the distance

to walk. to run. to work through the paces.

all lights are red. time is dead. frost becomes lead.

prayers ushered: regenerated.

hoping for things overlooked.

cold pierces my jacket.

a hoodie can not contain it's strength.

steps to blocks; blocks to streets; streets to km.

the prayer is the same.

it's always been the same.

household dwellers sleep,

they hear no steps.

green grass is to creep,

but it's time is yet to peek.

is the distance measurable?

does it make sense to count?

the answer lies in the importance.

it is not of distance

it is of future.

worn out shoes are best,

they've shown they past the test.

to be revolutionary is to know,

that we won't admit.

that what beats in all of us is a mess.

the prayer is the same,

it's always been the same.

Are We Art or Are We Money?

Throughout my university career I've chosen to ask myself image-defining, "mission statement"-defining, and purpose-defining questions based on the premise to understand what I want to do in music and why I want to do it. Through a bombardment of worldview analysis-es, philosophical inquiries, and the foundations of these built upon theological ideals my professors, peers, and mentors challenged me in this questioning. The given dichotomy is that one may either make a lot of money playing really terrible/pop music or one is to make little to no money (in which he/she barely survives) in creating art (in my case: music) that is truly art. But, on occasion the 'true artist' is discovered and his/her music is shared with the world and success is found (like, for instance, Bob Dylan). Is this model just what we're told is to happen? Is there a loop hole to expand in?

Should the premise of what one does for a career be surrounded in how much will be gained financially? Or should it be based upon one's passion and desire to do something in the world in which he/she is found in? Clearly everyone is saying "money isn't important", but step back and think, is it still not important? What about a family (or future family) that needs support, what about the things our culture deems very important; i.e. house/home ownership, higher education, etc. All of these things cost something. The character Nick Naylor, the tobacco lobbyist in Thank You For Smoking, justifies his profession by these words: "it's all for the mortgage." Is to make music that is designed to sell very well first (i.e. for the purposes of radio play, club play and to tackle the mountain of the Billboard Charts) and be 'artistic' second a sin? Acceptable? Or is it very intelligent? Sad?

But past this, what are we doing to society? What is being worshiped? What is music becoming? What is changing? Is it for the better? Where is my role in all of this? What do I aim to create, where is my audience (market share, if I dare to call it that), and to what extent do I pursue this? To the last I answer, "WITH EVERYTHING I HAVE!" To the rest it isn't that easy.

And then...

A few years ago I came across one of the most inspiring articles I've ever had the opportunity to read. It is the farewell statement from the band The Refused. Many of my peers are likely to not have any idea or clue to who they are, but, in a few words, they are the foundations of the post-rock/post-hardcore/post-punk (really "post" any music that implements the typical 4 or 5 piece rock band genre). They were beginning to change everything. Some even said they were the late 90s version of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. Upon they're huge underground status and considerable mainstream upcoming-ness they suddenly quit (check out their song "New Noise" and you'll begin to understand). They believed that, despite their attempts to destroy it, they were fostering the new mainstream and would have nothing of it. They are pioneers and they're words haunt me.

(mind the language at times, and the capitalized words are theirs. I have not added or taken anything away.)

"Refused Are Fucking Dead" (The last official press release)

Just like the political theorists and philosophers (Baudrillard, Foucault, Derrida, Debord and so on) we also managed with a sort of self fulfilling prophecy. A manifestation of an idea to a concrete action. When Quilapayuns in 1972 realized the importance of widening their spectrum of action by dividing the band into five different sections to be able to spread their ideas on as many locations and to as many people as possible they had realized the principle of collective mass organization. A division into five new directions means in practice five new projects that can challenge and fight the boredom and death that sneaks into our everyday life. Five new ways to make the political manifesto that once was known under the collective spanner of "the Refused Party Program" concrete, five new forces that can devour and choke every tendency of the bourgeoisie shackle that keeps us down.

So why does Refused have to die to be able to rise from the ashes like the Fenix??? It is impossible to take part of a revolutionary program when every aspect of existence has to be projected as entertainment and music, a tradition that both in expression and creation has been dead for far too long. We were hoping that we could be the final nail in the coffin of the rotten cadaver that was popular music, but unfortunately the reification was too big for us to succeed with our feeble attempts to detour this boring discourse. When every expression, no matter how radical it is, can be transformed into a commodity and be bought or sold like cheap soda, how is it then possible that you are going to be able to take "art" seriously? When every political idea has to become safe and categorized just so that it can be defined by disgusting "journalists" who's only aim is the selling of issues and the cashing in of paychecks, how can we then show the seriousness of the situation? When the single purpose of every song written is to accumulate capital for the record companies that will only kill every attempt at spontaneity and creativity, how are we then expected to create? When every show played just becomes another brick in the wall between people, between "fans" and "stars", when we instead of getting communication and interaction are being forced to become nothing but consumers and producers. When people are being praised as geniuses and idols just because they play music or write books or something equally boring and "cultural", when the widespread belief that their creation is more important than that people take part in everyday life...What does that say about the rest of us and what does it say about the system that we have? When we continue to uphold the bourgeoisie myth of self realization by saying that anyone can make it, just as long as they work hard, or pick up a guitar, we uphold the dream of good vs. bad jobs (rockstar = good, factory worker = bad) thus we also uphold the class system and the justification of it. When the self appointed elite talks about culture, the culture that tricks us into believing that there is such a thing as culture, without any thought or consideration of the political or economical system. When we become just another subculture with all the right attributes instead of a real counter-culture, then it is time to die, to revalue the position that we are in.

Refused "broke up" on the 26th of September 1998 in Atlanta, Georgia, and in a last feeble attempt to break the linear timeline that the modern ways of production has forced upon us we played the last show in Harrisonburg, Virginia on the 6th of October 1998. The show was interrupted after 4 songs by the local police force who thought that they've had enough. We knew that they were onto us but it was both a shock and a relief that they did not catch us until the last show. Then, after 7 years of trying, we finally managed to create our own timespace within the capitalist powerstructure. The crowd managed to manifest a moment of passionate living when they continued to scream "rather be alive..." to the corrupt and useless preservers of private property.

So what now??? We will continue to, at every attempt, overthrow the class system, burn museums and to strangle the great lie that we call culture. We will continue with new projects and forces to do everything that is in our power to overthrow the capitalist structure that alienates us from every aspect of life and living, smash the reification that forces us to dress in outdated identities and rules: we will continue to demand revolution here and now, and not in some vague future that all reactionary leftist fundamentalists and reformists are talking about. We want every day and every action to be a manifestation of love, joy, confusion and revolt. This is the last that we have to say about it, WE WILL NOT GIVE INTERVIEWS TO STUPID REPORTERS who still haven't got anything of what we are all about, we will never play together again and we will never try to glorify or celebrate what was. All that we have to say has been said here or in our music/manifestos/lyrics and if that is not enough you are not likely to get it anyway. WE THEREFORE DEMAND THAT EVERY NEWSPAPER BURN ALL THEIR PHOTOS OF REFUSED so that we will no longer be tortured with memories of a time gone by and the mythmaking that single-minded and incompetent journalism offers us. Instead we need to look forward. We got everything to win and nothing but our boredom to lose.

REFUSED ARE DEAD - LONG LIVE REFUSED

Philosophical Insight - the artistic kind.

Something that I read earlier this evening that is worth noting:

...The Phaedrus and Plato's Seventh Letter reveal his unease about the nature of language - a worry that has surfaced again in our own day. He doubts whether the written word can convey fundamental ideas; the interplay of minds that marks a spoken discussion is absent. The written word is at the mercy of knaves and fools, apt to be twisted or misunderstood. Thus art corrupts because 'it apes a sort of insight, a unified vision, which in its true form is a spiritual achievement.' The work of art can mislead us because we think it has 'a unity, a perfection, which is not really there.' It is 'a spurious short-cut to "instant wisdom"' (Murdoch, 1993, p. 19). This leads to the startling conclusion that good art can be even more corrupting than bad art. In an age when works of art are often regarded with an almost religious reverence, these doubts are worth remembering.

Something to think about you artist.

And you said, That I don't want you to fight against the waves

But I fought, So hard that they had to break around me

And you said,That I'm impressed but you've gotta stop this now

And I listened and I fought... i fought so hard

The waves were so strong and powerful

They threw me under the tide and tore me up inside

Though I prepared I couldn't take them down

I had another plan (to get me out)

(With choirs and horns they shout)

"we are, we are... number one"

"we are, we are. number one"

Your voice screams,

"Please stop this now. Stop this madness!"

(If that is true) I don't know where home is.

Without this battle, there is no fight.

Without this war, there is no battle.

Without your evil, without your greed, there is no war.