“We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves.”
“Freedom is slavery: ignorance is strength: war is peace.”
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.” – George Orwell, 1984 (all quotes)
Many of Orwell’s worst nightmares of a totalitarian state (envisaged in 1948) are happening all around us today. Read the book and you’ll spot endless comparisons. Although Blair and Bush often preach about freedom and democracies, it’s far from what they practice. Both were elected by a minority, both had no real opponents and both are working in tandem with multinational corporations – their object is pure greed.

At this time, there is no war between superpowers, as corporations’ arms stretch into the big wide world. There’s only war happening and about to happen against countries too weak to defend themselves against the onslaught of the richest country in the world - aided by our noble troops.

Bush says, about his and Blair’s phoney war about terrorism (it’s actually about building an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the west): “you’re either with us or against us”. So who are the goodies in this gunfight? Bin Laden’s henchmen (if they even did it – where’s the evidence?) blew up thousands of innocent people in one blast. Britain and America are still out there killing innocent civilians – and a university professor in the States’ research reveals we’re beating Al'Qaeda in the bodycount stakes. There’ll soon be millions more that have been murdered by our governments (thanks to landmines, continued bombing raids and imposed famine).

Some reading this by now will be thinking, where’s the relevance in all this to our daily lives, why must we think about politics and so what if this is happening? But the corporate takeover doesn’t just affect a far-off country we may care nothing about. Like the deadly invisible gas carbon monoxide, the corporations and the government are enveloping us, suffocating us, seeping into every fabric in our lives. Their biggest weapon is dumbing down the population (ignorance is strength, remember).

This is not some kooky conspiracy theory. Not only can you see hospitals, schools, housing estates, rubbish collection and transport being taken over by multinationals (where the results are inevitably far poorer than a system subsidised by taxpayers as profits must be the companies and their shareholders' concerns). Observers of the music scenes in Gloucester and Cheltenham in the past few years or more must have noticed there are far fewer gigs happening these days and far fewer DJ nights where music other than overtly commercial is played.

Yet, more and more buildings are being snapped up and turned into new pubs and clubs. Almost every new bar has sprung up, sailed breezily past the planners and licencing authorities and become yet another bland branded fun palace. Gloucester and particularly Cheltenham’s nightlife is swamped by an ever-increasing market where creativity doesn’t exist and maximum profit is the sole objective. By flaunting drinks promotions and pumping out loud, vacuous chart beats that everyone will recognise, they’re grabbing most of the nightlife. Smaller, independent concerns have little choice but to follow suit and exist on the same prison diet of plastic pop and fake soul as their all-swallowing corporate chain clubs gobbling up the rest of the town.

Once upon a time, not so long ago – clubbers would steer clear of cheese. Now it’s a virtue.

Meanwhile, Cheltenham Borough Council, instead of bailing out the Axiom as an essential creative and community hub, concentrates on providing and funding arts almost exclusively for middle-class over-40s in their ridiculously expensive-to-maintain buildings, the Town Hall and Pittville Pump Room.

So where do we go from here? Wake the towns and tell the people there are small beacons of hope in this vast corporate landscape. We still have power in protesting by dissent. We’re not talking about lobbing a brick through Gap, McDonald’s, Starbucks and the banks. We’re not talking about seizing control. We’re talking about rebel music.

Music is our saviour, music really can mean freedom. Music has always been synonymous with dissent, both as a catalyst for dissent and being inspired by it. The ancient Celts used sound to scare the invading Romans, then mini-revolutions took place with hot jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, punk rock and rave. It doesn’t have to have protest lyrics. Certain types of music will always be the enemy of totalitarian powers.

And they’ve made a pretty good job of controlling it, dampening the fire and the power of it. Don’t expect to read about any underground music in the Gloucestershire Echo. The Cheltenham newspaper has long abandoned its rock etc page, which covered the local scene – although you’ll find plenty of information about the next opera, play or 60s revival show coming our way. Is it any wonder that it too is stifling vibrant youth culture and creativity by refusing to give it any space, when it is owned by a huge conglomerate – the same one responsible for the Daily Mail (almost all the world’s media is owned by six companies).

In fact, you could expect more of the same forever, if it wasn’t for Cheltenham’s Fish & Fiddle and, at times, Two Pigs and Po Na Na, Gloucester’s Brunswick, Dean’s Walk and Guildhall. Flash Music is putting together strong triple-bill band nights where the atmosphere is always charged with meaning and shellshocked punters struggling to escape the hold of manufactured corporate rock - and the Off The Beat ‘n’ Tracks, Sumo, Uprock and various drum ‘n’ bass crews are showing there is life beyond ‘anthems’ and chart dance.

By supporting these alternative events, you are making a powerful statement. You are getting involved in something other than banal and substandard entertainment with a lowest common denominator ratio. The revolution starts here. It’s time to kick down the doors and join us in our struggle for free creativeness and passion for organic electric sound.