Strike Anywhere Release First New Songs in 11 Years

Modern punk giants Strike Anywhere have just announced their first release in over a decade, sharing a pair of new songs from their upcoming EP, Nightmares of the West.

Nightmares of the West will be the Richmond, Va. band’s first collection of music since unleashing Iron Front in 2009. The powerful anti-fascist act have shared the anthemic “Imperium of Waste” and emphatic “Dress the Wounds” via Pure Noise Records.

"We wanted to write things that we felt really fresh about and that revealed something new," explains vocalist Thomas Barnett. "It was almost like this refresh, this restart, where we found ways to write songs that not only moved us, but also reflected the times and our ages. But we definitely feel inspired, and this record is a platform for us to hopefully - in time - play shows, connect with community, and help keep those little fires lit in ourselves and in others through the music and those shared experiences. These songs are the conversations that we want to have and the feelings that we still really need to share."

"It's speaking to what's happening now, obviously," Barnett adds. "This system, this machine, this view of history has deep, fatal flaws. And it's not just something for people to talk about academically, or, you know, in little groups, like this is something that is writ large now, when it hasn't been in our lifetimes. And the critical failures of the view of America that the view of capitalism equating with freedom, the view of nation states, all this stuff that's past its sell-by date, itself, like these ideas, that were flawed to begin with, and nobody was honest about it. And now, unprepared as fuck, here we are, and we really need to say 'Okay, look, we can reorganize this.  This thing  happened 200 years ago, or the western hegemony of the globe happened 400 years ago and these were deep missteps. And we can either annihilate ourselves by trying to justify it to death, or - to quote the Bouncing Souls - we can find what's good and make it last."

The punk poet concludes, "This has to be about healing. It has to be about looking deep and understanding that we're all still in this together. And this shit is getting harder. And it's a lot of the same stuff that bands have been talking about, that people have been protesting and laying down their lives for. It's not even about having all the answers, but finding that strength is really important. It's really important to stay in the game and to feel love, and to feel like your family - and everyone and everything around you - is worth fighting for. That's all this band has been trying to say for 20 years and counting, but it's the project of a lifetime."

Listen to Strike Anywhere’s two new tracks below and make sure to pick up Nightmares of the West once it drops on July 17.

Strike Anywhere, "Imperium of Waste"

Strike Anywhere, "Dress the Wounds"

Strike Anywhere, Nightmares of the West Artwork + Track Listing

1. Documentary
2. Dress the Wounds
3. The Bells
4. Frontier Glitch
5. Imperium of Waste
6. Opener
7. We Make the Road By Walking

Top 25 Punk Albums of All Time