SEVEN SIOUX – we are not the scared people

(CD, Fettkakao)

Is this Seven Sioux’ field day? No, I don’t mean that they have the best moment in their live and are able to take advantage of a situation easily. I am talking about when Dag Nasty reunited to record an album called „Field Day“. And then split up and reunited again to record „Four on the Floor“. They had changed, but still were too much the same band in lots of aspects. This is a main problem with a lot of reunions. If you have no idea who Dag Nasty are but are at least a little bit interested in punkrock, then you better head over to Dischord Records and check some of their records out. Get some by Rites Of Spring as well. RoS were something like the blueprint for Seven Sioux, though they always sounded (and still do) more like Dag Nasty to me. But that is leaving out something important: what made Seven Sioux and those old Dischord legends so alike was not (only) the music but their way of making music, of touring, recording, doing business and of connecting with people. In a single word: their way of living.

The truth of the matter ist hat honesty wins finally (and hope dies last, ed.), and Seven Sioux are one of the most real and honest bands imaginable. You can’t judge this band by its music alone, because what it stands for is just as important: the best parts of the DIY and punkrock ethos. Doing business with people you like rather than with people that you can profit from the most. Doing business in a way that helps all the people around you an creates real win-win situations rather than maximizing profits and only caring about return on investment. Yes, even in punkrock the production and distribution and selling of records is a form of business. And yes, there are musicians and labels that think about their products exclusively in terms like these. What you have to overcome is the difference between your business and your private life. Make both the same and make both emotional and filled with respect and the aim of a better future. Sounds nice, doesn’t it? And very naive as well, I know. Boiling it down to their respective cores I am convinced that christianity, anarchy, buddhism and hippiedom are very similar. They are all about coming together for a better world for all people. Economics on the other hand are all about bringing people together for a better world for the winner. And a worse one for the rest. To be able to survive on the rules of a better world in a world ruled by economics is the big example that bands like Seven Sioux or rather the people in there are giving.

Of course, Seven Sioux adress all kinds of political issues in their songs as well, such as the influence of the church on the state or social security measures that leave people out in the cold. This time of the year quite literally. Isn’t it a shame when there are so many people in a rich country like Austria unable to afford proper heating during the winter that it needsprivate enterprises like radio stations or print magazines to give them the money for it? These companies naturally use these families for a twofold gain: to lure readers or listeners to their products (yes, again we are talking about products) with stories about how poor some people are, and secondly to boost their own image as good companies with a social conscience. Still, it is a shame for the political situation as a whole. This point is not mentioned on the record, but it is the sort of thing Seven Sioux would think about. They dress their messages in a lot of personal experiences and emotions as well. And it works.

Musically they still blast with a lot of drive and energy, but still melodic and nice for a big crowd to enjoy. Avail come to my mind, mainly because they used to be one of my favorite bands in a similar sound, and they were also a bunch of friends who put friendship and positive feelings above career. This kind of punkrock has only a minor amount of pure aggressiveness, that is to say, it is aggressive and wild in a lot of parts, but the anger is pointed from the whole crowd of listeners together at a distant target. Unlike all the brutal and violent hardcore so prevalent today, that drives the people listening to it to cathartic climaxes and most often gets stuck in a muscle-training mode only. This is not a fashion show, it is trying hard to work out something good. Maybe because the people behind Seven Sioux nowadays are mature and grown and have found various kinds of focuses in their lives. (There are hints at them on the front cover of this CD). Later on during the CD they even take back the tempo and even grab acoustic guitars. Maybe all the young punks won’t get too deeply into this, which is a shame, but anyway, trying is all you can do, right?