Jason McKee's life has been an extraordinary one. Ten years in the Royal Australian Navy, and a creative breakdown during the pandemic took him to hospital for six weeks. From this emerged Reetoxa and eventually this single. You can't really pull the music out of that backstory, and you wouldn't want to. You can hear that lived experience throughout the track. Nothing about it feels imagined or exaggerated. It sounds like someone trying to process difficult moments through loud, direct, and honest music.
War Killer is punk, period. A driving guitar riff, a pounding rhythm, and true heartfelt vocals. The production is raw and immediate, just right for the material. No gloss here. Just enough energy to strike with power but not lose its form.
The song's backstory is really interesting. In the midst of Melbourne's lockdown, Jason turned on the TV and watched Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meeting peacefully. It was a lot to take in for one who had been warned for 10 years that North Korea was an unstoppable force. He doesn't consider himself a political person, he admits. He felt something he saw, and he wrote about it in a truthful manner.
It's this honesty that makes the track special. The chorus is a communal, declarative statement, reminiscent of classic punk songs about unity. McKee has mentioned Sham 69 as an influence and it's obvious that's the case, but the song never sounds like a copy of anything.
It was almost completely removed from the album. After a break the band made the first take, producer and Jason looked at each other and knew they had something. That's the kind of spontaneous clarity that comes through in the recording. It is a performance and not a product. If you like real, meaningful punk rock, this is a must-listen.
