The fire rages in Declan Welsh and the Decadent West’s heated anti-war protest anthem “Inaction,” a visceral, unapologetic, and emotionally charged punk fever dream.
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“Inaction” – Declan Welsh and the Decadent West
We validate the mandate of private corporations, who sell us ethics as aesthetics as status updates…
The fire rages in Declan Welsh and the Decadent West’s new single, just as fires continue to rage around the world, unchecked and unstopped.
Released October 11th via Frictionless Music, “Inaction” is angry, raw, and loud: A provocative, impassioned anthem that looks on in disgust as senseless, brutal wars are waged and hundreds of thousands of innocent lives suffer.
Inaction
Inattentive for all the distractions
Factions
Drawn along reactions
Protracting
The facts at hand in a manner
That neither calms nor empowers
Hours and days and months
poured into
discussing all there is to discuss
Because w prima facie entrust
This riposte of ideas as robust
Since their inception in the mid-2010s, the Glasgow punk band have used their music to speak out about current events – in fact, their previous single, “Walk a Mile in Gaza” (released in June 2024) served as an attempt to humanize the suffering of innocent Palestinians in war-torn Gaza.
“Inaction” is a more universal uproar that will stand the test of time, though it was made with the present Israeli-Palestinian conflict in mind.
“This is a song written after nearly a year of watching the worst things imaginable happen to people on a daily basis, live-streamed while everyone has various debates about whether it should happen, and we all stand up and say that it shouldn’t while it continues,” frontman Declan Welsh tells Atwood Magazine.
“It is a criticism of the idea of debate in and of itself, and of the limits of free discussion and expression as a tool to be used by people to change things. It’s a frenetic, frustrated, five hundred mile an hour punk song designed to be played live and felt.”
Welsh and his band rise to a fever pitch as they hit an emotionally charged climax in the chorus, his searing voice hot on the mic as he bares his heavy soul:
What if it’s all just the jingle of the keys
The shining of a light
The subtle misdirection
The markets hand is slight
And despite all my affection
For the sound of my own voice
Is there a point to all the
Talk talk, chit chat
Talk talk, chit chat
Talk talk chit chat talk talk
It’s a frenetic, frustrated, five hundred mile an hour punk song designed to be played live and felt.
Listening to “Inaction” is not just inspiring; it’s invigorating.
War continues to rage as I type these words; death tolls continue to rise with no end in sight, and the Middle East conflict appears to be growing, not shrinking, as those parties involved choose to perpetuate violence over seeking peace.
It’s infuriating, and the situation can and does make one feel helpless.
Debates placate the need innate
for us to feel like we participate
But that we see an oasis shaped
Is no proof we don’t hallucinate
We validate the mandate
Of private corporations
Who sell us ethics as aesthetics
As status updates
And what if it’s all a machine that by design
Takes what will destroy it and makes it so benign
Like a picture of Guevara
on a shirt that’s made in Taiwan
As long as the colour is black,
you can have any car you want
And yet, we have seen protest songs have a real, tangible, and lasting impact on the world; history has, time and again, highlighted the power of activism and organization, and the ability of everyday individuals to spark meaningful change. Music moves people; in other words, Declan Welsh and the Decadent West’s “Inaction” could very well lead to the actions the band – and so many of us around the world – so very deeply hope for: An end to war, to violence, and to all the needless bloodshed.
And at the very least, we have an outlet in songs like “Inaction” to scream at the top of our lungs until our voices, raw and ragged, burn like the aching pain we feel in our guts.
What if it’s all just the jingle of the keys
The shining of a light
The subtle misdirection
The markets hand is slight
And despite all my affection
For the sound of my own voice
Is there a point to all the
Talk talk, chit chat
Talk talk, chit chat
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:: stream/purchase Inaction here ::
:: connect with Declan Welsh here ::
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“Inaction” – Declan Welsh and the Decadent West
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© Graham Noble
© Graham Noble
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