St. Paul-based sociopolitical rap/rock band Junkyard Empire is about to occupy some pretty lofty territory alongside Willie Nelson, Yoko Ono, Tom Morello, Devo and Thievery Corporation. The quintet has landed a track on the upcoming "Occupy This Album," a recorded tribute to and fundraiser for the Occupy Wall Street movement featuring those aforementioned all-stars, plus Lucinda Williams, Crosby and Nash, DJ Logic, Immortal Technique, Warren Haynes, Yo La Tengo, Toots & the Maytalls and about 30 more. The full list of acts is here at the website for the album, slated for an April release.
Fresh from playing a benefit last month at the Triple Rock for Occupy Our Homes, Junkyard Empire will be represented on the compilation with the title track of its last album, "Rebellion Politik," the video for which is posted below. The band just finished recording its fifth record last month with producer Adam Krinsky.
Led by powerhouse rapper Brihanu and featuring No Bird Sing drummer Graham O'Brien, the Junkyard dudes have a history of activism dating back to a truly riotous appearance in the No Peace for the War Makers Rally during the Republican National Convention in 2008. They performed in New York last April for the Sounds of Resistance Rally (pre-Occupy) and played the Occupy battlegrounds in Washington, D.C., in October. They're headed back to D.C. next month for the National Occupation of Washington.
A sign of the band's youth and/or its radical musical flavor, Brihanu's reaction to the "Occupy" inclusion did not mention any of the hall of famers on the album. Instead, he boasted, "To even be mentioned in the same sentence with Immortal Technique and DJ Logic is surreal." Kids these days.
