Punk rock the vote

The punk rock movement is trying to make a difference in November’s presidential election, with one side set on an administrative change in Washington and the other on keeping at least some semblance of conservatism in charge.

Leading the way in a left-wing-fueled drive to put a Democrat in charge is Punkvoter.com, a coalition that has enlisted nearly 200 bands to get out the anti-Bush vote.

Punkvoter.com is backed by a contingent of tax-exempt liberal interest groups, including NARAL Pro-Choice America and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

“In punk rock there are pretty progressive thinkers,” says Mike Burkett, alias “Fat Mike,” frontman and bass player for NOFX, a punk rock mainstay since 1982. “There isn’t much progressive thinking on the right.”

Mr. Burkett says he was so shaken by President Bush’s 2000 victory that he became a political animal.

He says he put up $100,000 of his own money to fund Punkvoter.com, “and we got some money from NARAL,” although he wouldn’t say how much.

“The whole point is to [anger] people,” says Mr. Burkett, 37. “Kids don’t read newspapers, and I want to tell them what they don’t see on TV and I want them to get angry at what this administration is doing to the world.”

The groups backing Punkvoter.com have their own considerable resources. NARAL took in $19 million in income in 2002, according to tax records, while PETA reported revenue of $17 million.

Anti-Bush rockers are offering a compilation featuring platinum-selling bands such as Offspring and Sum 41 as well as tours in April and September.

Later this month, several of the Punkvoter.com bands will play the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, followed by a brief tour of Western states.

“This is how we cure apathy,” Mr. Burkett says. “We may not have a huge effect, but I would say between 100,000 and 500,000 people are joining our movement. And we get around 350,000 hits a day on our Web site.”

The site links to Internet pages with the same stance, including www.bandsagainstbush.org, www.michaelmoore.com and www.naral.org.

More support for the anti-Bush bands will come in the fall with another compilation that is scheduled to feature MTV stars Green Day, Foo Fighters and Good Charlotte.

Politics and punk rock have gone hand in hand since the music was born in the late 1970s, when socialist-anarchist bands such as the British group Crass were advising listeners that government should “owe us a living.”

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