Steel Pulse to play The Lensic Performing Arts Center

Steel Pulse, which formed in 1975, was one of the earliest reggae bands to emerge from outside of Jamaica, as well as one of the most politically outspoken. Fifty years on, frontman David Hinds still leads the group, and they are as fearless and politically committed as ever.

They will perform at The Lensic Performing Arts Center on Thursday, May 8.

Hinds and his classmates, fellow children of Black Rastafarian families from the inner-city neighborhood of Handsworth in Birmingham, England, formed Steel Pulse when they were teenagers.

The 1970s were a racially polarized time in the United Kingdom, and from the beginning, Steel Pulse did not shy away from confronting racism and xenophobia directly in their lyrics.

“We once beggars are now choosers / No intention to be losers,” they sang in “Handsworth Revolution” from their eponymous debut album from 1978. The song, which anticipated the Handsworth uprising of 1981, captured the self-assurance of Black youth of that era, who were determined to lead a “revolution” against police repression in their neighborhoods and to confront the rising tide of far-right politics.

The early years of Steel Pulse coincided with the birth of the Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement, which the band actively participated in. RAR was launched by an interracial coalition of musicians and activists in 1976 who were shocked and disgusted by an epithet-laden anti-Black and anti-immigrant rant by musician Eric Clapton, who, ironically, had scored a major hit with his cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff.”

Steel Pulse participated in a 1978 Carnival Against Racism that attracted a crowd of 100,000, opening for punk bands X-Ray Spex and the Clash. Later that year, they toured with Bob Marley and the Wailers on the European leg of the Wailers’ “Kaya” world tour.

By the time they released their fourth studio album, “Babylon the Bandit,” Steel Pulse were at the top of their game. Their sound had expanded beyond reggae to include elements of rhythm and blues, pop and electronic music, while their lyrics remained as biting as ever.

The first track on that album, “Save Black Music,” discusses the theft of Black cultural property – not only in the music industry, but also in Western museums, which continue to hold troves of looted African art, despite ongoing calls for repatriation.

“Traditional customs / Crafts and arts / They put in their museums / Oh, people don’t you see the plot / To take all we’ve got,” they sang.

“Babylon the Bandit” may not have saved Black music, but it certainly brought new life to the reggae genre and earned Steel Pulse a Grammy win.

Other Steel Pulse songs over the years have tackled apartheid, climate change and human trafficking. No matter how bleak their lyrics are, though, their melodies are always catchy, allowing audiences to bop and sway while thinking about difficult subjects.

Steel Pulse’s twelfth studio album, “Mass Manipulation,” includes songs about racial injustice, human rights violations and the dangers of pro-war propaganda.

So, Steel Pulse is probably not going to win any converts from people who turn to music for pure escapism. But fans of roots reggae or punk who like music with a strong political backbone will be gratified to know that this half-century-old band has not lost their fighting spirit.

Or, as Steel Pulse puts it in their latest press release, the band’s “defiant lyrics, weaponized with energetic horns, serve to penetrate Babylon’s evil and systematic ways.”