Stray Bullets - New Prisons

   "Streetpunk Reggae" today from Boston, Massachusetts' Stray Bullets. Featuring Jon Cauztik (vocals/guitar), PG (guitar/vocals), Pickles (bass) and Caps (drums), they self released their debut album, The Slings And Arrows Of Outrageous Fortune, as far back as 2004. In 2006, Cauztik concentrated his energies on newly formed band Have Nots so it wasn't until the debut album's reissue in 2012 that things clicked back into gear for the Bullets. The album and The Anchor, a song which was written for This Is New England : A 100% Benefit Comp, can be purchased here : https://straybullets1.bandcamp.com/album/the-slings-and-arrows-of-outrageous-fortune.

  With Have Nots on hiatus, 2014 saw the release of a new Stray Bullets album entitled Ghost Town Rockers. Still featuring Suicide Machines/Rancid influenced political and socially concious tracks that really benefit from the addition of having the lyrics available to read and digest, you can find it on the Dying Scene Bandcamp page : https://dyingscenerecords.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-town-rockers.

  From that album, this is New Prisons.....

TWO THOUSAND ELEVEN, THE PEOPLE, IT SEEMED, REALIZED THAT THEIR LIVES WERE A PYRAMID SCHEME, THE AMERICAN DREAM JUST A FABLE TO KEEP THEM ENSLAVED, SO THEY TOOK TO THE STREETS AND THEY TOOK TO THE SQUARES, AMAZED UPON LOOKING FOUND SOMEONE ELSE THERE, AND IDEAS WERE SHARED AND A NEW SET OF OPTIONS WERE WEIGHED...FIRST CAME THE PROTESTS AND THEN THE ENCAMPMENTS, AND MEDIA BLACKOUTS DID NOTHING TO DAMPEN THE SPIRITS OF THOSE WHO HAD FOUND SOMETHING WORTHY TO SAVE, THEY BUILT MICROSOCIETIES FORGED ON COMPASSION, ON OPEN DISCUSSION, DIVISION OF RATIONS, AND CORPORATE FASCISM OILED UP ITS GUILLOTINE BLADE... 

WITH NO LEADERS TO SLANDER AND NO HEADS TO ROLL, THE MACHINE COULDN'T SEEM TO REGAIN ITS CONTROL, SO THEY CALLED ON THE CONGRESS THEY'D BANKROLLED TO BREAK UP THE THRONG, IN CAME THE GOVERNMENT, IN ON THE GRIFT, THEY SAID “FREEDOM OF SPEECH AIN'T A RIGHT, IT'S A GIFT, IF YOU STICK TO THE SCRIPT THAT WE WROTE THEN WE'LL DO YOU NO WRONGS”...BUT THE PEOPLE, AWAKENED, SAW WHAT WAS AT STAKE, THEY SAID “WE WON'T REPEAT ALL OUR PARENTS' MISTAKES, IT'S TIME TO RETAKE THINGS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN OURS ALL ALONG, ALTHOUGH WE'RE AFRAID WE WILL NOT BE DISSUADED, NO LONGER OBEYING A SYSTEM THAT'S PLAYED US”, THEY BUILT BARRICADES AND AWAITED THE RAIDS STANDING STRONG... 

IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE ANSWERS THAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, MAYBE IT'S COS YOUR QUESTIONS ARE FLAWED TO THE CORE, IN A SYSTEM DESIGNED WHERE THEY'VE MADE IT A CRIME TO BE POOR...THEY TAKE US FOR GRANTED, THEY TAKE US FOR FOOLS, THEY TAKE US TO TASK AND THEY MAKE US THEIR TOOLS, THEY BUILT A NEW PRISON WHERE CLEARLY WE NEEDED A SCHOOL... 

A YOUNG BOY WALKING BY GRABBED AT HIS MOTHER'S HAND, ASKED THE RIGHT QUESTION “WHY?” HAD THIS WHOLE THING BEGAN, UNDERSTANDING CREPT OVER HIS FACE AS THE WOMAN EXPLAINED, SAID “THESE PEOPLE YOU SEE ARE JUST LIKE YOU AND ME, AND THEY'RE CAMPING OUT HERE COS THEY WANT TO BE FREE OF THE MONSTERS WHO SCARE THEM, THE BULLIES WHO CAUSE THEM THEIR PAIN”...AND AS THEY WALKED AWAY ON THAT BRIGHT SUNNY DAY, HE TURNED BACK AROUND AND HE SMILED AND HE WAVED, AND I KNEW THEN AND THERE THAT THIS STRUGGLE, IT WASN'T IN VAIN, SURE, THEY TOOK DOWN THE CAMPS AND THEY PUT IN THE BOOT BUT VICTORY WAS OURS IN THAT MOMENT OF TRUTH, IN THE SEEDS TAKING ROOT IN THE MINDS OF THE YOUTH OF TODAY... 

IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE ANSWERS THAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR, MAYBE IT'S COS YOUR QUESTIONS ARE FLAWED TO THE CORE, IN A SYSTEM DESIGNED WHERE THEY'VE MADE IT A CRIME TO BE POOR...THEY TAKE US FOR GRANTED, THEY TAKE US FOR FOOLS, THEY TAKE US TO TASK AND THEY MAKE US THEIR TOOLS, THEY BUILT A NEW PRISON WHERE CLEARLY WE NEEDED A SCHOOL.