Andrew Jackson Jihad officially shorten name to AJJ, release new song (watch the video)

photo by Steph Carrico

Phoenix’s Andrew Jackson Jihad have officially shortened their name to AJJ. The band writes on Facebook:

Hi Gang! Big news today.

We are officially changing our name from Andrew Jackson Jihad to the simple, familiar abbreviation that most of you already call us: AJJ.

The two biggest reasons for this are:
1.) We are not Muslims, and as such, it is disrespectful and irresponsible for us to use the word jihad in our band’s name.
2.) We no longer wish to be a living reminder of president Andrew Jackson. Interesting historical figure as he was, he was an odious person and our fascination with him has grown stale.

We are very sorry to any people the name has offended. We would like to thank those who have reached out over the years to let us know that the name is problematic, especially those who reached out with kindness. Had we known in 2004 that we would still be making music together 12 years later, we most certainly would have chosen a more thoughtful name from the start.

The name AJJ fits us better than Andrew Jackson Jihad. It has been our nickname for those in the know forever. It hearkens back to the great skatepunk bands like JFA, FYP, LFO, etc… It also retains, even amplifies the quality that I liked about the name Andrew Jackson Jihad; that it can be interpreted in different ways. Now that we are AJJ we can be “Arizona Juvenile Justice”, “Anonymous Junk Jugglers,” “Actress January Jones” (Chris Farren thought of that one) the possibilities are endless and we’re very excited to see what you all come up with.

Along with the announcement, they released a new song “Now That I’m At The Top Of My Game.” They recorded it with John Congleton, who also produced their latest album, 2014’s Christmas Island, and they say it’s from the sessions from their forthcoming sixth album. Check out the song’s video, which was “made by Karin Graham, Mark Glick, Mark Roebuck and Sean out of some stock footage of body builders and Sean’s crooked teeth,” below.

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