Today we have a song from Jonny Baker, referring back to an album made back in 1998 after a visit to Israel/Palestine. In the wake of recent history, they have remixed and re-released this (superb) album. We are grateful for Jonny not only for the album for for this unplugged version of one of the songs.
It is now available on Bandcamp here. All proceeds will be going to the Amos Trust.
I have just listened to the whole album, wondering again how we allowed this history to be erased in the overwhelming telling of the story of the war in Gaza.
As Jonny asks below – who is the terrorist? What does this word even mean in an age in which terror is edited out by an AI interface, whilst simultaneously being used as a justification for genocide?
There is another way, but it requires peaceful, determinded, creative confrontation with Empire. We are grateful that art provides a means for us to do this.
Backbone was an album recorded by me (Jonny Baker) and Jon Birch after I had been on a trip to visit Israel/Palestine with Amos Trust in 1998. It was a protest album really with a mix of anger, lament and a tinge of hope telling stories of what I had witnessed. Since the Hamas attack in October 2023 and the completely disproportionate razing of Gaza to the ground and the genocide of its people, we have both watched with horror both at what has unfolded and the complete lack of intervention by the international community. Those songs we wrote back then have been on both our minds and seem sadly poignant now. So Jon has stripped back the album and completely remixed and remastered the whole thing. It stands the test of time we think but is much better sounding. We have set up a Jonnys in the Basement band camp page (jonnysinthebasement.bandcamp.com) and would love you to go and have a listen – see what you think. Do buy the album or make a donation – every single penny will go to Amos Trust for their work in Gaza.
This video of me doing an acoustic version of Terrorist was me incensed at the American and Israel bombing of Iran and the disgusting rhetoric about Epic Fury whilst wearing baseball hats sounding like teenagers playing video games. No mandate from the American people, no international mandate. Just the violence of Empire.
Who’s the terrorist?
