“It was a personal and horrific experience for us, especially with our families’ relationships to that part of history,” says Harlan. “They were essentially soundtracking the Holocaust. It was a profound experience to learn about that, as musicians and Jews, and that feeling was so intense. We were really inspired in that moment. So that’s the first song on the record for that reason.”
Considering Show Me The Body are a hardcore punk band with their beliefs living under America’s current president, it might be easy to write them off as a political band. But they are quick to dismiss that.
“A lot of people have their own interpretations on what ‘political’ means. I don’t consider us political. I also don’t consider beating up Nazis political. I also don’t consider not standing for racism, sexism, or homophobia political. Those are my friends, so I stick up for those people. That’s not political at all – that’s human fucking nature.”
He continues, “[Dog Whistle] is also about realizing that kids are struggling all over the world in similar ways. And that Corpus and Show Me The Body can be about kids who are all feeling this, not just kids who are feeling this in New York, and we can feel solidarity to kids in other places who are endemic to their place, who feel pushed out.”