Ask any fan of punk rock their favourite bands, and more likely than not, Strung …
Body Count have been pissing off cops, politicians, and your parents since the early 90s.
Fronted by rapper, actor and activist Ice T, the Los Angeles six-piece have gained notoriety for slapping the faces of metal and hardcore punk fans with tales from the streets and ghettos of LA, set to a backdrop of the band’s unique brand of hip hop crossover thrash. Bloodlust is the band’s latest and most confronting album to date. A bleak and gritty painting of the American politics and culture following the campaign and presidency of Donald Trump. A brutal depiction of systematic racism and violence. Guitarist and co-founder Ernie C spoke to Hysteria about Body Count’s past and present, and shared some of his own experiences as an African American man growing up in the city of angels. Coincidentally, our conversation takes place on the 25th anniversary of the release of their self-titled debut record.
“Today is 25 years to the day that we released our first record. I told that to a friend of mine earlier who said ‘Wow, I can’t believe it’s been a quarter of a century!’ and that makes it sound even longer!” He says proudly.
The band’s 1992 self-titled debut came to life in a world pre-social media, Marilyn Manson and free pornography streaming websites. A time before real “shock value” and “controversy” ceased to exist in society, and in rock and roll. Conservatives alike detested Body Count’s lyrical content so much, due in part to the bands most beloved/loathed single Cop Killer, that attempts were made to have the record banned. Ernie C says that now more than ever, the music community needs to start making that kind of noise again. “From the 60s up until the early 90s, musicians were saying something and spoke their opinions on things. Over the past decade or so musicians have been kind of quiet. Everything is filtered now. Musicians filter themselves and they’re not saying anything. They’ve got to up their game some instead of writing music that don’t mean nothing. It’s time for musicians to write music that gets a reaction”.
The catalyst for his own band’s message came from constant harassment and degradation of the Los Angeles Police Department. “When I was young it was a big part of our lives. I remember getting searched by the gang unit and they would take apart our hamburgers and lay them on the street and then put the hamburgers back together after they searched for drugs. That gives you resentment. I let go of that resentment, but some people hold on to it, because who do you complain to? When you’re a 13 or 14 year old kid, no one really cares. It’s just the way it was! I had to learn how to talk to the police. A lot of these young guys who get shot have an arrogance about them and want to believe they have rights. But in reality, its the man with the gun that has rights”.
Body Count became an outlet for expression and personal rebellion for Ernie C and his bandmates, an outlet which he believes allowed him a better fortune than many others in his community. “We turn to music to vent our frustrations, so we don’t act out on them. Sometimes it’s nice to sing about things that aren’t pleasant. It’s okay to sing about smoking weed if that’s what you wanna do, but we’re singing about things that people are mad about. Things that they have no other way to express so they do something violent. Instead, we got the chance to scream about them at the top of our lungs.”
“For the past eight years or so in American we’ve been in a card game and everybody’s been sitting around looking at their own hand. Then Trump comes into the game and flips over the table, and all the cards are all over the place.” [Ernie C]
“The way the song Cop Killer came to be was that one day our drummer came to rehearsal late. We rehearsed in The Valley which is a good part of town. When they saw him drive past they just pulled him over. He wasn’t doing anything wrong! And he said ”I’m just tired of the police messing with me all the time. Sometimes I just wanna go out and shoot them’. You can say crazy things like that, but you can’t do crazy things. He was just venting, and Ice was like, ‘Hey, we should write a song about that’. We started shedding light on racism and wishing the cops would back off, and here we are 25 years later and it’s basically the same stuff. As a matter of fact it’s even worse in some instances.”
Fast forward to 2017, and a now veteran Body Count kick the year in the face from the get go with No Lives Matter, the chilling and crushing lead single from their sixth record Bloodlust. A call out to the ignorant who dilute the issues of racially motivated murder and poverty faced by Black Americans while unmasking the power imbalance that most of us on the bottom end of the scale, race aside, don’t even realise exists. An anthem for all of us who are just as fucked as each other. “Y’know there’s lyrics in there that Ice wrote that says ‘don’t fall for the bait and switch. Racism is real and not it’ and I like that lyric a lot because there’s a lot of clouds and smoke screens getting in the way of everything that’s actually going on right now” Ernie says, adding his admiration for Ice T’s outlook. “Ice has a great perspective on things. Everything he says, I agree with 100%”.
Blood Lust is a vision of what the USA’s immediate future looks like. Ernie C’s description suggests that the record plays out like a film based on all too many true stories. “From beginning to end, this record takes you on a ride! It talks about how gang members go out and shoot people, but none of this stuff happens just because. (Bloodlust) takes you into the mindset of these people, and explains why these different things happen”. Ernie says in a tone as enthusiastic as it is sombre, then reflecting on the way he sees his home through his own eyes. “For the past eight years or so in American we’ve been in a card game and everybody’s been sitting around looking at their own hand. Then Trump comes into the game and flips over the table and all the cards are all over the place. The thing that’s going on right now is trying to stop Muslims from coming in, and stop Mexicans from taking people’s jobs. I’m more worried about the LAPD than Muslims shooting me. Even being a 50 year old black man, I still have the same worries that I had a 20 year old man in the city. Cops still come up to me and wanna talk to me.”
“When you come to our shows you can say fuck the police. When you hear these songs, like No Lives Matter, these are gonna be chants that you can say. This is us giving you a chance to scream it out at the top of your lungs!”
Bloodlust is out today via Century Media/Sony Music Australia.
