The ever prolific NYC ska/reggae legends The Slackers are back with their latest UV printed 12 single on Pirates Press Records, featuring two new songs, What We Gonna Do Now? and Pick and Choose. The Slackers have a long history of speaking their minds with socio-politically conscious lyrics, dating back to their earliest recordings. Their musical influences have all served as the soundtrack to rebel movements across numerous decades and on multiple continents, and the band has never shied away from taking up just causes. As musicians, we are storytellers and collectors of memories. We need to tell stories about freedom, liberation, and justice, explains saxophonist Dave Hillyard. This is a long tradition...artists like Woody Guthrie, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, and Joe Strummer. As for Pick and Choose, it is a song whose message is applicable to both the personal and the political. It is about the power of words, and how sometimes they can fall short of their intent: words like love spoken to a partner, or words like freedom & justice in the political sphere. We have a lot of unfinished work to do in our society, says Hillyard. Hopefully we can find the right words to unite and the right deeds to follow up on the promises in the words. Both songs are featured on a 12 single with UV printed artwork designed by the band's longtime in-house artist, Catt Gould, who looked to photos of people voting - especially those of Civil Rights-era ballot boxes - for inspiration. The record is designed so that as it spins, you will see the motion of hands putting ballots into the box.
