Track By Tracks: Botolph Dissidents - The Back Of The Beyond (2023)

Lyrically, we believe that if we have the honor and opportunity to be heard, we should use our music for the betterment of humanity and as a form of music journalism to give a voice to those that don’t have one or are being silenced due to oppression.

Musicians and artists have always found ways to draw attention to social issues and start conversations. Metal in particular has always been very good at drawing attention to issues that people rather not talk about in polite society. War Pigs, Peace Sells, Run to the Hills, Miracle Man, Indians, Suffer the Masses, Angel of Death, Killer of Giants, Crazy Train, Beyond the Realms of Death, Fade to Black, Master of Puppets, Sanitarium, Cemetery Gates, Close my Eyes Forever, Secret Loser.

No matter our nationalities, or political affiliations, as humans we all face similar struggles. The single struggle and issue that we all certainly have in common is death and the fact that we only get one chance at this opportunity called life and we have to make the most of it.

Although we all have our personal struggles, there are those out there in the world today, that are suffering grave injustices and enduring unimaginable physical and mental hardships who have no voice whether that be because of the lack of platform to do so, or their voices being intentionally silenced. I believe those people deserve to have their stories told and what better way and tradition to do so than through metal.

The first track on the Album, Cradle to Urn, is about persevering through life’s hardships, overcoming personal loss and tragedy to achieve your dreams and goals, whatever those may be. And it’s our band anthem to say, we’re here, we’re on your team and we’ve got your back.

The second song, ‘The Back of the Beyond’ is about human trafficking, forced labor, and supply chain ethics. This is definitely a story that needs to be told and doesn’t get the attention it deserves, I hope to change that.

‘Sciolists’ is about systemic racism and those in positions of power abusing their authority, whether they be politicians or those in the corporate world taking advantage of the working poor. This song is the voice of those who are lost in desperate situations and the victims of the toxic work cultures these sicolists create.

Unshriven is written about climate change and those that abuse this planet and the life thereon. This was ironically written right before the pandemic started. The lyrics paint a picture similar to what we all experienced during the pandemic and furthermore expands on how bad things can get if we don’t affect some significant change right now and get this under control.

It doesn’t matter what side of the political aisle you stand on, I think at a minimum, we can all agree that for the survival of the human race, we need water to survive. So if we can agree on that, we need to prevent more lakes and rivers from drying up, stop these constant wildfires, food shortages, and start stockpiling medicine and resources. Corona was a disaster that we weren’t prepared for, all so, so we don’t need any more new or dormant pathogens being released upon us due to negligence or corporate greed.

There are scientists screaming at us that we all need to slam on the brakes and wake up, and I’m joining them to hopefully get through to spread the word that this is a real threat and problem that we need to tackle together. We have a responsibility to each other and to future generations to preserve life on this planet and keep it habitable.

Although the lyrics and message of our music tackle serious issues, we do have a few songs that venture into more lighthearted matters. One of those songs, ‘The Creeds of Cowards’ is on this album. ‘Creeds,’ is about the Daleks from the Doctor Who series, and lyrically it’s written from the Dakels’, the antagonists’, perspective.

I think what makes a villain interesting in any movie, drama or novel is when we learn that the genesis of their character was when they were wronged, suffered a major personal loss and the victim of an injustice themselves. So therein stands a sliver of validity we can, in part, relate to in their otherwise insane thesis. What makes them different from the rest of us of course, is how they decide to act upon and seek justice and retribution for the wrongs that were committed against them.

More often than not, ultimately we see small cracks in the hardened emotional shells of the villain, where some light seeps in which leads to an epiphany, they come to their senses, see the error of their ways and decisively make stand up for good or make a final meaningly sacrifice to right the wrongs of their actions. We all love a good redemption story.

Then of course there are those villains, the selfish, contemptible individuals which many of us know in our personal lives, who have not a shred of empathy. Those who have had every opportunity handed to them, live in the lap of luxury, unopposed while we suffer the fallout from their actions. And with no validity or justification for their actions just oppress and inflict pain upon others because they can do so carte blanche.

‘The Wolf who Cried Boy,’ is about this and specifically, our modern-day dictators, tyrants, authoritarians, and the political hacks that sold us out and enabled them. Those are the folks which in need stadiums full of people in solidarity standing up to them, and a collective 'we have your back’ to the victims and each other, because this affects all of us. And by doing so, we can make real change, for the better, happen. The brave men and women who are standing up for freedom and democracy, this song is dedicated to them.

So lyrically that’s what we’re about, musical journalism to support folks that need their story told and encouraging those when they need it.