Old Anarcho Punks never Die, they turn into Capitalist Peices of Shit!

As some of you might or might not know I play in a reformed version of Diatribe with the original Vocalist and a new line up. In the last couple of years Vinnie had the original Aftermath Tape re- released on Revenge Records with help and support from Kawakami of the Japanese band 'Disclose'. Vinnie asked for no money and signed no contracts and did everything on a word. Somewhere along the way the bands original guitarist found out about the re-issue and demanded both money and a contract from Get Revenge records. His name is Julius Martinez and he co-founded the band and wrote the majority of the Lyrics, though the songs were fleshed out and the music was developed by all four original members. Diatribe has friends all around the world mostly due to Vinnie keeping the music alive and in the minds of fellow D-beat enthusiasts. After his best friend Rob died suddenly and left him without a band I decided it would be great to bring him out of his depression and try to reform Diatribe. None of the original members were interested in reforming so we found two other people and began rehearsals. After a few weeks of playing the classic songs it sounded great and many friends were excited and booked us a show. Because of the efforts of many people a buzz was created through local 'zines and word of mouth about the show. Thats when the drama started. We've been threatened with legal action if we play, and Julius has been sending threats and cyberstalking the two new women in the band, here is the latest e-mail he sent today to our guitarist Diana Death:



For the subject line he wrote, "Why should I let you play?"
Diana, I'm glad you are having fun playing my songs. But, Um.....No. I won'tbe joining in because that would give legitimacy to this.
I was talking to the Diatribe bass player Sean the other day. He told me and"copying what you did is a form of flattery" and "this is nothing more thana misguided tribute band." I think he has a point. After all, no one in thisunauthorized incarnation of Diatribe wrote any of the Diatribe songs. Sosince none of you wrote any of the material this is nothing more than acover band. And I thought, is this what this has become, a tribute band tofile on the shelf along side The Cured and Led Zeppagain? LOL. :-D
I'm still contemplating how much pressure I am going to exert on shuttingyou guys down. Make no mistake about it, I can shut your project downanytime I choose to do so using legal means. If I do that the only place youwill be able to play is at Cherry Pitt's rehearsal studio that you guyspractice at, or maybe at a backyard party. It just depends on how muchtrouble and expense I want to go to right now. So maybe I will allow you topractice your hearts out until the 25th and then let you get a call fromHeather Hardcore that there is a last minute problem and you can't play atthe Radio Room. Or maybe I let you play a show for my own amusement so myego can be stroked.
¿Digame, Diana, que debo hacer? Since you have personally invested all thisenergy into learning and executing the material you obviously have a vestedinterest in wanting the show to go forward. Can you make a case to me aboutwhy I should let you guys play?

Vinnie is the original vocalist, how is this a tribute Band? They didn't want anything to do with him or the project until it gathered steam? Is this how Anarcho Punks act when they forget what they used to believe in? We are not asking for money for the show, nor would we sell anything that didn't belong to us. We just want to play and celebrate the music and continue where the band left off 25 years ago.

 

Wow people, all I can say is thank you. I wasn't exactly sure what reaction the post would get and wasn't sure I wanted to make our end of this situation public in the first place, but last week Julius went public in the 'San Diego City Beat' weekly and said some very hurtful and mean-spirited things about Vinnie that were complete falsehoods. It's all drama that I would rather not even have to deal with but when I'm in that d-beat pocket and the girls are hammering out those chords all this other distractive bullshit is meaningless. I will continue to re-post his veiled threats on here because this community's opinions matter more to me than anything he has to say.

Again, thank you for the words of encouragement.

 

Well Bananaman it remains to be seen, Vinnie has absolute performance rights so we can definately play the songs, what remains to be seen is if we can perform as Diatribe or under adverse circumstances play with a modified name such as 'Diatribe Punks'.

Well we're playin but our name has been removed from the line up as of five minutes ago.....the club was threatened with legal actions......

 

Didn't know it would be $8, but oh well it's a start, and thats all we really wanted...



next we will hook up with likeminded bands and start all ages shows at the Che Cafe etc. We are writing all new material and should have a couple of them ready for the next show...all of you that are close by are welcome to come down and have some fun with us

 

I call it cyberstalking when he starts threatening our guitar player with taking the issue to her boyfriend because we don't agree with his views. Nobody ever told him who her boyfriend is or brought up any other of our significant others. He has launched a barrage of threats towards both women in this band and it is creepy. He wrote 3/4 of the lyrics and cofounded the band period. We're not making money off his 'Art'. So once again I strongly disagree with you ASA, if you act like a duck and quack like a duck, and shit like a duck...don't expect the wolves to come and protect you from other ducks. Either your an Anarchist or your not, I could give a fuck what he "see's fit under the law" he can come and work his ass off with the rest of us if he wants, there is an open invitation for any of the original members to join us on stage even if we have to double up on everything. All this "this is my band and I own it" bullshit is blatantly disregarding and dismissing the three other members that made the music.