Giver: Hope For Change, Hope For A Better Tomorrow
These are dangerous times. The climate crisis is getting worse with every passing month, exploitative labour is still rampant in countries across the planet and the state of politics, particularly in the West, is in dire health with Brexit being just one massive example. It’s an unsettling and unstable time in human history, but every cloud has a silver lining and for us music enthusiasts, the struggles facing society in the 21st century can serve as an enormous pool for lyrical inspiration. Such is the case with GIVER and their explosive sophomore outing; Sculpture of Violence.
“It’s true that many issues we talk about on this record are overwhelmingly big, multi-layered and actually too complicated to be properly addressed in a three-minute punk song but nevertheless, these issues matter to us on a personal level,” bassist Christopher Schmidt tells us. “We don’t claim to discuss each of them in the detail they deserve and to have a monopoly on truth, but rather want to spark reflection processes and get people (including ourselves) to talk about how the world needs to change in the years to come. We’ve always been a political band and have songs about similar topics on our last record, but we have developed our own perspectives and approaches to many of the issues over the years.”
It’s not just GIVER‘s lyrical outlook that have developed in the years since their explosive debut, 2018’s Where The Cycle Breaks, on a musical level the quintet have honed and refined their sound and the result is simply spectacular. Every Age Has Its Dragons (Like An Empire) melodic riffage is an utter romp whilst Imitation Dreams‘ stomping pace showcases a band with collective fire in their bellies. It’s an explosive listen, calling back to the boom hardcore enjoyed in the early 2000s through bands like HAVE HEART and MODERN LIFE IS WAR. Although the influences can be easily drawn, Christopher explains that this time, the band strived harder than ever to forget their own sense of identity with Sculpture of Violence, rather than just be the product of that snapshot of hardcore history.
“Whereas we actually had clear references in mind when writing our first album Where The Cycle Breaks, we didn’t pressure ourselves to sound like a certain band or genre at all this time. There were tendencies and wishes in the band to make the new record sound a bit darker, more metal and maybe even a bit rockier, but I don’t know if we’ve actually achieved that,” Christopher says. “We almost lack the entire youthcrew momentum HEAVE HEART strongly relies on, so I am not even sure of how far the comparison holds. We definitely tried to avoid using tough mosh parts constantly as a means to induce energy.”
Whilst the influences of those seminal bands are clear as day, how does one actually go about putting your own stamp on a genre where innovation can be incredibly difficult? Guitarist Benedikt Ricken explains that this time round, the band looked to widen their collective radar. “I think one major thing we all dwelled on over the last two years of putting this record together was just really appreciating all of our different musical and artistic backgrounds and preferences, and using those differences to create something together. When we met up to discuss new ideas or just jam for a little bit, we’d always try to acknowledge every idea brought in and be respectful of each other with our criticism and suggestions. This led to a very cool and ‘safe’ vibe along the writing process, in which we tried to really get to the point of everyone being one hundred percent satisfied with everything we agreed upon.”
You get the feeling that there is a strong sense of unity within the GIVER camp. As a collective, this unity has allowed the band to produce a record of stunning quality and given the heavy lyrical content we touched upon earlier, this notion of unity actually lies at a much deeper level. You could forgive GIVER if they decided to wallow in the misery of their lyrical themes, opting to present a record that reflects the societal sea of shit. However, at its core, there is hope. Hope for change, hope for a better tomorrow. “It’s very important to us to not dwell in negativity, but always try to turn that energy coming from anger and frustration into positive action. If you don’t start, who will? It helped my mental health a lot to become active. I found that what gives hope is to produce hope actively,” Christopher says. “I am lucky enough to never have to deal with depression, but have learned a lot about it through our singer Robert [Anderson, vocals] over the last years. I think he is an amazing and brave person talking openly about his illness on and off stage and I admire him for that. The first time I fully comprehended what the climate catastrophe actually means, was the first time I remotely understood how actual depression feels like. Educating yourself on how the system we live in works and the injustices it reproduces daily can be maddening. However, talking to your friends, family and people you hold dear and getting active helps a lot. Once you start you’re not part of the problem any more, but part of its solution.”
It feels like Sculpture of Violence is reminiscent of those early 2000’s hardcore bands like BLACKLISTED and HAVE HEART. Was this something you yourself wanted to tap into, to callback to that style from two decades ago?
Christopher: Whereas we actually had clear references in mind when writing our first album Where The Cycle Breaks, we didn’t pressure ourselves to sound like a certain band or genre at all this time. There were tendencies and wishes in the band to make the new record sound a bit darker, more metal and maybe even a bit rockier, but I don’t know if we’ve actually achieved that. We almost lack the entire youthcrew momentum Have Heart strongly relies on, so I am not even sure of how far the comparison holds. We definitely tried to avoid using tough mosh parts constantly as a means to induce energy. Regarding the genre of hardcore, the bands that have influenced us the most and that had an impact on this record are the likes of MODERN LIFE IS WAR, BLACKLISTED, VERSE, BANE etc. But there definitely have been bands from other genres that had an equal impact on us as well.
Diving deeper into the record’s themes and messages, you aren’t afraid to tackle the big issues. Everything from exploitative labour, the ill-conceived concepts of masculinity or the current climate catastrophe, this record addresses them all. Going in to craft this album, did you always know that you wanted to address issues we are facing in today’s day and age?
Christopher: It’s true that many issues we talk about on this record are overwhelmingly big, multi-layered and actually too complicated to be properly addressed in a three-minute punk song but nevertheless, these issues matter to us on a personal level. We don’t claim to discuss each of them in the detail they deserve and to have a monopoly on truth, but rather want to spark reflection processes and get people (including ourselves) to talk about how the world needs to change in the years to come. We’ve always been a political band and have songs about similar topics on our last record, but we have developed our own perspectives and approaches to many of the issues named above over the years. GIVER has played a huge role in this because we were exposed to loads of great, emancipatory places, interesting and conscious people and ideas through playing shows, reading fanzines and listening to bands over the years. It seems only logical that we feel the urge to project issues like this back into our art.
And by addressing these topics, do you hope to open new lines of dialogue amongst those who are divided in society? Would it be fair to say that would be the biggest achievement with this record?
Christopher: I do think that we’re constantly underestimating the strength we have as multipliers. I don’t mean “we” as a band but “we” as you and me, as persons doing things we feel are right. We definitely need to get out of our comfort zone bubbles and talk to people who haven’t bothered with these issues up until now, and try to find solutions together. But I also think that it’s super important to find groups of like-minded people to organise with, exchange opinions on a different level and just be political together. Write a fanzine, go to a demo, or make yourself familiar with civil disobedience. However, I also think that there are people whose views can’t be changed by respectful dialogue and I think that – at least in Germany – it was a huge mistake to try to do so over the last years. We’ve got a far-right party on the rise and I think that we should just take every opportunity away from them where they can blow their populist propaganda out into the world. No tolerance for intolerance. These people have used democratic means to dismantle democracy once already and we shouldn’t let them do it again.
Of course, the issues you address across this album cannot be easily answered. They are a tricky, multi-layered and there is a lot of work to be done. Looking beyond the music for a second here, how do you feel we can best resolve the issues you explore on this album?
Christopher: The truth is that there is no single easy way of solving all the problems we have in the world today, because they are all strongly connected. We live in a system based on inequality and endless growth that thrives on your feelings of incompleteness and dissatisfaction. We need to ask ourselves in what kind of world we want to live and how we define a good life. Money can be a means to get wealth, but is not the wealth itself. We need to fight nationalism because we will have millions of people leaving their homes over the next decade due to the climate catastrophe. The climate crisis is a problem that can only be tackled globally by humanity as a whole, and the concept of nation states fuels competitiveness and leads to governments being afraid to act first. We need to fight capitalism because it is not designed to fit into a world of limited resources and frankly shits on workers all over the planet. We need to fight fascism because its people like Bolsonaro and Trump who are still pouring oil into the fire in 2020 and we need to fight racism, because we need more solidarity and empathy as times are getting harder. However, it is not your task alone to save the world, but each of us should find an issue that means a lot to them and become active. Join your local environmental, anti-fascist or feminist group, do your part and talk to others.
Whilst the issues and topics you explore on this new release are as worrying as they are depressing, when I listen to the record I feel the opposite. Almost a hope for change for the better. How important was it for you to offer hope rather than dwell the negativity experienced with these topics?
Christopher: I am lucky enough to never have to deal with depression, but have learned a lot about it through our singer Robert [Anderson, vocals] over the last years. I think he is an amazing and brave person talking openly about his illness on and off stage and I admire him for that. The first time I fully comprehended what the climate catastrophe actually means, was the first time I remotely understood how actual depression feels like. Educating yourself on how the system we live in works and the injustices it reproduces daily can be maddening. However, talking to your friends, family and people you hold dear and getting active helps a lot. Once you start you’re not part of the problem anymore, but part of its solution. It’s very important to us to not dwell in negativity, but always try to turn that energy coming from anger and frustration into positive action. If you don’t start, who will? It helped my mental health a lot to become active. I found that what gives hope is to produce hope actively.
Sculpture of Violence is out now via Holy Roar Records.
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