The passionate Leftöver Crack vocalist is pacing back and forth on the roof of his house — the infamous C-Squat flat in Manhattan’s bohemian Alphabet City — going over the group’s history of scathing lyricism and biting criticisms of American society and politics that first appeared on 2001 debut Mediocre Generica.
The release of the record, initially called Shoot the Kids at School, was delayed to September 11, 2001, after the band’s record label at the time refused to put out an album carrying the original title. But the attacks that transpired that day only amplified an eerily prescient “Atheist Anthem” verse: “When the greed of man is not appeased, all will rot, sick and diseased, once again, the fallen towers.”
It reads like an omen. But when Sturgeon wrote the line, he wasn’t looking ahead; he was pulling from history and classic literature.
“People were like, ‘What are you, a clairvoyant?’ That’s literally from a T.S. Eliot poem, The Waste Lands,” he explains. “He talks about all the empires of the past and how empires fall.
“And a lot of people don’t remember when the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993,” Sturgeon continues, adding he happened to be in a nearby office working as an intern at an anarchist newspaper. “It was an overcast day, and there were thousands of police cars and emergency vehicles going down Varick Street, and we were on Canal Street.”
The breakdown makes “Atheist Anthem” seem even more revelatory, but Sturgeon’s gift of tapping into the pulse of the past and present is what powers Leftöver Crack’s scathing tomes that hit more like written warnings wrapped up in metallic ska-punk. Such songs as “Burn Them Prisons,” “Nazi White Trash” and “So You Wanna Be a Cop?” are just as relevant today as when they came out. As Sturgeon sees it, “timeless themes” of white supremacy, police brutality and oppression are ever-present.
“We are living in, I feel like, the end of an empire here in America,” he adds. “Things get ridiculous and leaders are supposedly elected who are not into sustaining anything except for their bank accounts. That’s how something happens. Things go down, and one day you’re not a ‘super power.’”
The group — which currently consists of the new-look lineup of vocalist Tibbie X, bassist Marc Cody, guitarist Skunk Chellovek, guitarist-vocalist Jon Yi and drummer Ethan Nickles — is on tour and as angry as ever. Leftöver Crack spreads the good word in Denver, a city that Sturgeon grew fond of during his salad days of hopping trains across the country, on Saturday, April 26, at the Bluebird Theater. LA ska-core vets La Pobreska and local metalcore menace Hellgrammites are also on the bill.
Leftöver Crack, whose name is an oxymoron about addicts never having extra drugs, is no stranger to controversy. It has compiled an impressive resume of bans and ongoing antagonization since 1998, mostly spearheaded by Sturgeon. The band's seminal 2004 sophomore bombshell, Fuck World Trade, which is receiving a proper reissue on July 25 via SBÄM Records — along with the equally incendiary Constructs of the State (2015) — exemplifies uncompromising punk.
The cover image of the plane-stricken twin towers is meant to imply former president George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Rudy Giuliani caused the attack (former UK prime minister Tony Blair replaced Giuliani on editions released across the pond). That alone was enough to get it banned from being carried at many large retailers before it even hit shelves.
Then there’s the tracklist, which includes the intro, “As the same bitches that brought you the tower-toppling Mediocre Generica on 9/11/01,” and hits “Operation M.O.V.E.” and “Gang Control” (a Morning Glory’s cover).
Recorded in Chicago with the late Steve Albini, Fuck World Trade felt like the opposite of a sophomore slump, according to Sturgeon, while putting Leftöver Crack on the map as modern-day punk gods from the gutter.
“It was the first time we were in a situation where it was a little more relaxed and fun,” he explains, adding that it’s still his favorite record to date.
Sturgeon permanently wears his feelings about police in the form of a “KILL COPS” tattoo on his right hand. But don’t mistake his in-your-face public persona for angsty shock value. Sturgeon is a punk-rock poet, as he casually quotes Kurt Vonnegut and Eugene V. Debs, two of his favorite writers, when drawing parallels between their works and current events.
Reciting Debs, “While there is a lower class, I am in it. While there is a criminal element, I am of it. While there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
“That’s my favorite quote of all time,” Sturgeon says.
It inspired Leftöver Crack’s latest single, “White Guilt Atrocity Quilt,” which released on April 18 with B-side “Brad Sabbath.”
“It’s about the history of white subjugation of other people to build this country,” Sturgeon shares, pointing to recent arrests of student activists and unconstitutional exiles as evidence of history repeating itself.
“It’s just as relevant now, especially since we have an administration and people backing it who want to deport ‘illegal’ people. These are people who built this country. You can kick them out, but you’re destroying the fabric of what this country is about.”
While Leftöver Crack hasn’t released an official record in a decade, it’s clear Sturgeon and his bandmates won’t be silenced anytime soon.
“The only way out I see is to talk about these things a lot,” Sturgeon concludes, “and make people feel ashamed for doing the same thing that other generations are ashamed of.”
Leftöver Crack, with La Pobreska and Hellgrammites, 7 p.m. Saturday, April 26, Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax. Tickets are $43.
