Since he smiles like a cartoon villain and views legislative legality with the scope of a dictator, it’s not surprising that an open call for songs protesting Gov. Matt Bevin, our state’s ambitious overlord, turned into the 43-song compilation We Have A Bevin Problem: A Kentucky Music Compilation, which was released June 22, featuring a range of Louisville bands and musicians. If there’s one thing we know about Bevin, there’re many reasons not to like him — he befriends embarrassing pseudo-celebrities like Kim Davis, works to bombard Planned Parenthood and gives zero fucks about access to healthcare for those hovering around the poverty line. So, we asked musicians on the compilation about their songs.
Baby Bones — “Pay Us In Dimes” “We originally got involved in the project through the open submission process because of the havoc that Matt Bevin was causing the local Planned Parenthood offices. We felt like we needed to take a stand, but without holding office, we felt that music was our best outlet for making that stand. Our song ‘Pay Us In Dimes’ is a reflection of money vs. power, poor vs. rich and its tie-in with corrupt leadership.” —Jason Brandum and Thomas Burgos
Tender Mercy — “The Worst” “Although I grew up on a healthy dose of punk/hardcore in the ’80s, I’ve never been comfortable writing about politics or politicians. Issues tend to be complicated and resistant to verse, and attacking individuals often comes across as mean-spirited sloganeering. Until now.”—Mark Kramer
Andrew Rinehart — “Hey Bevin” “For my contribution, I tried to adopt more of a novel take — I figured the hater angle would be amply covered. After thinking it over a bit, I decided to use Bevin’s forays into social media as a jumping off point for considering where humanity in general is headed. Bevin produces and shares videos of himself playing a ‘hero’ (in theory at least), marketing himself as an artist or actor would. Especially because he is in the public sphere, he is participating in a kind of virtual game that in many ways overshadows his real life ... So I’m just wondering: Where is this whole constantly-escalating social media thing going? ... Bevin’s clearly doing all this shitty stuff politically, but that’s nothing new. What really creeps me out is his strange bit of fame and the way he is using it to further his goals. And what’s even creepier is that almost everyone is doing the same exact thing."—Andrew Rinehart
Analog Cannibal — “Heads of State” The original lyrics to ‘Heads of State,’ released on our website in 2014, was about politics in general. At the time, I wanted to write a folksy song, a song that sounded like protest music. Later, I rewrote the lyrics as a direct response to an opinion piece Bevin penned in The Courier-Journal ... in a sense quoting his own hyperbolic language back at him. We aren’t a political band, and this song is atypical of our usual genre, but after Bevin took office, we jumped at the chance to be on this compilation.—Patrick Hume
The Gallery Singers at the Electric Church of the Tambourine — “Power To The Poor” “... We believe America’s poor are routinely exploited and trapped in an inescapable economic slavery, and the only way to break free is by banding together and demanding change, by what ever means accessible. The predatory nature of the governor slashing funding for healthcare and education is criminal. The war on lower-income families isn’t just coming from Frankfort. Our own Mayor Fischer’s insistence for a population boom that will only benefit real estate speculators and pushes our city’s poor out of their communities and further away from the city center is isolating and cuts off opportunities for mobility — yet he said he would veto any minimum wage increase over $9/hr. The time is now to put aside outdated theories of Republican versus Democrat and demand real change from all sides. The time is now to demand equality. The time is now to demand power to the poor.”—John King
American Lesions — “Heap of his Heart” “This song is actually not about Matt Bevin at all, but another guy that passes himself off as a good person, while actually being a deliberate worm, so it worked perfectly. That grease does indeed creep out from the inside of Matt Bevin’s reptile soul, as surely as it does in the case of the subject of ‘Heap of His Heart,’ a former friend who I loved dearly, and who betrayed my trust in a most cowardly fashion. Sounds like Bevin all the way if you ask me, and we were excited to be involved in this project’s righteous stand against a two-faced sucker that’s betraying us all — and we’re also very excited and honored to be selected as the lead off track.”—Dave Bird
We Have A Bevin Problem Fundraiser & Concert Saturday, Sept. 17 The New Vintage / Zanzabar 2126 S. Preston St. / 2100 S. Preston St. | newvintagelouisville.com $10 | 6 p.m.
