Gen and the Degenerates: ANTI-FUN PROPAGANDA

Nowadays, there is an increasingly counterintuitive feeling about enjoying yourself; a cloud of guilt that follows any laughter, a pang of shame felt when things are working out well. It’s hard to feel truly excited, knowing that we are existing at the same time as so many active and indescribable horrors taking place around us and around the world. This guilt is important - this awareness of our own privilege and luck helps to guide us towards taking the responsibility to do our bit to enact change. However, there is something to be said about the power fun and enjoyment have - perhaps, it is possible to utilise such energy for good.

Gen and the Degenerates are no strangers to this concept. Growing up, vocalist Genevieve Glynn-Reeves was very aware of how difficult it was to be human, and noticed the disasters, atrocities and misfortunes that exist adjacent to us every day. Deciding not to be consumed by this darkness, they instead started to make music that walks the line between vibrant, intoxicating fun and serious, political post-punk, creating a unique sound that gets a point across whilst still encouraging you to dance and let go. The band’s debut album, via Marshall records, “ANTI-FUN PROPAGANDA” is no exception to this; as explained by guitarist Sean Healand-Sloan, “A lot of people do need that spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down [...] if we were to summarise the album in a couple of words, it would be ‘worried fun’.” Songs such as ‘Kids Wanna Dance’ explore the feeling of waking up every day in an increasingly dire situation, but finding the spirit to dance and have fun anyway, while ‘That’s Enough Internet for Today’ spotlights our fixation on, and the impact of, social media and online discourse. A dizzy, writhing cluster of “off-kilter,” energetic guitar riffs and fuzzy, driving basslines, “ANTI-FUN PROPAGANDA” takes you on a journey through the band’s experiences as 20-somethings, working out how to make it work in this current fucked up climate - and having something to say about it while they do.

Ready for world domination, Gen and the Degenerates are a band to be taken seriously. Just finishing a USA tour with Flogging Molly, they have also announced an “ANTI-FUN PROPAGANDA” UK tour taking place in May, playing a variety of places up and down the country from Glasgow to London, including slots at festivals such as Bearded Theory in Derbyshire. 2024 is definitely shaping up to be a good year for them indeed.

You can listen to the debut album now on all streaming platforms such as Spotify. Tickets for the rest of the US tour with Flogging Molly and the ANTI-FUN PROPAGANDA tour are available via their website.

Stay up to date with Gen and the Degenerates via Instagram and Twitter.

music, writingEerie5 March 2024music, new release, writing