Propagandhi Win Songwriting Prize From SOCAN

Propagandhi aren't your average left-wing, anti-fascist, pro-gay, anti-meat, capitalist-bashing do-gooder thrash/punk band from Winnipeg. They're an award-winning left-wing, anti-fascist, pro-gay, anti-meat, capitalist-bashing do-gooder thrash/punk band from Winnipeg.

The seminal Canadian punk band received SOCAN's inaugural ECHO Songwriting Prize, an award given to the best-written independent Canadian song of the past year, on Wednesday. The band formed in 1986, but only became SOCAN members this year — just in time to see "A Speculative Fiction" beat out the efforts of Final Fantasy, Wolf Parade, Laura Barrett and The Stills. But bassist Todd "The Rod" Kowalski really needs to learn how to stop gloating.

"As far as having scenesters pick songs, their various reasons and knowing how all this comes about and everything, knowing how it works, as far as that's concerned, [the award] is meaningless," he says. "Things in music are about being hip, or else Garnet Rogers would win this award, y'know? The guy's outrageously unreal. His last record was unbelievable. And if Garnet Rogers exists in the same world where we're winning awards and they're not..."

Along with founding group members Chris Hannah and Jordan Samolesky, as well as the more recent addition, guitarist Dave "The Beaver" Guillas (Giant Sons), Kowalski sees the great benefits of SOCAN for independent Canadian musicians such as themselves.

"We just wanted to get our royalties. If we're not getting the money, someone is, the radio, or... I don't know what's going on. We just thought if we made songs and money could be collected from them, we might as well."

Why does an anti-capitalist band care so much about money?

"The more money we have, the more we can give away without having to do anything we don't agree with to get the money," Kowalski replies.

The exhaustingly good-hearted foursome already plan on giving some of their $5,000 in prize money to charitable organizations like Canada-Haiti Action Network and The Welcome Place, causes that Kowalski finds more cathartic to work on than the drivel you're reading here.

"Some people spend their time reading music magazines, but I get more depressed looking at a bunch of people dressed up, pouting for the camer... culturally it's so fucked to me," Kowalski says. "I get more inspiration from the causes we work on.

"There were four years of silence in between 2001's Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes and last year's Potemkin City Limits, and the band have a general below the radar approach to things. Kowalski insists that the award won't change a thing.

"This isn't our plan to go forward, it's just something that happened. We're going to keep existing the way we always did, so I'm sure you won't see more of us. When we're on tour, people will talk, and then everyone will be disinterested again until we're around again."

Propagandhi will play in England, Ireland and Scotland in December, but have these Ontario shows before then:

October 26 St. Catharines, ON @ L3 w/Dope Poets Society, GFK and Attack In Black
October 27 London, ON @ The Salt Lounge w/Dope Poets Society, The Rebel Spell and GFK
October 28 Hamilton, ON @ The Underground w/Dope Poets Society, Hostage Life and GFK
October 30 Timmins, ON @ GV Hotel w/The Rebel Spell
October 31 Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Oddfellows Hall w/The Rebel Spell