Sophie's Floorboard: United Nations

United Nations are a rare breed, to say the least. It's very rare for a band to come along with an overt sociopolitical agenda for radical change and challenge within Western social structure and ideology. And speaking modestly, these bands tend to be quite good. See: Nation Of Ulysses, Refused, etc. These bands revolutionized punk rock with their revolutionary ideas and rallies and against the collective "turnover" towards social awareness. Now, is going against "the man" not prototypical punk nature? A 2-minute protest song is, sure. But what if the band's entire existence was a protest itself? That is the exact case in United Nations. Not only do they put forth their own political form in the music itself, but their entire being. And that is why they are in the same league as the aforementioned groups. United Nations seek to make statements, and every aspect of them does so. Their lyrics are the most obvious medium in which to do so, using satire as a common tactic. Their artwork has also proven to be controvesial, parodying many well-known album covers. Their debut features the famous Abbey Road cover with the members of the Beatles on fire. This forced many stores to refuse to carry it, and proves how United Nations are willing to put themselves out there and in the way of danger. Even more recently, they were sued by the actual United Nations over the name, but they fought off the copyright law by not copyrighting any of their material, therefore never using the name as an infringement. This is a bold statement and very uncommon in a world where all music is the possession of someone, and copyright law is a fetish to label owners. This band is the kind that pushes history forward by pushing the boundaries of the present.

The group's focal member is Geoff Rickly, from Thursday. He is the only official member of the band, because the other performers are involved in this group well under contracts other recording contracts. For this reason, they have to remain anonymous, though many of them are known to be a part of this project. Some of these members are Daryl Palumbo (Glassjaw), Ben Koller (Converge), Lukas Previn (Acid Tiger), Jonah Bayer (The Lovekill), Christopher Conger (The Number Twelve Looks Like You), as well as David Haik and Zac Sewell (Pianos Become The Teeth). There are also a number of releases from the band that were slated to come out, but have yet to do so. Below are what the band has released thus far. In terms of playing style, they weld together screamo, post-hardcore, and powerviolence. Enjoy.