US Band Liberty & Justice Release Song in Tagalog/Visayan – The Song Rules [USA]

You know how important an individual is to a community and scene when that particular individual currently resides on the other side of the planet, but the members of the community that he came from are so proud of him that submit information to us about their latest happenings.

The following was submitted to us by a punk rock lifer from the Philippines (who we love very much), Agee Linan. We were also able to follow up with the subject, Edwin Carson, himself further below.

Respect.

Hardcore and punk to us will ALWAYS be more than just music.

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Submitted by Agee Linan:

“Edwin Carson played an important role in the Cebuano HC-punk scene in the mid-90s. Playing in influential bands like Left of Center and Shrapnel, Edwin was able to put the island of Cebu at the forefront of Philippine underground music.

After relocating to the US in the early 2000s, Edwin continued his passion by playing music with a few other bands, eventually landing the bottom-end duties for Houston-based punk band Liberty & Justice.

Liberty & Justice plays hard-hitting hardcore with explicit oi-influences – with lyrics tackling human rights, racism, and day-to-day survival. With Edwin contributing to the songwriting, Liberty & Justice is now tackling issues of diaspora and the life of immigrants in America.

Their recent track “Binhod Nga Kalag”, sung primarily in Tagalog and Cebuano (Filipino local dialects), is a rocker that deals with the apathy that is quite prevalent all around the world. The song tries to ask why people are turning a blind eye to the injustices being committed around them and are willing to support the lies that perpetuate the said injustices.”

Huge thanks to Agee for sending that in. And now we get some words from the man himself Edwin:

“We started writing and recording a few new songs last year for an EP and we got asked by our friends Empire Down (Minnesota) to do a split 12” with them. Ryan asked me to write a song so I thought I’d write it in Tagalog but eventually, half of the song ended up in Visayan since I’m Cebuano.

The inspiration for the lyrics came from a conversation I had with a Pinoy Trump supporter during the protests for George Floyd. He was blaming Antifa and stated that he didn’t understand why people were upset. I responded, “Dude, you should totally understand why. We [in the Philippines] had people power back in the 80s. People were fed up. People wanted change!” I’m not sure if I ever got through to him.

The second verse, which is in Visayan, addresses the current state of politics in the Philippines. It comes as a reminder of our own history and what happened years ago in the hopes that no one forgets.

I’m SO stoked that my bandmates pushed me to sing in my native tongue. The full EP will consist of 5 songs from us but will be released on Primator Crew [France] and Head to Wall [USA].”

Now go blast this amazing jam over and over like we have been doing all morning…

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