Actually, I would like to comment on the odd inclination I noticed as well when you assumed twice that those bands are possibly copying riffs from Propaghandhi. It’s understood that most “punk” or rock bands as a whole, rarely stray far from the classic three chord monte’ as it were, and the chord progressions tend to reoccur. The stylistic approach, down to the amps and mics set up are fairly similar, and these bands even used the same mastering engineers at times.

However, I know guys in all those bands and am sure they would find it laughable if you said they were copying each other.

Propaghandi, while influential I suppose lyrically, hardly strike me as originators, and could barely carry a casual conversation, much less a tune. I’ve had Propaghandhi crashing at my house barely listening in while Lagwagon guys would go on for hours extolling the wonders of the complex bass playing of Steve Harris in Iron Maiden. Those Canadians were hardly accomplished composers, and were just as likely to be influenced by other punk bands and styles as J-Church.

Lance from J-Church was a big fan of all genres of pop music, including one of his fave bands Queen, as well as groups like AC/DC, Electric Light Orchestra, New Order, and even Poi Dog Pondering. I doubt he would consciously seek out a Propaghandhi riff, when he’d rather grab for those influences. I think you are on the right track, but you might look deeper, get more radical in your approach.

Radical from the latin ‘Radix’ meaning Root.

If you are trying to assemble a theory of punk, and where all these sounds & attitudes derived from you likely should go back further in time.

J-Church, Shotwell and Propaghandhi came along in the early to mid 90’s, at least a decade after the real groundbreaking hardcore and political punk was being recorded ( especially in the UK by groups like The Mob, Crass, Subhumans,Chumbawamba etc).

In the US Propaghandhi were preceded by a variety of groups that challenged the status quo and many are in the excellent film “American Hardcore” you might well like to check out.

There are also many years & beers that separate all those bands from garage rock & early proto punk of The Stooges, MC5, Velvet Underground, Monks, Standells, New York Dolls and Patti Smith.

it’s a big musical stew out there, but start working backwards and you will find the evolutionary creatures emerging out of the swamp over time.

It’ll be a great musical journey of discovery, and one you will hopefully never stop traveling.

Eventually you’ll hit the jazz, and swing and blues, through tin pan alley, and then crossing continents into Africa etc.

Dig In!!

Either way, sorry to confuse you, and sorry for taking an unwarranted couple weeks off. Thanks for reading.

-j

Best regards,
chris

ps- i know you have a ppk thread about music suggestions, but have you heard tracy+the plastics? she’s totally different than otr, but i find that most people i introduce her to are into it, especially, though not exclusively, as break-up music.