My prof commented that this was the best way to deal with it when someone demands that you explain your art. Refuse to explain yourself.

Let the art speak for itself. Don’t explain, don’t justify, and if people want to misinterpret it, fine. They will anyway.

Too bad so many of our artists have been cowed into having to justify and explain and soften their statements into meaninglessness.

If people don’t like your artistic statement, they can fuck off and not buy it/listen to it/watch it/go to your shows. The notion that an artist must explain himself implies that if his explanation isn’t up to snuff [ie, as current sensitivities and dogma dictates] that his statement isn’t valid. Furthermore, it’s degrading.

It’s the first step towards censorship – first the Stasi just wants to talk to you, then they shut you down when they don’t like what you say.

But I’m sure your brave and noble stand will serve you well, there’s still plenty of girls eager to play the damsel in distress bullshit.

Just as soon as they’re done sitting on your “chauvinistic” rival’s face.

Shot in the synth cave and out in the burbs.

“Saint Camilla” is from the new EP Futureghosts, available as a free download from http://maqlu.bandcamp.com. Futureghosts was released on April 30, 2012.

Lyrics for “Saint Camilla” from Futureghosts. Copyright 2010 Pyra Draculea

Saint Camilla walks through an endless night
And she keeps her faith through her martyr’s plight
And she wonders just how long it has been

And she floats in time
Past an endless grind
And she knows she will walk the line
Yes she will
Yes she will

Saint Camilla bleeds through her blackened eyes
And she keeps her word to collect her prize
And she laughs at just how long it has been

And she sees the sign
Past an endless crime
And she knows she will beat the line
Yes she will
Yes she will

Follow your martyr
All the way down
Swallow and falter
In him you drown
Ashes don’t deter
From hallowed ground

And she glows divine
Past an endless climb
And she knows she will be enshrined
Yes she will
Yes she will

Read the whole thing here: http://brushvox.com/2012/05/maqlu-futureghosts-ep-2012/

Just over an hour and a half for the main set, plus two encores. And a second stage at the back of the floor that they did a 3-song set at the end of the main set so even if you were way at the back, you still got a closer view for a while.

Amazing show.

And I only had to wait 17 years to be able to see ‘em live!

This isn’t a warm-up, it’s a piss-off.

Have a real opener or a real DJ set of stuff we’re not about to hear again or skip straight to the headliner. No matter how cool the remixes are.

10 more minutes til Rammstein’s supposed to actually start.

Me, I have a sick and twisted mind that likes to imagine things literally, so this is what went through my mind:

First, you want to have adequate mic placements. We’re making industrial and noise here and why waste a good opportunity to capture screams of pain from inanimate objects. Mic things up first, and plug the guitar into your favorite amp. You might want to isolate the amp so as to minimize the bleed into your ambient mics and your close mics.

Then, the first problem is that guitars don’t have holes. Or if they do, they’re too big to be useful. I assume we’re using a solid body electric here, it’s more fun that way – although I’ll grant that all the horrible [oops, accidentlaly wrote "horriBILE" - Freudian slip!] folk music created on acoustics means they likely have something like this coming to ‘em.

So, you need a big powerful drill with a giant bit wide enough for your purposes. You might want to go for a masonry drill – not technically necessary but they do hammer in and out along with the spinning motion. Whatever you’re into.

Make sure the DAW of your choice is running on the tracks so you capture it all, hit record and have at it.

You should get some good squealing noise samples, and possibly some buzzing and whatnot if you hit the pick-ups. Which you probably want to avoid, live electricity and all, but hey, some people are into that sort of sparking.

Now that you have your entryway done, lube as desired and do as you will, grabbing and yanking at the strings as you go. Or using the drill across the strings until they break. Or both at the same time. Whatever.

Of course, it should be noted that I’m a synth player and don’t know a damn thing about what sorts of noises a guitar would actually make under these circumstances, but I reckon it’s more interesting than what the guitar was doing before.