The Flobots are much more than a band; they are leaders in a revolution to change the way we as the American public think about the way we are doing things.
The minds behind the music make for a refreshing mix of beats and thought-provoking lyrics.
On the radio, their tune, “Handlebars,” from the album Fight With Tools has become that song that everyone knows, but few know what its about. At face value, based on the opening lines, it could be and has been disregarded as just another fun song.
But a closer listen reveals a song that is a product of a band trying to get a message across: if we are not careful, the big organizations will run the world. If they don’t already.
The call for change is made overly apparent in the lyrics of “Same Thing” saying that, “Saying the same things over again, Repeatin’ the same slogans we don’t know where we’ve been, We’ve been all over the globe on our government’s funds, Leavin’ man, woman, and child dead bloody and numb, Saying the same things over again.”
This band is made up of Jonny 5, no not the guitarist from Marilyn Manson, Johnny 5, Brer Rabbit, violist Mackenzie Roberts, bassist Jesse Walker, guitarist Andy Guerrero, trumpet player Joe Ferrone and Kenny
Ortiz on drums.
This eclectic bunch of musicians is like something out of the ’60s with the sound of the 2000’s. During that time, the United States’ music scene was over run with the lyrics of anti-war and protest songs. The Flobots have seemed to channel this same voice during this trying time in our country’s history.
The politicians have to make decisions on what is going to have to happen in order to save this nation. The Flobots believe that the people of America are going to have to make their voices known in order to change anything. Just like the sixties, the Flobots are calling for the people to use the first amendment and speak freely.
In the song, “Anne Braden” the Flobots recall a lady in the south who fought the cruel mistreatment of the black people in the south. At the end of this track, Anne Braden is recorded saying, “What you win in the immediate battles is little compared to the effort you put into it, but if you see that as a part of this total movement to build a new world, you know what could be .You do have a choice. You don’t have to be a part of the world of the lynchers. You can join the other America. There is another America!”
It is to this other America that the Flobots beckon society to join them. This America is one of love and peace and unity. It is this America, they believe, that will have to be formed and lead this country off of the current path.
In the chorus of “One Love,” from the album Flobots Present…Platypus, it is made quite clear what the Flobots want for the people of America to experience. “You are (you are) not alone, You don’t have to do this on your own, One Love (Agape) One Love (Agape) ?Solo, it can feel like were coming apart, Together we’re much more than the sum of our parts, One Love (Agape) One love Agape.”
It would take 20,000 words to adequately discuss the reasons behind why everyone should listen to this band and soak in the words into the mind like a sponge.
Some of the lyrics can go a little far left on the political scale for some, but the overall message of the band is one that should be welcomed and adopted by all.
“If you believe in redemption, I’m calling to you from another dimension.”
For more information on the band and on the movement, visit www.flobots.com.