UK trio Cistem Failure is the epitome of everything revolutionary. As self proclaimed nomads Cistem Failure is determined to share their music for both melody and rhetoric; one tour stop at a time.

No Apologies– My name is Tricia. What is everyone’s name and what role do you play in Cistem Failure?

Cistem Failure– Hi Tricia, thanks for inviting us to talk about what we are doing.

There are at least 3 people in our band, but a lot of our friends play

music and like to travel so the upcoming tour is going to be five

people playing. At the moment there are Rover and Emili on banjos, and

Joel on the fiddle. We all sing and shout and Joel is the best

whistler I have ever seen.

NA-You say you live out of your backpacks, what do your backpacks look like? What is each member’s essential item?

Emili– Essential item is always a sleeping bag because squats

always end up being colder than the outside. Plus its harder to get

scabies when you don’t share blankets…

Rover– My most important item, [umm] my banjo and my notebook, I really need those.

NA– Your band has strong convictions and I find that admirable. I have a broad question, how do you all define anarchy?

Cistem Failure-Well, of course we all have our own ideas about what anarchism means

to us. But I think generally we can agree that the anarchism we

practice is striving towards an existence that is non-hierarchal,

fighting with varied tactics and methods against intersectional

oppressions such as sexism, racism, speciesism, transphobia, ableism,

homophobia etc (these are not in order of importance and of course there

are many more). We believe that institutions and systems of

domination such as the state, patriarchy and capitalism need to be

destroyed, whether that manifests itself in physical or social

destruction. we try to live in a way that does not exclude our own

behavior and how we interact with the world from our politics, so

acknowledgements of our privileges, being able to constructively

criticize our actions and the actions of each other is very important.

Also some of us strive to be active participants in some struggles.

NA- “Smash The Freaking Patriarchy” is an epic title for the upcoming tour. Which venue are you most looking forward to performing at? Are you planning to play any shows with other bands?

Rover– I am looking forward the most to playing shows for people

where it actually means something to. I mean, when we say we will go

and smash the fucking patriarchy, then we mean that. I secretly also

hope we will be put up with a lot of sexist bands or in scenes where

it is super male dominated, since, if you want to smash something, you

need to go there and smash it. Ranting on stage and demanding

that space is so important for people that have never seen something

like that. I remember the first time I saw a political band…

it blew my mind. To be honest I have not seen many events where there

are more bands playing then us, so I think a lot of it will be a

surprise, and I am very curious.

NA- That’s awesome that you have put together badges. What cool zines are going to be by your side for the tour?

Cistem Failure– We have such a huge collection now but some of the themes covered

are vegan anarchy, police state/surveillance, body/health autonomy,

anarchist praxis vs theory, sustainable activism/burnouts, animal

liberation, and probably loads more things to read. Hopefully we can

make a full list of what we have and share it on our blog for everyone

to take a look at.

NA– Your album is like punk rock and bluegrass had a baby. I’m curious what bands or artists you all draw inspiration from.

Emili– Yes! It was only a matter of time before that baby had to be born. I

think we take some musical inspiration from our friends and their

projects, but also from the different genres of punk that we have

all grown up with. An important aspect of our influences is not

necessarily musical, but more political. It matters a lot that to us

that we are taking the space as non-binary queers to sing about what

we do, and that has probably been fuelled by listening to other

anarchist feminist bands confronting the sexist scenes in which they

play. So i guess we have a lot to thank them for, for being part of

this momentum.

Rover- For me it would be a combination of bands like:

Rail Yard Ghosts, Dresden dolls, or just very crappy folk punk bands

that made me believe even though I could only play a couple of chords

on the banjo, i could still record a EP and be part of that, and I

think that’s really great.

NA– Is “Stick Together” about leaving home and only having each other on the road while at the same time trying to maintain the relationships you left behind or am I completely off base?

Emili– I guess it can be interpreted in this way, for sure. But the song

was actually written about the consequences of ‘doing things the state

does not like’, the kinds of repression that people face from

police, from corporations, from every aspect of state control that can

be anything from curfews and a criminal record to being killed. The

song was written from a purely anarchist perspective but it can be

applied to any person who experiences their lives with some kind of

fear or danger because of their gender presentation, skin color,

sexuality, ability (physical and mental), and the ways that we have to

be super conscious about our choices because of how that might put us

in danger against the police, rapists, racists on the street etc. Of

course, anarchism is a political choice, and the reactions of the

state are influenced by the social contexts (i.e a trans woman in

prison is more likely to experience brutal and regular violations than

a cis male prisoner) but it maybe is not comparable to the

institutionalized racism, sexism, transphobia etc that people

experience on a systematic level regardless if they have any interest

in political activity or not.

NA- I thoroughly enjoyed the album as a whole but find great enjoyment from “You Should Be Terrified”, If you all had to pick what track strikes a special chord (pun intended) with you?

Emili– I think I have to agree with your favorite, Tricia. When we play

Terrified live, people come up to us after to thank us for

being so honest and blunt about the topic of rape and sexual assault,

and when i hear people singing along to the last chorus (our physical

threat to rapists), that feeling is fucking powerful.

Rover- My favorite one might be “Boot On Your Face”. I wrote that song originally to be

very punk and distorted and in the studio more and more silly suggestions came up, and it is just completely different than I would have ever imagined it to sound like.

NA- With “Tear Apart These Walls” I found myself thinking about the United States prison system which is a profit based system that thrives from keeping people in jail. What does this song mean to you all and where did you draw inspiration?

Rover– This song was written at a time where around me a lot of police

repression was taking place and one of my comrades got imprisoned. I saw the effect this had on my friends, and their friends.

Prison punishes everyone, the people on the inside but also the people

on the outside who can not cuddle with their partners anymore, or kids

that don’t see their family. The idea that putting people into prisons

is a valid solution to crime (whatever that means) is so outdated

and ridiculous. These things of course I knew and read about before

but to see your friends come back from jail with bruises and when you

realize the well being of one of your friends is completely in the

hands of the state, that does something to a person and well, then I

wrote this song.

NA– Last but not least what hobbies do you all have outside of music and being a part of Cistem Failure?

Cistem Failure– We have quite a lot of different interests but I think the thing

that brings us together more than music ever will is food. Maybe

without our shared love of food, everything would just fall apart…

Also, we are usually going through quite similar situations

in our life, with being active in places, and leaving our partners

behind all the time to travel, and confronting our mental health. I think

we are very good at relating to each other. relating to each other is not really a hobby though.