Blood Cannery Hates Hunger: The egg-punk compilation fighting world hunger
Whether it’s Jello Biafra rallying against the authority of the Reagan age or Chumbawamba raising money for striking mineworkers, punk rock has always been a beacon for musical activism and, in more recent times, that spirit has manifested itself in the scene’s most DIY-centric offshoot: egg-punk.
Since its first emergence back in the heady days of the early 2010s, the Devo-esque synths, internet-age attitude, and endearingly DIY spirit of egg-punk have seen it blossom from being a niche online scene to a global phenomenon. While the likes of Snooper have managed to build upon those eggy origins to establish themselves on Third Man Records, releasing colossal records that take that rough-around-the-edges sound and polish it up somewhat, the core of the egg-punk realm still remains in DIY shows and Bandcamp pages across the land.
One such beacon of egg-punk excellence is the Idaho-based outfit Blood Cannery, whose output has always leaned more towards the realm of garage rock rebellion than some of their more out-there electronic contemporaries. Nevertheless, the band’s most recent project – a compilation tape entitled Hates Hunger – is perhaps one of the greatest things to come out of the egg-punk scene in a long while.
Compiled by Blood Cannery’s Cole Foster, the tape features incredible egg-punk anthems from the likes of Billiam, Cool Sorcery, Dan Blackroyd, Jesus Egg, and a multitude of other groups with increasingly bizarre names.
With 18 tracks in total, the cassette is an excellent encapsulation of the global nature of the egg-punk scene – after all, the main benefit of egg-punk being so rooted in internet culture is that it isn’t bound by the same confines of your typical local punk scenes.
More importantly than creating a sense of cross-border egg-punk unity, though, Hates Hunger was compiled to benefit the UN World Food Bank, the largest humanitarian aid organisation in the world. Currently providing food to devastated areas across the world, particularly in areas like Gaza, Lebanon, and Sudan, among countless others.
All proceeds from Hates Hunger went towards that charity, and, during a time in which the US and Israel, in particular, are causing untold devastation across the Middle East with little thought for the human lives affected, grassroots appeals like this are utterly essential.
While, admittedly, the income from that run of 50 cassettes via Nashville’s Knuckles On Stun is hardly going to solve world hunger in its own right, the compilation is nevertheless an inspiring act of unity and resistance in the form of music. Aside from anything else, the mere fact that there are 18 groups willing to pull something together for a greater cause is pretty heartwarming during a time in which the entire world seems rather nightmarish.
Not only does Hates Hunger stand on its own two feet as an incredible egg-punk compilation and a vital resource when looking at the globalised sound of that specific internet-informed corner of the punk rock realm, but it also shows how music can still be used as a form of social protest and activism.
It is easy to feel helpless when looking at the daily tragedies occurring across the world at the hands of warmongers and genocidal maniacs in government office, but these small reminders of DIY resistance and grassroots support show, once and for all, that everybody can and should play a part in rejecting that war-torn future.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Punk Newsletter
All the latest Punk content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.