Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Post About Post-Rock Band Post-Iraq

Efrim Menuck, erstwhile of Montreal's maestros of the maudlin (de)crescendo Godspeed You! Black Emperor, talks about the band's demise in an upcoming interview. Unfortunately, Babelfish doesn't speak Gibberopseudish:

The last American tour that Godspeed did was in the run up to the current war in Iraq. For what Godspeed did, it was very difficult for us to work out a way for us to communicate directly with the audience about what was going on. We would talk to people after the shows, or we could make announcements from the stage but so much what Godspeed was, was one-way communication.

“And I had an existential freak-out about that. That those tactics aren’t valid anymore.

“People didn’t need a rock band pointing in the direction of [how the world was at that point]. Maybe what they needed is some clumsy words, a presentation that was a little more human.

mp3: GY!BE--"Moya" (from the ep Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada)

1 comment:

Graeme said...

God's Pee You Black Emperor was such a funny band in that way. I like(d?) them a lot, but their politics were little more than posturing. When Yanqui UXO came out all the reviews discussed how political the album was. Like fuck it was! The only political thing about it was the cover art (bombs being dropped from the bomb bay of an aircraft) and a diagram about how if you buy albums on a major label you're supporting the arms industry. The music itself was apolitical.