The third installment in our continuing series examining artist's attitudes towards ownership and distribution of their music featuring Chris of Gainesville, Florida's punk band Ghost Mice.

Gainesville Florida's Ghost Mice is one of those punk bands that constantly tours, bringing an anarchist DIY aesthetic wherever they go.   One thing that sets them apart from much of the scene is that, though they embrace identifiably punk tempos, vocal deliveries, and song structures, they deliver the music acoustically with violin and guitar, which frees them to tour on the cheap.   Consequently, the sparse crowd that they played to with now-defunct Blacksburg punk band Hostile 17 and out-of-towners Emotron and Mose Giganticus at the Nuthouse last year was probably a reasonable success.  On other occasions, they have played with Blacksburg's favorite's The Two Funerals and other underground bands from the region.  So, while there aren't any shows lined up in Blacksburg for their June tour, stay tuned to the Plan It X website for future show announcements.

There is no doubt from their lyrics that they are more strongly motivated by their political and ethical dimensions than by delusions of imminent stardom, yet they are not a vanity act.  Chris Johnson's self-run label Plan-it-x is one of the many successful examples of accessible underground capitalism, proudly carrying the banner:  “if it ain't cheap, it ain't punk.”   It is because of this simultaneous level of underground success and developed political awareness that Chris makes a particularly compelling interview in our series about so-called intellectual property rights.  His views are in many ways similar to the last week's interview with Northern Liberties' frontman Justin Duerr and our first interview with Troy Mighty of Dead Western, but his attitude is shaded with subtle differences.   

Hopefully, you are finding our exploration of these issues compelling.

Interview conducted via email in May of 2008

RTS:     Are you ever consciously inspired by the lyrics, music, or poetry of others when you are writing for Ghost Mice?

GM:    Yes, of course.  Too many to mention.  Books, movies, people, music all inspire me.  Comic books too.

RTS:    What, in your opinion constitutes fair use of your lyrics?

GM:    Anything is cool if credited I think.  If the artist had horrible politics that would be horrible and I would do my best to stop them from using my lyrics of course.  Everyone steals a little bit of everything.  On purpose and on accident.  It's natural.  We are all people living together.  Blatant lyric theft is different of course.

RTS:    Have you yet encountered appropriation or imitation of your work -- either lyrically or musically -- that made you uncomfortable?

GM:    Not really. Here and there I hear some lyrics that I feel were at least influenced by mine but that's natural I think.

RTS:    Have you ever been reproached by an audience member for a perceived unethical or unoriginal appropriation on your own part?

GM:    No.  Not really.  There is a skinhead in FL that swears that our song "the devil an my family" is an Irish traditional song.  It's not.  Of course.

RTS:    Do you affirm the "punk" label for your aesthetic?  Can you talk a bit about how genre convention influences your creative process?

GM:    I run "our" label so of course I consider us to be a punk band.  I don't think the label influences our writing.  I think our writing gives us the punk label.

RTS:    What do you think about fans sharing your music with their friends using mix-tapes or -CDs?

GM:    It's great. share away, all day.

RTS:    Does it change your opinion when they share whole albums or records, or if they share the music anonymously through p2p or torrent technology?

GM:    Of course.  It's so less romantic.  Make tapes, it's fun.  Files are not fun.  "Hey dude, I am emailing you the new album".... boring.

RTS:    Are you bummed or amped about Myspace "fans" pages for Ghost Mice?

GM:    bummed x 100.

RTS:    How do you feel about radio play: pirate, independent, college, and/or commercial?

GM:    I think it's great but I don't know who is listening.

RTS:     Would it be cool with you if a DJ at a club or party used short samples or whole tracks as part of his/her act?

GM:    It would be cool.

RTS:    How do you feel about people who anonymously record your shows, either audio or video?   Would you care if they posted their recordings on the Internet?

GM:    I don't mind, it happens all the time.  It's their right to do what they want with it.

RTS:    Would you care if the person who makes a recording posts the video on a website like Metacafe or Revver that can generate money for the recorder him/herself?

GM:    Yes, when they start making money off of us with out giving us any perks from it, they are stealing from us.

RTS:    Have you ever considered selling the rights to one or more of your songs to another band, a manager, promotions entity, label, or distro?

GM:    No.  Never.

Partial Discography

Ghost Mice/Brook Pridemore split, 7” Plan-it-x Records 2008

Ghost Mice/Andrew Jackson Jihad split, full length CD Plan-it-x Records 2007

Ghost Mice Europe, full length CD Plan-it-x Records 2005

Ghost Mice Debt of the Dead, full length CD Plan-it-x Records 2004

Ghost Mice/Defiance Ohio split, full length CD Plan-it-x Records 2004;

(free at http://www.archive.org/details/Defiance_Ohio_Ghost_Mice_Split_CD)

Ghost Mice/Saw Wheel split, 12” or full length CD No Idea Records 2002

www.plan-it-x.com

www.noidearecords.com