These days, it is not rare to hear folks say they think current events such as, namely, the Iraq war, mirrors the events of the 1960s and 70s. More over, it is even more common to hear ubiquitous desires for an equal amount of political, strong and honest music that responds to the tyrannies, misjudgments, and wars as there were during the 60s and 70s.

But, no doubt, there has been a revival of protest songs in the 21^st Century. Along with famous yesteryears Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young to modern day artist such as Rise Against and Devendra Banhart, Viva Mayday has joined the ranks of formidable forces in the respectable art of protest music.

Influenced by Bob Marley and the Wailers and The Clash to newspaper headlines and poor government decisions, Viva Mayday combines the sound of classic rock, reggae, punk and soul to their politically charged lyrics. Their songs have a chilling effect the runs down the spine; songs such as “Fidel” and “IRC” solicits crucial questions and declares indispensable declarations:

Do not support their war machine
For the sake of our liberty
Won’t you rise up to the tyranny?
Of their proclaimed democracy (From Fidel)

Here they’ve found my SOS to all
Here they’ve killed them for a believed greater cause
And how I hear them, mothers they once were
No longer they are for nobody heard their cries (From IRC)

Edwin Starr and Phil Orchs would be proud.

Viva Mayday on YouTube

How and where did you guys start playing music together?
In our Junior year of high-school, we started a band together just for fun. We rehearsed at Gian's house until the neighbors "politely" gave us the boot so we moved our rehearsal space 6 blocks away into your typical, New York City basement. As the years went by we became more aware of the fact that a message could be spread through music and we wanted to shine a light on certain issues kept in the dark. In tern, our style of music and sound evolved along with our message.

Your songs have strong lyrics, particularly politically charged, and a sound that goes hand in hand with your words. Who or what are your greatest influences for your lyrics and sound? In terms of lyrics, the headlines in the papers, things we read, stories of social injustice - anything and anyone we may come across and have experienced in our lives influences the songs we write. Are musical influences range from The Clash, Dispatch, Rage Against the Machine, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Fela Kuti, Earth Wind and Fire, Peter Tosh, Asadife - we try to draw influences from all different cultures and styles of music.

You guys have combined the sounds of reggae, classic rock and punk together, and very successfully I might add. How did you happen upon such a unique and prominent sound for the band?
First off we appreciate the compliment. When we first started playing together, we each had different musical backgrounds. Jafe was brought up playing Afro-Carribean music, Dukes family always had The Who and Bruce playing around the house, and Gian was always into Funk and Soul styles of drumming. As we kept practicing, these different styles of music that we were brought up on came together and it kinda' just naturally blended.

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