Interview with Anarchy 13
Rezine: Who does what in the band?
J.D. Anarchy: On READ BETWEEN THE LIES we had Total Poseur on drums, Dwiki Yoenarso on bass and myself, J.D. Anarchy on guitar and vocals. Recently Dwiki had to leave the band due to work/band conflicts and our long-time friend Flaming Bobby stepped up to take over on bass and that’s really been really cool; it’s always an inspiration to keep the members a part of a local family because that way you really get off each other in the studio.
Rezine: How did Anarchy 13 start?
J.D. Anarchy: Well, from 2006 – 2014 I fronted CITIZEN USELESS, a punk band I began in Jakarta, Indonesia with a kickass crew of local musicians that kept changing until we had a pretty solid lineup. We released four full studio albums but during all the songwriting process I had dozens of songs that just didn’t fit in with the CITIZEN USELESS sound – they were simple, fast, and raw – so in 2010 I decided to start ANARCHY13 as a side project with myself playing all the instruments on the demos, basically because I really thought the songs were pretty sick and I wanted to get them laid down. I labeled the genre as ‘dirtcore’ because at that time I was really just learning to play the instruments and it sounded pretty rough.
Rezine: What's the meaning of the name of the band? What’s the number 13 for?
J.D. Anarchy: Over the years I have been very privileged to meet many anarchists, socialists, free-thinkers, and intellectuals who have turned me onto the idea of anarchism. Reading Noam Chomsky, Peter Kropotkin, Emma Goldman, and others, as well as sitting down and really being challenged on the way the world is being controlled opened my mind to simply not accepting the status quo. I had never been comfortable with the typical brainwashing of what a person is “supposed to do” or the life path that is pushed on the young generation. Luckily I found like-minded people that wanted to make music that attempted to address a lot of this and ANARCHY13 went from being a solo side project to an actual three-piece live band. The 13 basically came about when I was writing down some kind of “interview” questions to see if a musician “fit” with the band’s ideals. 13 basic things were important to me to find in a musician I was going to write, play, and spend a lot of time hanging out with. Things like No anger towards any member of the band for any reason, every band member takes full responsibility for anything they do that affects the band, every expense is shared by the band members, all lyrical content need to be approved by all members, etc… stuff like that. I didn’t want any bad blood between the members for any reason, that kind of shit can kill a friendship and kill a band, and friendship is something I value highly. Luckily, I found some kindred spirits who embraced the ideals and ANARCHY13 began playing and recording and supporting the local scene. That’s what anarchy13 is all about in my books, working together as friends first, a band second, and moving towards the common goal of making some great music.
Rezine: Do you find it exhausting or exciting to talk about anarchy?
J.D. Anarchy: Sometimes it is exciting and other times it can be tedious and frustrating, it all depends on the person you are talking to. People who have already accepted the wrong idea/definition of anarchy and have been swayed by the media to think that anarchists are actually looters and violent offenders cannot be reasoned with or educated, they’re far too ignorant and it’s like talking to a wall. Other times you get people who are very intellectual and are interested in the idea of anarchism and really want to hear your opinion – whether they accept it or not or even have the willingness to believe it – and those are the ones that are a true joy to speak to, and debate with.
Rezine: What are your influences?
J.D. Anarchy: I think each of us are influenced by our own playlists and they’re really eclectic. I know Dwiki is a huge 60’s and 70’s psychedelic rock fan as well as stoner rock and Total Poseur is a massive ska freak and is really into pop and melodic punk. Personally, being a teen in the 80s – early 90s I have always been into the old school hardcore and punk like Black Flag, Minor Threat, Faith, The Stupids, D.O.A., and Gorilla Biscuits – that’s where I started from with our sound anyway.
Rezine: What inspires your lyrics?
J.D. Anarchy: Obviously with songs like Class War, 1.3.1.2., Does Anyone Smell Fascism, and Kill The Rich, our songs are inspired by anti-government, anti-authority, freedom from oppression and capitalism, and just basically being independent from the system. I have always been driven by that quote “If you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention.” I have never found the definitive author of that quote, but it’s pretty damn accurate I think.
Rezine: You have a new album READ BETWEEN THE LIES. Can you tell us about it and was it a long process to come up with the songs?
J.D. Anarchy: Four or five of the songs were recorded back in 2010-2012ish and released as an online digital demo but I didn’t really have any plans back then. After my main band broke up I dusted them off and began tweaking them with a couple guys I met and we then started developing new songs. By the time a year passed we had about 20 or 25 songs we were working on and we started talking about an album. We took the band on the road for a few shows and played some local venues and tested the songs out. Soon we had an album full that we felt were strong enough for release so we headed into my home studio and recorded them. The songs were basically a collection of things were felt strongly against, attitudes we owned, and a big middle finger to people who had always tried to hold us down. Unfortunately three days after the final drum takes were done, Total Poseur, our long-time friend and drummer, was killed in a motorcycle accident. I couldn’t let the songs sit and go nowhere so I spent months working on them and READ BETWEEN THE LIES was released on July 25, 2016 in honour of him. It can be downloaded at Bandcamp and it’s a ‘pay what you want’ release with 100% of the sales going to support Total Poseur’s family.
Rezine: Do you have songs that are not on the album that we might hear another time?
J.D. Anarchy: Hell yeah. We wrote almost 40 songs for the album and actually recorded about 20 of them before we chose the 13 that fit the theme. I am currently working on mixing and mastering the remaining songs for another release by the end of the year called CUT THE CRAP. Keep your eyes open for that. They’re pretty wild and fun songs, some experimental and not as serious as the political ones on the current release.
Rezine: What’s coming up for Anarchy13?
J.D. Anarchy: Aside from the B-Sides on CUT THE CRAP, we are constantly writing and recording so I don’t see us going very long before we release another full album, quite possibly next year. We will definitely be playing local shows and always supporting the local scene and the awesome bands we play with here (Rejected Kids, Fatrace, Rhetoric States, Dirtwaves, The Spikeweed, Nutmeg… we’re talking about you, brothers!) Each of us enjoy helping out all the friends and bands we tour/play with and we often lend our help to them because that’s what anarchism is about to us, helping out and spreading the friendship. We are also looking for an international label at the moment and hope to get some stuff released overseas soon as well – hopefully on vinyl, cuz vinyl kicks ass! Luckily we have some contacts with some awesome DIY labels in the USA and some awesome bands who are super supportive of the scene in Indonesia and have always helped us out in the past so I am very stoked that Anarchy13 will get some distribution and airtime in the US sometime soon.