<p><span><span>- In January, as bushfires raged across South-Eastern Australia, Nelligen-based fire-fighter Paul Parker became a bit of an internet cult hero when a video was shared of him, exhausted, accosting a tv camera to "tell the Prime Minister to go and get fucked".</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It was a classic Aussie scene - courage, adversity, and swearing at the PM. But before those seeking a new voice to unite the working class against the powers that be could get too excited, another video came out of Paul in a more composed state, saying "there's only one person that cares about this country and that's Pauline Hanson".</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>There seems to be something symbolic about this. While Pauline Hanson's anti-elite rhetoric ultimately gets swept up into Liberal party policies, once upon a time the social conditions that earned Australia the reputation of a "workers paradise" were achieved often by working class anger like Paul Parker's.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Somebody trying to bring this back is Melbourne band When Our Turn Comes. The band is loud, foulmouthed and not very subtle. It also enjoys swearing at politicians, but it is a multi-racial lineup led by long-term socialist <strong>Zane Alcorn</strong>.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Musically the reference points are the funk-rap-rock of <strong>Rage Against The Machine</strong> or fellow Malbournians <strong>Mammal</strong>, though with added saxophone that recalls <strong>X-Ray Spex</strong> or the <strong>Downtown Boys</strong>. Lyrically, songs on this five track debut EP tackle racist discourse spread by government and media, the decline of militant unionism and the rise of the far right.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>You'll Always Lose In Melbourne</em> directly opposes right-wing working class elements like One Nation or Neo-Nazi groups - "<em>you can all go to hell you fucking class traitors."</em> But the other side of the coin is an attempt to channel that rage into a militant trade unionism - a historical example provided is the 1970's green bans of the Builders Labourers Federation.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In a world where left wing politics is portrayed as the domain of latte-sipping snowflakes or out of touch elites, this kind of political rhetoric seems a worthwhile attempt. Historically of course, Australian working class politics didn't necessarily see a distinction between class solidarity and opposing immigration - something which When Our Turn Comes attempt to confront. Whether stopping racism is as easy as telling racists to fuck off though is a tricky question, as of course is the old classic of how much change a rock band can ever create.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Whatever, When Our Turn Comes is a welcome to addition to Australia's political music scene: their sledgehammer style rap-rock and gobby obnoxiousness filling a void, and their politics more sophisticated than they might at first appear. With ecological and economic crises looming, and old civil society structures fracturing, When Our Turn Comes are doing more than most rock'n'roll bands to seek out real solutions.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Andy Paine.</span></span></p>
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2650520170/size=large/bgcol=f…; seamless><a href="http://whenourturncomes.bandcamp.com/album/when-our-turn-comes">When Our Turn Comes by When Our Turn Comes</a></iframe>