“The world needs bands like SP’s right now. Pulling no punches with their hard-left politics in the face of a world where Nazis seem to have become acceptable again”
The SP’s Rebellion
From its breakneck opening snare roll, SP’s debut EP Rise/Fall is a lit fuse, a cannon blast from the bow of a battleship fighting the kind of reckless wars of choice its caustic songs decry. Engaging in manic diatribes on nationalism, the ruling class, toxic masculinity, gun violence, propaganda, revolution and the divide-and-conquer politics that make it so elusive, SP’s are a rollicking, eccentric garage-rock outfit with a decidedly snotty Left-wing slant. And with Rise/Fall, they aim their sonic battering ram straight for the Halls of Power.
The band—lead vocalist Steve Albertson, guitarist Steve LaBate, bassist James Holland and drummer Allen Kronenberger—met in the summer of 2016 in the beer line during a party at the Silverlake offices of Los Angeles label Dangerbird Records. Over the ensuing months, they solidified their relationship cranking up and spontaneously writing songs at their rehearsal space, Bedrock, just around the corner in Echo Park. In past projects, the members of SP's have been covered at Paste, Magnet, PunkNews, Creative Loafing, Alternative Press, mxdwn, Bloody Disgusting, Substream, New Noise and more, and have shared bills with everyone from Hospitality and Belle & Sebastian to Richie Ramone, Single Mothers, Pile and the Murder Junkies.
For Rise/Fall—out Feb. 15 on Baby Robot Records—SP’s teamed up with engineer Dylan Ely (The Coathangers, Ministry, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead) at L.A.'s Portia Street Studio. Rise/Fall blends '80s and '90s punk with elements of modern garage and psych rock, but it’s part of a songwriting tradition that goes even further into the past, drawing a line straight back to Woody Guthrie, whose bold anthems for the marginalized and working poor would become the backbone of political punk, from The Clash, Subhumans and Crass to Downtown Boys, Against Me! and Pussy Riot.
In this spirit, SP’s pull no punches. Rise/Fall’s anti-nationalist title track calls out imperial superpowers the U.S., Russia and China. The song was written in response to Trump’s isolationist ‘America-first’ policies and, conversely, the U.S.’s never-ending wars in the Middle East and disregard for human life and suffering wherever there are resources to be exploited for profit. The scathing, feedback-laden “Sons & Guns” pushes back against toxic masculinity, asking why we continue to glorify the base, lizard-brain mentality that leads to war, violence, abuse and misogyny. Replacements-channeling riff rocker “Shift Status” is a Marxist rallying cry for people to come together, support each other, and fight back against corrupt leaders who consolidate power by building walls and creating division, pitting white against black, straight against gay, middle class against poor.
Leading up to the release of Rise/Fall, SP’s are also partnering with French directors The Bazz Bros—aka Nick and Yann Bazz (Prince, U2)—and their production company, So Many Worlds, to create a music video for the EP’s title track in which the band is cast adrift on a tumultuous CGI ocean. It’s an apt metaphor for life on the road in these United States of America, 2018, and SP’s plan to embark as soon as their debut drops. You can catch them up and down the West Coast this February and March.
“Political punk-rock never really goes out of style. SP’s show ample piss and vinegar on “Rise/Fall,” taking on the class divide, toxic masculinity, gun violence, propaganda and various political imbroglios with the fervor of those who refuse to believe that such diatribes constitute screaming into the abyss.”
“Short, sweet, and to the point. Rise/Fall is a swift kick to the bum for anyone afraid to make a change. If you hear the lyrics as I do, you’d ask yourselves: How long am I looking to be treated and viewed as the gravel under someone’s boot? Do I want to beg for food to eat? Hopefully, your answers to those questions matched mine. You’re no longer going to allow anyone to separate and divide you from other people as a way to control and undermine humans.”