Time and time again punk rock has earned its status as the official soundtrack of change; it’s angular and abrasive – just what’s usually needed to smash through calcified prevailing and regressive wisdoms. As such, we love it when a band screams bloody murder about a good cause. So, when a band embodies a good cause wholistically, in every aspect of their craft, when a band like Antiks comes around, we put that in our ‘stop whatever you’re doing’ and listen pile.
Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Antiks have further compounded the lore that Canadians are come of the best people in their world, and exports some of the best punk, with their debut single ‘The Reckoning’, out now. Rough as guts and straight to the point, The Reckoning wastes no time barrelling into a thick groove that will pull you in like quicksand.
But there’s more to The Reckoning, and indeed Antiks than their faithful study of punk rock. The band aims to promote a music community that’s accessible, inclusive, and radical. Their first step towards doing so was focusing their debut moment on the Disability Rights movement during the 70’s, particularly a moment known as The 504 Sit In.
“The 504 Sit Ins was such a huge event in civil rights history but isn’t widely known, we wanted to spread more awareness about it.” The band explains to BLUNT about their debut single. “It was badass and we set out to make a badass track for the disabled community, that is not only accessible, but has important representation.
“We want to make music as accessible as possible, it’s how it should be. ‘The Reckoning’ is a homage to disability history and to Disability Justice, and yes, we’ve come so far fighting for our rights but there’s so much more work to be done. This pandemic has shown that the most vulnerable people in our society are still being swept aside, and the fight for the rights of people is still as fierce as ever.”
Antiks have released an accessible video clip for the track, featuring detailed descriptions of the video for those who may have issues viewing it. From there, the bands official website is replete with Accessibility Tools allowing users to increase text size, adjust lighting and colours as well as fonts. These are just two of the smaller ways the band have shown a more accessible future for content is possible, relatively simple and incredibly impactful.
Antiks have left their door open for any and all of their peers who may want to bring more accessibility into their camps. After all, it’s the little things that go a long way.
[Image Description: Colour photo is of Luke, Dan, and Julio, standing apart, in a big abandoned concrete room with graffiti on the walls and huge damaged windows. Luke (white) is standing on the left, he has long flowing blonde hair, arm tattoos, and is wearing a 5 panel hat, a Mars Attacks t-shirt, and black jean shorts on. Dan (white) is in the centre sitting on his silver walker, he has short blonde hair and is wearing a trucker hat, round glasses, is shirtless, and has black shorts and boots on. Julio (white) is on the right, he’s got long dark brown hair, arm tattoos, and is wearing a black 5 panel hat, t-shirt, a sleeveless blue denim jean jacket with patches on, and has black jeans shorts on.]
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