Anyone who frets that the sharp political edge of punk has been dulled by the

meddling of corporate types obviously isn't familiar with guitarist Pete Dale and

his political punk band Red Monkey.

"I'm interested in the Marxist theory of materialist dialecticism, coming from the

Hegelian philosophy of thesis and antithesis leading to synthesis," Dale

declaimed recently, somehow managing to get through the daunting sentence

concerning the idealist theories of the 19th-century philosopher Georg Hegel

without the slightest trace of stiffness.

Dale unloads his concerns more passionately on

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Red_Monkey/Not_For_Rent.ram">"Not For

Rent" (RealAudio excerpt), from the band's tightly wound, stridently

left-wing debut full-length album, Make The Moment. "We are not for rent,

we won't be prostitutes!" he sings, ramming home the point with, "Your hard

currency has no meaning, we trade on trust because it's worth more!"

Standing onstage at Washington, D.C.'s Black Cat club during a recent gig,

Dale, 27, let his righteousness rip on the song, as he hyperkinetically

throttled his Gibson SG guitar. Beside him, co-leader Rachel Holborow, 26,

moved fluidly with her basslines, except when she stepped to the mic herself, at

which point she stood straight as a preacher in a pulpit.

Make The Moment, released on the British group's own Slampt label in

the U.K. (and on Troubleman Unlimited in the U.S.), is filled with the angular

brand of politico-punk that fueled the riot-grrrl movement of the early '90s and

bands such as X-Ray Spex 15 years earlier. In addition to rhythmically

off-kilter manifestos such as "Activity Book" and "No Choice," the CD also

includes the group's "Do What You Feel" single, which opens with the taunt, "If

you're scared of questions, then why are you here?"

At the Black Cat, Holborow's rhythms combined with Dale's jagged bleats and

extra-taut pounding from 29-year-old drummer Marc Walker to suggest three

distinct voices moving forward as one. Such emphasis on individuality stems

from the band's underlying quest for respect in all arenas.

"Respect is the bottom line of gender politics, as with all politics -- not

judging people on your terms, getting some kind of empathy going with

them," Holborow said recently from New York. "Even if you don't like what

they're doing, you can say, 'Why did you do this?' And if they can say it was

partly to do with me being female or whatever, then it creates a climate of better

understanding, which to me is what the underground should be about."

Holborow formed Red Monkey with Walker in late '96 and soon invited Dale --

her former bandmate in Pussycat Trash -- to join as well. Songs such as

"Missy" reflect the band's background in Britain's riot-grrrl scene and its

emphasis on creating change for women and men through meaningful

interaction.

"When you're a woman, we have this kind of unspoken connection because of

what we've been through growing up," Holborow said. "But people don't

really get beyond stuff -- because you're female, you're supposed to be

sympathetic to somebody who's moaning about losing weight. To me, we have

to break out of all those roles. We have to be sympathetic to the surface

stuff, sure, but that's only the first stage of communicating with people.

You have to get beyond that initial stage of what I've got in common with

this person to really get to know somebody."

The band maintains its focus on doing things its own way, including with its

Slampt label. During Slampt's five-year existence, co-managers Dale and

Holborow have issued records by such fellow travelers as Lung Leg and

Yummy Fur.

"Making money and doing Slampt as an entrepreneurial business is not of

particular interest to us," Dale said. "We have to break even, and it's nice if

some money gets made -- we can share it out with the bands. But the point is to

make good music available to people."