By Anita Stewart for Rock at Night and The G Clef Report
It was a wild and crazy night at the Cuban Club in downtown Tampa’s Ybor City on Janary 17th, 2015. A Wilhelm Scream, Anti-Flag and Pennywise joined forces to do a benefit show to help The Refuge. On this chilly night, especially for Floridians, the outside courtyard of the iconic Cuban Club was packed with revelers ready to listen to some great music, interact with the bands and stay warm by dancing in the mosh pit.
The theme of the night with everyone Rock at Night spoke to was how the Music Industry has become corporatized and what musicians and artists need to do to move forward and go beyond their creativity with the music they produce while at the same time maintaining their integrity.
The crowd was mixed regarding why they were there to hear these three bands. Some had listened to the music of these bands for years, others felt strongly about the political message through the music, others just wanted to be there to hear the music and have a good time.
The Refuge is an organization in St. Petersburg, Florida that provides hope, help, spiritual support and necessary resources to the large homeless population in the Tampa Bay metro area. Reverend Bruce Wright has made it his life’s mission to help the growing number of needy people including veterans, the elderly, the sick and even families in St. Petersburg despite constant opposition from the city’s leaders and business owners. Reverend Wright is also a member of the Green Shadow Cabinet and serves as the “President’s Commission on Ending Homelessness, Chair.” See more about what he does here: . He is also involved with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. Contact him directly if you would like to offer help, donate or volunteer at The Refuge.
HEAR THE INTERVIEW WITH REVEREND BRUCE!
Rock at Night got to talk to Mike Supina, the guitarist from A Wilhelm Scream from Massachusetts.
HEAR THE INTERVIEW WITH MIKE!
Rock at Night’s longest interview of the night was with Justin Sane, one of the original members of Anti-Flag from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Justin spoke to us about how he saw the current policial scene and how Anti-Flag’s music addresses the political issues of the day:
“In all honesty it has been a little disappointing to see within our own political punk scene…I feel that there has been a vacuum of political music…after many years of push, maybe political activists and people in music are a little worn out…but it is not a time for us to let up and stop bringing the truth to people’s ears…party politics are not what we need right now, I think it is more important to focus on humanitarianism and taking care of the needs of the all the people and finding commonality so that we can work together to find solutions to the crisis that our world is in right now.”
The new album, American Spring will be out in May of 2015.
HEAR PART OF THE INTERVIEW WITH JUSTIN!
WATCH Anti-Flag at The Cuban Club concert!
PLEASE CHECK OUT ROCK AT NIGHT’S PHOTO GALLERY FOR MORE PHOTOS OF ANTI-FLAG and A Wilhelm Scream!
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