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.
Uncertain
State Radio Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We stopped for the night
Near the shallow river
A never fright
But night fell on us before dawn
'Till all of our hope was over drawn
If every man lay down his gun
'Cause your war is your sickness
And so it's our disease
O distant constant quarreling lot
Your risk is greater than what you've got
Open your high road
You drag us along, the long road
Of our brothers gone
We didn't fight back
We fought to escape
Smuggling gasoline for food
Before we were of age
Your war is your sickness
And so it's our disease
O distant constant quarreling lot
Your risk is greater than what you've got
Open your high road
You carry us along, the long road
Of our brothers gone
'Cause we are so uncertain
Of the future, that we may face
And we don't like the burning
Of the very flame we had in place
Some day we will be replaced by the guns of the sons and their fatherless rage
And we are not deserting
But we see no course to take
You hear the curtain falls
And heralds the curtain calls
Come out, come alive
Time is no lie
Everyone now in a row
So quiet and so devout
Can you resign yourself to accept
A better hell
We'll not fall in their curse
Facing life in prison or possibly worse
Our fathers are calling mass
Asking us to drink from the pain of their past life
O distant constant quarreling lot
Your risk is greater than what you've got
Open your high road
You carry us along, the long road
Of our brothers gone
'Cause we are so uncertain
Of the future, that we may face
And we don't like the burning
Of the very flame we had in place
Some day we will be replaced by the guns of the sons and their fatherless rage
And we are not deserting
But we see no course to take
State Radio's "Uncertain" speaks about the uncertainty, fear, and confusion that surrounds the concept of war. The opening lines say "Heavy from walking, we stopped for the night, near the shallow river, a never fright," establishing imagery of journeying and camping in the wilderness.
The song then addresses the infected nature of war - "your war is your sickness, and so it's our disease." The lyrics criticize the "distant constant quarreling lot," calling them out for risking their lives for causes that aren't worth fighting for. The second verse tells a story of a struggle in a war-torn country, with individuals fighting to escape and find food to survive. The song then highlights the futility of war - "some day we will be replaced by the guns of the sons and their fatherless rage."
The lyrics also suggest that there is no clear course of action to take for those caught in the middle of war. The lines "We are not deserting, but we see no course to take" highlight the feeling of being trapped, with no clear path to follow. The song ends with a call to action, urging listeners to come out and live, to not give up hope, and to strive for a better future.
Line by Line Meaning
Heavy from walking
We were tired from traveling
We stopped for the night
We paused in our journey to rest
Near the shallow river
Our resting place was near a river
A never fright
We were not scared
But night fell on us before dawn
Darkness came before we expected it
'Till all of our hope was over drawn
We lost hope as the night continued
If every man lay down his gun
If everyone stopped fighting
We would no longer be
There would be no more war
'Cause your war is your sickness
Fighting is a disease
And so it's our disease
It affects us too
O distant constant quarreling lot
Those who always fight from far away
Your risk is greater than what you've got
You're taking bigger risks than necessary
Open your high road
Take a better path
You drag us along, the long road
You're forcing us to suffer through your fighting
Of our brothers gone
Those who died in war
We didn't fight back
We didn't retaliate
We fought to escape
We fought for survival
Smuggling gasoline for food
We risked our lives for supplies
Before we were of age
When we were still young
'Cause we are so uncertain
We're unsure
Of the future, that we may face
What the future holds for us
And we don't like the burning
We don't want the destruction
Of the very flame we had in place
Of what we once had
Some day we will be replaced by the guns of the sons and their fatherless rage
The next generation will continue the cycle of violence
And we are not deserting
We're not giving up
But we see no course to take
We don't know what to do
You hear the curtain falls
The end is near
And heralds the curtain calls
A new beginning is coming
Come out, come alive
Survive
Time is no lie
The clock continues ticking
Everyone now in a row
We must unite
So quiet and so devout
And work together in peace
Can you resign yourself to accept
Will you give in and agree
A better hell
A less bad version of the same fate
We'll not fall in their curse
We won't be doomed like them
Facing life in prison or possibly worse
Risking imprisonment or even death
Our fathers are calling mass
Those who've come before us are urging us
Asking us to drink from the pain of their past life
To learn from their struggles and hardships
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
KyleAWhile85
This one's on infinite repeat!
KyleAWhile85
This song is great!! Feels like I'm listening to Dispatch! :)
Sean Smith
i take it back, this song is sick
Mauro Lanowski
thanks ill check them these days
Sean Smith
dude, state radio is amazing, flag of the shiners might not be their best cd but listen to right me up and if you do not feel that it is eargasmic than you need some serious help, i love dispatch but i do not wish them to come back, they are done but the legacy they have left behind is amazing and for them to come back is a load of bullsit, it would only be shit
Lem
Apparently these songs are really political... I don't think I've ever realized until I've actually read the lyrics. I really don't care though, because I like the way it sounds.
LionKing
why should he keep it to himself? it's freedom of speach, so let him have his opinion, no reason to tease him with britney spears
rideyobike86
@sgtcampsalot Wicker Plane EP?