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ANTI-FLAG will release their 13th album Lies They Tell Our Children on January 6 via Spinefarm. Today, the band has shared the video for "MODERN META MEDICINE," a track featuring Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach.
"Let's be honest, in a world and cultural climate that reaps division and sows a void of nuance in our conversations, writing a record that challenges a healthcare system that puts profit before people can be scary," the band says. "But an opioid crisis, miracle cures for our weight, our skin, the hair on our heads, a limp dick, and then the simultaneous denial of access to healthcare for the bodies of pregnant people, the poor, Black and immigrant communities is a stark contrast that must be discussed.
"At the crossroads of where business models and our healthcare intersect, the for-profit model has beyond proven it is unsustainable. And the fact that these corporations have preyed openly upon the most vulnerable in our society with very little push back has only opened the doors wildly for the conspiracy theorist, instead of allowing us to globally celebrate science, progress and the advancements of our healthcare.
"MODERN META MEDICINE' looks to trace back the origins of capitalisms takeover of our health as global citizens, the Reagan era policies that allowed for billionaires to flourish off of the suffering of so many. Healthcare is a human right, and we need to steal our rights back from a machine that sees us as commodities and profit margins, however we can.
"We are grateful to Jesse Leach from Killswitch Engage for lending his talent and empathy to this track. Since becoming friends we’ve had a few great conversations on this topic so we knew he would be perfect for this, and holy shit did he deliver."
INDECLINE, who shot the video, also commented, "In a feedback loop of self-referential information, it's hard to sort out any kind of accountability. The moment of epiphany is often washed away in the tidal wall of think pieces, hammering truth into sophistry, our sense of identity into marketing campaigns. Music is powerful, like all art, because it hinges on the truth of the moment, something felt first. We feel, personally, that health is the point of being alive, not a luxury good to keep the markets accelerating toward a concentration of wealth in the hands of an emerging class of cynical billionaires, who would burn the planet to build their rocket ship out of here.
"The Black Panthers understood that health is the first step in community, and community is the first step in change. We won’t argue about resources; in a world of cruel excess, we are sure that a little organization and empathy in the dispensation of what we already have would make a difference in the quality of life for everyone. So, imagine a world in which quality was preferenced over quantity. Or rather, over empty dollar signs. Imagine measuring our markets in the effect they have on those who participate in them instead of the intangible math of growth. We would have a different health care system in that world. What would it look like?
"'First, do no harm' has never been an excuse to do nothing. It is a challenge to think about the deeper consequences of how we dispense care. It doesn't cost us anything to think about it, but it costs an awful lot not to. We are grateful to Anti-Flag for giving people music that allows them to think about what really matters. This is actually a love song. But the love is available equally, for everyone who is willing to accept it. That’s our hope for health care, too."
