Propagandhi Prep New Album

While Propagandhi have been relatively quiet lately, rest assured that Winnipeg's foremost political punk band are alive, kicking and planning a new record.

Propagandhi will head into the studio this fall to lay down what will be the long-awaited follow-up to 2005's acclaimed Potemkin City Limits. "We're actually recording in October and it'll be released in early 2009," frontman Chris Hannah says on the phone from his home in Winnipeg.

"It's been a long time, but, to us, it seems like a day. Everyone's in panic mode right now that it's in October. It's going to have to come together pretty quickly."

The band also plan to sneak in some summer touring. Before Propagandhi head across the pond for a quick 10-day jaunt around eastern Europe at the end of July, Hannah (along with fellow vegan bandmates Jord Samolesky, Todd Kowalski and David Guillas) will play a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society fundraiser at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre on July 27.

The U.S.-based mammal conservation organization made headlines in the spring during Canada's annual seal hunt when its anti-sealing ship, the Farley Mowat, was boarded by the RCMP. The group is skewered for its confrontational tactics when it comes to animal rights, and its members are often referred to as terrorists, militant extremists and pirates by critics.

It's just the kind of organization that Propagandhi would be all over.

"We were talking about playing the show in Toronto on our way to Europe," Hannah says. "The promoters wanted to charge a certain door price that we thought was too high, so we thought, rather than lower it, why not donate it to an organization we feel strongly about?"

It's not the only cause Propagandhi have put its music behind this year. Upon their return from Japan in April, the band played a benefit show for the Tyendinaga Support Committee (which works on behalf of Bay Of Quinte Mohawks' land rights and justice struggles) at Winnipeg's Royal Albert Arms.

"In my mind, it was a success," Hannah says of the benefit. "We hadn't played there in 15 or 16 years.

"Financially, it was a success, and everyone had a smile on their face. We got a kick out of playing there again."