I played Musical director for a friend, Travis, who wanted to get a song out there. He has been doing the music thing for a very long time but felt unsure about doing this alone. I said I would let him focus on the core ideas and I would put it together for him seeing I am good at finishing things ready to ship.
Hate & Voodoo
We put out our first song with a Lyric Video I made for the track. By the next morning, we had been censored twice! The IDM Forum where Travis was a member started proceedings by closing his thread and removing the song video. A Harassment & Cyber Bullying charge was then laid by YouTube and not only was the video removed but comments made from the channel were stripped meaning that Travis was silenced.
The IDMF then started sending private messages to Travis saying that while he was welcome, he could only behave in certain ways and only post material after being OKd by them. The real problem here is that Travis did nothing wrong, he merely showed a song – a Rant. He even made it clear that he was showing the song and not the politics which he did not want to have discussed there. Of course, a few saw that as an opportunity to insult. So the Forum censored Travis and the song whilst allowing those who broke real rules to go unchallenged. The exact same played out later in the Reason Talk Forum over the third song. Even down to Mods sending PMs claiming how noble they were in preventing waves in their community.
I see someone calling for greater freedom. Freedom to think and act in a world intent on stifling creativity & freedom to be an individual. Twisted irony then that this call should be met with such meanness of spirit, word & deed.
Meanwhile one of the Reason Talk moderators was typing personal insults. Easy to do when he thought I wouldn’t be there to answer him. Easy for a third someone who saw this to post it to me 😉
Challism, you are in my space now. You are a fool to have done this. I would forgive you but you are a fool who (along with other self-styled social meddlers) has worked for years now to destroy all that I love and been proud that this is the world you are making. As if destruction is a noble aim. As if a world run by the likes of you is one any sane person would ever want to be in. Keep your silliness going as long as you like but understand that if you cross me directly I will not go easy. Or no easier than you have been on people who just want to make music and be heard, people you and your cadre have deliberately damaged for your own purposes.
As a musician, this is scary stuff indeed.
Musicians censoring each other is never ok.
While I understand that people may assume that my involvement in this might indicate that I agree with everything Travis shouts, and I helped put to song & video. In effect, I played the role of hired-hand here. Personally, I think Travis’s tin-foil hat is too tight. I don’t agree or even necessarily support what he sings. So why do it then?
Freedom of Speech is not a thing we can (or should) pick and choose. I made sure there was nothing here that was directly damaging to anyone. These are just ideas shouted from a soapbox to a passing world. There is no call to hurt anyone. Matter of fact I see quite the opposite. I see someone calling for greater freedom. Freedom to think and act in a world intent on stifling creativity & freedom to be an individual. Twisted irony then that this call should be met with such meanness of spirit, word & deed.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
This led me to wonder what would happen if Bob Dylan were to release his songs now? What about Bob Marley, Neil Young, Throbbing Gristle, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, No, Skinny Puppy… all those acts who have made a political stance on anything? Would they all receive the same outcomes today? If so, that would scare the words right outa HG Wells, George Orwell and anyone else who ever tried to make the world a better place through art.
For those who have said this is “shit work” – I see that too, I have people who care about what gets said about me, and therefore anyone like them – I think you totally miss the point of this work. Yes, it is “rough as guts”. So are most of the bands who paved the way for your freedom to be safe as you fire arrows at others in your total ignorance of what your betters once did. To you, I say, “Before you judge me, look at the work you have done and see if any of it has an ounce of true passion. If you can honestly find some, maybe we can have common ground enough for a conversation. If not, ‘judge not lest ye be judged yourself’ and stay out of what you are too scared to understand.”
The Videos
Return To The East
I didn’t see it at the time, but this actually made a full circle with my first work as Aeroplastic Voice which was prone to rants over electronic backings. That is the material that got me phone calls from record labels talking about signing me to release that very material. Sad that 30 years later the same should be met with hate when people say we have progressed.
Nintendo Days EP
Not beaten, Travis came back with a second EP of music with a very different flavor. This time my assistance was as Record procuder to guide the overall project, Mixing the tracks and making his video.