I don't think MITB is claiming to "own" the image. However it's been used on pretty much everything they've done for the last 20 years, including the still-functioning Bastard Noise offshoot.
Two guys from MITB had very different responses--one laughable, one a bit more measured. Isreal (who is a friend of mine) was pretty clear that they weren't shouting lawsuit. However, considering their hardcore background, I think they were legitimately irritated to see something so closely identified with their band all over someone else's merchandise. Given the A/F dude's love of the band, a simple ask might not have been out of the question--especially since BN is still using the damned skull on his shit.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:51 (twelve years ago) link
However, considering their hardcore background, I think they were legitimately irritated to see something so closely identified with their band all over someone else's merchandise
See this is the part that I'm not really following in their argument. Wasn't the early hardcore aestehtic, particularly when it came to fliers, all about "borrowing" images that could be copied and pasted on fliers for an easy and consistent design? I mean, if anything, I kind of feel like "reappropriating" the skull is particularly in line with hardocre values. Which isn't to say I don't think it was kind of a dick move and I agree an ask would have been the right thing to do.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:53 (twelve years ago) link
Not to speak for the band but I think that's the conflict Isreal is wrestling with in the quote Mizzel pasted above. It seems like the reappropriation/homage is less of an issue than the fact that it was used on saleable merch. A/F didn't need "permission" but it was still lame.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Wednesday, 25 January 2012 18:03 (twelve years ago) link
i don't get that at all. it was saleble merch, sure, but to support a band, not a giant corporation (like the disney joy division thing).
― mizzell, Wednesday, 25 January 2012 18:29 (twelve years ago) link
yeah but compared to mitb ak is pretty much a giant corporation
― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 26 January 2012 01:08 (twelve years ago) link
A third MITB member speaks out... pro-Akron/Family.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Thursday, 26 January 2012 07:16 (twelve years ago) link
I'm w/ akfam
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 26 January 2012 07:42 (twelve years ago) link
I'm w/MITB but largely because I grew up w/Wood. Hidden in Israel's measured response is a sort of "if you knew Wood, you'd understand that this is sort of an 'it's in the scorpion's nature to sting the frog'" deal
― unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 26 January 2012 15:47 (twelve years ago) link
SCAB SUCKING MAGGOTS
― unlistenable in philly (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 26 January 2012 15:48 (twelve years ago) link
― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 26 January 2012 01:08 (20 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
hahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha no
― dave cool it (stevie), Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:27 (twelve years ago) link
glad some lil spat started so I can post again about how great ak/fam are live what nice dudes
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:29 (twelve years ago) link
they really are incredibly good live
― Number None, Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:48 (twelve years ago) link
otm
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Thursday, 26 January 2012 21:49 (twelve years ago) link
The tie-dyed freak flag is a way better look for them than the skull anyway.
― B-Boy Bualadh Bos (ecuador_with_a_c), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:24 (twelve years ago) link
this issue is all about... communication.
signed,your girlfriend
― try again, fascist (Matt P), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:32 (twelve years ago) link
― dave cool it (stevie), Thursday, January 26, 2012 9:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
ha yeah I was on my way out when I read this earlier but that's a leeeeetle overcooked
don't think it's the issue in any case
― Saltines of Pink - 'Whites Me Tumblr?' (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:58 (twelve years ago) link
man, this sounds like some blink 182 shit
http://soundcloud.com/danabuoy/
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 15 February 2012 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
lol these dudes what happened
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 9 May 2013 16:19 (ten years ago) link
this is prob the first band whose career I've followed closely enough that I've been able to see their descending arc in realtime
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 9 May 2013 16:23 (ten years ago) link
Seeing on Twitter that Miles Seaton passed away, sadly. These guys could be really good and I was holding out hope for a comeback.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 19 February 2021 03:46 (three years ago) link
RIP. They had a few fantastic songs and I will forever be jealous of my friends who saw them during the Angels of Light split era, where, iirc, a performance of "Raising the Sparks" literally spilled out of the venue and into the street. (I assume this was more or less standard practice on that tour.)
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Friday, 19 February 2021 13:09 (three years ago) link
I never really warmed to their later stuff (and they were sadly not very exciting when I finally did catch them in the mid-2010s) but back in the self-titled/Angels of Light split era it really did seem like the sky was their limit for a little while
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Friday, 19 February 2021 13:13 (three years ago) link
The one time I saw them was phenomenal, small club show and one of the few concerts I've been at where everyone was dancing start to stop.
This is really wretched news because two months ago a dear friend who was plagued with severe depression ended her struggle, and her last message to us all the day before (one of those ones that reads a little different now) included a link to her own favorite Akron/Family song, "Last Year." Heavy, heavy time.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 February 2021 15:47 (three years ago) link
Oh wow, I'm sorry Ned.
Sadly I never got to see them live, but I always hoped I'd get the chance. I know the latter stuff was a little more spotty, but I still like a lot of their material. In fact I had finally replaced my burned CD copy of the S/T album with an actual copy last summer.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 19 February 2021 15:49 (three years ago) link
very sorry to hear that ned
― stimmy stimmy yah (Simon H.), Friday, 19 February 2021 15:54 (three years ago) link
Thanks very kindly. There's lots more to say about her but we're all still feeling the loss. A real light.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 February 2021 15:58 (three years ago) link
Absolutely lovely thread about Seaton from another friend of mine.
In the mid 2000s until the early twentyteens Akron/Family was my absolute favorite live rock band. Life-affirming music. When they played on my radio show in college, Miles and I talked endlessly about music and he offered to dump his his entire external hard drive full of tunes— Sam (@fax_me) February 19, 2021
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 19 February 2021 17:51 (three years ago) link
akron family was one of the best live bands in the mid-00s, saw them quite a few times, first was during the angels of light split tour. After that one member left to be a monk they were not really up to that level live but man they were so special when they were. The last time I saw miles play was 6-7 years ago, it was in a large warehouse space and it was a duo of him and a cellist, with a choir diffusing out throughout the warehouse, walking around and singing at various levels to make this 3D surround sound experience. Not really sure what to think or say
― Bongo Jongus, Friday, 19 February 2021 18:28 (three years ago) link