Originally released in 1980 by the UK band Ski Patrol, "Agent Orange" has taken on new flesh, as Vision Video projects the song (originally about the Vietnam conflict) into modernity. The song is in outright protest of the current state of America and it's regime, with it's obvious connotations. The song maintains it's original post-punk escalation, but with a new darker veneer. Get it here.
Vocalist and guitarist, Dustin Gannon, describes his band's connection to the song: "Agent Orange was a song that I stumbled across a couple years ago when I was writing the initial material that would eventually become Vision Video. I remember the bass line and atonal guitar dissonance immediately drawing me into this bleak and familiar theme of the horror of warfare, which was something I had been acquainted with myself in Afghanistan a few years prior. The song perfectly captured the visceral gut-punched feeling of foreboding doom that I very much felt when I was involved in that war myself. Once Vision Video had formed, we had talked about trying a couple covers, and this Ski Patrol classic just immediately drew into mind. By this time we were a couple of years into the Trump administration and it dawned upon me that this living nightmare was also paralleled (albeit in a different way) in the current American political landscape. The pointed lyrical allegory of 'Agent Orange' , as the chemical weapon used in Vietnam connected well to the current U.S. President undeniably; a caustic, disease causing agent that has destroyed lives and will continue to do so long after it is gone.
"Recording the track with Tom Ashton (of the March Violets, Clan of Xymox, Danse Society) at his Sub Von Studio was especially a treat for us, because his producer's ear really amplified the thematic elements of anger, despair and hopelessness that the song imparts."
Vocalist and guitarist, Dustin Gannon, describes his band's connection to the song: "Agent Orange was a song that I stumbled across a couple years ago when I was writing the initial material that would eventually become Vision Video. I remember the bass line and atonal guitar dissonance immediately drawing me into this bleak and familiar theme of the horror of warfare, which was something I had been acquainted with myself in Afghanistan a few years prior. The song perfectly captured the visceral gut-punched feeling of foreboding doom that I very much felt when I was involved in that war myself. Once Vision Video had formed, we had talked about trying a couple covers, and this Ski Patrol classic just immediately drew into mind. By this time we were a couple of years into the Trump administration and it dawned upon me that this living nightmare was also paralleled (albeit in a different way) in the current American political landscape. The pointed lyrical allegory of 'Agent Orange' , as the chemical weapon used in Vietnam connected well to the current U.S. President undeniably; a caustic, disease causing agent that has destroyed lives and will continue to do so long after it is gone.
"Recording the track with Tom Ashton (of the March Violets, Clan of Xymox, Danse Society) at his Sub Von Studio was especially a treat for us, because his producer's ear really amplified the thematic elements of anger, despair and hopelessness that the song imparts."
Stream it below.
(facebook.com/visionvideoband)
Tags: Vision Video