As some of you may recall, the earliest entries in this blog centered around my involvement with the now controversial Chemlab album, OXIDIZER (which is worth a book in itself). After that album, Jared asked me to stay involved with Chemlab to help him get the inevitable remix album off the ground. Having put out two remix albums in the past with the aggression (one of which I was in the process of doing during this period), this was something I had some experience in. I was the likely and willing candidate to help shepard this along.
Anyhow, the remix album is called ROCK WHORE VS DANCE FLOOR. The title was something Jared had randomly mentioned in an E-mail to me and I suggested he use for this project. I won’t bore you with the making of process, cause remix albums are entirely dependent on other people doing all the work, but I spent more than a year plus doing what I call “The Shit Work”: assembling, burning and mailing remix kits to basically everyone Jared or I ever met who had a band. It was a huge task dealing with people from all over the world and assembling this project. But the remixes that came in were solid, I got to reconnect with old friends, and make a few new ones. Working with Jared is always a fun experience. By the time it was done and Mike Burnlab began assembling the artwork, we had a TON of remixes. This was going to be a slamming 2-CD set of the most diverse shit you ever heard from some amazingly talented people. We spent months just getting the right track order together.
When completed, I mailed the label all of the sound files, in order, by disc, meticulously labeled so no one would fuck it up (as labels are known to do, and I am sure those of you reading this know the label in question). And of course, this is where it all goes south…
Again, I won’t bore you with the politics, most of which I stay out of and hear from Jared, because remember, he IS Chemlab. So some of this is second hand, but long story short, I believe a certain someone, (who lists every single one of his band credits next to his name wherever his name appears in print so ridiculously that you would think his credit cards have 15 bands listed after his last name), told Jared to condense the project to one disc, thus eliminating almost 20 remixes. Why? Well, the way Jared explained it to me was because it meant yet another cost cutting measure so the world can be blessed with 400 bullshit Pigface related projects (because the world was WAITING for the 4 cds of remixes, Crackhead, Dubhead…Dickhead) and other multiple remix albums that feature the same person and people over and over again and of course the Dubs series isn’t a rip off at all (right Ogre fans?). Because the majority of the remixers on RWVDF were non Invisible bands, Someone saw no interest in spending money to promote a project that didn’t help the entire roster, or as I see it, the same old shit was either getting the push or he ain’t supporting it. Honestly, that’s fine, and actually understandable to me. It’s a business, I get that, and while I feel bad that a lot of bands busted their asses for Chemlab, it’s not a problem I can control. I mean, you can see from the output from the label in the last x amount of years that artistic integrity isn’t a priority. At the end of the day, I didn’t lose much sleep over it because there were lots of options to eventually think about: a second disc, a website only cd release, or a digital release. Somehow, some way, the kids were gonna get these mixes. I had the remixes, Todd Ryan had the remixes, so who the fuck cares, right? ;-)
But that’s not what pisses me off….
So the disc comes out, I don’t even remember when and honestly, I don’t think I ever listened to the full disc beyond a few tunes. The mastering’s shit and the amazing artwork was boxed in the cheapest of cheap jewel cases that were about as strong as a wet box of cough drops. At this point, it’s just annoying, but not unexpected, and made me appreciate people like Rob DBR and Jeff Tinman a lot more than ever (and I already REALLY appreciated them)
And even THAT’s not what pisses me off…
Recently Jared and I were putting together a new Chemlab “odds and sods” CD, to be sold on the now dead Killing Joke tour. We had a title, a track list and finally some of the unreleased remixes were going to start to come out in a way that fans would be excited about. However, we were told, by a fan no less, that there was an entire series of new Chemlab “albums “on I-Tunes . Jared is usually good at telling me when thins are happening, so obviously we touched base and he had no knowledge of this either. Yep, they put up 18 of the unreleased remixes (one of which was mine) in no particular track order. That’s not even that bad, but for fucks sake TELL someone you’re doing this, promote it. It’s not a bad price and even their little album cover for it isn’t terrible. I’m sure the mastering is total shit, but hey, this is now the norm.
And THAT, friends, leads us to the matter that pisses me off…
It was the OTHER Chemlab “albums” that someone at Invisible felt they could put up without asking for permission to do so on I-Tunes. So now. On I-Tunes you can buy the early DEMOS (complete with the bullshit joking working title names) from Oxidizer and even the INSTRUMENTALS. Neither of these, by the way, were EVER considered for release at any time. Again, was anyone consulted? Jared wasn’t, that’s for sure. I could even understand releasing the (intentionally) widely circulated Acumen-Mixed version of the album, because on several occasions Invisible approached Jared and I about doing so (I even have a mastered CD-R with invisible’s notes, etc. for this proposed release) I’m not opposed to that version of the album coming out, and it’s worthy of a release, but the 2003 demos? The instrumentals? Fuck that. Basically, they grabbed whatever CD-R’s they had lying around, submitted them to I-Tunes and hoped to again make a few pennies doing so by luring in some die hards with material that should not be available to the public. Quality takes a back seat to profit, even if you don’t legally control the music you are selling. Speaking of which…
Then. THEN. Then they have the balls to take widely circulated BOOTLEGS of Chemlab, circa 1996/1997 (long before Jared signed a deal with Invisible) and make them available on I-Tunes as if they owned these “releases”. With copyright notices. What a crock. That’s what really set me off. Email me if you want them, ill fucking give them to you, do not spend the money. The gall of this is incredible to me. I sincerely doubt these were bootlegs anyone from the band (meaning Jared) sent to the label asking to make available on I-Tunes. These are very poor quality boots. Anyhow…
Let me ask you: Do you think Invisible would have paid royalties on any of this? Yeah, me neither. Let me be very clear that I have no financial stake in any of this. None of this has anything to do with me beyond being a supporter of Chemlab/Jared/Music. I’m disgusted on so many levels by this that it shocks me to have spent this much time writing this missive.
When the label was called out on this, an INTERN was brought in to deal with Jared. Of course, she promised to take down the stuff they weren’t obligated to own, the bootlegs. Those are still up there, by the way. But there are still two Chemlab Oxidizer related albums on I-Tunes that should not be made available. I don’t know who thought of this, who spoke with whom, etc, but I know Jared wasn’t consulted that, my friends, is bullshit. And while I am glad the fans can get the other remixes, because those do deserve to be heard, to release those with no input from anyone associated with the project is insulting, disingenuous, and flat out wrong. I understand this is a business, I’m not an idiot, but there’s a certain degree of respect one would normally expect in these situations. Obviously, that seems to be a trend. Truly, truly, a new high in low.
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