Chicago punk band Blind Adam and the Federal League released a pair of songs on October 22nd, “The Front” and “Middle of the Night”. But before I talk about those, we need to understand who Blind Adam and the Federal League are. They are anti-fascist, anti-capitalist, anti-racist musicians. They build community by organizing fundraisers, protests, and sandlot baseball teams. They invest in mutual aid, work with unions, and help their neighbors and neighborhoods. They build networks and educate. They provide aid for their community. They also just so happen to write songs and sing. All of these actions are interrelated.
Music has always been the voice of revolution, a way to communicate to the masses. The history of music is very much a history of rebellion for hundreds – perhaps thousands – of years: Songs for laborers in the fields, protest songs, chants at workers’ strikes. The music and the melody help you remember that the words are the message and the calling. These two songs are today’s chapter in the never-ending songbook of resistance.
The first of the two songs, “The Front”, begins with reverb and vocals over a strummed guitar melody, offering to take the listener to the front of the war, where people have been singing liberation songs and taking fire while others sit at home in safety. A whistle blows, and the guitars, drums, and bass join in, and the vocals beg listeners to join in too, as if to say: We are building a community, and there is a role for everyone inside the revolution. A revolution doesn’t feel like work, and as the song points out, action is the antidote to your despair. Don’t feel hopeless. Take part in making your world a better place: Get outside, meet your neighbors, and don’t just sit on your phone, scrolling your socials and making posts about the problems. It’s time to come to the front lines.
The song ends with the guitars and drums playing the song off over the sound of people talking in both English and Spanish, as they discuss the issues in their community beneath the music. Come follow Blind Adam and the Federal League to the front line.
The second song is “Middle of the Night”, a faster-paced, one-minute-and-forty-five-second history lesson. The song begs: “Will they kick down your front door in the middle of the night?” It briefly touches on the government’s response to resistance, running through police raids on Black activists during the civil rights era. Most notably: The middle-of-the-night assassination of Fred Hampton in Chicago, the murder of Renèe Good and Alex Pretti, the raid on Ilhan Omar, the Stonewall riots, and middle-of-the-night arrests and raids against people organizing protests all over America, from workers’ protests to civil rights protests. Will the government have you arrested for protesting for a free Palestine on your college campus, like Mahmoud Khalil? This song asks: Are you willing to fight until the government comes for you in the middle of the night? Will plain-clothes officers shoot you in broad daylight? Perhaps most importantly, when the cops come for you in the middle of the night, will your fingers be interlocked behind your head, or will you be fighting back?
While there are countless bands I love who have several songs of revolution – from Space Monkey Mafia to Local Legends, bands that always speak up – there are two bands I love that are activists first and musicians second: Blind Adam and the Federal League and Carsie Blanton. If you ever have the opportunity to support either, you should, but they would both be much happier if you joined a union, organized your community, set up or assisted with mutual aid, volunteered at your local food bank, delivered food for your immigrant neighbors, and donated time, goods, or money to a women’s shelter.
November 3 is the U.S. midterm election. Voting is the least impactful method for social change, but it is still extremely important. Make sure you vote, and then get back out and make your community better.
Written by Gimp Leg
