Student Activist Diary

“I wake up in the morning, take big pharma lozenges,

Swallowing the juice of Israeli blood oranges.

Then I sit down and read the newspaper,

It tells me the enemy and lets me know the saviour.

This week’s flavour, aylum seekers.

As I lace up my blood stained sneakers,

I turn on the television, what have I got?

The war rages on and it’s only 8 o’clock.”

-          The King Blues – Set the world on fire.

The King Blues are a 6 piece Punk band hailing from London. Influenced by punk rock and hardcore punk, they also incorporate violins, acoustics and an array of other instruments (including the almighty ukulele!!!!) to create a more folk and ska vibe. This fusion of styles helps to create a less aggressive, more easy listening style, whilst still containing strong and educated political messages. Lead singer Jonny ‘Itch’ Fox describes the music as ‘a mixture of reggae, hip hop, folk, doo wop and punk rock’.

The band are well known on the activism scene, maintaining a strong presence at protests all over the country, from the G20 protests to student fees demonstrations. They are often seen turning out at these events to perform acoustically, spreading their message through music. They hold strong anarchist beliefs in that everyone should be equal and that the governmental system does not work. This is a band that is working to better the country, and inspire a youth into questioning what they are told, and holding politicians accountable.

The band’s third studio album ‘Punk and Poetry’ was released earlier this year, and was received extremely well, reaching 31 in the Albums chart. It offers a strong reflection on social issues, as well as the politics. Frontman Itch described the third track ‘Set the world on fire’ as “not accepting that the convenience of modern life is necessarily a good thing, or honest way to live, but questioning it, and questioning how we’ve got to a point where in some places in the world, they’re making these things for us, and here we just use them and spending them freely”. They also take recent issues into account, with the punchy aggressive track ‘We are F******g Angry’ being inspired by the student protests of 2010/2011.

The King Blues are currently touring the UK, visiting many venues and festivals along the way. Their full tour date list can be found here: http://www.kingblues.com/shows. I will be attending the Swansea gig in Sin City, now moved to the 16^th of September, and a review will follow shortly afterwards.

And here is their latest single for you:

The King Blues – Set The World On Fire