Autonomads - Run Like A Girl

  There's some very good blogs and shows/podcasts around at the moment promoting new punk music (feel free to name your favourites in the comments as I'm always keen to check them out) but I can't help but think we're a band of modern day Sisyphus' eternally rolling punk rock boulders up never ending hills of indifference. No matter how good the music is that we promote, the vast majority of the music loving public prefers naff tv karaoke. But we plough on as we enjoy it, we love discovering a new band and shouting about it in the hope others will feel the same. Manchester band Autonomads aren't a new band, they've been together since 2007, but boy are they good.

  Mixing elements of dub, reggae, ska, punk & folk, they're a 5 piece featuring Jay (guitar/vocals), Porl (drums/vocals), Ehliot (bass), Perkie (keys/melodica/vocals) and Eeyun (guitar/vocals). With round 500 gigs and several European tours under their belts they're a finely honed outfit who get stronger with every release. The latest of those releases, All Quiet On The Western Front, came out last month and is the sort of record that deserves to be heard : https://autonomads.bandcamp.com/album/all-quiet-on-the-western-front

  Dealing with topics such as the gentrification of Manchester (including the chopping down of the 100+ year old Birley Tree in the city centre to provide student accomodation), border controls/small island mentality and the under privilaged sleeping rough or under lock and key on both sides of the channel, the exploitation of the many by the few.

  And there's the song I'm featuring today. IT'S NOT AN INSULT! This is Run Like A Girl.......

I got more unwanted male attention when I was twelve years old 
I still have my keys between my fingers when I'm walking home 
Humans only love you when your smiling I'm told 
So look happy, look happy, keep smiling, keep smiling 

Chorus 

You run like a girl, not an insult 
You cry like a girl, not an insult 

Gotta be the man they say don't show how you feel 
But its all constructed and you know it just ain't real 
When I was young they said you know that boys don't cry 
Keep it down and grit your teeth until they day you die 

Laugh and feel and cry and scream 
Yeah I'll laugh and feel and try and scream 
Laugh and feel and cry and scream 
Yeah I'll try and scream yeah I'll cry and scream

Autonomads - Our Elizabeth

  Not sure what things are like in your part of the world but over here in Britain the media seems obsessed with scrounging benefit cheats. Today's song is about the biggest one of the lot.

  Autonomads are a diy "dub/reggae/ska/punk/folk collective from Rusholme, Manchester. Featuring Robbie Wild (guitar/vocals), Porl (drums/vocals), Ehliot (bass), Perkie (keys/melodica/vocals) and Eeyun (guitar/vocals), they're veterans of around 500 gigs and play "crusty political sounds from the heart of the north."

  They got together in 2007 and released their debut album, No Man's Land, in 2009. 2012 saw them release From Rusholme With Love, a split album with Black Star Dub Collective. Their latest release, 2014's One Day This Will All Be Gone... Everything Now! is widely considered to be their best so far. You can find it "name your price" here : https://autonomads.bandcamp.com/

  It's an album that concerns itself with issues such as squatting, injustice, austerity, the media.....(basically life in general), they've channelled their anger and produced a great record. From it, this is Our Elizabeth.....


our elizabeth, bring out the guillotine 
she's our benefit cheating queen
she's irrelevant, always has been
that's our benefit cheating queen

do you think they'll throw me a party on the scale of the jubilee
when they find out i've been cheating benefits as long as her majesty
scum! a drain! a parasite! that's the words they use for us
but they don't commission boats for me
i can barely afford the bus
sitting in her castle
people rotting on the streets
the biggest council house
this nation's ever seen
protected by the state
and paid for by the people
get lizzy in the stocks
and eradicate this evil

our elizabeth, bring out the guillotine 
she's our benefit cheating queen
she's irrelevant, always has been
that's our benefit cheating queen

our elizabeth, bring out the guillotine 
she's our benefit cheating queen

well i heard they gave lizzy a little pay rise
it's hard work cutting ribbons when she's got bags below her eyes
they talk about spongers in the tabloid newspapers
they should sack old lizzy and up their wages
we've been conscripted in this system that we all despise
fed up of the bullshit, the corruption and the lies
every year a wedding, party, jubilee
frankly i don't give a fuck about old lizzy

our elizabeth, bring out the guillotine 
she's our benefit cheating queen
she's irrelevant, always has been
that's our benefit cheating queen.....