W: Zac Lewis I: Titouan Massé
A sound and message that feels like a thunderstorm inside a cave, lightning crackling through the dark. The puppet masters to this chaos, SPRINTS. Noisemakers, chaos orchestrators and punk band from Dublin.
Two halves of the four-piece, Karla Chubb (lead singer and guitarist) and Jack Callan (drummer) omit this calm demeanour that oozes through the screen as they appear on zoom. The pairs atmosphere is almost in complete contrast to their sound, live shows and hectic schedule (currently in the midst of a 48-show run).
It has only been a matter of weeks since the band released their sophomore album, ‘All That Is Over’. A fierce piece which creates bold, gigantic and tremendous landscapes as the stage for a narration of social turmoil and hypocrisy in the world. A middle finger at the far right and hate rising across the globe.
Songs like ‘Rage’ and ‘Beg’ resonate a very universal feeling of disbelief felt amongst millions of people right now.
Karla detailed the intention behind their music, she said, “I do think there is this universal feeling of like dread and anxiety for what the fuck is coming down the line in the world, but we all know it’s necessarily not going to be the best so if we band together and get through together that’s probably all we can do.”
The way in which these bold statements are executed uses a huge amount of biblical and religious iconography and sentiment. Karla said that it “comes a lot from being Irish honestly, it’s kind of engrained in our society whether you like it or not. You grow up with religion, it permeates through our government, through our social policies and your education system, it’s kind of everywhere.”
As Karla explains her intentions and thought processes behind her lyrics, there is an aura of stoicism and intelligence that each sentence stands on. A self-assurance and necessity to speak out about wrong that has translated seamlessly into the band’s music.
Lead single, ‘Descartes’ demonstrates this and uses religious terminology such as in the lines:
“Take my sanity
Take my sanctimony
Call me pious, call this holy matrimony
Call this anything you want from me.”
Detailing an expectation of complete devotion and abandonment of one’s own beliefs. These linguistic choices paired with the songs content point a finger at religious groups and world leaders.
She said: “I honestly believe organised religion has never been good to women, so you see these people preach this moral code and superiority and you look at the people who organise this religion, like the catholic church, they’re the ones committing the worst atrocities so I find that hypocrisy incredibly hard to swallow.”
When questioned on how the band have found themselves vocalising their frustrations, Karla and Jack pointed towards their identity as musicians.
Jack explained: “I think it does come quite naturally to us… there’s decade long solidarity movements in Ireland with various causes around the world including Palestine, so I think it’s the culture we come from as much as anything else.”
The group expanded on how this is something that is important to them and that it is disappointing to seeing bands like U2 being completely silent on issues like Palestine. Jack said: “What are they doing? These are people with massive platforms and its really disappointing to see them not using it.”
Many current bands have faced major backlash and criticism for their support of Palestine with fellow Irish band, Kneecap receiving travel bans, festival line up removal as well as criminal charges. I asked the band if they had faced backlash for being vocal about Palestine and what their reaction to it was.
Karla said: “There's of course been backlash, but I think in the grand scheme of things ours is incredibly minor compared to acts like Kneecap and Bob Vylan who are being completely scapegoated for the sake of distraction tactics.
“We've gotten comments, lost followers, turned down opportunities for the sake of our morals and ethics but I think we can really sleep easy knowing we're standing by our word. At the end of the day, I'd rather be able to look myself in the face in 30 years and be proud of our actions, than be more successful and a shitty person.”