Cutters - Australian War Crimes

 

  I've been looking through the playlist for this week's Just Some Punk Songs show (https://www.facebook.com/events/335607014613180/) and I've noticed there's 7 bands from Australia, 6 of which are from Melbourne. One of those bands feature on here today. 

  Cutters (https://www.facebook.com/cutters138) burst out of nowhere last year to grab a spot in the JSPS end of year chart with this killer track from their impressive debut Self Titled ep (https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2020/07/cutters-chewed-up-fortune.html). I described the ep as "an explosive force of nature so batten down the hatches."

  They, Destructo (vocals) Tim (who is also in Stiff Richards) (guitar) Stringer (bass) & Max (drums),  returned in April of this year with more of the same in the form of the 6 track Modern Problems ep and now, just a couple of months later, we're treated to half a dozen more incendiary blasts of pent up aggression. The Australian War Crimes ep kicks off with a punked up version of an excerpt from a 1921 poem by Bertolt Brecht. The pace picks up even more with Kitchen Window, an insistent and dark banger that is one of the ep's highlights. Concrete and lies is about the conurbation of what was once a beautiful land whilst I'd Rather Die Than Live In Rye incorporates some pretty impressive guitar work. Long Term is a 26 second blast about memory loss and that just leaves the title track... 

  Australian War Crimes is a reaction to the recent revelations of Australian SAS soldiers doing some really grim shit in Afghanistan, as detailed in the Brereton Report. I'm pretty sure it's going to go down a storm in the show's chatroom later today. You can get the ep on ltd edition red or black vinyl or as a name your price download here : https://cuttersmelbourne.bandcamp.com/album/australian-war-crimes 

  This is Australian War Crimes...

This is the opposite of nostalgia, a sick distaste for the fatherland. The Australian Special Air Service murders prisoners in Afghanistan. Whose wages do you pay? Whose lives do they take?