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War Stories (2003)
 "Matt Kite is another Seattle songwriter who
has made some drastic changes. War Stories, the sixth
album from Kite's The Whole Bolivian Army, is packed with intense
polemics. Kite says he was inspired by research on the Vietnam
War and interviews with veterans he has been doing for a book.
The vivid album begins with 'Okinawa,' telling of a rape by U.S.
soldiers from the victim's perspective. More often, War Stories
comes from the perspective of the grunts, and Kite occasionally
approaches Tim O'Brien, who wrote The Things They Carried
and other unflinching fiction steeped in Vietnam. O'Brien would
appreciate some of Kite's writing here ('I wake the day the shooting
stops/the door, the Fourth, the engine drops/I wake the only
way I can/the eyes, the eyes, I killed a man')."
— Tom
Scanlon, Seattle Times, June 20, 2003
"On War
Stories, The Whole Bolivian Army creates political music
as though they have been doing it for years... With up-tempo
songs like 'Okinawa,' the serious and moving 'Shellshock,' and
'Kwangju,' the band assumes the identities of a Japanese woman,
a US veteran and a South Korean, respectively... In the end,
some of the tunes are almost danceable and you can’t help
but feel guilty dancing to a song like 'Shellshock.' Certain
songs really stay with you, mostly due to the lyrics. For the
politically active or interested, The Whole Bolivian Army offers
their political opinions for conversation, without feeling as
though they have been forced upon you, and created a decent album
from it at the same time."
— Corinne,
PlugInMusic.com, Spring 2003
"Enclosed in the liner
notes is a list of historical reading that addresses U.S. foreign
policy, post-World War II... 'I wanted to have a historical reference
and include the reading list in hopes that some of the fans would
do their own research,' [songwriter Matt Kite] said. During the
conception of War Stories, Kite was also ghostwriting
a novel on the Vietnam War for which he conducted 'intense interviews'
and heard 'heartbreaking stories,' he said. The research and
reading material somehow found its way on TWBA's latest release."
— Christina
Twu, Western Front, Oct. 14, 2003
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SOUND SAMPLES
You can listen to free song samples from War Stories at
CD
Baby
and I-Tunes.
VIDEO
War Stories album and "Kwangju" video (making of)
"Kwangju"
"Okinawa" live at Jamnesty (2011)
TRACK
LIST
1. Okinawa
2. Shellshock
3. Kwangju
4. Blowback
5. Ack!
6. The End of Chivalry
7. Red
8. Landmine
9. United Fruit Co.
10. Credo
CREDITS: MB, vocals; Matt Kite, guitar, organ,
vocals, percussion; Tommy Thew, guitar, loops, vocals; Chris
Gunn, bass, vocals; Dave Warburton, drums, percussion. Produced
by Scott Ross and TWBA. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Scott
Ross at Elliott Bay Recording Co. (Seattle, WA). Cover photo
courtesy of Dawn Birr. Music by TWBA. Lyrics by Matt Kite. Dedicated
to the memory of James "Gunny" Rigdon, 1948-1994. ©
2003 Gargantuan Records/TWUBBA Music (ASCAP).
READING
LIST:
Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala,
Stephan Schlesinger & Stephen Kinzer. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Press, 1990. Blowback: The Costs and Consequences
of American Empire, Chalmers Johnson. New York: Henry Holt
and Co./Owl Books, 2000. Farewell Darkness: A Veteran's Triumph
over Combat Trauma, Ron Zaczek. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute
Press, 1994. In the Realm of a Dying Emperor, Norma Field.
New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. Korea's Place in the Sun,
Bruce Cumings. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997. Kwangju
Diary: Beyond Death, Beyond the Darkness of the Age, Lee
Jai-eui. Los Angeles: UCLA Asian Pacific Monograph Series, 1999.
Okinawa: Cold War Island, Chalmers Johnson. Cardiff, CA:
Japan Policy Research Institute, 1999. A Rumor of War,
Philip Caputo. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1977.
Vietnam: A History, Stanley Karnow. New York: Penguin
Books, 1997. War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, Chris
Hedges. Public Affairs, Perseus Group, 2002.
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