Propagandhi - Biography
When Propagandhi, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, emerged in the early 1990s, the band’s support for various left-wing causes was the main feature that distinguished it from the popular “melodic,” suburban punk bands of the time, whose sound, style and sense of humor Propagandhi shared. Guitarist Chris Hannah and drummer Jordan (or “Jord”) Samolesky grew up in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, where the pair agreed to form a band while still in high school in the mid-80s. After moving to Winnipeg together, Hannah and Samolesky put up a flyer in a local record store seeking a bassist for their “progressive thrash band.” The only person to answer was Scott Hopper, who became Propagandhi’s first bassist. The band does not seem to have played any shows during this period, and Hopper left to join another local group.
With Mike “Stinky” Braumeister on bass, Propagandhi began to play around town, and in 1991 the band opened for Fugazi. Braumeister quit to move to Vancouver later that year, and Hannah and Samolesky taught new bassist John Samson the set in time to open NOFX’s Winnipeg show. After Propagandhi played that night, NOFX’s Fat Mike asked for a copy of their demo, which he liked well enough to finance sessions at LA’s Westbeach studio. These sessions resulted in Propagandhi’s debut, released on Fat Mike’s label.
Propagandhi’s first album How to Clean Everything (1993 Fat Wreck Chords) was often compared to NOFX at the time of its release. The two bands did sound alike, though reviewers tended to overlook what Propagandhi had that NOFX did not: convictions about the injustice of racism, homophobia, sexism, animal cruelty and capitalism. As if answering its critics, the band carelessly pasted its name over the NOFX logo on the cover of the How to Clean a Couple o’ Things single (1993 Fat Wreck Chords), though the consumer’s eye was first drawn to the lurid color photograph of Samolesky puking that took up most of the sleeve. Propagandhi’s sense of humor was muted and its social critique amplified on the next release, a split 10-inch with fellow Winnipeg punks I Spy called I’d Rather Be Flag-Burning (1994 Recess).
John Samson left Propagandhi after the band recorded its second album, Less Talk, More Rock (1996 Fat Wreck Chords); he then formed Winnipeg’s The Weakerthans. In 1997, Hannah and Samolesky were among the co-founders of G7 Welcoming Committee Records, a Winnipeg collective devoted to the release of contemporary punk records as well as leftist spoken-word albums by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Ann Hansen, Ward Churchill and others. Propagandhi issued the rarities compilation Where Quantity Is Job #1 (1998 G7 Welcoming Committee), which included their side of the Flag-Burning 10-inch, but the band was otherwise inactive at the end of the decade as Hannah and Samolesky devoted their energies to the record label.
With Todd “the Rod” Kowalski of I Spy replacing Samson on bass, Propagandhi recorded its third album, Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes (2001 G7 Welcoming Committee). After Potemkin City Limits (2005 G7 Welcoming Committee)—on which the band falsely claimed that Hannah had been replaced by newcomer “Glen Lambert”—the trio added second guitarist David Guillas, formerly of Giant Sons. According to Propagandhi’s website (http://propagandhi.com), the band broke with Fat Wreck Chords in 2005 over Fat Mike’s Rock Against Bush campaign, which propagandhi.com characterizes as “[Fat Wreck Chords’] CEO’s highly-publicized campaign to ensure that [the] Democratic Party got a turn to totally rape and plunder the planet in the service of corporate power.” The DVD LIVE from Occupied Territory: an official bootleg (2007 G7 Welcoming Committee) captures a 2003 Winnipeg performance in aid of the Grassy Narrows First Nation Blockade and the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement. Propagandhi’s most recent album is Supporting Caste (2009 G7 Welcoming Committee).