The Brothers Band

be here, I don’t want, (No! No!) Don’t wanna be here, I’m making it clear, I’m saying it here, I don’t want, (No! No!) Don’t wanna be here!I don’t want, don’t want, don’t wanna be here, I don’t want, (No! No!) Don’t wanna be here, I’m making it clear, I’m saying it here, when you open your mouth it fucking hurts my ears, I don’t want, (No! No!)Don’t wanna be here! Have I made it clear, have I made it clear I don’t! (No! No! No!)I don’t want (No! No!) I don’t want (No!) Don’t wanna be here! Get out of your fucking chairs and do what you want! Sing! No! No! No! No! (x4)

How do I start? Honestly I never imagined myself writing a piece about my own album, and what it means to me in terms of resistance. It’s pretty fucking cool I’m not going to lie. Also a little weird because you could listen to the album yourself, and see how the music within it screams resistance against systems within capitalism and a general societal status quo which, in my opinion, we’ve been taught to internalize. By listening to it yourself you can also apply your own experiences to it, and use the music to empower yourself to resist against anything in your own life, or flashback to a time when you felt belittled and resisted against a higher power/authority. So talking about what it means for me feels a little strange since I don’t want to take away the power of the album (power of music) in the path of empowering oneself to resist. Yet, in mentioning how the album empowers each and every individual differently, I want to share my thoughts on the conversation of Fury Road, and how for me it encapsulates resistance, and continues to empower me.

Before writing the first song on the album “I Wanna Make a Scene!” I found myself being pushed into a mold set by society, a mold that meant I had to ignore things around me like racism, ignore toxic relationship dynamics and how they affect me and my mental health, and ignore problems within a broken capitalist system and to simply be told to “shut up and play the game” anytime I would try to resist and explain myself. I watched Mad Max: Fury Road during that time, and something in me clicked. Watching Furiosa’s journey of resistance against a ruler which would imprison and torture those she cared about was inspiring to me. Not only that, but the energy of the film, the music, the character’s

voices, the scenery; it all drove me to stop speaking for other people in my music, and start speaking for myself. By thinking like that, and changing my mindset, I started speaking up against racism and things within the system that acted as a barrier to me, and my work. By speaking up, societal standards told me to stop, that I was being too aggressive. So, one day I sat down with my guitar and started playing and singing what came to be “I Wanna Make a Scene!” I wanted to remind myself that, in some people’s eyes, calling out systematic problems is seen as “making a scene.” And

Fury ROad on spotify

rather than be silenced and reluctant to speak up in fear of being rejected by an internalized status quo, I want to make that scene. I want to stand up for what I believe in everyday and speak my truth, rather than be silenced. Making the album, I hope to empower everyone who feels, even slightly, similarly impacted in their own lives. To resist is to keep “making a scene,” as they say. Because speaking up and using our voice is the only way we can be heard as humans who deserve compassion, and deserve to be heard. By making a scene, you resist. And so, I kept writing my music to keep empowering myself. As I did, I discovered, like Furiosa, that I was on my very own Fury Road. A road which some will call “crazy” or “insane.” But I remind myself of something Captain Carter said, when I feel affected by the words of others: “If everyone starts to call you crazy, and makes you feel like so, and they tell you to turn around and abide - that’s when you plant yourself even firmer into the ground; and say no.”