Here’s a nice interview with our very own Section 4, done up by the fine folks at Redstar73:
Redstar73 : Please can you introduce your band. When was it started? What about your name?
Section 4: Howaya! We’re Section 4 from Ballina, Co. Mayo, Ireland – Paul (guitar/vocals), Conor, (Drums/vocals), Bob (Bass/vocals). We got together in 2007 with the intention of being a straight up Oi! Band, but before long other influences, especially Reggae and Ska, came into our sound. The name is taken from Section 4 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act under which 2 of us, together with some friends of ours, were arrested one night; the story of that night forms the lyrics to the song “Night In the Cells” off our first album. Needless to say drink was taken…
Redstar73 : You have just released your new album. Tell us more about it.
This album is a little different to our first one in that there’s a little more of the ska and reggae influence compared to tthe first one. Also theres a lot of extra instruments overdubbed here and there – organ, sax, trumpet, acoustic guitar, bodhran…we had quite a few of our mates guesting on it, cheers to all of them! This time around we’ve had a few labels help us out with the release; Jobsworth (Ireland), Rebeltime (Canada) and Infiltrate The System (England). That’ll will help with the promotion and distribution for which we’re very grateful.Due to the lenght of time it took us to get all the overdubbing and mixing done, we are almost ready to go and record again, so watch this space!
Redstar73 : How important is for you the DIY idea and politics?
The DIY idea is great in a lot of ways but I’m not absolutist about it. The sense of community in the scene, the mutual aid, total control over every aspect of your band – all wonderful but it is very hard for DIY bands to survive. We all have to eat somehow so if you are making no money on music you have to work other jobs etc which means you have less time to do music. For every DIY band that can keep going for years there are a thousand great bands who broke up because they couldnt afford what is essentially a very expensive hobby. I would never change one word or one note of a song for money but if a label wanted to give us money to tour, record etc without setting any conditions I’d have no problem with it personally. Not that that’s likely to happen! As for politics, that word means different things to different people. It doesn’t have to mean parties and elections; politics is your values, what kind of a society you want to live in, and what you do to bring about that society. The songs we have about normal working class life, being skint, losing your job etc are just as political as the ones critisising the establishment. As for me, I’m a class struggle anarchist – real change will only come about from those of us on the bottom taking control.Politics is very important, but having the craic is important too! Also,you don’t get through to people by lecturing them;Im a big believer in the old Oi! slogan “having a laugh and having your say”. One last point: we are a 100% antiracist, antifascist band and have zero tolerance for that bullshit or people who take a soft line on it. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about dodgy bands/promoters in the Irish scene but we’re aware of the problem elsewhere.
Redstar73 : What’s up next for the Section 4?
We’re very proud to be playing the Keep The Faith festival in Belfast this May alongside a shitload of great bands. We’re hoping to get a tour of Ireland in during the summer to promote the new album, having already got a few English dates in this year with our German buddies Robinson Krause (hallo lads!).A new recording is on the cards but we’re still debating whether to do an EP/split release or go straight for another full lenght album.
Redstar73 : Last words?
Last year we lost our friend and legend of the punk scene, Colin “Riot” McQuillan, singer for Runnin Riot. You couldn’t say enough good things about the man and we will give our all in his memory when we play Belfast in May. Also this year saw the untimely death of Todd Serious,singer for the Rebel Spell, who we had the pleasure of touring with on their previous visits to Ireland. Condolences to everyone affected by the passing of these two absolute gentlemen.
Thanks for your interest in our band, keep an eye on our Facebook for updates! Oi!