SINGLE/VIDEO REVIEW: TROPICAL F**K STORM – G.A.F.F.

With their new album Deep States coming out in August Tropical Fuck Storm release new track ‘G.A.F.F.’ (Give A Fuck Fatigue) and there’s a video (below) to go along with the release. ‘G.A.F.F.’ deals with the ennui brought about by being fire-hosed with too many things to give a fuck about and the band say about the song that it’s “an ode to the occasional dispassion brought about by the mandatory concern for every perceived injustice that happens, has happened and might yet happen that is being foisted upon the masses by super-yacht dwelling tech barons who monetise our indignation.

monetise our indignation” is a phrase I found particularly chilling and the accompanying lyrics (printed below the video) are a litany of all the things that make you want to either give up stimulants and hide under the duvet or do all the stimulants and hide under the duvet. But these are things that need saying i.e. “Nazis hate Pinkos hate MAGAts in the park, when they’re killing one another you can tell them apart. one side is going crazy ‘bout the way you look and the other sides does it for looks”. This is the litany of modern life, we are all simultaneously connected and disconnected, we have access to everything and yet often feel disenfranchised or fear being on the receiving end of cancel culture.

The song itself manages to capture these contradictions and it’s a kaleidoscope of warped sounds and distorted drums that often rat-a-tat in tandem with the vocals. Free-form guitar zigzags throughout with notes that bend from tuneful to atonal and Gareth Liddiard’s vocals provide a friction between the obvious frustration of the subject matter versus his mudslide diction, where words often run together. This boisterous lo-fi crunch is also mirrored in the video which starts with a famed photo of Elvis and ends with a robot Homer Simpson exploding. In between, there is bedsit booze and drugs, guns, a games arcade, bubble-bath-hotel-champagne-drinking and news footage. This avalanche of images also has the colours dialled way up, which heightens the on-the-edge feeling of the song.

You can pre-order the album Deep States from Bandcamp and it’s released on August 20.

G.A.F.F. Lyrics:

one death’s a tragedy, we want the stats

sadistic statistics keep the shit abstract

pestilence, treachery, cloaks and daggers

when I’m talking arms length I’m talking knuckle draggers

displeased hashtags, strange diseases

if it bleeds it leads and leaves you disbelieving

what else could go wrong?

my Black Swan’s got fleas

I’ve got a nasty case of

Give A Fuck Fatigue

Even when you order drive thru you’ve got a bad case

of Give A Fuck Fatigue

deep fakes, false flags, fires and famine

unicorns, uniforms, water cannons

everybody’s going nuts

their drugs are on drugs

somebody do something!!!

yeah but nobody does

Nazis hate Pinkos hate MAGAts in the park

when they’re killing one another

you can tell them apart

one side is going crazy ‘bout the way you look

and the other sides does it for looks

you can’t pave the jungle but you can wear shoes

lighten up loser, like the heretics do

trade your guilt trip in for a holiday

from the attrition that is wishing it’s a permanent state

war made the State, the State made war

what’s the point of worrying ‘bout it anymore?

Give A Fuck Fatigue

Even when you order drive thru you’ve got a bad case

of Give A Fuck Fatigue


by the graveyard there’s a carwash with a parking lot

where the pick-up was discovered when the guard got shot

they found Styrofoam and petrol mixed in mason jars

rags and zippo lighters in the glove compartment

hollow point bullets in an old paint tin

and the keys to an apartment at the Holiday Inn

what the fuck’s he trying to do?

Third Reich take two?

the peasants are revolting

and they’re shopping for shoes

I’ll take the wages of sin

over the minimum wage

I’d blow myself up too man

it’s been one of them days

but I’m not a kamikaze

don’t wanna die a martyr

I’m just looking for a latte

and a fucking phone charger

Give A Fuck Fatigue

the blood of Christian children in a ping pong joint

where a soldier of Fortune 500 wins points

whether fighting for a cause or for a symptom

from the mouth of the horse

an anonymous source says

the Gimbals, the Tic Tacs

if they ever come back

we’ll be waterboarding Martians

with a planet earth flag

there’s too much information

i can’t get an erection

or a stay of execution until after the election

coz the body-cam’s live

the body count’s dead

next to people making babies on the World Wide Web

Give A Fuck Fatigue

even when you walkin’ your pooch you’ve got a bad case

even when you making a move you’ve got a bad case

Review by Paul F Cook

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