Social Issues and Activism
Stretch Arm Strong has actively addressed several pressing social concerns, such as the following:
- Their first album for Solid State, Rituals of Life, was dedicated to a friend of the band, Matthew Leveton, who was injured in a car accident and left quadriplegic. The band has since done several benefit shows for raising money for Leveton's recovery.
- On their album A Revolution Transmission, they had a song called "Take Back. Control" which provided a candid, but clean, discussion of sexual violence. The song was intended for rape victims in particular, and they included a telephone number for a rape hotline in the liner notes for the CD.
- Band members Chris McLane and David Sease are longtime vegetarians, have shown support for PETA, and the band went on a "Hardcore Against Fur" tour starting in December 2004 with H2O and With Honor.
Throughout their career, Stretch Arm Strong has made their music—and themselves—as youth-friendly as possible. Most of their lyrics have been much more positively oriented than the typical hardcore band's lyrics. In their song "For the Record" on A Revolution Transmission, they tell their story of how they grew up in the early South Carolina hardcore scene and went to all-ages shows; they have also refused to play shows at venues (or even in cities) which would not allow anyone under 18 to attend their concerts. In addition, some of the band members served as schoolteachers when not playing with the band.
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Famous quotes containing the words social and/or issues:
“The value of a family is that it cushions and protects while the individual is learning ways of coping. And a supportive social system provides the same kind of cushioning for the family as a whole.”
—Michael W. Yogman, and T. Berry Brazelton (20th century)
“Your toddler will be “good” if he feels like doing what you happen to want him to do and does not happen to feel like doing anything you would dislike. With a little cleverness you can organize life as a whole, and issues in particular, so that you both want the same thing most of the time.”
—Penelope Leach (20th century)