Music

Propagandhi have a new song, album, tour and label—sorry Fat Mike, but it's Epitaph

by Tyler Munro

For me, there’s always been a link between Propagandhi and the Polaris Prize. Mostly, I’ve wondered why they’ve never been longlisted. But today, while everyone was applauding the unveiling of this year’s Shortlist, Propagandhi not so quietly made a splash of their own, first by announcing that they’d signed to Epitaph and later by releasing the first single and title track off their newly announced album Failed States.

But why Epitaph? There’s two reasons we can see.

The first is money. Now we’re not accusing Propagandhi of chasing the dough, though we’re sure they got paid in the deal. But Supporting Caste was put out by both Smallman Records and the band’s own G7 Welcoming Committee, two labels that as it stands are all but defunct due to a lack of funding. The hardest part about having a message is getting it heard. That’s where Epitaph comes in.

The second reason is Fat Mike. After Propagandhi’s squabbles with the NOFX frontman and his Fat Wreck Chords label, they’ve gone and signed to what might be their biggest rival. We can’t see Fat Mike’s reaction, but we imagine it looks something like this:

The important thing here is that Propagandhi have a new album coming out on September 4^th. It’s going to be released by Epitaph, which might make you mad, and there’s a single you can hear below, which is awesome. And if it all comes together, maybe next year they’ll make it to the longlist.

“Failed States is our most formidable — and to me personally, our most surprising — attempt at conjuring the numinous from the quotidian,” said Chris Hannah. “Yes, I had to look those words up.”

Check below for the song as well as a list of the band’s upcoming Canadian dates. They’ve listed the shows as Part 1 of their Failed States Canadian Assault, so we’d assume more shows are coming soon.

Propagandhi- Failed States by Epitaph Records

Failed States
01. Note to Self
02. Failed States
03. Devil’s Creek
04. Rattan Cane
05. Hadron Collision
06. Status Update
07. Cognitive Suicide
08. Things I Like
09. Unscripted Moment
10. Dark Matters
11. Lotus Gait
12. Duplicate Keys Icaro (An Interim Report)

Failed States Canadian Assault: Part 1

9/25 London, ON – London Music Hall
9/26 Toronto, ON – Phoenix Theatre
9/27 Ottawa, ON – Ritual
9/28 Montreal, QC – La Tulipe
9/29 Chicitoumi, QC – Hotel la Sagueneenne
9/30 Quebec City, QC – Imperial de Quebec