Jason Heath & the Greedy Souls Premiere Their “Children, Chains and Razorwire” Music Video

You can feel the power, the heart, and ultimately the fire in Jason Heath & the Greedy Souls’ newest single, “Children, Chains and Razorwire.” The impassioned song is the focus track from the band’s latest album, Earth Fire Water Airborne. Released last month via Still Small Recordings, this song really sets the tone for the stirring nature of the record. It’s a serious song that deals with serious issues, but that doesn’t mean you can’t rock the hell out to it. This is the song in a live set that gets everyone jumping around. Because ultimately, no matter what you’re saying, rock n’ roll should have a communal, glorious nature, as this song does.

Telling us more about the meaning and inspiration of the song, Heath tells us:

“The song ‘Children, Chains and Razorwire’ was written about the incarceration of youth, predominantly young men of colour, and the unholy conditions that immigrant children are forced to endure at the border camps. (It’s also about) The juxtaposition of the justification of all this by fundamentalist Christians who claim to be following the teachings of Jesus, while these ICE packs of marauding bandits terrorize our communities and arrest innocent people whose only crime is being an immigrant or being brown. The hypocrisy knows no end when it comes to this type of Christian nationalism.

“I see the effects of it firsthand, as I work in juvenile halls and youth camps (which are just a nice name for a youth prison in the mountains). And I live in a predominantly Latin neighbourhood in LA. So I see these racist policies and the damage they inflict on our communities on full display there and pretty much everywhere in the city. I just find it ironic that the teachings of Jesus are to ‘love your neighbour, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, and visit the prisoner,’ but these hypocrites are doing anything but that.”

Discussing how the crushing guitar riff came to him, Heath states:

“I stumbled on the riff literally while I was fiddling around with the guitar between songwriting class at Camp Paige, so I thought it would be cool to get the youth from the class to sing background vocals on the outro. I brought the stems in and recorded them with a laptop, singing on the ‘down down down down’ refrain at the end of the song. It sounded and felt great.”

Discussing the music video and how it was put together, he comments:

“It was directed by my dear friend, Jørn, who’s done quite a few videos for us in the past. We made the video using greenscreen during the height of the lockdown, but when (drummer) Steve (Nutting) joined the band, we re-recorded and shot his parts for the video and did some re-edits, added some animation from the incredibly talented Alli Sadegiani, who we’ve worked with in the past. And Wayne Kramer let me borrow his ‘Stars and Stripes Strat’ to go along with my suit, so I was really honoured he did that. I think the song and the video really capture the spirit of current events that sadly don’t seem to be improving much. It’s going to take more than songs to stop this slide into fascism, but I’m encouraged by what I see and hear from the youth I work with. Enjoy the short musical film.”

Much of Earth Fire Water Airborne was composed during the pandemic-related lockdowns. In some ways, it was just an attempt to help Heath process the moral, political, and spiritual challenges associated with the situation. It was a very honest time for everyone, but particularly Heath. That honesty certainty found its way into the record. The writing of the album was not exactly a straightforward process. At one point, it was finished and titled Thunder Above, Fire Below. Heath finished it for the most part, but something felt off about it. While sitting on the songs for a while, he and his bandmates began writing new songs. The new songs began to feel better than the other ones, and suddenly a new record was taking shape.

Earth Fire Water Airborne is an album that sounds primal, raw, and fundamental. It is Heath at his most poignant and direct.

Jason Heath & the Greedy Souls ‘Earth, Fire, Water, Airborne’ album artwork