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Regional Justice Center, the powerviolence band led by Militarie Gun’s Ian Shelton, have returned with some big changes and a new album. Freedom, Sweet Freedom is due out September 20 via Closed Casket Activities, and joining Shelton in the band are his younger brother, Max, and Taylor Young of Twitching Tongues and Nails. Listen to two new songs from the record, “Freedom,” led by Ian Shelton, and “Take a Step Away,” sung by Max Shelton, below.
Ian Shelton started Regional Justice Center in 2016, shortly after Max was incarcerated, as a way to process his worries for his brother, the prison industrial complex, and its institutional degradation. While Max spoke on previous albums—2018’s World of Inconvenience and 2021’s Crime and Punishment—via recorded phone calls from prison, Freedom, Sweet Freedom is the first album with the Sheltons writing, performing, and recording together in person.
“Eight years ago to the day, I woke up in county jail,” explained Max Shelton, who was released from custody in 2022. “I was confused, I had zero recollection of what events took place to land me there, and I didn’t know how long I’d be gone or when I’d be able to see and hug my family again. To be able to reclaim these dates and put something positive and hopeful in place of the trauma and anxiety that had always been wrapped around it all—that is the most beautiful full circle moment to me. Even a lotus can grow in mud. Freedom, sweet freedom.”
Ian Shelton added: “When Max went away, I started RJC as a way of unpacking everything that was happening, so he’s been a defining part of the band from the start—but the plan was always for him to be even more involved when he got out. I never knew exactly what that would mean until we started making this album and it became clear: he’s the singer of the band. RJC has always been about Max’s story and I’m happy for him to finally be able to tell it with his own voice.”
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