...[you make me feel mighty real]...

miss black america. under construction, hence looking rather strange. trust me.


i might never have come across this band. i've been on their mailing list for about a year, if not longer. no idea how i got there. for some reason i never investigated their emails, it didn't occur to me that it might actually be a mailout from a fantastic band. but one day, a few months ago, i escaped from ignorance. i opened their latest email-mailout, and on discovering miss black america, was confronted by a barrage of political fury, irreverent humour and genuine passion. and that was just the mailout content. they sent me their demo cd [and a beyootiful green lollipop], i played the cd, and that was that. addicted.


i could talk for hours about them. i could tell you exactly what they sound like [feeder but good, idlewild but free]. i could tell you about their politically and socially driven motivations [more about that in a second], i could bibble on at you about them till the sky turns green. it wouldn't convey what they are. you have to hear the music. you have to see them live. they're angry, they're euphoric, they're alive - in their own words, they're "the eloquent scream that will shock people out of their waking sleep". it's not a bad description - it's certainly accurate. they did indeed wake me up. they re-affirmed that there's life - and talent - out there. please please please see them live; whether you catch a show that is triumphant and successful, or you see them battling against the odds [hello moving drumkits], i promise that you'll get something good and worthwhile out of it.


fuck it - here's their own mission statement - it says more about them than i ever could.


"MISS BLACK AMERICA formed in october 1999 when singer seymour met bassist mike and drummer neil at a drum 'n' bass gig in cambridge. inspired by a seething hatred for the deliberate stupidity and wilful apathy of our generation (and most of its music), we are the antidote to the poisons which brought about the death of the modern soul.


we come from a stuck-up nothing town in southeast middle england, where you either leave town when you leave school or face an eternity of boredom in an office or factory; where you either spend your days rotting away in safe domestic hell, or find your salvation through rock 'n' roll.


last august we supported the dandy warhols when they toured the uk - they were useless, arrogant nouveau-hippy cunts and we blew them off the stage - we've also played with fruitbat from carter usm's new band, abdoujaparov. last april, we turned down a request to write a song for the pokemon soundtrack. following comments made by seymour in december re. the obscenity of charging �16.99 for an album, we're now banned from all branches of andy's records nationwide. we will never sign to any major label in the uk: music should be no-one's money, and we refuse to undermine our ambition or integrity, as most of our heroes have done. guitar genius gish joined the band in october 2000, when seymour's finger was ripped off his hand.


god is dead: no-one can look with open eyes at the damage caused in the name of any 'god' (in ireland, israel, afghanistan and throughout history) and see organised religion as anything but dangerous and destructive. likewise sport: the acceptable, 'noble' face of xenophobia and bigotry.


only music is universal. only music can bring us together. only music can save us from ourselves.


we are the eloquent scream that will shock people out of their waking sleep. we believe that no-one is useless or stupid, no-one's head is empty; that our ambitions and opinions are valuable because they make us what we are, they make us special, they make us powerful; that if we fight hard enough, we can accomplish anything; that the best thing about the past is that it's gone forever; that the future begins RIGHT NOW.


we are your future, staring you hard in the face. ignore us at your peril.








the links

...[official site]...
...[mba interview on drownedinsound.com]...

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