifles is even greater reason for jubilation. The Celibate Rifles are one of punk rocks finest ongoing institutions, starting up in the wake of The Saints and Radio Birdman, and continuing to the present. A shining example of why punk rock is great--visceral guitar work, politically charged intelligent lyrics, always passionate in their convictions. Fighting the good fight against hypocrisy and for a greater good.

Thunder From Down Under

But I was listening to this fine album again very recently and some of the lyrics in the liner notes struck me as being quite prescient, in the wake of the shooting tragedy in Tucson. From Sentinel:

I hear the beasts outside my window

They speak the dead man's alphabet

I fear the violence of their speech

Their thoughts that drift just out of reach

Like stars upon a midnight beach

They fail to reach their destination

Another day of cancelled expectations.

Those words really struck a chord with me. While naturally, you cannot definitively prove a causal relationship between hate speech from the conservative right politicians and pundits and the killings in Arizona, it raises the question why people are using violence in their speeches these days. What purpose is served by this? And don't kid yourself. One of the tactics of the conservatives is to try and make this issue universal--the left wing does the same thing, so everyone is guilty. Sure, you can find examples of this, but preponderantly this violent tone is coming from the Right.

I hear people on the TV endlessly lamenting how such a madman could get such a weapon, and how there should be a way to prevent a deranged person from obtaining automatic or semi-automatic weapons. Really the issue is why anyone should be able to obtain an weapon with such a mass killing potential at all! Some people have ventured the opinion that maybe if people had more guns, they could have taken the lunatic out in Tucson before he harmed so many people. Well..., there is a certain logical truth to that. But, the United States has more guns per capita and in sheer numbers more guns than any other country on this planet already, and we have an awful history of gun violence here. So how many guns will we need in order to end violence here? Even though we have more than everywhere else, it is apparently still not enough. When you look at the problem in this way, the logic is sheer lunacy.

I heard someone say that we need guns because of the bad people. Who are these bad people and why does America seemingly have more bad people than other places? I hope when people speak about American exceptionalism, that is not what they are referring to. When you hear an the argument in this manner, you can't help but detect an undercurrent of racism. I hope that in the near future a new version of the Brady Law banning assault weapons will become a Federal Law again. Under the Bush Administration that was allowed to expire. Ironic, because Mr Brady was shot in the head during an attempted assassination of conservative icon and American President, Ronald Reagan. On that note, let me return to the world of music.

On TTMOE, you have the indominatable Damien Lovelock on Lead Vocals. Kent Steedman is on Guitar(!), Mykle Couvret on Bass, Dave Morris also on Guitar, and Phillip Jacquet pounds the Drums. Bill Bonney Regrets opens this album, and the beginning instrumental is one of my favorite punk rock musical moments ever. With their energy and politically astute lyrics they remind me of an Australian version of  Canada's D.O.A. Then again with their name purportedly being the literal opposite of the Sex Pistols in a way makes them the Sex Pistols of the Southern Hemisphere. (You know, like the opposite swirl of the toilet)

"The News is what we want to hear, electric magic diarrhoea...."

This is a very solid album. Kent Steedman shreds giant guitar riffs throughout. Another bona fide classic tune is the awesome Sometimes, which is very much in the vein of Stranded by the legendary Saints. Those two songs I've mentioned make this album essential on their own. But there is also so much more. Eddie is another winning uptempo number as are JNS, Conflict of Instinct, Some Kind of Feeling, and New Mistakes. There are also very good quieter tunes like No Sign, Glasshouse, and the aforementioned Sentinel. The Cd also includes an acoustic version of Eddie and two live cuts, Ice Blue and Thank You America.

So if you are a fan of punk rock there is no way you can be disappointed with The Turgid Miasma of Existence. This is a killer album with a load of great songs. This album seems to be a little tough to get a hold of right now, but there are collections of their early music like Sofa that are readily available. So do yourself a favor and get familiarized with a great Australian band.