(Colorado Daily)

In the days that followed the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., the people of the United States faced a bevy of challenges. In those cities, there was the immediate task forced on the uninjured of digging through rubble, mostly in vain, searching for survivors of the tragedy. For the families of those who died, the most immediate obstacle was coming to terms with their loss. Across the nation, citizens who had no real connection to the sites of the attacks were faced with the reality that their little bubble of security had been popped with a single act of aggression.

But amid the patriotic fervor that followed the attacks, none were more challenged than those who held views that ran counter to the popular, patriotic line -- views that accused the United States government of being partly responsible for the attacks.

One of those voices came from Boy Sets Fire, a politically-conscious band from Newark, Delaware with vehemently anti-war views. The band had long held views that, in the post Sept. 11 climate could have been viewed as treasonous. At its early shows in the mid-‘90s, the members of Boy Sets Fire and its fans tore up American flags, an act the band’s singer, Nathan Gray, said at the time was done not out disrespect for those who had fought and died for their county, but rather “disrespect for the government who forced or coerced these innocent men ad women into dying and killing for this piece of cloth.”

Half a decade later, the band faced the challenge of reiterating that unpopular point at a time when it was even more unpopular. On Sept. 11, the band members met for practice, and decided to post a statement about the attacks on their Web site. The short pronouncement expressed remorse over the loss of life, but also derided the United States government for pursuing agendas that the band said ultimately led to the attacks.

“After it happened there was a stifled atmosphere of ‘you’re not allowed to say this, you’re not allowed to say that, otherwise you’re un-American,’” says Gray. “A lot of people felt that, and I think they were just waiting for someone to pick the right time to actually say something.”

Gray says that, despite the emotionally-charged climate, people knew in their hearts that the United States government’s foreign policy played a part in provoking the attacks.

“In a lot of ways, our government brought this on us,” says Gray, ‘which sucks because that’s what always happens. The governments have the fight and the innocent people die. You have a bunch of people who will never have to be in a war, ever, arguing with each other. Then you have a bunch of innocent people who are going to get bombed or a plane is going to fly into them.”
Gray says he found the governments official line on the attacks to be insulting.

“I find it absolutely ridiculous when people start spouting off about how they (the terroristst) did this because they’re jealous of our freedom,” says Gray. “That’s bullshit. It’s historically ridiculous. Historically, when people get pissed off because they don’t have freedom, they don’t go bomb people who have freedom. Historically, they rise up against their own government.”

Gray says the most serious issue facing the country in the wake of the attacks is the president, George W. Bush, and what he calls the United States’ “bully status.” It’s a subject Boy Sets Fire tackles in a new song, “Release the Dogs.”

“In a moment of weakness,” Gray snarls in the song, “they’ve gone for the throat.”

“This whole situation was a wet dream for George Bush and his friends,” says Gray. “People haven’t had an excuse to close off freedoms like this since the Nixon era. That’s what makes me sick: a bunch of people die and they see it as an opportunity.”

Boy Sets Fire has no shortage of opportunities either considering the current political climate. Much of its career has been based around pointing out the hypocrisies and injustices inherent the United States government.

But for a band that has made a career out of political rhetoric, saying old things in a new way is always a challenge. The band now has an added incentive, having jumped from a series of small labels to a larger one, ostensibly gaining a wider audience to whom it can preach.

“This next album I think will be the most political album we’ve released,” says Gray, “because (Wind-Up) is a bigger label. We’ve always said the reason we want to be on a bigger labels is to get our ideas out, so in order to not be hypocrites, that’s what we’re doing. We’re going to make it the most political album ever.”

To keep things fresh, the band took a more intimate approach to the broader issues of politics, war and globalization when recording its new record, “Tomorrow Comes Today.”

“There’s only so much you can say about politics,” says Gray. “You can’t write a whole album about politics and not have said what everybody else has already said. The challenge was to make it interesting and original even if we were saying things that have already been said. We’ve also tried to make it, most importantly, personal to people and inspirational so that people get more out of it instead of just a speech on politics.”

Boy Sets Fire is also continuing its musical progression, something that kicked into high gear with its 1999 album “After the Eulogy.” With the introduction of bass player, Rob Avery, the band felt free to explore new territory, an all-around liberating epiphany. Today that creative spirit is still alive and well.

“I think the album as a whole, even some of the more melodic songs, have sort of a darker feel to them,” says Gray. “It’s still Boy Sets Fire, but it’s a different take on Boy Sets Fire. You can basically figure that every album is going to sound like us, but it’s going to be a different take than what you heard on the last album.”