Sometimes, the personal is political. In the case of local punk bands Clinic Bomb and USA Waste, it always is.

“When I write songs, I write from personal experience,” said Joanne Bolduc, vocalist for Clinic Bomb, who are based out of the Bangor area. “A song will come to me when I’m having personal problems, or my friends are, or when I’m thinking about different social issues. I try to make everything personal. Anger is a big motivating factor.”

Anger is also a weapon, and both Clinic Bomb and USA Waste use it to their full advantage, making straight up, hardcore-influenced political punk – the five-member Clinic Bomb since 2004, and power trio USA Waste since 1999, making the latter one of the area’s longest-standing local bands.

The two groups refer to each other as “brother and sister” bands, since they share most of the same politics, and at different points have shared the same musicians, like when USA Waste drummer Dub Waste joined Clinic Bomb for a year. It also helps that Bolduc lives with Waste singer Brett Conners. The ties run deep.

It’s appropriate, then, that they’re playing together at Saturday night’s show at the Worker’s Center on Ivers Street in Brewer, along with Full Contact Kitty and Rattlesnake Slim. Especially considering the fact that the Worker’s Center and sponsoring labor rights organization Food AND Medicine share many of the same concerns with the two bands.

“We talk about worker’s rights and trying to live in the world today, working and barely being able to make it,” said Bolduc. “I know from personal experience how hard it was when I hurt my arm, and it took two years for worker’s comp to cover it. People don’t have health insurance, and if they get sick they’re pretty much out of luck. We have a song called ‘Denied’ that’s all about that.”

USA Waste’s approach to politics is a little less specific, and a little more generalized.

“We try to get everyone on the same page. We talk about the things we think are wrong with our society, but we try not to push anyone away or alienate anyone,” said Conners. “Everyone in the band writes what they feel and we back each other up.”

USA Waste, composed of Conners, Dub Waste and bassist Scott Scavenger, released a full-length album last fall, titled “Defiant Anthems of Truth and Justice,” and continue to play shows throughout New England. They also run Crack Rock Records (“It actually has nothing to do with drugs – I was 16 and I thought it was funny, and 14 years later it’s stuck,” said Conners) and record and distribute music for themselves and other local bands. Basically, if you’re a punk in eastern Maine, you know the Waste Crew.

Both bands look forward to the opportunity to play for a good cause, like for Food AND Medicine and the Worker’s Center. Remember: personal, political. The two cannot be separated.

“We’re playing for a good reason,” said Bolduc. “It’s great to just play shows and not have it benefit anyone, but when you’re doing something for an organization that really helps people, it makes it really worthwhile.”

USA Waste, Clinic Bomb, Full Contact Kitty and Rattlesnake Slim will play at the Worker’s Center on 20 Ivers Street in Brewer on Saturday, Feb. 15. Doors open at 6 p.m., admission is $5 and the show is all ages. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/clinicbomb and www.myspace.com/usawaste. For more information on Food AND Medicine, visit www.foodandmedicine.org.

eburnham@bangordailynews.net

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