''Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes'' is the third
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Propagandhi
Propagandhi is a Canadian punk rock band formed in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1986 by guitarist Chris Hannah and drummer Jord Samolesky. The band is currently located in Winnipeg, Manitoba and completed by bassist Todd Kowalski and guitari ...
, released February 6, 2001. It was released on the band's own
G7 Welcoming Committee Records
G7 Welcoming Committee Records was a Canadian independent record label based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The label mostly released material by artists and speakers with a radical left-wing point of view.
History
G7 Welcoming Committee Records was ...
label in Canada and
Fat Wreck Chords
Fat Wreck Chords (pronounced "Fat Records") is a San Francisco, California-based independent record label, focused on punk rock. It was started by NOFX lead singer Michael Burkett (better known as Fat Mike) in 1990.
The label has released mater ...
elsewhere. It is the first Propagandhi release of new material on their own label.
Background
Recording sessions were delayed due to various issues, one of which was the band's practice space being flooded, and another being that drummer Jord Samolesky broke his foot playing hockey. Prior to recording in May 2000, the band announced that it would have 14 songs, and would be titled ''Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes''. Samolesky broke his foot again in June 2000 while riding motocross; recording continued into August.
Composition
One of the album's tracks, "Back to the Motor League", indirectly refers to two songs by the
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run.
Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...
, "Triumph of the Swill" and " Chickenshit Conformist", as well the year of their release on the 1986 album ''
Bedtime for Democracy
''Bedtime for Democracy'' is the fourth and final studio album by American punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Released in 1986, songs on this album cover common punk subjects often found in punk rock lyrics of the era such as conformity, Reaganomics ...
''. The "Back to the Motor League" lyrics state: "fifteen years later it still reeks of swill and chickenshit conformists". Both the Dead Kennedys songs and the Propagandhi track concern the co-opting of
punk ideology
Punk ideologies are a group of varied social and political beliefs associated with the punk subculture and punk rock. It is primarily concerned with concepts such as mutual aid, against selling out, egalitarianism, humanitarianism, anti-auth ...
by the corporate record industry.
"Purina Hall of Fame" is a reference to the
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
owned pet food company, The Ralston Purina Company. The title is a cynical take on the Purina Animal Hall of Fame, a site that celebrates animals who have saved human lives. The lyrics of "Purina Hall of Fame" obliquely outline Propagandhi's concerns about animal cruelty.
Cover art
The album art is credited to the painting ''The Unfinished Flag of the United States'' by American poet
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (March 24, 1919 – February 22, 2021) was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. The author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, an ...
. Propagandhi continued this motif of using established artists to provide their cover artwork on their next two albums, '' Potemkin City Limits'', using a piece by anarchist artist Eric Drooker, and ''
Supporting Caste
''Supporting Caste'' is the fifth full-length album by the punk rock band Propagandhi. It was released on March 10, 2009, by G7 Welcoming Committee Records and Smallman Records in North America, Hassle Records in the UK and Europe, and Grand Hotel ...
'', which featured a painting entitled "The Triumph of Mischief" by
Kent Monkman
Kent Monkman (born 13 November 1965) is a Canadian First Nations artist of Cree ancestry. He is a member of the Fisher River band situated in Manitoba's Interlake Region. He is both a visual as well as performance artist, working in a variety ...
.
Release
After initially being planned for released in October 2000, and then delayed to November due to bassist/vocalist Todd Kowalski and guitarist/vocalist Chris Hannah both losing their voices. The album was again delayed to early 2001, with the label citing "something to do with hockey and ice-fishing." "Back to the Motor League" was posted on
G7 Welcoming Committee Records
G7 Welcoming Committee Records was a Canadian independent record label based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The label mostly released material by artists and speakers with a radical left-wing point of view.
History
G7 Welcoming Committee Records was ...
' website on November 10, 2000. ''Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes'' was eventually released on February 6, 2001; G7 Welcoming Committee released it in Canada, and Fat Wreck Chords released it in the US. A release show was held at the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Sixty Stories. In June and July, the band toured across Australia. In August and September, the band went on a tour of North America with
Randy
Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...
. Following the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
Todd Kowalski
Todd "The Rod" Kowalski (born May 27, 1973) is a Canadian bassist and singer, currently a member of hardcore punk band Propagandhi. Along with his band, he lives a vegan lifestyle and supports animal rights.
Career
In the early 1990s, Kowalski ...