Metal Psalter Babylon Mystery Orchestra Interview Page 1

Jesse: First of all, thanks for taking the time for this interview. It’s much appreciated.

Sidney: I enjoy doing interviews. The pleasure is all mine.

Jesse: So to start, tell us a little about Babylon Mystery Orchestra and why you decided to create the band. Considering your political and societal leanings, was there a certain event or controversy that made you think, “I need to get my voice out there in some way.”

Sidney: Not really. Babylon Mystery Orchestra's origin has more to do with the KISS reunion than anything that would later appear to be important to the presentation. I really had nothing to do with playing music since the time in 1987-1988 when I went to Hollywood for awhile. I really left unimpressed with the kind of people I found out there. Maybe it's one thing to read about these bands and the environment surrounding them, but I found the reality of the great Hollywood scene to be intolerable. A complete lack of ethics, morality and integrity. Now, I am not referring to the hedonistic tendencies that so many people have romanticized about over the years. Sex, drugs and Rock and Roll were what I was expecting to find...and perhaps what I was looking for. However, the tendency of everyone there to be so self-centered as to be willing to step on other people in their quest for Rock and Roll excess really turned my stomach. I do not like dishonest people...and I really don't like people who would use other people's emotional entanglements for their own advantage. I found this everywhere! It turns out that the reality of Rock and Roll was as evil as every preacher ever said it would be. I was convinced that I would never...EVER...call myself a musician or want to have anything to do with something calling themselves a musician again. I became convinced that a musician is a completely worthless, opportunistic and dishonest life form.

However, when the KISS reunion came about I was excited to have them back and jumped headlong into buying all the memorabilia I could just like it was 1977 all over again. Part of that included getting the Paul Stanley PS-10 guitar. I just started playing the thing and buying more gear and, this time, I focused on recording equipment. Eventually I had everything needed to record an entire band myself and, in keeping with my dislike for musicians, I made sure I would never have to depend on one for anything. I have since allowed myself to have some dealings with other musicians, and maybe I am not so adamant in my disdain for the life-form these days, but that is the reason why BMO exists as it does. The religious and political nature of a lot of the material is simply a reflection of who and what I am. This is what art is supposed to be. I never felt that I had to get my voice out there but as time has went on I am convinced that my voice is needed since I represent an under-served point of view in the Rock/Metal community.

Jesse: Were you always the sole member or did you try it with a full lineup at first? Or do you feel that BMO is a personal endeavor that just wouldn’t feel the same if there were other members adding their opinions?

Sidney: I can't say that I am so determined to be the sole creator that I would never utilize someone else but it is not something I would feel comfortable with. As I indicated earlier, resistance to the poison that musicians bring to music is somewhat a part of BMO's origin. If BMO were a real band I almost certainly could not write so much deeply controversial material. I have played with many musicians in the past. I am well aware that most of them crave attention, but not just any attention...they want to be liked. To do that you avoid making religious and political statements. That is why I do not look upon most popular music as art. It isn't. It doesn't reflect sincere feelings. It reflects a desire on the part of the performer to be liked and it reflects a desire on the part of the listener to have his belief system affirmed. That is why you will never go wrong writing songs about sex, parties and Rock and Roll. The genius of "I want to Rock and Roll all night and party every day" is not to be underestimated.

Jesse: I haven’t heard the rest of your albums, so this is reflected from the music on The Godless, The Godforsaken and The God Damned, but southern hard rock seems to be a big influence on your music. Considering that I’m also from a southern state, (although Texas is not always referred to as “the south”) I’m personally interested in your answer: how do you feel when someone attaches the word “southern” to your music or your work? Do you take a certain amount of pride in that or do you think it’s a cop-out and a cheap way to describe it?

Sidney: I live in Butler County Alabama. This is the same county Hank Williams was born and raised in. My ancestors really did fight in the Confederate Army. When people attach the word "southern" to me, I have no problem with it. Sometimes people are doing it to be derogatory and I have been accused of playing KKK metal. This was largely the result of the anti-Islamic songs on the previous CD. However there are many people who rightly recognize that there are certain country music tendencies that are brought out in subtle ways in the music. Most notably in the way the vocals are delivered. I can't say all of that was intentional or that I realized it as much in the beginning as I have come to over time. I didn't set out to bring country music into metal. I generally am not a fan of the style although I do have a fondness for the 70's country I heard so much growing up. However when a reviewer once described BMO as sounding like Manowar crossed with Johnny Cash I did see the relevance of his statement. It is especially true on the tracks that make substantial use of acoustic guitar yet still have powerful heavy metal choruses.

By the way, I was born in Witchita Falls Texas. So I like Texas...and Texas was the seventh of the Confederate states to secede from the Union. So you are a southern state in every sense of the word.

Jesse: Why is it that Babylon Mystery Orchestra remains unsigned? Have you been approached by labels in the past? Does it make it more special if you do it all yourself with no outside interference or influence or sometimes when you get the bill from the pressing plant and the studio, do you find yourself thinking “it sure would be nice to have a label foot the bill for this.” Either way, I do have to commend you for the stellar job on the cd packaging. I’ve seen entirely less professional booklets from label heavyweights.

Sidney: I have been approached by a couple of small labels that sent me information about themselves. When I looked over the internet for information about their bands I found that the only place there was any information about them was on the label's website. I have done better than that with BMO by myself, so I really haven't seriously entertained the idea of a label. When I did the first few records I sent out some promos to a few of the better known metal labels just to gauge the reaction. Surprisingly I did hear back from most of them but since BMO is not a touring entity they generally aren't interested. I wouldn't be interested in a label that couldn't do more for BMO than I have done for it myself, so I am probably going to be alright keeping it like it is.

As far as footing the bill goes, he who pays gets to make the decisions. Most labels, even the better ones, would balk at the kind of packaging that I aspire to on BMO releases. It may cost extra, but I feel it adds to the presentation and it does force people to take you seriously when you show you take yourself seriously. I grew up a KISS fan so I really like a total package that is made special...although in many ways it is the RUSH record 2112 that is the template for my packaging. I liked the way they didn't attempt to tell the whole story within the songs but also had written texts that guided you inside the gatefold album cover. So that is really where the idea from my presentation came from...and of course, RUSH has some interesting politics as well. Not your conventional left wing nonsense. There are no unicorns in Rushworld.

Jesse: Metal and rock music has generally been seen as the music for the rebel opposing the establishment, going against the grain, so to speak. Do you think that is an outdated philosophy in 2010? Even though some would consider the theme of BMO to be a largely accepted view, do you feel that you still adhere to that rock and roll tradition?

Sidney: In many ways your question is reflecting an understanding of a greater truth. Rock Music has achieved the results it was intended to achieve when it was deployed as a weapon against our society. If that sounds very conspiritorial I would refer you to the second BMO release, On Earth As It Is In Heaven, as this is not the first time music has been deployed as a divisive force.

It is not so much that rebellion is out-dated in metal so much as there is nothing left to rebel against. Babylon Mystery Orchestra is easily the most rebellious musical entity out there right now because it is rebelling against the metal and rock communities' standard prejudices. Music is very divisive. The myth that music brings people together is just one of many lies fed to us by a secular society rebelling against God. Well, the rebellion is over. You are now living in a godless society...so who is there to fight? Now look back at what happened over the last 50 years. When you started, Rock and Roll was the music of the young. Now look at how many different genres exist. All of them possessing some sort of little culture unto themselves. Call it Death Metal, Black Metal, Gothic etc... there are thousands of different sub-genres of music that have DIVIDED the young...not brought them together. They divided the youth, indoctrinated them into little subcultures under the facade of "rebellion" and took away their ability to think for themselves. Too many people haven't figured out that they have been outsmarted and conquered. It was all one big act of manipulation...not art. The musicians were willing conspirators in this drama and the entertainers that were promoted by the industry were chosen not for their artistic value but for their willingness to do as they were told...and they were well compensated for their treachery. C'mon...Ozzy Osbourne...an artist? He had the least input in his own career of anyone he was ever involved with. Distract, divide and destroy. That is exactly what rock and roll was designed to do. Mission accomplished.

So yes, by rejecting the Rock and Roll establishment's religion of diversity I do, in fact, adhere to the original concept of rebellion against authority. I am rebelling against what Ozzy Osbourne said was HIS religion and HIS law.

Jesse: On the song “Catspaw,” you talk about the self-righteousness of the Hollywood elite and big time recording artists using their celebrity status to persuade uninformed people to agree with their agenda. Is your beef with them more with their ideological stances, the actual issues that they’re preaching on, or is it just the simple arrogance of using their status as a platform?

Sidney: Most entertainers would have no platform and no real credibility but for their celebrity status. Is Bono a financial expert? Why is he constantly lobbying national leaders to forgive their loans to Africa? Is Bruce Springsteen an expert on nuclear technology? Yet he participated in a successful movement to suppress the use of nuclear energy even as today he joins the chorus of those who whine about carbon emissions in the atmosphere. Emissions that would be considerably less had we been building nuclear power plants for the last thirty years rather than coal or gas fired ones. Patti Smith was a big supporter of ousting the Shah of Iran in the 70's...look what they got in his place. I cringed when I recently saw on her website that she stands with those resistors in the streets of Tehran. She stood with those resisting the Shah's authority in the seventies...look where that got them. I have a wonderful picture of her posing next to some impressive signs. One says "Victory to the armed struggle in Iran." Apparently her side won the last time. Why can't she just leave Iran alone?
Entertainers, by and large, are not the smartest people in the world. They were the people who spent their formative years daydreaming and playing guitars in their bedrooms, not reading their history books. They have no knowledge, therefore they have no credibility. They are mostly nothing more than mouth-pieces for the benefactors who gave them the money that furthered their careers. They are owned by those people...forever. I question whether or not a Bono or a Springsteen can speak anything other than what their benefactors have approved. When dealing with people worth so much, who are speaking about issues that are worth so much, you are not going to get an opinion. You are going to get a deliberate and manufactured point of view. These entertainers are merely the packaging of that point of view.

Jesse: This is completely hypothetical and I ask this with the utmost respect, but just to play the devil’s advocate, if Babylon Mystery Orchestra were ever to become even half as popular of say, U2, could the same be said of you if you were in a position to possibly persuade lots of people by your songs or excerpts from your interviews?

Sidney: Actually I have thought about that. Though we must concede that the likelihood of that happening is beyond remote, it is a fair question. Since I have made the issues I confront a part of Babylon Mystery Orchestra's music, and not something I speak of on the side, I think there is a little bit more legitimacy on my side of it. However BMO is a finite project. It will end. I have not set a definite time for that, but if it suddenly becomes a commercially successful enterprise I will finish what I am currently working on and shut it down. I have said a lot over the course of the five BMO recordings thus far. Things that needed to be said. I will protect the integrity of those statements by not becoming that which I abhor. It's really not that difficult a concept and, unlike the catspaws I have criticized, I have accepted no money from anyone else...ever. That is what the word "independence" is all about. I owe no one. You can be certain that my words are my own. You cannot say that about those who have accepted the large amounts of money required to manufacture their fame.