Debacle on top of debacle: Promoting a CD release show

To preface the tour blog, why not tell you about our recent experience of putting out a record? Not the dull stats, but the exciting world of promoting it. Something we've traditionally been horrible at, which recent experiences have confirmed.

I'm suspicious of bands that glorify themselves. Almost every time you see an article about a band with a picture of them backed up against a brick wall staring into the distance-- you can be 90% sure they suck horribly and for long distances. To me, there's a thin (and maybe imaginary) line to straddle between being a DIY band selling screen-printed beer cozies for $3, and a silly indie band paying some promoter to harass radio stations about your generic song.

Sometimes though, being DIY just means your friends are cheap.

We didn't do a photo shoot. Instead, we focused on promoting our CD Release show at the Hexagon. Our friend Emiwee made an awesome poster with a spray painted stencil which we hung up in our version of everywhere; the collective co-ops and Extreme Noise. We impressed ourselves by even putting it up at the Wedge.

Next step: harass all media. They're used to it though, usually done by prettier people than us. Only the City Pages bit, and that's why I feel bad about what I'm about to do, which is buy them the linguistic equivalent of a ticket on a Canadian Greyhound (think about it for a second before you ask).

Barbarians at the gate: that's what big media gets for being wrong in this age of interactivity.

The preview for the show made the A-List, something we've never done. We were happy about it. It's nice to know people notice, and I suppose the City Pages has to take a day or two off from hyping Atmosphere.

The text though, contained some weird shit. The preview was pretty standard music critic metaphor about "boots grounded in folk, a wagon full of punk flair, and lyrics full of political steam."

Alright, I'll buy it.

But the part that gets me is the following:

"If you can catch the speeding lyrics, you'll raise your fist to phrases like, "You and I will never be free 'til every boss is dead and buried," and "When the world ends, I hope that he comes back and puts a gun to every fucking cop's head." Yikes."

I agree with her, it makes me scared of us. But it's a very old song about religious and military fanatics conspiring to end the world. Glossing over every word we've written in four years, the cop thing takes the lines out of context and makes us sound violent when it's really about how religions use the threat of violence to coerce people. Perhaps a subtle distinction, but a real one nonetheless. Here's the real next line:

"When the world ends, I wish the ones who ended it will pay, but they've built enough guns and churches to blow us all to judgment day. For the rich men's sins they're willing to make a sacrifice, but why's it always got to be us who die."

That's a much fuller, stranger picture of the issue. Perhaps still incendiary and offensive, but certainly not a song about cop-killing.

But obviously, media doesn't always present you in the best light. What's to be done? I just don't want to get shot by off-duty cops.

On a happy note, Le Toile Magazine blog, staffed by beautiful Croation women in sparkling capes, gave us a nice and accurate preview. I can't wait to go on tour and get the hell out of this blinding glare of publicity. Ha.