The leader of a longtime Oak Harbor punk band, his wife and the owner of his label were recently questioned by federal agents about a song that was written five years ago.

Jason “Potbelly” Rodger, the founding member of the band Potbelly, said he explained to an FBI agent from the Everett field office that the lyrics he wrote in “Throw the Brick” represent the band’s anti-fascism message but do not mean he’s contemplating actual violence.

Before talking to Rodger, the FBI agent called Rodger’s wife at work and asked her questions about her husband’s lifestyle and temperament. An agent with Homeland Security also phoned the band’s record label and unsuccessfully tried to tell the owner to take down a video of the Potbelly song that was posted on YouTube.

Rodger said his conversation with the agent was polite and resolved with the agent apparently clearing the singer of suspicion. Yet the federal attention left Rodger wondering about the timing and whether it’s a sign of a national crackdown on free speech in music and art.

Rodger said he’s not a violent person, but he admits that this punk rock song has violent lyrics. It begins “Hate in America — it’s on the streets” and talks about “puppets in suits” who are “waving swastikas and Confederate flags.”

The most extreme lyric is “Trump, Bannon, Pence and Ryan / A bullet for each. At least we have to try it.”

Rodger concedes he was angry when he wrote the song, which he said was an exercise of free speech.

“I did nothing wrong,” he said. “I still have the right to say what I want to say. Fascism needs to end.”

Rodger started Potbelly 30 years ago in Oak Harbor. The members of the band have changed over the years, but he and Ken Ball have remained as the core. Rodger said the band is influenced by a range of styles, from the punk icon Black Flag to such heavy metal bands as Slayer and even reggae. One theme that Rodger has come back to over and over is the protest of fascism.

Potbelly is known in music circles far beyond Whidbey Island. They have toured around the globe — recently returning from Costa Rica — and produced more than 160 releases. One reviewer described them as “anthemic political punk with heavy thrash.”

David Portnow owned record labels in the 1980s and 1990s but then established P.I.G. Records in 2007 solely for the purpose of releasing records by Potbelly and the band Dehumanizers. His repertoire soon expanded.

Rodger said the song “Throw the Brick” was created as a protest song during the first Trump administration. Portnow explained that the video includes news footage of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Virginia. As seen in the video, hood-wearing Klansmen openly carried Confederate flags and swastikas, protesters and counter-protesters clashed and a self-described white supremacist rammed his car into a crowd of the counter-protests, killing a woman.

After the video was posted online, the record label received more than 120 death threats, according to Rodger. The video was removed from YouTube, but Portnow fought to have it put back up, though now it is age restricted.

Rodger said he thought the hubbub over the video had died down until federal agents started calling recently.

Portnow said he received a call from a man who identified himself as a Homeland Security investigator. The man told him he had to remove the video for “Throw the Brick” from YouTube.

Portnow, a longtime defender of artists’ free speech rights, said he asked the agent to see a court order. Since there was none, he declined to take the video down.

“They picked the wrong guy to start a First Amendment fight with,” he said.

Rodger said the agent who called asked him a series of questions that seemed to be from a list.

A public affairs officer with the FBI in Seattle wrote that he couldn’t comment on the inquiry.

“The FBI receives many complaints of criminal activity and how we handle them is a confidential process,” the public affairs office wrote. “Similarly, to protect the privacy of people who contact the FBI, we cannot confirm or deny any particular contact. As a general matter, allegations of criminal conduct are reviewed by the FBI for their merit, with consideration of any applicable federal laws. Such a review does not necessarily result in the opening of an investigation.”

The ACLU in Seattle didn’t respond to a request for a comment about whether the lyrics might be considered protected speech or a criminal threat. Within the narrow exception to free speech is “true threat,” which is when an individual conveys that he or she plans to commit an act of violence, according to the ACLU website.

Island County prosecutors, for example, didn’t charge Oak Harbor resident Tyler Dinsmoor with a crime for making online posts which included statements that gay people “should be put to death immediately” and a meme of man pointing a handgun at a group of people who appear to be in a gay pride parade, according to court documents.

While prosecutors concluded that the posts did not rise to the specifity of a true threat, Dinsmoor was charged in 2022 with the commission of a hate crime for allegedly yelling at a gay woman that “it used to be legal to kill gay people,” the police report states. His attorneys have asked for the case to be dismissed, arguing that the statement is protected speech, not a true threat. The judge is expected to rule soon.

As for Rodger, he said the FBI inquiry ended with the agent concluding that the singer does not represent a threat. Yet the experience has left Rodger with renewed concern about the direction of the nation. Potbelly had planned to tour with an international band this summer but had to cancel because groups have been warned not to come to the U.S.

Rodger is currently working on a record dedicated to fighting fascism, and he expects that the experience will make its way into the music.

“The idea that the FBI would spend time investigating punk rock song lyrics from a band on Whidbey Island — that’s ridiculous,” he said.