Racetraitor
| Racetraitor | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1996–99, 2016 |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts |
|
| Past members |
Andy Hurley Dan Binaei Mani Mostofi Brent Decker Karl Hlavinka Eric Bartholomae Pete Wentz Rich Miles |
Racetraitor is an North American political straight edge hardcore punk band from Chicago, Illinois. They released an album called Burn the Idol of the White Messiah on Uprising Records and then a split EP called Make Them Talk on Trustkill with their friends in the Indianapolis band Burn It Down.
Racetraitor was one of the most controversial political bands of the 1990s hardcore scene and garnered on the covers of both Maximumrocknroll and HeartattaCk before recording a single note of music. The name Racetraitor was in reference to using one's social and economic privilege to create a more egalitarian world. The idea was to take the pejorative term "race traitor" used by white American racists and claim it as a positive self-chosen label. The band was known for aggressively challenging audiences to confront the ways they might help perpetuate or buy into racist and exploitative social and economic systems. Many of their shows turned into heated arguments and they became one of the most talked about political hardcore bands of the late 1990s.
Early Racetraitor music could be characterized as powerviolence and grindcore, featuring an abundance of noise and blast beats. Songs often timed less than a minute, which gave their early shows the quality of containing more spoken word than music. Eventually, their 90's hardcore, extreme metal, especially death metal, and metalcore influences came to the foreground and Racetraitor's songs became longer and more defined.
The band cites their influences as 108, Deicide, Los Crudos, Groundwork, Public Enemy, Unbroken, Suffocation, Downcast, Sepultura, Acme, Pantera, Ressurrection, Propagandhi, Quicksand (American band), Metallica, KRS-One, Lauryn Hill, Ottawa, Neurosis, Anthrax, Minor Threat, The Misfits, Meshuggah, Man is the Bastard, Union of Uranus, Arrested Development, Spitboy, and Bolt Thrower.
...
Wikipedia