Anchorless and Gifts
Singer, bassist and occasional songwriter for Propagandhi until he left to form his own band, it’s inevitable that John K. Samson would come up. Propagandhi and John K. Samson seem inseparable, even though they split forever ago; questions of Propagandhi would plague John K. Samson’s career long, long after he’d struck out on his own with pop punk darling The Weakerthans, and Propagandhi would hold on to their resentment of John K. Samson’s more commercial success well past the point where it was professional. Echoes of Propaghandi’s passive-aggressive backbiting at Samson linger on in online articles; in 2008, Canadian music blog Zed Equals Zee quoted Propagandhi’s about page on the subject of Samson’s 1996 departure:
“For the next 3 years, we rode the tail-end of the punk-rock explosion. When the smoke cleared and we were putting together Less Talk More Rock, it was becoming evident that Jordy and I, the rural metalheads, were cut from an entirely different cloth than little John-John, the urbane poet. He just didn’t seem to enjoy getting attacked by nazi-skinheads or sleeping on piss-soaked mattresses in lice-infested Italian squats anymore. Go figure.
“So shortly after we recorded LTMR, we shook hands, performed a mutual culling of the herd and like all good revolutionary anti-capitalists, got into an argument about money. Eventually, we worked out our differences and helped John into his proverbial Golden Parachute, which he has apparently, thus far, rolled into 80,000 worth of pennies with which to buy gourmet peanut butter and bread made of gold. Weird!”
Hey y'all! The split record I’ve been working on with Nick and Alyssa is finally finished and available for download! This is the first time that Loone has ever been at the nexus of the labors of multiple dedicated musicians. I’ve felt so honored to have them along with me for how intense a process it’s been. The strength they’ve lent to me at different moments has been unprecedented for me in certain ways. This record is the result of months of thorny tangles of love and work. Come and get it! It’s for you!
