ROCKERS SING POLITICAL TUNE.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Rock Against Bush, a traveling rock show with a get-out-the-vote message, clattered through Eugene on Wednesday.

Before the tour's scheduled stop at the McDonald Theatre, a news conference at the University of Oregon Erb Memorial Union Amphitheater drew several hundred people and served as a testament both to the popularity of the bands on the bill and to the fact that even notoriously anti-establishment punk rock musicians are getting political this election season.

"We're trying to spread news about what people aren't seeing on TV news," said Mike Burkett, aka Fat Mike of the band NOFX.

"Kids don't pay attention (to news) and they don't read newspapers. ... We're showing them how the Bush administration really does affect them and why they have to fight against that. The Bush administration is bad for them."

Burkett, who founded the punk rock coalition behind the tour, Punkvoter.com, was joined on stage by Jello Biafra, former lead singer for the band the Dead Kennedys, and two other musicians for a series of short speeches followed by a question-and-answer session.

"I agree with the goal of getting more young people to vote and vote smart," Biafra said afterward. "We need regime change in the United States very, very badly."

Biafra, who did most of the speaking, touched on subjects ranging from youth unemployment to education cuts to abortion to corporate scandal. Burkett, who's pushing 40 and admitted that he hadn't started voting until 2000, discussed his organization, which aims to register 500,000 voters and represents more than 200 bands including heavy hitters Green Day and the Foo Fighters. He spoke out against electronic voting machines that he said pose a potential for fraud, dismissed a small right-wing punk rock movement that has formed in opposition to his group, and said he loves his country but can't stand his government.

Biafra and Burkett didn't hide their disdain for Bush, but danced around the question of whether they supported democratic challenger John Kerry. Biafra said he hadn't made up his mind who he was voting for, but Burkett said his organization's nonprofit status prevents him from endorsing Kerry.

Before the event, Eugene mayoral candidate Kitty Piercy spoke along with Dan Isaacson from the Eugene Springfield Solidarity Network and Bryan Ouellette, a recent UO graduate who is unemployed.

Not everyone in the audience agreed with the message being presented. Some students said the tone of the event was too negative and a small group of Bush/Cheney supporters showed up waving signs and asking questions of the musicians on stage.

"If they want to come out and bash Bush, they're using their right (to) freedom of speech," said Jarrett White, chairman of the College Republicans. "(We're there) to show students that there is a difference of opinion on this campus."

It wasn't all about politics. There was also lots of music talk. During the question-and-answer session, one person asked for the band's opinion of music downloading, and after the discussion, fans swarmed Burkett seeking autographs.

"Music brought us here," said Bryan Davidson, 19, a first year student, "We stayed for the politics."

CAPTION(S):

C a m p a i g n Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard Dean Scrutton of the College Republicans debates the USA Patriot Act with a fellow student, as some supporters of President Bush rallied at the same time as a voter-registration campaign event at the University of Oregon sponsored by Rock Against Bush. Fat Mike of the band NOFX speaks during the Rock Against Bush news conference at the Erb Memorial Union on Wednesday.