For generations of great American songwriters, the music and the message have been inextricably linked. Word and deed are one in the same, and the only thing more moving than the rousing call to action is the evocative melody that transports the words like a shell casing. These are fire-breathing poets of justice who sing about ordinary people in extraordinary ways, and can turn the world inside out with three chords and the truth. These are the tenets by which STATE RADIO’s Chad Stokes Urmston, Chuck Fay, and Mike “Mad Dog” Najarian are driven, and they once again flex that strength and sense of purpose on their third album, LET IT GO. But this is no soapbox symposium.
“It’s the only way I know how to do it,” says singer/guitarist Stokes about the band’s impassioned social consciousness. “It’s the only way State Radio has done it. This has always been an organic, grassroots thing. It’s about trying to be true to what we do.”
Like Rage Against The Machine and System Of A Down before them, State Radio roll up their sleeves as they practice what they preach, whether it’s riding bikes to gigs to support Bikes Not Bombs, hosting food drives in conjunction with Rock For A Remedy, or playing shows to raise money for the Learning Center for the Deaf. How’s Your News?, a film project created by Stokes while working at a camp for adults with disabilities, where the campers are the reporters, was just a way for Stokes and company to flip the standard interview format on its head with a different viewpoint before it was picked up by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for a run on HBO and MTV.
Action is hardly a new concept for all the members of State Radio. Before the band, Mad Dog volunteered as mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters, while Fay was and continues to be a powerful voice for Instant Runoff Voting and comprehensive election reform across the country. On tour, State Radio has joined with Amnesty International to expose the injustices and improprieties of the legal system by protesting the death penalty for Georgia’s Troy Davis. They’ve worked to minimize wildfire danger by removing invasive plants from areas in California, and have partnered with Oxfam America to organize home run derbies and 5K road races to raise money and awareness to help protect women against violence in Sudan. Most bands have touring schedules. State Radio have an Action Calendar.
During their sold out, 25-city tour this past February, the band performed service projects in every town they visited, from serving lunch at a homeless shelter in Houston to building a community garden at an inner city elementary school in Washington, D.C. Calling All Crows (callingallcrows.org), the group’s platform for social action started by Stokes and State Radio tour manager Sybil Gallagher, is committed to continuing the group’s socio-political dialogue once the music ends and the lights come up. In less than a year, State Radio and their fans have amassed over 1,800 hours of community service through projects that have local, national, and global impact.
“There are times when there’s a service project every morning at 9am—and we’d had a late night the night before—where it’s like, ‘Are we a service group that plays music, or are we a band that does service projects?’” Stokes laughs. “There’s a balance between the two things because they feed each other. I want to experience the stuff I’m writing about.”
That same mindset held true for Stokes’ previous band, the roots rock outfit Dispatch, who formed while Stokes was a student at Middlebury College in Vermont. Though the group disbanded in 2002, they’ve reunited three times, the most notable being a three-night, sold out run at Madison Square Garden in 2007 to raise funds and awareness for poverty-stricken Zimbabwe. It marked the first time in history an unsigned band had headlined the Garden, let alone sold it out.
“It was a progression,” says Stokes’ of the shift from Dispatch to State Radio, who formed in 2002. “I think had Dispatch stayed together, all these State Radio songs would have been Dispatch songs.”
State Radio’s first album, Us Against The Crown, introduced listeners to the band’s raw, pop-punk sound. Tracks like “Mr. Larkin” and “Black Cab Motorcade” had all the boundless energy of a vigorous protest, while “Right Me Up,” a personal account of a friend with a disability, showcased Stokes’ reggae harmonies.
Their second album, Year Of The Crow, was recorded in the UK and produced by Tchad Blake (Peter Gabriel, Pearl Jam, Soul Coughing). Featuring songs like “Sudan,” “Guantanamo,” and “Gang Of Thieves,” the album pushed the group’s socio-political motivations even further into the forefront. It also broadened their sonic palette with bigger guitars (“CIA”) and more diverse instrumentation (“The Story Of Benjamin Darling, Part 1”). But the bridge between both records has always been Stokes’ transcendental storytelling, which continues to mature and evolve on Let It Go.
The album kicks off with “Mansin Humanity,” a gripping song about the Armenian genocide, then slides into “Calling All Crows,” a one-drop groove that calls the band’s legion of fans to attention as Stokes beckons, “It’s gonna be a showdown, said the rebel to the revolutionary, come with me!” Elsewhere, State Radio invoke the spirit of the Clash on “Doctor Ron The Actor” and “Knights Of Bostonia,” a raise-yer-pints anthem to the band’s hometown. (After all, Stokes did meet Mad Dog while he was drumming on a bucket outside of the home of the Red Sox Fenway Park.) Another track, “Held Up By The Wires,” mixes classic Boston references and Civil War tales with nods to Jack London’s “The Road,” sailing pioneer Irving Johnson, and Stokes’ own time spent in Zimbabwe. The track has been in the band’s repertoire since the early days, but it wasn’t until now that it found it’s way onto an album, a fact Stokes attributes to the way in which Let It Go was recorded.
While touring Year Of The Crow, State Radio enlisted Tchad Blake’s assistant, Dom Monks, as their front-of-house engineer; a critical position for a band with such a large live audience. When it came time to seek out producers for Let It Go, Monks threw his hat in the ring. He also suggested that the band record the songs in the same manner as they were performed: live off the floor, with all the instruments buzzing and howling at once.
“He has a great ear and he’s worked with the best guy,” says Stokes of his producer and friend. “He knew all our songs and he did an amazing job.”
Two-thirds of the album were recorded at Q-Division in Boston, while the remaining parts were tracked at the famous Long View Farm Studio, the preferred practice space of the Rolling Stones before all their US tours, and a location that houses just as much livestock as it does vintage pre-amps. The rustic setting provided the perfect atmosphere with which to coalesce the band’s trademark live energy, while recording straight to tape with limited tracks allowed them to be more succinct with the musical message they wanted to convey.
“We’ll take the long way around, we gather on the wall on the wrong side of town. We’ll surprise them all,” sings Stokes on “Evolution.” After years of social action and political awareness—not to mention playing in front of thousands upon thousands of fans with very little support by the mainstream—the 33-year-old Stokes knows a thing or two about how to serve up lighting in a bottle. Sometimes quiet persistence is the best way. Like when he and 15 other peers spent 28 days walking a headstone 433 miles from Sherborn, Massachusetts to Arlington National Cemetery to honor unknown civilians killed in war. (Alas, they were stopped at the bridge and not allowed to enter.) But after you’ve done the backstroke in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and shaken hands with the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, what do you do next?
“I think the dream would be to jump freights to each city,” says Stokes of their upcoming tour to support Let It Go. “Going out to the Democratic National Convention last year, my brother and I jumped freights from Massachusetts to Denver, then from Denver to California, opening up for Rage in the middle there.”
And have someone drive the gear?
“Or just get back line everywhere we go,” Stokes smiles, “and hit the rails that night.”
State Radio’s Let It Go is out September 29, 2009.
Fight No More
State Radio Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As the wanted man, the conquered man.
We no not of your borders,
But you push us to your corners.
This is not your land,
This isn't anybodys land.
Some will live and some will last,
But my oh my,
The answers are falling fast.
I will give if this pain won't last.
[Chorus]
So from where the sun now stands,
I will fight no more forever.
How you choose to meet your fate,
For I will fight no more forever.
Government agent arrivals, pale chief and his disciples.
They crooked tongues, the acid lungs.
We know not of your borders,
But the world is getting colder.
This is not your land,
This isn't anybodys land.
Some will live and some will last,
Some will bleed like Looking Glass.
But my oh my,
The answers are falling fast.
I will give if this pain won't last.
[Chorus: x2]
And the sun will set sad and sick,
Break these chains I don't want them no more.
And the sun will set sad and sick,
Break these chains I don't want them no more.
Break these chains I don't want them no more.
Break these, break these chains.
Said he died of a broken heart.
Said he died of a broken heart.
Died of a broken heart. Broken heart.
The lyrics to State Radio's song Fight No More express a sentiment of resistance against oppression, specifically in the context of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The opening lines "On behalf of the resistance, and all of our existence / As the wanted man, the conquered man" set the tone for a message of defiance against those who seek to conquer and control. The repeated refrain "this is not your land, this isn't anybody's land" echoes the sentiment of Indigenous peoples who believe that land cannot truly be owned by any individual or government.
The lyrics also touch on the violence and brutality that often accompanies such oppression, with lines like "Some will bleed like Looking Glass" referring to the Battle of the Little Bighorn in which Native American warrior Looking Glass was killed. However, the song also suggests that there is hope for a peaceful resolution, with the repeated statement "I will fight no more forever" indicating a willingness to end the conflict if possible. The final lines, "Said he died of a broken heart / Died of a broken heart" imply that the struggle has taken a significant toll on those fighting for their land and freedom.
Overall, Fight No More can be interpreted as a call to action for Indigenous peoples and their allies to resist oppression and fight for justice, while also acknowledging the toll that such a struggle can take on individuals and communities.
Line by Line Meaning
On behalf of the resistance, and all of our existence
We speak on behalf of those who resist oppressors and fight for their right to exist.
As the wanted man, the conquered man.
We are seen by those in power as threats and subjects meant to be conquered.
We no not of your borders,
We do not recognize the artificial borders that separate us from other peoples.
But you push us to your corners.
Your actions force us into desperate and difficult situations.
This is not your land,
This land was not created solely for the benefit of those in power.
This isn't anybodys land.
This land belongs to all people, not just those in power.
Some will live and some will last,
Some of us will survive while others will leave a lasting impact beyond our lifetimes.
Some will cry out for the past.
Some of us will long for a time when things were better or more just.
But my oh my,
Despite this situation, I can't help but notice...
The answers are falling fast.
...that solutions to our problems are slipping away rapidly.
I will give if this pain won't last.
I will make sacrifices if it means the struggle won't be prolonged and painful.
So from where the sun now stands,
I declare that I won't continue to fight anymore.
I will fight no more forever.
I won't engage in violent or oppressive action anymore.
How you choose to meet your fate,
What you do with your power and responsibility is up to you.
Government agent arrivals, pale chief and his disciples.
Those in power arrive with their enforcement agents and loyal followers.
They crooked tongues, the acid lungs.
They speak deceitfully and breathe in toxins and pollution.
But the world is getting colder,
The planet is becoming less hospitable due to climate change and human activity.
Some will bleed like Looking Glass.
Some of us will fight and give our lives to defend our communities, like the Native American chief Looking Glass.
And the sun will set sad and sick,
The end of the day will be marked by melancholy and sickness.
Break these chains I don't want them no more.
We want to be free from the oppressive structures that bind us and limit our potential.
Said he died of a broken heart.
Some of us suffer physically and emotionally from the impact of oppressive systems and actions.
Broken heart.
Our emotional pain and trauma can feel overwhelming and difficult to overcome.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gargling Marbles
I have to strongly disagree with you, State Radio's lyrics are the most powerful lyrics I have seen in a very long time. And their Rhythm perfectly fits the song, so I don't see a problem.
Sean Nakada
Pleaseeeee I need this on vinyl so badly..I missed you guys when you came up to Alaska because I was deployed but I still have your signed copy of Let It Go and would love to add Year of the Crow to my vinyl collection..or even better, come back to Alaska so I can experience ya'll in person!!
Aidan Williams
Sean Nakada i know this is from a while ago but what branch?
sammi4982
"This isn't anyone's land...' Nice to have a STATE RADIO song to accompany in my travels now and again:)
MrPorkchops
Nah, it's MY land because capitalism.
Feral_gatr
I think this song just turned me into a pacifist. State radio, why you so cool.
Luke Weiler
Yeah I think this is about chief joseph of the Nez Perce tribe. His speech in 1877 “I will fight no more forever” quotes all this and the lyrics “bleed like looking glass”. I was watching the ken burns documentary and some of these lyrics I remembered came into my mind and had new meaning. In the “I will fight no more forever speech” he says “Looking glass is dead” a member of chief Joseph’s tribe I’m thinking. Chief Jospeh it is said never got to return to his homeland as he was promised. It’s a gut wrenching speech. “My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.” Is how the speech ends. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Joseph pretty sure that’s what state radio was singing about. But yeah everyone hears what they want etc. I’m sure people all have different meanings from listening. I got to see state radio on this tour. Awesome show. Saw chad with the pintos in a small club in Albany later on another awesome show. pete francis (one of my fav guitarists) was just chilling in the crowd. It was great to see dispatch members in small intimate venues as you still can. I went down to see dispatch at MSG for Hunger and that was awesome too. This and let it go are my 2 fav state radio albums. Caught the Dispatch set at levitate after 2 sets of umphreys mcgee and that’s the last time I’ve seen them. Pete wasn’t there. Pete has been playing small clubs in CT. Really hoping to see chad with the pintos on this upcoming tour and see Pete play in CT soon. Love these guys and the music they make with meaning and purpose. I love the jam bands and prog bands instrumentation but when it comes to lyrics and songs with meaning bands like dispacth and state radio are def where it’s @ for me. Thanks for the music guys! You rock ! Glad I got to catch a state radio show back in the day and buy this album. Great album.
digital projectile
Not breaking mainstream is a shame, but some medicine is to powerful for the masses, let it go to the warrior/healers in order to disperse in proper proportions. Thxz, SR.
Christian Dez
Best #stateRadio song
Luke Weiler
Christian Dez tied for my fav