THE HARD R: GOD FORBID’S DALLAS COYLE ON THE INTERNET, DOWNLOADING, AND THE RECORD BUSINESS

Last week I talked about the state of metalcore and the week before that I talked about the word ‘nigger’ and how it should be used as an equal opportunity diss for all types of people. Not just for, wait for it — African-Americans. The power of the word is too great. I’m keeping it PC for now. My last two blogs seem to be getting a good response so far. I’m at odds with what to talk about this week because there’s so much we can discuss being it’s the internet and all.

OK. How about the internet?

The blog is called The Hard R for a reason. I think a lot of you can agree that the internet should be called the wild, wild internet. All bets are off here. How many times have you seen tasteless, generic comments from people on message boards who never put a name to the face or even a name to their comment. The internet helps the cowards spread their wings a little wider, which I approve of by the way. The more cowards, the more heroes.

This is the reason I came to MetalSucks to do a blog. I noticed a lot of their stories have a point of view about the state of things, and not just metal. I think that is very important. What disappoints me is the way a lot of these websites have biases that are unsustainable. A lot of these biases breed a following that hurts or helps the site. I commend Blabbermouth for cutting down the hate speak that was inherent on their site. It’s actually amazing to look at a God Forbid news story on BMouth and not see — ‘God Forbid are Niggers’. It’s refreshing. But Lambgoat, who doesn’t cover GF anymore but used to, posts a story about a death in a band and half of the kids on that site say they are happy said person has left this earth. But these kids don’t identify themselves because they are afraid of their own shadow. Can you see where the lines lay in the sand?

I think there needs to be a certain amount of decency in our lives but sometimes that decency needs to take a back seat. This is metal for fucks sake. This genre is all about testing the establishment and telling them to fuck off when you don’t like what they tell you. Since the day I was born I was a nerd. Metal kept me away from the things that could have destroyed me when I was younger. Even to this day, my anger can get the best of me but when I put on Meshuggah the anger subsides and I’m able to think clearer.

After my last two blogs, my brother had a ‘talk’ with me about these blogs. Essentially asking me to stop doing them because people listen to GF for only the music and our views on things shouldn’t be associated with the band. I said,”Fuck that!’ How can I do anything and not be associated with GF. GF is supposed to help me, not inhibit me from doing what I want. No one will censor what I’m going to say. As long as someone is willing to listen then I see no reason to stop. I’m not pissed about him asking me to stop, I’m pissed about why. He told me all of these people called him asking, ‘Aren’t you worried about what your brother says?’ He tells me the label had a meeting and the blog came up and they heard ‘Hillary Clinton is a nigger’ and they dropped their heads in shame. Let’s analyze these statements. 1) Why the fuck can’t any of these people who have my phone number talk to me about this stuff? Why call my brother? 2) I’m sure most at our label were laughing before they were ‘supposed’ to drop their heads in shame. What the fuck are they bringing up a blog I do? If anything heads should be dropped in shame because they aren’t selling enough God Forbid records. Hopefully this blog will get more people to download our shit so they can hear the music, which we’ve had a problem with since we started. I hear, ‘You guys deserve so much more,’ I say, ‘we don’t deserve shit! We’ve already done more than I ever thought we’d ever do!’ We are where we are because of us, not anyone else. If our band gets any bigger, it’s because of our attitudes and our work. We’ve had bad attitudes, we thought we weren’t getting a fair shake, but it was all lies. Us lying to our ourselves. And through all of that lying we’ve made great music and have the best fans in the world and we’re still going. We couldn’t do it without the record label but that was then and this is now. Fuck the record business. We’re in the band business.

The record business is like your mother or father when you’re in a band. You hate them/love them. Unfortunately, the record business is going down the shitter. Right now they have cancer. But it’s their own fault. It’s a lack of good ideas and good judgement. Too much old thinking. Everyone wants to blame the internet but I think the internet is a scapegoat just like illegal immigration is a scapegoat for politicians to explain their failures in creating jobs. The internet helps the bands and the labels. The internet is a brita for all entertainment media. Get rid of the crap; keep the purity. The labels sign CRAP music so it’s no wonder no one is buying their shit. See, they think you are stupid. They think you will buy anything that they put out there. They underestimate your sense of smell. You can smell bullshit from afar. I encourage people to download our records because it’s hard to find our albums across the world. What’s the difference between a download or someone copying a CD for a friend to hear? Isn’t tape trading how Metallica began their grassroots following?

For the record, I didn’t title my blog, ‘Hillary Clinton is a nigger’. That was a BMouth spin on the blog. I hope some of you saw that. If you didn’t who cares. It’s out there now and it will be forever. I have the cojones to put my name to my opinions and if you have a problem with it you can speak to me about it. Most people aren’t like that. They post under anonymous, or heckler 18, or whateverthefuck.com… No one wants to be held accountable for their actions. Labels, internet trolls, etc.

All of you on the internet do have power but you have to make yourself known. There are many sheep in this world and honestly, sheep can’t be wolves. Some people are uncomfortable with following and some people are uncomfortable with leading. That’s the way of the world. If you have something to say, say it. Make sure the people you’re saying it to know it’s you. If you can’t do that, then you’re just wasting space…

– Dallas Coyle, God Forbid