The Anti-Queens Address Colonialism On New Single & Video “Crusade”

Toronto’s The Anti-Queens recently announced their latest full length, Disenchanted, will be released via Stomp Records on May 17th and they have now revealed Crusade, the latest single and video from the album. Crusade delves into the topic of systemic oppression faced by minority groups, particularly Indigenous Peoples in Canada. The band highlights a grim reality of historical injustices including land theft, forced assimilation and cultural erasure, perpetuated by colonizers imposing their values and religion, resorting to kidnapping and murder. Despite these harrowing truths, the song voices a collective yearning for peace, reconciliation and equality, urging an end to the perpetuation of falsehoods in education. The band emphasizes the crucial role of acknowledgment and truth-seeking by white individuals and colonizers to halt the cycle of misinformation, stating unequivocally, “There is no pride in genocide.”

Regarding the music video for Crusade, the band aimed to let the song and its message shine independently, hence the choice of a performance-based video. Experimenting with white and red lighting, the video was filmed at The Biltmore Theatre in Oshawa, a cherished venue for the band. The video was directed, produced and edited by Michael Crusty, filmed by Sarah Mathieson and features the band playing live with the line up completed by Tracy A (Cross Dog) and Ale Serritiello (MakeWar / The Creepshow).

The band would like to recognize that the video was made in the City of Oshawa, which is situated on lands within the traditional and treaty territory of the Michi Saagiig and Chippewa Anishinaabeg and the signatories of the Williams Treaties, which include the Mississaugas of Scugog Island, Hiawatha, Curve Lake, and Alderville First Nations, and the Chippewas of Georgina Island, Rama and Beausoleil First Nations.