Frequently Asked Questions

Many of your questions can be answered by reading some interviews we have done. Here are some for your perusal.

What are those things on Todd’s hands?

Those are called “warts”.

Why did Chris leave and who is Glen Lambert?

He didn’t. It was a joke.

What is a “Halfhead”?

It is the band’s collective hairstyle.

Is the name “Donald” in the song Iteration referring to Reginas’ own freckly badboy Donnie Anderson?

No, but i can assure you that Donnie Anderson also wept through the proceedings.

What is COINTELPRO?

COINTELPRO was the FBI’s secret program to undermine the popular upsurge which swept the country during the 1960s. Though the name stands for “Counterintelligence Program,” the targets were not enemy spies. The FBI set out to eliminate “radical” political opposition inside the US. When traditional modes of repression (exposure, blatant harassment, and prosecution for political crimes) failed to counter the growing insurgency, and even helped to fuel it, the Bureau took the law into its own hands and secretly used fraud and force to sabotage constitutionally - protected political activity. Its methods ranged far beyond surveillance, and amounted to a domestic version of the covert action for which the CIA has become infamous throughout the world.

An excellent source for further reading about the program can be found in the form of an essay by Ward Churchill either on the Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes CD/ LP or conveniently, right here on the site. Another excellent source for further reading about the program can be found here.

What is a “Motor League”?

It is where chris used to work, making maps for old fogey’s in the summer and dispatching tow-trucks in the winter.

Why don’t you have a message board for this site?

Unmoderated message boards are useless. Look anywhere on the net at unmoderated message-boards and you will see an endless string of stupidity and lies. We used to have a message-board that we tried to moderate and it was not too bad. Rumour-mongering and name-calling was kept to a minimum. We no longer have time to moderate a message board, hence, no message board.

Why do you hate Americans?

We don’t hate Americans. I hate the fact that we are even ever asked this question. Some of our best friends are Americans. Seriously, criticisms of America have less, if anything at all, to do with individual citizens, and everything to do with a level of power concentrated in the hands of “American” policy-makers (by and large, rich corporations and their lackey politicians). You have to keep in mind, there are millions of American citizens who live lives in opposition to the role that their country (and most Western countries, Canada included) plays in the suppression and destruction of the values of freedom and democracy. The United States is this planet’s only economic and military superpower. We think it’s important to ask how it became and how it remains the most influential player on the world’s stage. And we think that if you take time out from the shallow, whitewashed analysis we get from the corporate-owned media, you’ll begin to find a lot of ugly answers about how the world actually works. The William Blum piece in the Knowledge Is Power section of this site is a brief but informative starting point. Check it out.

My friend went to one of your shows in ‘96 and said all you did was lecture the crowd between songs. Is that true?

There was a time and many places where we felt it was better to get in people’s faces and leave an impression — positive or negative — than not leave any at all. We never really wanted to alienate anyone, but I guess we sometimes got swept up in the moment. These days, I cringe in terror recalling a lot of our between-song rhetoric and hope to usher in a new era of a kinder, gentler Propagandhi. Ha. Kidding. We have to stand up for what we believe in, and its’ not always going to be easy, initially, for people to reconcile the chasm between an alternative analysis of society and a traditional, corporate-driven analysis of society. Nobody likes hearing that the political systems and histories we’ve been taught to trust and build our senses of identity on, are riddled with lies and corruption. But life ain’t a popularity contest, so fuck it. If you can’t stand the heat, get the fuck out’ the kitchen. Anyways, we promise not to lecture you if you promise to stop throwing hot dogs at us.

Are you guys vegetarian? Why?

Yes, we are all vegetarians (more specifically, our diets are “vegan“), which means we do our best within this insane framework of capitalism to live cruelty-free lives.

Are you communists / anarchists / syndicalists / surrealists / post-modernist situationist gonadists?

We, like anyone, recognize that there are better, fairer, more humane ways to do things than what we all often experience in our day to day lives. In the big picture, we think that means that we have to reexamine our society’s institutions and be willing to work to radically reform or even remove them if they don’t measure up to the values of freedom and democracy that most of us claim to live for and to be willing to die for.

We encourage people to critically investigate any and all proposed social/economic alternatives to capitalism.

You can call us whatever the hell you want - just don’t call us late for lunch.

Why do you hate ska music?

We don’t. Ska Sucks is only a joke. Don’t take it too seriously. Feel free to skank your checkered little hearts out next time we play it in your town. Bring your moped if you like!

Are you straight edge?

No.

Why do you hate people who are straight edge?

We don’t. Some of our best friends don’t drink or smoke or take drugs. And some of our best friends do.

Why do you hate religious people?

We don’t. We do think that it is at least arguable that belief in gods is irrational and that social policy based on belief in the supernatural is absurd and potentially dangerous.

Besides, as a band and as regular dudes involved in activism, we’ve worked with religious groups on a variety of human-rights issues since day one. So please be so kind to go pull your ‘poor-persecuted-Christian’ routine somewhere else, OK? Thanks.