Claire Bernish

April 19, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Conscious music plays an invaluable role in activism for its ability to reach an astonishing number of people — especially those who wouldn’t necessarily take to the Internet to ferret out the truth from Statist propaganda masquerading as our mainstream news.

So when a band surfaces whose members agree that a message of truth is imminently more important than seeking hollow and materialistic goals, it’s important to spread their message to as many people as possible — especially those in need of a good dose of reality.

BackWordz has decided to take its lyrical truth to a new level by teaming up with Craig Mabbitt of Escape the Fate for their newly-released track, “Statism.” Anti-Media spoke exclusively with BackWordz vocalist Eric July for the inside scoop.

After taking nearly a year and a half break from making music — both as a metal vocalist and rapper — July met most of the members of what is now BackWordz through a mutual friend. As he explains it, the band’s anarchist focus, particularly this second track from their upcoming debut album, couldn’t be more pertinent in the current political climate:

“With it being an election year, we’re seeing a lot of buck dancing going on for politicians. It seems as if people don’t really understand what they’re advocating. ‘Statism’ simply highlights the dangers of a State and properly defines it as what it is: a monopoly on violence. When we start talking about abolition of State, people immediately default to fearing what would happen without government. But the chaos and violence that they fear would happen without government have been caused by government. This is what ‘Statism’ seeks to highlight.”

But the key to an effective voice against government depends on an activist’s avoiding the devolution into an overly broad, and therefore meaningless, rant.

“We feel our main calling is to be able to put Anarchism, Anarcho-Capitalism, and Libertarianism behind good tunes, but also at an intellectual level,” said July of BackWordz’ goal to disseminate viable, germane information through music. “It’s entirely too easy to make songs that just say, ‘Screw the government’ or ‘All cops suck’ or things of that nature. We’re here to explain to you what government is, and why any form of it is illegitimate. Freedom and liberty are things we’re just passionate about, but we’re smart enough to actually hold a conversation about it.

“So we’re giving you a sound that can’t be replicated, as well as a message that is thought-provoking.” You can watch the music video, which premiered on Loudwire today, below:

As a synthesis of metal and rap, BackWordz has solidified a unique sound accessible to fans of both genres — and with it, the opportunity to pique the interests of an expansive audience of potential future activists and anarchists — which, for July, has been “a perfect fit.”

“BackWordz is only a year old, having dropped our first single in January 2015,” he noted. “But we have all been a part of touring and signed acts, so we wanted to make sure we did this right. Alex [James], being the clean vocalist, brought the best out of me as a lyricist because he is also a libertarian. With me rising as a political commentator over the past year, it was only right that we portrayed the same message in our music. Libertarians and anarchists don’t have much representation in entertainment and I almost feel a sense of responsibility to actually infiltrate this culture.

“When we recorded ‘Statism,’ we had our minds made up that we wanted to feature another vocalist. We reached out to Craig because we are under the same management team, Rebellion Noise. When he heard the track, he seemed to fall in love with it. We are fans of what he does, and he’s a fan of us, so we knew that this was going to be something special. He topped off the track perfectly.”

Together with Eric July, BackWordz features Robbie Rosales (drums), Marcello Garcci (guitar), Kevin Kerestes (guitar), and Alex James (bass and vocals). The band plans to work with other conscious artists again in the future to promote an intellectually and musically apt voice opposed to rule by the State.

“We’re severely outnumbered, so we want to, of course, link up with other like-minded artists and we’d be willing to help them get their message out, especially as we advance and gain popularity. Who knows? Maybe we can be ambassadors of some sort.”

“Statism” is the second track from BackWordz’s debut album, which will be recorded over the next few months and is slated for completion and release this summer.

Anti-Media would like to thank Eric July, BackWordz, and Escape the Fate’s Craig Mabbitt for speaking truth to so-called power, and to Eric for the exclusive interview.

This article (This Rap-Metal Band Is Bringing Music with a Message to the Masses) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.