It's official: the version of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's all lights fucked on the hairy amp drooling — the limited-run 1994 cassette that was the first release to bear the project's name — that mysteriously appeared onto the internet earlier this month has been verified. Band founder Efrim Menuck confirmed the leak by releasing all lights fucked on the hairy amp drooling for purchase on the band's Bandcamp, with all proceeds going to charity.
The official release collects 27 short songs into four tracks, each running 16–17 minutes long. Alongside the release, a statement attributed to Menuck reads as follows:
this was a retirement letter,
recorded spring/summer/fall summer of 1993.
all of it by efrim, and a little bass from mauro.
vocals on $13.13 by d.c., acoustic gtr. snippet and backwards hash by dan-o.
no relation to the band that followed.
all proceeds from sales going to the CJPME's campaign to provide medical oxygen to the Gaza Strip.
be gentle.
xoxoxox efrim
In a new interview with Canadian journalist (and, full disclosure, Exclaim! contributor) Vish Khanna on the Kreative Kontrol podcast, Menuck revealed that, on the suggestion of Godspeed's longtime label Constellation, he had digitized all lights fucked several years ago for archival purposes and had considered officially releasing it in recent years, "just to end it once and for all."
On why he ultimately never released it before, Menuck said:
This was 30 years ago, and I guess for the last 20 years, I've been answering questions about this fucking cassette ... Whenever it would come up, I would get sort of agitated. I would notice I would get ... a little anxious, and I don't know why that is. And then, I was listening to it a couple of nights ago and I realize it's because it was rough times for me then. I think we all have this in our lives, rough times that have never really been resolved. There's some things you just never get closure on, whether it's other people's actions or circumstances, or your own actions. So I think, because of what the gesture was of making this cassette, it resides right on that spot, it presses on that wound, which is, I think, part of the reason why, whenever the thought came up, 'Well, maybe we should put this out,' my reaction was always, 'No, I don't want to do that.'
Elsewhere in the conversation, he opens up about what was going on in his life while he was recording the album, which largely included "moving furniture, going to school as a mature student [and] wondering 'why?'" and how the moniker went from Menuck's ostensibly final music project to the full band, which initially comprised Menuck and childhood friends Mauro Pezzente and Mike Moya, all of whom remain in Godspeed You! Black Emperor to this day.
On the album's connection to Moncton, where the tape behind the now-confirmed 2013 leak was allegedly purchased, Menuck makes repeated mention of "Dano from Moncton," a.k.a. Canadian cartoonist and musician Dano Leblanc, who performed some acoustic guitar on all lights fucked. When the Godspeed trio performed in Moncton, said Menuck, "We went to Moncton, played this used clothing store, and that's where I sold the last of the cassettes. I know there were a bunch of them that ended up in Moncton, and those are the only cassettes that ended up in strangers' hands, not in friends' hands."
Listen to the official version of all lights fucked on the hairy amp drooling via Bandcamp below, and then take a listen to Menuck's full interview on Kreative Kontrol for more information on the album.
The official release collects 27 short songs into four tracks, each running 16–17 minutes long. Alongside the release, a statement attributed to Menuck reads as follows:
this was a retirement letter,
recorded spring/summer/fall summer of 1993.
all of it by efrim, and a little bass from mauro.
vocals on $13.13 by d.c., acoustic gtr. snippet and backwards hash by dan-o.
no relation to the band that followed.
all proceeds from sales going to the CJPME's campaign to provide medical oxygen to the Gaza Strip.
be gentle.
xoxoxox efrim
In a new interview with Canadian journalist (and, full disclosure, Exclaim! contributor) Vish Khanna on the Kreative Kontrol podcast, Menuck revealed that, on the suggestion of Godspeed's longtime label Constellation, he had digitized all lights fucked several years ago for archival purposes and had considered officially releasing it in recent years, "just to end it once and for all."
On why he ultimately never released it before, Menuck said:
This was 30 years ago, and I guess for the last 20 years, I've been answering questions about this fucking cassette ... Whenever it would come up, I would get sort of agitated. I would notice I would get ... a little anxious, and I don't know why that is. And then, I was listening to it a couple of nights ago and I realize it's because it was rough times for me then. I think we all have this in our lives, rough times that have never really been resolved. There's some things you just never get closure on, whether it's other people's actions or circumstances, or your own actions. So I think, because of what the gesture was of making this cassette, it resides right on that spot, it presses on that wound, which is, I think, part of the reason why, whenever the thought came up, 'Well, maybe we should put this out,' my reaction was always, 'No, I don't want to do that.'
Elsewhere in the conversation, he opens up about what was going on in his life while he was recording the album, which largely included "moving furniture, going to school as a mature student [and] wondering 'why?'" and how the moniker went from Menuck's ostensibly final music project to the full band, which initially comprised Menuck and childhood friends Mauro Pezzente and Mike Moya, all of whom remain in Godspeed You! Black Emperor to this day.
On the album's connection to Moncton, where the tape behind the now-confirmed 2013 leak was allegedly purchased, Menuck makes repeated mention of "Dano from Moncton," a.k.a. Canadian cartoonist and musician Dano Leblanc, who performed some acoustic guitar on all lights fucked. When the Godspeed trio performed in Moncton, said Menuck, "We went to Moncton, played this used clothing store, and that's where I sold the last of the cassettes. I know there were a bunch of them that ended up in Moncton, and those are the only cassettes that ended up in strangers' hands, not in friends' hands."
Listen to the official version of all lights fucked on the hairy amp drooling via Bandcamp below, and then take a listen to Menuck's full interview on Kreative Kontrol for more information on the album.
