[The following is a transcript of a speech given by the Fiery Furnaces in a motel breakfast room somewhere on the side of some road in Virginia before 9:00 am Sunday morning.]
Friends, Democ-Rock versus Bore-Core: The struggle has begun. In pursuit of a more perfect ‘DEROCMACY’: the Fiery Furnaces will record a series of albums and singles Written in Collaboration with the Citizen-Fan-Audience.
In pursuit of a more perfect DEROCMACY: the Fiery Furnaces have Already Begun the process of archiving precious materials entrusted to them for exactly this Song-Writing Purpose by the various Citizens-Fans-Audiences at the Fiery Furnaces’ DEMOC-ROCK rallies of the previous ten days. [See above photo.]
These precious materials will literally Write the Stories and Whistle the Tunes on this new, thorough-going, radically DEMOC-ROCK, series of recordings.
Friends, join us in the Song-Writing Process. Join us in building a progressive DEMOC-ROCK. Come down to a Fiery Furnaces’ DEMOC-ROCK rally and put any random piece of paper you might have had in your pocket or purse into the giant ballot box that is the stage.
Expired video rental cards, never-to-be-paid parking tickets, rude requests from your step-children, fawning memos from employees you intend to lay-off, drug-store coupons clipped but not redeemed because you missed the bus and the sale ended that night (or so the manager said), ATM receipts left by the previous withdrawer, the proverbial laundry list, examples of your left-handed handwriting, cigarette packet promotional paraphernalia: all are welcome. The “respecting and reflecting” song-writing process will turn these precious documents into the beginning of a true DEMOC-ROCK musical culture.
MAKE THE DETAILS OF YOUR LIFE THE SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR LIFE. DEROCMACY NOW!
YES WE CAN!
More information is forthcoming. In the meantime, let me say the following:
Friends, the establishment of a true, thorough-going and grass-roots, DEMOC-ROCK is surely the heart-felt goal of all believers in progressive popular culture and the music that would motor it.
In pursuit of a DEMOC-ROCK worthy of the name, not only are the Fiery Furnaces holding a caucus to determine their next (band-written) album; Not only have they been turning the stage into a giant ballot box whereby the Citizen-Fan-Audience determines what gets played that very evening, thereby reflecting and respecting the local Citizen-Fan-Audience’s DEMOC-ROCK Sovereignty.
Not only that! The Fiery Furnaces and their Citizen-Fan-Audience (CFA’s for short) believe that the voice of the people must have its say at the most BASIC level of would-be popular music. That most basic level is surely the Sacred Space of the Song-Writing process!
Of course, since the Citizen-Fan-Audiences can now get records for Free, via advances in technology (whether bands imagine they are offering them for free or not), it is only fair that CFA’s help bands write songs.
But a thorough-going, radical DEMOC-ROCK is not merely about the fall-out of technological developments. For instance, it is not about posting tracks on the internet and “letting” consumers re-mix them, turning DEMOC-ROCK into a mere video game.
And, Friends, it is not about holding On-Line-determine-the-set-list votes, thereby stripping Citizen-Fan-Audiences of their Local Audience Sovereignty–and thereby potentially giving Foreign Potentates in Dubai or London control of your local rock-show by means of their oil-money bought super-computers.
Again, Friends, join us in the Song-Writing Process. Join us in building a progressive DEMOC-ROCK. Come down to a Fiery Furnaces’ DEMOC-ROCK rally and put any random piece of paper you might have had in your pocket or purse into the giant ballot box that is the stage.
MAKE THE DETAILS OF YOUR LIFE THE SOUNDTRACK TO YOUR LIFE. DEROCMACY NOW!
YES WE CAN!
32 responses so far ↓
1 Oliver Pattison // Jan 28, 2008 at 6:20 am
Guys, definitely keep a log of where these bits and pieces are coming from once they start becoming part of the songwriting process. This is great stuff.
I can see my old DC Metrocard, and Relative Theory Records card (R.I.P.) in that pile — nice.
2 Del C // Jan 28, 2008 at 9:20 am
wish i would have read this before i drove to washington dc today. i keep a book of interesting fragmented phrases in my back pocket, and i would have most definitely sold one to you for an autograph in this book, however, i cheated you and got the autograph for free. also, you may want to consider a flame retardant box, because the current system sounds like a fire hazard. Also i would very much like to get a hold of this DAVID F*ING BYRNE EXGURU COVER, because he and you are wonderful and that just blows my mind. Also,
3 Del C // Jan 28, 2008 at 7:30 pm
you should convince samla mammas manna to tour with you. it would be fun! they’re still around!
4 EFK // Jan 28, 2008 at 8:06 pm
uh, The Fiery Furnaces are unbelievably and without a doubt the greatest thing going on in rock music today. this songwriting process reminds me of Dada. i’ll be making the drive from ATL. to Knoxville to participate in this expierment, can’t wait!
on a sidenote: the David Byrne cover is alright, i was expecting him to redo the entire song himself and not just sing over The Fiery Furnaces music. hopefully atleast Byrne will help get The Fiery Furnaces some much deserved exposure.
5 Ben // Jan 28, 2008 at 9:28 pm
The voting process in State College was awesome. The Fiery Furnaces truly are a unique band always looking for more ways to be truly awesome. Thanks!
6 seeeasick // Jan 29, 2008 at 5:12 am
Ohh, man. I have a few collections that you guys might be interested in. I will bring them tomorrow night (to the show in Chapel Hill), and if you like them, or part of them, I’ll be glad to give you some of my found material.
7 morris // Jan 29, 2008 at 7:33 am
Sounds like a sly move from the boardroom: participatory rhetoric in the service of getting some new material; the illusion of choice within a circumscribed set of options — “Chinese Democracy,” or the American kind? Whichever — you’ve studied the history well while plotting your rise to power, and you know that the fans can add or remove options, choose the paint color (”You Bought It, You Name It” — Joe Walsh), but they don’t get to help design the engine. It’s a top-down enterprise all the way… even the Dead.net “Taper’s Section” is strictly post-and-reply these days.
8 N.O.N. // Jan 30, 2008 at 4:04 pm
i hear the new orleans show is cancelled. will y’all play anywhere else in town that night?
9 FF // Jan 31, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Thank you very much for beginning a serious “Democ-Rock” discussion, Morris. A “Democ-Rock” worthy of the name will be a complicated and fragile thing. But I think the the concerns expressed in your comment are misplaced.
The sort of “Democ-Rock” described in this post is precisely the opposite of a “top-down enterprise”; eight different potential conventionally band-written albums cannot plausibly be called just a “circumscribed set of options” that provides the mere “illusion of choice” (and if this were really thought to be the case, eight more candidates could be supplied); the group does not need to get “some new material” (in fact, dealing with a surplus of material has always been the band’s only internal ‘problem’); a heightened “participatory rhetoric” in the service of “Democ-Rock”’s promised participatory practice of a properly progressive popular music is exactly what’s needed; and, lastly, the band does not have a board room. Perhaps we should have a central committee?
Thank you, certainly, for mentioning Guns n’ Rose, Joe Walsh, and the Grateful Dead in this context. A more formal discussion of CFA-generated “Democ-Rock” is forthcoming on this web-site. I look forward to your contribution to this on-going and crucial debate as we move forward.
10 FF // Jan 31, 2008 at 5:00 pm
We won’t play that night, sorry to say. We are very sad that the New Orleans show has been cancelled! We are very disappointed! We very much hope to come to New Orleans in April for our own show. You know, it is a great privilege to be able to play in the Crescent City and we will be honored to do so again–soon!
11 Fanny // Feb 1, 2008 at 12:15 am
If you come back to France I’ll be glad to give you as many old underground tickets, shopping lists, receipts, etc. as you want.
12 ix // Feb 1, 2008 at 6:00 am
I came into contact with this score with Robert Moran as part of a class assignment; my first impression was that it was clearly a Fiery Furnaces song:
http://lombardi.cfa.cmu.edu/avsys/uploads/assets/global/0000/0094/moran_score.jpg
Consider it a virtually hurled upon your stage.
13 morris // Feb 1, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Thanks – of course I’m looking forward to the products of Democ-Rock; you’re obviously retaining quality control! I guess I say “boardroom” because I’m more comfortable with the idea of a rock band as a privately held artistic enterprise (with a small board of directors) than any political metaphor (maybe I represent the “corporatist” wing of the party). That said, what red-blooded rock and roll fan isn’t also a fan of Jeffersonian principles – especially the kind behind “Volunteers” (talk about a profitable use of self-aware populist gestures by a recording/performing/denim-wearing machine!). My point was just that it only goes so deep – ultimately, you can’t run a winning organization by letting the fans veto draft picks, or audit the playbook. It’s all about the front office, and the talent on the field. (It’s good to be underdogs, though… is there such thing as a “perfect season” in rock and roll? Ask your bass player, he’s from Boston!)
14 sash // Feb 2, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Because I won’t be at any of the rallies (and because I went to one in december when it wasn’t yet declared to be a rally), I feel I am being cheated out of my vote in a way. And so I reach into my online pockets of bookmarks and give you a random google image that i’ve had bookmarked for over a year. http://www.classicistranieri.com/punch/1/5/3/3/15332/15332-h/images/127.png
15 laura // Feb 7, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Hi, so this is kind of off topic, but I want to apologize for my behavior last night at your show in Nashville. I was obnoxious and rude, and I can’t believe I made such a shit show out of your night. You are one of my favorite artists, and the last thing I wanted to do was to ruin your show.
Sincere apologies,
Laura (short drunk girl)
16 Spencer // Feb 10, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Yes I do believe I see my notes, from the Clarion Riverside hotel. Do you guys carry a brief-case with hand-cuffs attached? Ridiculous!
17 Brett Nash // Feb 11, 2008 at 2:31 am
I’m hoping Lumpy’s spoon placed in the Asheville ballot box, although not a piece of paper, per se, will still have a voice among the rest of the CFA entries though it is covered not only in ink, but also bits of chocolate pudding.
18 Rochester // Feb 11, 2008 at 7:16 pm
PS the sheet of notebook paper that is about writing letters (to grandmothers), is about coming out of the closet..just to make that note a bit more interesting. Use it as you see fit.
-Rochester
19 Jerry Jarvela // Feb 23, 2008 at 12:49 am
Will you recycle my cell phone battery?
20 Wassel // Feb 28, 2008 at 2:45 am
‘The day may belong to the dogs, but the night belongs to us pussycats.”
21 Jason O // Mar 30, 2008 at 8:41 am
Hey Eleanor,
Did you happen to keep that poem I gave you in Philly? I believe it was 6/29/06, or thereabouts? It was a little gushy and probably bad, but would that be a good addition to the junk pile? I think so. Or, maybe too serious natured? I’m probably wrong about that date…
22 Jason O // Mar 30, 2008 at 8:55 am
P.S. : if you can’t find it, I will be happy to contribute a box of my baby teeth which all fell out simultaneously when I was struck by lightning.
23 seeeasick // Mar 31, 2008 at 10:56 pm
“P.S. : if you can’t find it, I will be happy to contribute a box of my baby teeth which all fell out simultaneously when I was struck by lightning.”
That sounds like a start to a great song!
24 ben. // Apr 25, 2008 at 6:46 am
Random details of my life:
My house sale fell through for the 6th time this month.
My mother in law is ill.
My daughter is excited for her birthday.
My father emigrated to the Algarve.
Some days I get the metro, but mostly I get the train.
Portable music players fill the void left by the death of community.
I married a vegetarian, and (not so) secretly pine for the simple pleasures of a home cooked steak.
Friends of my friends are famous.
I just want a quiet life.
Sing away.
25 Kiki // Apr 29, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Dear FF,
I am in an Avant-Garde and Experimental Music class and we have studied music from the early 20th century all the way to the present. I was determined to find a great band that I can enjoy writing about for my Final Project, and I finally realized that you were the perfect band. I will be centering my paper around your “Democ-Rock” revolution. I think it’s wonderful that you care so greatly about your fans opinions!!! It is so nice to know that a band actually cares about us as much as we care about them!
I have only one complaint - I am seeing you perform this June at Bonnaroo, and I wish the Caucus was still in session
Other than that, I am truly excited to see you play.
Keep up the good work - Kiki
26 J.W. Birddog // May 1, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Gentlemen:
I have returned from the bowels of the earth to plead with the council. The soundtrack of one’s life does not mimic the details of one’s adventure in flesh. Nay, it directs the story. This campaign should have as its mandate the intermeshing of individual storylines, so the wider community might form a singular voice, not united in music appreciation but in experiential experimentation. Also, please substitue all occurrences of “isn’t it” for the more provincial –and therefore charming alternative– “innit?”
27 Scott J. // May 1, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Your next video has to be a remake of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbh9c0noR4s
God, it would be perfect…
28 O'Hara // May 2, 2008 at 2:29 am
Hello there…
From one aesthete to another, how would one go about contributing to Derocmacy? I feel I have an intellectual property tax to hand over.
29 seeeasick // May 20, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Your Bonnaroo interview made me laugh hard. A dead dolphin, an expired porpoise.
30 cristian // May 25, 2008 at 3:28 am
hi, great idea, but, if you dont come to chile or south america, i’ll feel sad, triste in spanish.
saludos, please come here, santiago its great in september to march.
31 THEFIERYFURNACES.NET // Jun 10, 2008 at 10:33 am
Hey guys — thefieryfurnaces.net is back…
http://www.thefieryfurnaces.net
get in touch, send photos and love letters to site@thefieryfurnaces.net
32 chester drawers // Jun 19, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Last night I dreamed I was smoking with Eleanor.
Matt was NOT cool with it.
can you tell me what this means?
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