So I just got an email from my friend Alexander in Germany that there is a boot of the Cursed Two LP going around, and before I get a bunch of questions or emails about it, I just wanted to say...GOOD!
I was hoping to reissue this myself but it got over-complicated. Chris at Goodfellow was and still is a dear old friend of mine, and his label is defunct. The complication was never with him but the people that backed GFR financially and so, "own" it. I've been trying to get an answer out of the businessmen who own my sentiments for over 3 years now, just your basic "blink once if you won't sue me for putting out my own records years after you let them go out of print", and they've been blowing me off or telling me to come talk math while simultaneously trying to sell it to labels which are friends of mine, which then gets back to me. So it's been your basic classic Sit On The Catalog / Highest Bidder routine, a favorite move of middle management and heartless manipulators since the dawn of the phonograph. One thing I've always loved in hardcore is that it doesn't work like that. Our culture and our ideas are more important than commodities, and will always find a way to break through the bullshit. I'm very glad to see that it's still the case in 2012. They made 800 of the Cursed II LP (and I had to twist their arm to even do vinyl in 2005. How are CDs doing for you now?) which were gone in two weeks and then never repressed, so even the original print was under-run and it turned into a way-overpriced Ebay record. So, if it looks and sounds good, and it's cheap and accessible, this Cursed II boot sure as hell has my blessing. And yes, DWI is doing a great-looking redux of Cursed One this year. Check in with them for news on that. Now we just need a III and it's complete!
So thanks to Alex for the heads up, thank you Anonymous Euro for your efforts, and to the Heartless Manipulators (if you see this) - you can save the indignant email that you know you were never otherwise going to send, and go back to blowing it off. Our world isn't waiting for anyone's permission.
--- EPILOGUE ---
Hey, there's not often anything to post officially about Cursed so while I'm at it, let me bring everything up to speed, because I still get asked a lot. Cursed is done as of one fucked up day in Germany but realistically, the many fucked up days that led up to it. Some of us still play in our bands, and some don't, but there's not going to be any more Cursed activity beyond represses of records, and definitely no reunion shows (someone's gotta not do it). Some very old friendships were casualties of our band and we're already years out of touch with each other. It was a wild ride and I don't think any of us would take it back for anything, despite the wreckage. A lot is made of bands like ours after the fact, especially in the internet age. Realistically, it was never grandiose, never larger than life. It was actually a lot smaller most of the time. We played our asses off at 30 confused people with their hands in their pockets in every town in the world for years, and loved it that way. We wouldn't have had this for a life if certain bands hadn't impacted us like they did, so it's great to see and hear that Cursed inspired a lot of younger and newer bands. But don't idolize. Anybody. Ever. I'll tell you for a fact that your band is better than ours simply because it's alive, it exists and you do it.
Take Care.
CC
