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January 04, 2006
B-Side BS
So our record has been out for around 5 months now, and the trauma of actually getting it made is receding in our memory. Purchasers of the 12-inch vinyl version may be puzzled by one thing, though: why is the label blank on one side?
This is why:

The record pressing plant was reluctant to press this as our B-side label, fearing it could be misconstrued as a "celebrity endorsement" of some kind.
Okay, now I know this unnamed record plant has had its troubles with using unauthorized samples; they were even once closed down over it. But this picture, a photo of Erick's snare drum head after playing a show with a photo of Bush and Cheney taped to it, is clearly more "statement by us about them" than "endorsement of us by them". And political figures are fair game.
It's not a strictly political thing for them, though. These are the same people that allowed the likes of Marvin Gaye and Berry Gordy to sleep on the premises in a well-appointed upstairs suite, when southern segregation left them with no commercial hotel options. These are the good guys.
Frightened into submission by the bad guys. As usual.

