Editor's note: This story is part of a series examining the inspiration and lyrics of songs written by bands performing in Athens.
The three members of punk rock band Amish Electric Chair don't like to tell people what to think.
Instead, through its music, the band encourages people to ask questions about political and social problems - and think about solutions.
I don't want to tell you who to vote for; I don't want to tell you who's doing a good job (through our music)
said lead singer and guitarist Neil Tuuri. I want to tell you to question people regardless of who they are.
That was the thought behind the band's song State of the Union.
It deals with all these world problems that I feel people are ignorant to Neil said. It deals with things like poverty child labor
outsourcing to other countries
cancer and pollution.
The song was inspired by a one-line poem by Dean Young that reads, We are all clouds
and terrible things happen in clouds.
(The poem is) really powerful
Tuuri said. It just shows the duality of mankind. 'We are clouds' means
like
we are fluffy clouds in the sky
we are kind. But the part 'terrible things happen in clouds' just shows that people are capable of horrible things as well.
In the song, the band addresses the way Americans overlook problems overseas because they are comfortable with their lives.
You have child labor
people making your clothes in China
