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ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Essential New Music: Savage Republic’s “Live In Wroclaw January 7 2023”

All good things come to an end, sometimes more than once. Originally founded in Los Angeles in 1981, Savage Republic has packed it in a few times, only to get back together again. So, this recording, made during its last European tour, may or may not constitute the combo’s last word. At the moment, Savage Republic is officially broken up.

If the band stays that way, Live In Wroclaw January 7 2023 is a pretty solid swan song. It catches Savage Republic in good form and higher fidelity than any other of the group’s live recordings. Savage Republic’s lineup has varied drastically over the years, but this lean-quartet edition is actually its longest lived. Relative newcomers Alan Waddington and Kerry Dowling form a tight team with Thom Fuhrmann and Ethan Port, who have been participants since the mid-1980s.

Drummer Waddington deftly manages Savage Republic’s dynamic change-ups, sometimes augmented by someone else flailing away at an oil drum. The other three musicians trade off on bass, electric and monotone guitars; the latter is an instrument with all the strings tuned to one note, which has given Savage Republic a distinct sound through the years. The vocals, alternately growled or chanted, impart an epic Hollywood vibe; it’s a damned shame that none of the band’s tunes has scored a crane shot of a raid on a desert caravan.

The song selection on Live In Wroclaw encompasses early, punk-informed rave-ups and apocalyptic rants; mid-period, multi-segmented dramas; and newer, unabashedly surfy instrumentals. Woven through it all is a theme of anti-fascist defiance that was as applicable to the early Reagan years as it is in the time of Trump. That, and the intensity with which the band leans into the material, make this living music, not a nostalgia trip. [Gusstaff/Mobilization]

—Bill Meyer