The Tribe I Claim

"The Tribe I Claim" is about how people try to embrace a singular culture or identity, like how so many punks are having this Irish roots resurgence or whatever. Though there is nothing inherently wrong with this, I can never identify with one set, so the song is about how the culture that I identify most with is sub-culture or drop out culture. People who reject cultures that have been imposed on them. Gay people who reject the gay community's attempts to be accepted as main stream, African American kids that prefer listening to deathmetal, sex workers, transgenders, artists that push the envelope with their work, basically I feel more affinity for the misfits and odd balls the seemingly contradictory and unusual people of the world, they are the people I feel more of a connection with than people who buy into the blueprint of societal norms. People who have chosen to live their lives by their own rules. People who have acceptance and understanding of who they are and what they want out of life, even it means the path won't be easy. Though there are analogies to rats and roaches in the lyrics, I do not associate these communities with vermin, though mainstream society might view these communities in exactly that light. The analogy is more to the ability to survive under the most adverse circumstances.

Nomads and wanderers

pirates and sex workers

living life by their own rules

autonomous and free

dissemination inherent to our clan

you'll find our people spread through

each and every land

"young" punks and artisans

deviants and eccentrics

like rats within the walls

roaches beneath the floors

an underground community that multiplies and grows.