America is having a moment. The last four years have been like watching Gollum and Smeagol fighting over the country as the presidency is carried all the way to Mount Doom along with our democratic values and the remaining shreds of human decency. The unreality of the situation has led to frustration, disenfranchisement and, ultimately, ennui with our brain cells winking out after sustaining a fatal number of eye-rolls.
The conclusion, inevitably, has been manifested in the new video from The Bloody Hell, “Nobody Cares About America Anymore,” the band’s take on the state of the nation which, surprisingly, doesn’t point any fingers at the more obvious targets.
The Bloody Hell do not live in America. Like all of us, however, they are familiar with the concept of sleeping next to an elephant. Their news is our news, it spills into our daily lives, and if they’re going to roll over we’re going to feel it.
For The Blood Hell’s frontman, Ian Kean, the running commentary on our neighbours to the South became both ubiquitous and tedious.
“I worked at a popular bar which would often have the news showing on a T.V..” says Kean. “So, a dozen times a day I’d have the same conversation about how crazy America had become and how much people hated Trump. I became sort of immune to people’s various heated opinions and constantly trying to change the subject away from the negative chatter.”
And thus, “Nobody Cares About America” first came into the world… two years ago when nobody had any concept of what a year 2020 would turn out to be.
“We had no clue when we first demoed last summer how utterly insane and intense 2020 would become. Some people didn’t want me to release the song, in fear of backlash as the temperature got hotter and hotter, and, for a while, I agreed with them. I hope people will get it and remember that punk rock isn’t always supposed to be clean-cut and agreeable.”
Working with an animator from Mexico that goes by Necro Bunny, they collectively agreed that attacking the president or the current hot topic of the election was the low-hanging fruit. Instead, they chose to address one of the major symptoms and causes of America’s woes: “that nobody seems to care about the poor people of America that have to live in that situation.”
Rather than making a point that nobody cares about America anymore, The Bloody Hell put the focus on the fact that nobody cares about America anymore.
“They don’t have the social safety nets we do in Canada,” says Kean. “I can’t imagine the stress and uncertainty they face day by day. We are privileged to comment and critique from afar without living the absolute dire consequences of their political issues. I feel for the people of America, and hope they can sort themselves out in a positive way.
“I can’t be the only one sick of hearing about it. We certainly don’t mean to be all like ‘fuck America,’ ’cause that’s the punk thing to do, I just write what I know and what I feel and this is a reflection of that. Maybe the attempt at artistic honesty will shine through more than the cliché punk rock ethos.”