Blackbird Raum is a

folk punk Folk punk (known in its early days as rogue folk) is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was popularized in the early 1980s by the Pogues in England, and by Violent Femmes in the United States. Folk punk achieved some mainstream success in ...

band from

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

, formed in 2004. They are known for their frantic live shows and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

politics. They have toured Europe and the U.S.

2004-2007: Formation and demos

Blackbird Raum was formed in 2004 by banjoist CPN and accordionist Zack while wilderness squatting in Santa Cruz, California. The band was haphazard at first, playing gigs and busking with a band randomly composed of other squatters living in or around Santa Cruz. They made their first dollar from a man on a date who paid them to leave. During this period, they wrote songs including "Honey in the Hair" and "Coal" and recorded a demo. After some frustrations with chaotic nature of the lineup, CPN left Santa Cruz for a year to play in other projects. When he returned he and Zack agreed to try the band again and a lineup was cemented with the addition of K.C. on washboard, David on

washtub bass The washtub bass, or gutbucket, is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses hav ...

and Mars on

musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...

and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

. They quickly wrote new material and recorded what was to be their first album, ''Purse-Seine'', named after the poem by

Robinson Jeffers John Robinson Jeffers (January 10, 1887 – January 20, 1962) was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Much of Jeffers's poetry was written in narrative and epic form. However, he is also known for his short ...

2007-2010: ''Swidden''

The band were unsatisfied with ''Purse-Seine'' and produced the follow-up, ''Swidden'', promoting it with a full U.S. tour and several other tours. Two years later, they followed up with ''Under the Starling Host''. During the release of ''UTSH'', the band members set up a small collectively run anarchist record label called Black Powder to support other radical folk projects, including the Hail Seizures. After the release of ''UTSH,'' the band took a hiatus for a few years, playing few gigs. After the 2011 release of the Hail Seizures, Blackbird Raum split 7-inch K.C. left the band.

2012-2013: "False Weavers"

In 2012, Blackbird Raum regrouped, replacing K.C. on washboard with Allen Degenerate and signing to

Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club Silver Sprocket is a San Francisco-based indie comics publisher and independent record label, founded in 2007 by Avi Ehrlich of Springman Records. In addition to publishing records and comics, Silver Sprocket also supports a range of independen ...

for the release of ''False Weavers'' in 2013. Recorded at John Vanderslice's ''Tiny Telephone'' studio, the album marked a change in sound, with psychedelic touches the band has attributed to their love of

Chumbawamba Chumbawamba () were a British rock band formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. Other singles include "Amnesia", " Enou ...

and

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk s ...

. Five months of touring in the US and Europe followed.

2015-present: "Destroying," Mars's departure, and "NeverMind The Ballads"

Following the release of False Weavers, the band teamed up with Dublin based folk band "Lankum" (then called Lynched) to create a new album "Destroying," released in 2015. The bands toured together before the release of the album. After the tour, the band announced the departure of Mars. Mars had been contributing to vocals and songwriting greatly, as well as playing the mandolin, musical saw and other instruments. After Mars left, the band took a short break before a short tour followed by the release of an EP titled "Nevermind The Ballads" in 2016.

Lyrical and ideological influences

Blackbird Raum's lyrics tend to paint a bleak picture of modern society, focusing on issues like the destruction of the environment, mental illness, and class warfare. They have described themselves as eco-anarchists. In an interview with '' The Sunday Times of Malta'', banjo player CPN had this to say about their political views: The lyrics and song names often contain references to historical events, ancient myths and cultural icons: *"Silent Spring," which references the book

Silent Spring ''Silent Spring'' is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson. Published on September 27, 1962, the book documented the environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading d ...

Rachel Carson Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book ''Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental m ...

*"Lucasville," a song about the riot in the

Southern Ohio Correctional Facility The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (commonly referred to as Lucasville) is a maximum security prison located just outside Lucasville in Scioto County, Ohio. The prison was constructed in 1972. As of 2022, the warden is Donald Redwood. The ...

*"The Helm of Ned Kelly," talking about the Australian

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

Ned Kelly Edward Kelly (December 1854 – 11 November 1880) was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout wi ...

*"Old One Eye," making an incorrect reference to

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

's sacrifice in

Norse Mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

. *"Ravachol in Valhalla" which references the Illegalist anarchist

Ravachol François Claudius Koenigstein, also known as Ravachol, (14 October 1859 – 11 July 1892) was a French anarchist. He was born on 14 October 1859, at Saint-Chamond, Loire and died by being guillotined on 11 July 1892, at Montbrison after being ...

Blackbird Raum makes use of epigraphs from many poets and writers. Among them are

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

George R. Stewart George Rippey Stewart (May 31, 1895 – August 22, 1980) was an American historian, toponymist, novelist, and a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley. His 1959 book, ''Pickett's Charge'', a detailed history of the final ...

Sir Thomas Malory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'Ar ...

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider h ...

and

Black Elk Heȟáka Sápa, commonly known as Black Elk (December 1, 1863 – August 19, 1950), was a ''wičháša wakȟáŋ'' ("medicine man, holy man") and ''heyoka'' of the Oglala Lakota people. He was a second cousin of the war leader Crazy Horse and f ...

Discography

* ''Purse-Seine'' – 2007, Quiver Distro * ''

Swidden Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed vegeta ...

'' – 2008, Quiver Distro * ''Under the Starling Host'' – 2009, Black Powder Records * ''Split 7-inch w/ Hail Seizures –'' 2011, Go Records * ''False Weavers'' – 2013, Silver Sprocket * ''Destroying'' – 2015, Silver Sprocket * ''Nevermind the Ballads'' – 2016, No Time Records

References

External links

"Official Bandcamp"

Official Facebook page

;Audio/video media
"Blackbird Raum Silent Spring Santa Cruz"
"Courant Times", ''

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

'', January 3, 2009. {{authority control Anarcho-punk groups Gypsy punk groups Folk punk groups Musical groups established in 2004 Musical groups from California Musicians from Santa Cruz, California