OUR NEXT SHOW

Ska music has always been associated with political awareness - about speaking up for the oppressed and for those struggling and suffering. It has been about standing up to those who would oppress, to those who would trash society, to those motivated by greed and selfishness (what song better sums up the way Thatcher ruined Britain in the 80's with her right-wing money-driven selfish poison that Ghost Town by the Specials). It has been about spreading unity, freedom and love, about building bridges between people, between different cultures and races, abouy raising awareness of issues, and all the while helping people to come together and have a good time.

Us in Big Hand care deeply about all of this - we passionately do. We want people to come together in unity and happiness, and want to help in our small way by providing a happy and maybe uplifting soundtrack for all this to happen. The reason we don't speak out explicitly about all these things, the reason we don't have political songs, is mainly because its just pretty hard to write that kind of a song without sounding preachey or using worn out cliches - it takes a special kind of geniuns (like the Specials had) to do it well.

That said, I don't think thats a good enough reason anymore. On a morning when I wake up, here in 2009, to see that the BNP has won two seats at the European parliament, I am sickened and saddened. So what am I going to do about it. I distrust politicians and politics as much as pretty much anyone else, but apathy and cynicism onyl clear a space for poison to seep in and take over, and so while people are staying away from the voting booth and gorging themselves on scandals like mp's expenses, extremist parties are actually getting their hands on levers of power. As the saying goes (or something like this) - all it takes for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing. So I'll try and do my best to stand up for what I believe in, and maybe even write a song or two about it, nevermind if I sound clumsy or whatever - there are more important things to worry about.