American hardcore veterans Stray From The Path have dropped a pretty vicious new single called 'Actions Not Words', which is a track from their upcoming eighth album Internal Atomics due out on November 1.
The track is full of pummeling drums, dissonant guitars and some aggressive vocals from Drew York, and is lyrically inspired by a trip the band took to Kenya last year, which was set up by Actions Not Words Kenya, and Hardcore Help Foundation. Check out the official video below, then keep scrolling for a full explanation about its themes:
“…We were able to witness firsthand what these groups do on a daily basis: dedicate their entire lives to helping those in need.
In Kenya, clean drinking water—a luxury that we take for granted in many parts of the world—is hard to find. We teamed with @ricohuntjens of Hardcore Help to raise money through merchandise sales, which was then donated towards water filters for Kenyan families. We traveled with Rico to Nairobi, where we got to meet the community and help set up the filters, and from there we headed to Nakuru to join Ross Floyd and Agnes Mburu from Actions Not Words.
Ross and Agnes brought us to the Gioto Garbage Slum, where people are living in incredibly difficult conditions. Food, clothing, and shelter are scarce, and the young children spend most of their time away from school trying to find these necessities for their families. Actions Not Words sponsors children from this area into boarding school, where they receive food, clean water, clothing, education, friendship, and a fair chance. It was heartbreaking to see the conditions these families live in, but inspiring to see the children spend time at the school where they are healthy, happy to learn, happy to be alive.
There honestly aren’t words to describe how perspective-altering this trip was, but with this song we did our best to communicate how inspired we are by the people we met and the work of organizations like Hardcore Help and Actions Not Words. They lay it all on the line to help those in need and they’re changing the world—slowly, but effectively.
That kind of change is what it’s all about, and maybe it can start with all of us. It can start with trying to understand that many people don’t have as much as we do, with considering the lives of others and not just those in our closest circles, and with doing what we can to make sure that people have what they need to have a chance at happiness. We believe that every good gesture and deed will lead to another. People like Rico, Ross, Agnes, Hardcore Help, and Actions Not Words are changing the world. We want to try to be a part of that and we hope that you do too.”
Listen to Stray From The Path now.
