CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION INTERVIEW

1) Give us a brief history of Creation Is Crucifixion.

CIC was an attempt started in 96/97 by some kids from Pittsburgh. The attempt was to create something of value to us, something that was able to integrate many of our diverse interests into something other than music. It is hard for me to say now which is more important to me. The band is the vehicle and the tactical media the message. Both coexist quite well. As for a history. MIke Genz from KOTM and I had been discussing doing something with my previous bands. He was into the concepts we were trying to design CIC around and put out our first 7" and our only full length.

2) What are your aims with Creation Is Crucifixion?

I guess in the past I have gotten too elaborate in aswering a question like this. The answer is actually quite simple. We aim to bring together those activists within punk rock with a skillset allowing for activities outside of traditional activism. We are moving social theory as applied to technology (which has always been a topic of punk) into an intelligent area of acceptance in punk. We are not in any way attempting to alienate traditional activism, we think we can work together to accomplish our goals as one unit. We are not attempting to push our ideology on others just present punks with tools to push theirs.

3) What do you all do outside the band?

The current lineup...paul=linux sysadmin, me(nathan)=technical designer, laughlin(electronics maniac), ryan(deli@whole foods), chad(unemployed)

4) You missed out the UK on your recent European tour. Was there any particular reason for this? How is the UK hc scene viewed from the outside world?

Marc didn't book us there. We still want to go. I couldn't really say much about the US perspective on UK hc. I am just really not qualified. I'm not involved enough in scene shit anymore so any answer would be overly simplified and lame.

5) Have you had any negative (or for that matter positive) feedback for not covering standard hc scene approved lyric topics? Do you even feel you're a part of the hardcore scene? Do you think too many bands are too happy to play it safe and be generic?

We've been getting negative feedback since we started doing this. I think what we talk about has become much more accepted now as we approach 2001. I do think what we are doing is valid. There are good points that have been made against what we are doing. I think it is important to know that we do not feel that we have any solutions. We are working to gain a greater understanding for ourselves. I don't think any of us have the perfect answer. We are just political anarchists trying to be pragmatic about our ideology. This is accomplished through tactical media activism. And yes there is positive feedback as well. CIC is strange as we now coexist with the Carbon Defense League under the header hactivist.com. That encompasses all that I do and was always my goal of crossing domains. Our projects exist in several different arenas with the most important to me being punk/hc.

6) Obviously there's a major metal influence (Voivod?) in your music but is sounds like there's a lot more going on. What sort of stuff do you listen to? What other bands that are going at the moment would you say stand out a lot?

I am the worst person to answer this question. I am just the noize/singer dude. All I know is as a band we collectively listen to a lot of Cat Stevens and Johnny Cash. On an individual basis I have been listening to patsy cline a great deal. There are a lot of rad bands out there now too. We're going to be doing splits with Pig Destroyer and hopefully pg99 as well. Two bands who we are very impressed by.

7) You also do lots of noise stuff. Do you do any noise stuff outside of Creation Is Crucifixion? How do you make your noise pieces? How do the noise pieces relate to the technological themes in your lyrics?

The noize is just filler. It is abstracted sound made from my mouth. All the noizes are begun with my mouth and a mic and then i fuc with them i guess. Real simple lame shit. I build some circuit stuff but we don't integrate it effectively enough yet. I think it really is just experimentation.

8) You seem to have quite an anti-technology theme going on through a lot of your lyrics ("binary is death"; "etched in silicon my heart is uploaded"; "this is not a neural network") and these examples could also seem to relate to the internet in a way. Why do you have a website? Do you think that some sections of the hardcore scene are becoming over-reliant on the internet?

We are by no means anti-technology. This was my greatest fear in doing what we do with cic. It is not about being pro or anti. We look at communications technologies as tools being used by the ideological state apparatus(schools,parents,church,police,) to socialize primarily youth. We are attempting to find ways in which activists can infiltrate and subvert the socialization system to take away its power. Right now we live at a unique time in which some form of this can be done through communications and internet technologies easier than more traditional physical means. It is not the tool but the user of the tool that we despise. And there are different things that we touch on with phrases like "binary is death," this is referring to cartesian duality. There is more than a 1 and a 0, an on and an off, there is something in the middle that I believe makes life impossible to replicate with artificial means.

9) 'Modelling The Fossil Evidence' appears to claim that archeology is corrupt ("fossils are an invention, to preserve the artificial lie"). What is the 'artificial lie'? If our current scientific belief system is wrong then what are your ideas about creation/evolution?

This is a metaphor. Whomever has the power to create the fossils, the remnants, the history will own time. Yes much of what we know is artificial. It has been crafted over time byt those in power positions. This is not to claim that all history is false. It is just pointing out that histories are created and perverted in ways that serve the socialization forces.

10) Should science/scientists have an ethical stance or should it do whatever is possible and let society decide what should be done with their discoveries? What is your view on the Human Genome Project?

You are oversimplifying the situation.Most research facilities are funded by either corporations or the U.S. government. This is not completely a bad thing as much could not be accomplished without that funding. Yes there is a lot of fucked up shit surrounding the Human Genome Project that is almost laughable. It is just too difficult of an area to answer in a few paragraphs. I will opt out of this one and instead point you to The Flesh Machine by critical art ensemble on Autonomedia.

11) What is the Carbon Defence League?

It is now a fully integrated part of creation. Originally it was a group of artists, activists and technologists working on small projects. It has now evolved into Hactivist.com. It is fully integrated with CIC now other than that is the face we show at conferences and festivals and CIC is the face we show in punk/hc.

12) Anything else to add?

Well as long as we can deal with our move to SF and exist as a band we have plans to come back to Europe in Feb/march. By then, what I feel will be our defining release will be out. It is a split with Carbon Defense League, Creation is Crucifixion. and Critical Art Ensemble. It is a book detailing the concepts behind child as audience for tactical media and documentation of the GameBoy project we reverse engineered, including instructions on how to do it yourself and a full development kit of software on the cdrom to create your own game as well as an emulator and a ROM of our first game. It also includes spoken word by Critical Art Ensemble and 3 new CIC songs.Also our split with Pig Destroyer will be out maybe in April. Thanks for this and I apologize for any weirdness this creates. You can contact us through hactivist.com or get our address through willowtip records. Currently we are in SF but who knows for how long.

Go to the Creation Is Crucifixion website

* ATOMSMASHER * BOGDAN RACZYNSKI * CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION * DREAM THEATER * KNUT

* NEW IN * PAGE 99 UK TOUR 25th-30th September 2002 * GIGS * ZINE * DISTRO * LABEL * THE DEVILS * LOSING THE BATTLE * INTERVIEWS * PHOTOS * RECORD REVIEWS *ZINE REVIEWS * LINKS * FORUM * CONTACT *