David Hinds provides the stories behind classic Steel Pulse songs, and the new ones on the 2004 album 'African Halocaust'.

’Global Warning’: A few years ago, we were asked by the Spirit Of Unity tour to put together a song for a compilation that involved saving a region of redwood forest in northern California.  It commemorated the efforts of Julia Butterfly, who spent 18 months living in a tree.

’Make Us A Nation’: After 9/11, I imagined a perfect world of peace and harmony, and the ingredients needed to make it work.

’No More Weapons’: A play on words, and there ain't no time to beat around the bush.  It's just a voice from the voiceless saying we've had enough of nuclear weapons and the so-called new world order.

’Uncle George’: A commemoration to George Jackson, who was incarcerated nearly forty-five years ago. The original version came out on ‘Tribute To The Martyrs’, and it represents the youths that been imprisoned for trivial offences and will never get the chance to turn their lives around.

’African Holocaust’: The title of the album, as a concept, came long before we decided to write a song to go with it.  It summarises all the other titles on the album, and we thought it was in our interests to have it more African oriented. Hence the featuring of Tiken Jah Fakoly.

’Handsworth Revolution’: With the political climate in Handsworth, at that time, we predicted the coming of riots and strife throughout all communities of ethnic minorities.

’Klu Klux Klan’: That was written after reading a local Caribbean newspaper that mentioned the coming of the grand wizard of the Klan to England to influence the leader of the National Front on how to contain or disrupt the blacks and other minorities.

’Prodigal Son’: The song derived from the search for an identity. Really, where one thinks about abandoning the discipline and culture one was raised with for a world of riches and immeasurable falsehoods - to find later on that returning to one's origins, with forgiveness, brings the greatest sense of fulfilment. I see the journey of Rastafari in that way.

’Prediction’: Being an ardent admirer of the Bible, I find that a lot of  characters explained within it ran parallel to the lives of people who were role models for me. I wanted to draw that comparison.

’Tribute To The Martyrs’: This song demonstrates our highest esteem for all political activists who put their lives on the line in order for us to move forward as a nation and society. From Marcus Garvey to Mahatma Ghandi; from Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma (Myanmar) to the innocents imprisoned unjustly the world over, this song has always been for and about them.

State Of British Black Music

© 2004 Kwaku. First published June 2004

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