st.038

1. <ST> voice

2. Solidarity through Technology

3. A Communique from Mad Mike, UR

4. stimuli

5. deployment

6. addendum

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[<ST> communique]

<ST> welcomes back all to the transmissions.

<ST> would like to thank all those who attended

the last Tapestry at Fiction. Unfortunately DMS

could not make it due to a flight problem. Stay informed as we will be acquiring a new location

soon.

::resistance radio::

every thursday at 7pm PST

http://techno.ca/shrumtribe/html/radio.htm

Intelligence--

Send information, responses and replies to:

shrumtribe@techno.ca

604.444.8024 infoline

http://techno.ca/shrumtribe

shrumtribe@techno.ca

http://techno.ca/shrumtribe/html/dj_tobias.htm

http://techno.ca/technowest

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[2. Solidarity through Technology]

Solidarity through Technology:

Detroit Techno strikes a pact with the Canadian Federation of Students

(Rolando & Mike Grant at the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver)

by Dub Gnostic

The night is February 2nd, 2000. The sun has slipped into the pacific and a 3500 student protest has wound down and the celebrations are about to begin. Something is different this evening though, as what has traditionally been a marriage of punk rock and grassroots activism has gone the route of dance culture. But this isn't any ordinary dance culture borne of commercial rave or nightclub escapism- these are the sounds of Detroit.

As promoter Hamish McArthur comments, "Techno is the sound of living in the ghetto of Detroit, it's the sound of a manufacturing centre that's no longer a manufacturing centre. When you listen when you hear those beats, what you hear are factories shutting down. What you hear is living in the ghetto and screaming at abject poverty, street gangs and all that stuff so in a sense it is punk- it's punk made by black guys with drum machines."

This is evident as the night builds with local Victoria DJs Chubb and Pause working the vibe up with the skeletal sound of minimal dub (ie. Pole, Maurizio) mixed with brooding deep house vibes. By the time headliners Mike Grant (Moods and Grooves Recordings, Detroit and a regular at the Tresor Club in Berlin) and Rolando (Underground Resistance, Detroit) take the stage and a second sound system is turned on, there ignites a fire of industrial sounds, magnetic bass and deep tribal rhythms. Because the Commodore Ballroom is properly equipped for the night, the reaction in dance is immediate and enthusiastic. The music is created live by integrating elements from two tracks into one continuous piece, unlike the usual position of a DJ playing records- and these guys have a skill unsurpassed.

While the large capacity room is hardly half full, the 500 person turnout is impressive for a weeknight event- especially considering a very underground promotions strategy and relatively expensive ticket price ($12). It is evident that those who have come are either in the know about Detroit or support the efforts of a promoter introducing new elements to the West Coast scene (although Mike Grant plays San Francisco regularly and played with Donald Glaude at a club in Tacoma while both served in the Military in the late 80's). Given the busy schedules of these Detroit Legends, how the show came about for these two to support a fundraiser for the Canadian Federation of Students reveals an interesting exchange of assistance and a mutual understanding where all oppressed and exploited people are concerned.

Rolando's independent release on Underground Resistance Recordings called "Knights of the Jaguar" had been appropriated by Sony Music in Germany, and after being dropped after considerable protest the rip-off project has been picked up by BMG. There are loopholes in copyright law that permit a song to be "covered" by another artist so long as the original artist is given credit and paid royalties. With the enormous success last year of the orginal by Rolando, it is obvious the corporate agenda is to capitalize on the coat-tails of a truly ground-breaking record. With the marketing power of the major labels, it's clear to see that the majors could stand to profit far more than UR ever did.

Asked about the issue, Mike Grant said "They knew of Underground Resistance's position and they said they tried to reach them but that they didn't get a response. Still you should respect their position. They're supposed to pay royalties to the original artists and they're supposed to give the orginal artists credit. I don't believe they've given the original artist credit. Plus I believe they've done remixes- how can you do a remix of a cover?"

In negotiating a common ground with Rolando and Grant, Hamish gave UR a strategy to help them attack Sony. "I did my best to create a relationship based on solidarity. I think it's really important for every independent label around the world to see this for what it is. If they're willing to do this to Underground Resistance who are international stars, they're willing to do it to anyone."

On the other side of the coin, Grant- who holds a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications is still paying off his debt for tuition from school in Chicago. "I fully understand the foundations of the protest- my tuition was 19,000 dollars and I went through an accelerated program where it took two years instead of four. So it was like 19,000 for four years worth of school and I'm still paying for that... the problems we had- your tuition was going up, you're in student housing and that will go up as well. As a student you can't really afford it. Fortunately I was blessed, I went through the army so I had a GI bill and the college fund so I received money while I was going to school which I used for living expenses but after I was done there's still the issue of tuition. If you don't stand up, you'll get walked all over."

While he juggles a record label and DJing internationally while being a PBX vendor by day, his aspirations lead him into music as the final goal. "I've always been in communications- when I was in the army I was in communications and I've been DJing on the side- but eventually I want to get out of corporate america. When you look in the music you have all these pop stars that the larger corporations are shoving down everyone's throats- what some people call cheesy music... but the people who are really making the music and are trying to make it different- they're being ignored by these corporate entities. Fortunately the people who really know about the music- they're faithful to those groups. Some people compromise their ideals to go over to that side and make more commercial music but I can't do that, I have to do what I feel and if someone likes it for what it is- then that's fine."

While his Moods and Grooves releases reflect the deeper soulful side of Detroit, both him and Rolando rage against the system with an assault of harder techno grooves- a mood that reflects the tension that broke with a nationwide student strike.

Says McArthur, "The reality of our situation is, the way student loans are regulated- it would actually cost our economy less to have no tuition than student loans because what ends up happening is we graduate from university to become the next wave of taxpayers. So here we are graduating with a $30,000 debt. We're not buying washing machines, we're not buying cars, we're not buying houses and that's what we're supposed to be doing. What we're doing is we're paying back these student loans and the banks are making a whole lot of money and we're becoming really poor."

While many who attended the event for the musical draw may have returned to business as usual the next morning, there was reflected in the music a sense of anger and repression from a system that exploits. The very system that thousands of students across the country tried to shut down part of for the day. While change is imminent, the revolution begins from the underground up. The marriage of Detroit techno and political activism isn't recent. UR supported a fund raiser for the Lubicon Indians in Toronto in 1996 as well as giving support to the local Detroit artist who created the Heidelberg Project to give the desolate urban centre a facelift (dismantled by the City of Detroit in 1998). The amount of work that went into bringing resistance support from the south up to Canada paid off with a solid relationship between repressed student and artistic interests and opened minds to the possibilities in both music and politics.

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[3. A Communique from Mad Mike, UR ]