When The Smith Street Band released their song ‘Wipe That Shit-Eating Grin Off Your Punchable Face’, they never thought they’d perform it overseas.
A cutting criticism of the Liberal Government’s ‘Stop The Boats’ campaign (Tony Abbott’s said grin is featured on the record sleeve), the song articulated the reaction of many Australians to their nation’s heartless immigration policy. This was a protest song about a very domestic issue – how would foreign audiences relate?
“I thought it was just an Australian issue,” says the four-piece’s drummer Chris Cowburn, “one we would never play outside Australia. That’s not the case at all.”
Formed in 2010 and fronted by Wil Wagner, The Smith Street Band have released two EPs and three studio albums. The band donated proceeds from ‘Wipe That Shit-Eating Grin Off Your Punchable Face’ to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. At Splendour In The Grass this year the Melburnians played under a banner that read, “Real Australians Say Welcome”.
When we speak to Cowburn, the band is in the UK finishing off an intensive European tour with festival appearances at Reading and Leeds. Earlier that day, the tour bus had passed hundreds of refugees desperate for an opportunity to leave France for England.
“There are sprawls of camps and people trying to migrate to the UK,” Cowburn says. “It’s an eye-opening thing to witness first-hand. There’s giant fences and barbed wire everywhere and it’s all pretty over the top. We were trying to recall the security measures they had last time, but what they’ve got set up now is just insane.”
The displaced and desperate have survived dangerous journeys to reach countries all over Europe. Immigration is not just an Australian concern.
“It’s something we care about pretty deeply,” says Cowburn. “It was a big learning curve for me personally, learning about the issues politically. You find a lot of similarities with other places.”
Just like in Australia, governments in Europe are far from welcoming to those seeking refuge. Some have even praised Abbott’s stance on ‘the boat people’. It’s little wonder, then, that the crowds The Smith Street Band have played to on tour have reacted so well to lines like “Just to keep your job you’re putting bodies in the ground / Drowning refugees at sea / Kiss babies screaming vote for me / I’ll take you to the future via the 1950s”.
“The reaction [the single] got was crazy,” says Cowburn. “It was far greater than we thought. It just goes to show that the world’s a small place. We all have similar issues and people feel the same way about a lot of issues.”
Music and protest can be awkward bedfellows. Politics and song don’t always mix. The Smith Street Band, however, pull it off in style.
“It’s not an easy thing to dip your toes into,” says Cowburn. “As long as it’s honest, that’s the important thing. It can’t come across contrived or forced. It has to be actually something you really fucking care about. You should just feel it. Just do whatever you can, with whatever your set of tools are, to help people who are less fortunate than you or affect something in a positive way.”
The band’s powerful punk music is delivered with equally moving lyrical content, and it’s not just about social issues. From the pains of growing up and breaking up to the dark depths of depression, Wagner’s words are proven to have the power to help and heal.
“I’m really genuinely still touched every time someone emails us or sends a Facebook message and says, ‘Hey, I’ve been having a really shit time or I’ve broken up with my girlfriend or I suffer from depression and I listened to your music and [it] really helped me,’” says Cowburn.
“The first time we got one of those messages, I was just blown away. It’s happened lots of times since and that feeling doesn’t get old. Music does have that powerful effect on people. I totally get it, because we’re all in the same predicament. Music is one of the most powerful things out there in the entire world.”
It feels like some time since the always-on-the-road Smith Street Band have played in Australia. They are about to embark on one of their most comprehensive tours yet, visiting every state and territory, including places they’ve never been before like Cairns and Townsville. It’s as if they’re on the campaign trail – and they’re winning hearts and minds wherever they go.
Did ‘Wipe That Shit-Eating Grin Off Your Punchable Face’ change government policy? No. But it did make people think about the issues concerned. It’s catchy enough that people will remember it the next time a minister appears on TV to defend Australia’s border policy or detention centres. And the next time people get to vote.
“We said our piece and spoke freely about our opinion when we released that song,” says Cowburn. “It’s important for people to speak up about what they feel if they think something’s not right, and music is a pretty sweet way to do that.”
The Smith Street Band’sThrow Me In The River is out now through Poison City. Catch them at Manning Bar on Wednesday September 9, or at the I Love Life Festival at the Metro Theatre on Saturday September 12.
