The Burning Blade

Fireaxe Newsletter - edition 3.5

July 29, 2000

"Civilization, the maddening dream.
We gave up our freedom and became a machine."
- Fireaxe "DeathMachine"

We value property over freedom. The ruling against Napster reiterates this simple truth about the western world. Freedom is the dream, material wealth is the reality. Those that have the latter sell the former to the masses. Why else would anyone pay $16 for a CD?

In contrast, I have made all Fireaxe music, images, lyrics, and intellectual property completely free. In effect, everyone already owns all Fireaxe material. Distributors may only charge for the transfer medium and a reasonable amount for their time. This appears to be the only sane way to deal with the evolving internet music scene. All I ask in return is credit for having created Fireaxe. The details on my policies are given at the end of every issue of the Burning Blade.

Music should be played and heard, not bought and sold, but since money is power, enjoy what's free for as long as it lasts.

A big 'Hello' to anyone receiving the Burning Blade for the first time. This is the Fireaxe newsletter.

Courtney love follows in the footsteps of Fireaxe

Although I'm sure that she's never heard of Fireaxe, Courtney Love has taken a strong stance against major recording labels and for MP3s. Recently, she's taken a stand against the misleading contractual practices of the major labels. She made a speech where she gave real figures for what typically happens in a recording contract deal. If the numbers she gave are anywhere near reality it shows just how bad the situation is for young bands. I urge you to read the full text of her article, especially if you are a musician.

Also a good read are the responses to her speech.

Courtney Love has decided to release her next CD through the internet for free. If she follows through with this promise then it would be a significant victory for the internet underground music scene. Perhaps other popular acts will follow suit. The internet offers artists the ability to create and disseminate whatever material they want. It is true creative freedom, something that is all but forgotten in mainstream music these days, and it is the theft of musical freedom by the recording industry that is the most serious crime that has been committed on any side.

How to order "Lovecraftian Nightmares"

Order your copy of the second Fireaxe CD "Lovecraftian Nightmares" by doing the following:

  • 1. Send me e-mail requesting the new CD and giving your address (if you prefer, you can send your address via snail mail)
  • 2. Mail $5 ($7 if overseas) and a note requesting the Fireaxe CD "Lovecraftian Nightmares" to the following address. Make sure to include your return address.

Brian Voth
21426 Lake Forest Dr. Apt H
Lake Forest, CA, 92630 USA

If you review CDs on a website or in a magazine, the CD is free of charge in exchange for the review. In this case all I need is the e-mail request. Please send me the URL of your review site or copy of your magazine with the review in it when it is ready. If you want to exchange CDs, tapes, or stuff of equivalent value, make these requests via e-mail and we'll arrange a trade.

The CD comes with a booklet filled with awesome art, a picture of yours truly in his studio, and some information about the CD which can also be found on this website.

AntiXtian Press becomes a new Fireaxe distributor

Jason G. Hill of AntiXtian press is the latest distributor of the Fireaxe CD "A Dream of Death". The CD should compliment his site quite well fitting in with all things blasphemous. Jason is helping to improve the image of his western Canadian homeland which has been known as an icy wasteland of religious conservatism for far too long. Being from a family which traces it's roots through southern Manitoba I can sympathize with his plight. I found it easy to contribute an initial 6 heavily discounted CDs to his cause knowing that Jason will find good homes for them. With any luck the corrosive effect should bring about a healthy wave of critical thinking in the province.

Jason's site offers much more than music, it offers a wide variety of things AntiXtian and plenty of links to similar sites.

"Rampage" leads to "Festering Sore"

When my friend Vic McNaughty is taking a break from blasting out some Rampage riffs he spends quality time crafting hardcore death metal with some truly grotesque themes. It is so out of step with the material he plays with Rampage that he has created another project better suited for the intense music. He's named the project "Festering Sore" and adopted the moniker "Lance Boyle", both titles dripping of Vic's often morbid sense of humor.

How to describe Festering Sore? I can't put my finger on it. It's fun, it's sick, it's death metal. If you don't understand how all those things go together then you'll just have to check out this unique blend of metal and satire, that is if MP3.com hasn't shut his site down. It's doubtful that will happen though, after all the Gortician page is still going strong.

Also look into Vic's Rampage page.

Once again I take no responsibility for your condition after viewing either of these sites.

The Future

Over the years, I've been thinking of some new song ideas revolving around a theme of religious warfare, fundamentalism, and ideological conflict. Although we feel safe in our modern world that open warfare and chaos cannot happen in our "sane" and "stable" society, nothing could be further from the truth. Volatility seems to be at an all time high for the latter half of this century. Throughout the world people are embracing extremism in greater and greater numbers. These people's beliefs are far outside the mainstream and they are willing to commit all manner of atrocity to support those beliefs. It appears that this situation will only escalate. The next Fireaxe CD will explore this theme. It will examine why people embrace radical ideologies, explore the emotions which typify extremism, and study the seeds of violence which are prevalent in our society. The CD will be titled "Food for the Gods" meaning that WE are the food for the gods. Any extremist ideology is effectively "God" and people are slaughtered or enslaved in that God's name (i.e. the ideology feeds on the bodies of the slain and beaten down). The CD will fit loosely around the themes in "A Dream of Death" but will explore the more violent aspects of belief in depth. If you ever wondered what drives a person to kill and commit horrible acts, "Food for the Gods" will try to answer that question. It will be an extremely intense CD.

My goal is to deliver music to whoever wants to hear it in whatever way is necessary. Whatever the market demands, I will supply, but I do want to avoid the mass marketing channel. Exposure is fine, but in the modern business, the substance of the music must be altered to match the demands of the marketplace. This would totally defeat the purpose of why I write music in the first place. I write music because it is a way to express my emotions. What I both think and feel goes into the songs. That is the power, Fireaxe is the channel, and any diversion diminishes the emotive effect. Thus I try to avoid such diversions. That is how art should be.

Rights to duplicate Fireaxe materials

Currently Fireaxe is not for profit. I sell the CDs for $5 each which covers the production and mailing costs. For CDs sent out of the country, I'll have to charge $7 per disk to cover the additional mailing cost. If you write reviews or put samples on your website I'll give you a CD for free. Since I am not making any money with the current recordings, you are free to make duplicates of them to distribute as long as you obey the following guidelines:

  • 1. You can only sell the duplications for the price of the medium or less, plus any delivery cost. You are not allowed to make any profit with the music.
  • 2. You should tell me how many copies you gave out and who got them so I can keep track. Also, if they have an e-mail address I'd like that as well so I can add them to the mailing list.
  • 3. You are likewise free to adorn any webpages or duplications with the gifs and jpgs on my website as long as you include an obvious link back to my website. This includes putting Fireaxe song samples on your site as well.
  • 4. You are free to play any Fireaxe songs (in unaltered form) provided you are an unsigned band without a marketting tie-in. You are not allowed to record those songs onto anything that you will sell.
  • 5. You are required to crank the song "Hounds of Tindalos" as loud as you can as often as you can. It's your only defense against THEM. Be warned, they come through angles. Note that the CD is round. Are your speaker cabinets square?
  • 6. Cthulhu, the Necronomicon, Hastur the Unspeakable, and all other mythos creatures are purely the inventions of Lovecraft and other fiction authors. None of it is real, at least that's what I'm going to say in court if you try to sue me for destruction of your property, house, city, or soul as a result of listening to the "Lovecraftian Nightmares" CD too much.
  • 7. Fireaxe will not be held responsible for the destruction of hopes and dreams that may come while listening to this CD. Also, any subsequent social revolution which follows from this CD is simply not my fault. It's all part of the big picture. Just listen to the disk and you'll understand what I mean.
  • 8. You are not free to commit suicide while listening to any Fireaxe song. I'm sorry, I'll have to prosecute. On a serious note, if you are thinking about doing it, please e-mail or call me if you have no one else to talk to. When I was in my teens the album "The Wall" by Pink Floyd used to really get to me. Just hearing songs like "Comfortably Numb", and "Hey You" would get me pretty depressed and mildly suicidal. I'm just trying to say that I've been there. If my music is having that effect on you, please get in touch. You aren't alone.

The gist of it is that you can do just about anything with the music as long as you don't profit from it and that I get some sort of credit for having written it. I'm open to any methods of distributing my music, such as compilation tapes or CDs, radio play, or recording label distribution. However, you will need my direct permission to do so or some kind of legal agreement.
Brian Voth - Creator of Fireaxe

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