ANTILLECTUAL – TOGETHER

Liner notes

1 TOGETHER

Recent events have revived the age-old belief that you can achieve more together than alone. This goes for both global events, the music industry and the way we deal with our band.

Climate change, #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine are the most important issues we’ve been facing on a global level lately. Each of these can only be solved by taking action together. We can’t stop global warming unless a great majority of the people is involved. A dissonant relation between gender types can only be restored if all support a healthy balance. Disadvantaged groups in our population can only get the right amount of respect if people outside those groups recognize the value of treating others with dignity; if both groups decide to tackle this problem together. And only together countries can fight an invasion of another country.

The current situation in the music industry in general and the punk scene in particular forces people to work together as well. The traditional roles of bands/musicians/labels/distributors/bookers are fading, if they ever were clearly distinguished in the DIY scene at all. Social and personal media have been taking over the role of mainstream media. The democratization of the musical landscape has created an opportunity that can be both a blessing and a curse. Bands can only spread their word and music together with partners and supporters, instead of via just one major label.

Since 2018 we have been releasing individual songs as singles. We didn’t feel like creating a new album in the traditional way. Now that we have recorded and released a bunch of songs we feel like putting them together so people can enjoy them the best way possible! We have never really released music the standard way, and this album is probably our most unconventional release to date. We hope to spread this release together with you!

DO IT TOGETHER! Team work makes the dream work!

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2 THE INVISIBLE HAND MEETS THE VISIBLE FIST

In a world where politicians govern their nations as companies, citizens are reduced to customers. We are left with little more influence than our spendings. So let’s use that mechanism and “celebrate” the economic crisis of 2008’s 15th birthday by making our purchases with even more care about who we support financially. We, the extras in the neoliberal narrative, should address politicians and companies in the only language they understand and let our money do the talking. Strategic purchases, consumer strikes and boycotting companies whose policies we don’t agree with are our best bribe to get a foot in the door. Shake our visible fist to the invisible hand of the market. Merry 15 year crisiversary!

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3 ACTION REACTION

We live in polarized times. Left vs right, mainstream media vs fake news, the elite vs the people, this list goes on and on. The French yellow vest (gilets jaunes) protests, Brexit, the conspiracy theorists, “Trump”, Canadian truckers, Dutch farmers; a lot of populist protest has come to the surface in the last years. A lot of those protesters are the victims of an opportunistic, arrogant elite appropriating those protesters’ problems. A movement of those on the bottom who lost hope to climb up. In short, the issue is the fear of missing out on the opportunity our society does create for others. A divide is acceptable as long as both sides are growing and prospering. That is no longer the case.
To resist the viewpoints you’re opposed to, it’s sometimes smart to listen to their advocates. It makes sense to understand the position of these protesters and where their drive comes from. Understanding why people support populist, alt right ideas, but without condoning those ideas!
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

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4 FROM CITY TO CITY

Where touring and critical thinking meet. When touring around the world and going to new places we always wonder what kind of people we will meet. Whether they are closely connected to their local cultures and practices or a product of a globalizing world. In most cases it’s the latter; we meet like minded people, living similar lives to our own. They just happen to be a couple of thousand kilometers away.
Simultaneously there are encounters with people living only 5 km away whose ideas and lifestyle are extremely hard to relate to. People that grew up pretty much the same way we did, who have completely different views. This shows in cities with relatively progressive majors, in quite conservative countries. Differences between countries might have declined, within countries they seem to have grown. Sometimes Bogota, Colombia feels nearer than Groesbeek.
Over the last decades people started to believe the world would become a unified global village through international trade, growing individual mobility and the internet. Looking at today’s world, that project has not yet succeeded. Even though malls and shopping districts worldwide look exactly alike with all the same shops, (groups of) people still seem to live on their respective islands. But the connection between those islands is getting stronger and stronger.

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5 OTHERING

The practice of “othering” is excluding and displacing people from a social group to the margins of society, simply for being the other and not having the same nature, history or identity as oneself. Sexism, racism and homophobia are examples of othering. Displays of othering all have in common that, in order to fight them, you have to acknowledge that their tendencies manifest in each and everyone of us, including yourself as well. If you deny those sexist, racist and homophobic tendencies, and your personal privileges, you can’t fight your own prejudices. And if you can’t fix yourself it’s harder, and hypocritical, to try to fix others.

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6 HEADS YOU WIN, TAILS WE LOSE

It was only a matter of time for a counter movement to arise after the economic crisis of 2008. Hoping for a left wing solution to solve a right wing problem seemed sensible, right? Instead, populism became one of the main responses to the recession.
This populist wave has been destroying many progressive accomplishments all over the world. Trump in the US, Boris Johnson in the UK, Orban in Hungary, Duterte in the Philippines, Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet in the Netherlands, the list seems endless. If it wasn’t so painful you could call it ironic: self proclaimed “ordinary people” fighting the establishment they are the very product of. Well established people with a successful commercial or political career now say they represent society’s “leftovers”. Lower middle class families scared of the changes in a globalizing world form a group of people that feels betrayed by the political and economic elite. As a reaction they like to take on the classes above them (the elite) and below them (sexual, racial, religious and other minorities, and immigrants).
The lack of representation is a huge problem in western democracy, but fixing that problem by installing repressive authoritarian leaders is very counterproductive.

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7 FEVER

Some say that climate change is the biggest problem of our generation. Denying climate change is the 21th century equivalent of saying the earth is flat. A changing climate is obviously our greatest threat: without a livable planet, there’s no human life possible, which would make all other human problems irrelevant. But what if we look at this problem a little differently, a little less anthropocentric? What if the climate heating up is not a problem, but a cure to heal the planet’s biggest problem: human existence. What if the planet is sweating out this threat to secure its own existence? The earth is trying to get rid of us like that frog in boiling water. Noah’s ark turned Titanic, and half of us don’t even (want to) know or care.

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8 SUPPORT BANDS

“A pamphlet, no matter how good, is never read more than once, but a song is learned by heart and repeated over and over. And I maintain that if a person can put a few common sense facts into a song and dress them up in a cloak of humor, he will succeed in reaching a great number of workers who are too unintelligent or too indifferent to read.” by Joe Hill (1879-1915), songwriter and activist.
“Oh I don’t do this to change the country. I do this so the country won’t change me.” is a quote from A.J. Muste, Dutch born American clergyman and pacifist given when a reporter asked him, “Do you really think you are going to change the policies of this country by standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?”
Bands change people’s lives. We know they do, because other bands changed our lives before we even started this band. If we’ve ever changed one person’s life (for the better) because of our music & lyrics, that would be amazing! But, something else is equally important to us: supporting the people who already have a similar mindset. They don’t need convincing but could use some confirmation that they’re not alone, not the only one having these beliefs that might set them apart from the people in their direct surroundings.

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9 IF YOU’RE NOT OUTRAGED

“If you’re not outraged you’re not paying attention” was Heather Heyer’s last message to the online world before getting killed by a car during an anti-fascist protest in Charlottesville in 2017. After these pro- and anti-fascist rallies president Trump stated that both sides were to blame for the unrest.
In the process of writing this song a local anti-fascist activist was arrested and accused of inciting homicide or murder after yelling perhaps tasteless, yet rather innocent slogans during an anti-fascist protest, held after the Dutch Forum voor Democratie won the provincial elections.
Extreme right wing ideologies are growing. Alt right, identitarian movements and populism are proof that the far right wing is on the rise again. Just to be clear: we think that’s a bad thing. As a result anti-fascist (re)actions and movements are growing too. Just to be clear: we think that’s a good thing.
Most people are anti-fascists, including a lot who don’t actively realize it. Anti-fascism should not be wasted on the left, but seen as a mainstream principle, supported from the left to the, well, moderate right. But what doesn’t help is that anti-fascism is being framed as an extreme ideology and practice, invoking violence and uproar. Maybe you don’t agree with some people supporting anti-fascism and their activism, that doesn’t make anti-fascism wrong or harmful.
Anti-fascism is not a crime.

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10 HELPING HANDS

Growing up alone it seems to be your destiny
To do things on your own and be your own community
Meet me at the intersection of harmony and dissonance
A declaration of dependency on others with significance

Wanna face these crises alone?
No single simple solution
We are relying on our strings attached
All spun so tight, almost fusing

Helping Hands

We’re allies and associates so you won’t fly under the radar
As spies and as ambassadors we’re here to serve and to defend you

We’re in this together, cannot do this alone
Depend on each other, cannot do this on our own

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Antillectual is Willem (vocals & guitar), Riekus (drums & vocals) and Ben (bass & vocals). Ben recorded tracks 1, 4, 8, 10 and Toon tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9.

Credits for the creation of this record go out to: Adrian from Mayleaf and Roos for pre-producing. Tim at Big Dog Recordings for recording and mixing [tracks 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10]; same goes for Martin at Mailmen [for tracks 2, 5, 6]. Nico at XPZ Sound for mastering. Wendy at Big Dog for contributing guest vocals, Ian The Punk Cellist for the beautiful cello parts. Thomas at Darkroast for the amazing album artwork and Done by Tjeerd Derkink for the back photo.

Together with the following helping hands we were able to be a band over the last years and create this record. Eternal gratitude and thanks go out to:
Toon for being our bass player and recording part of this record with us. Roos for helping out with everything behind the scenes and on the road. Emiel, Aaron and Jason, for joining us on tour. Gijs for stepping in when it was needed. Steve at Merit Based Bookings and Maik, Marcel at The Living Proof Agency for helping out with shows. David at fairtrademerch for taking care of our merch. Mirko at Uncle M, all labels and other partners helping out with this and past releases. Music Support Gelderland and SENA for supporting this record via their funds.

info@antillectual.com / antillectual.com