Watch out for the another #OccupyFriday post on the Prophet Bill's 50th Birthday. Until then you can check out my tribute or more remixes, videos and interviews after the
We want your soul RMX by superevil
Interview with Adam Freeland (2004):
HRFQ : In the album there is a track called ‘We want your soul’ and it has a couple of interesting phrases in there as well as the sample from Bill Hicks, saying “Go back to bed America, your country is in control again”. Were you making a statement about what is America is doing right now?
Adam : Well it wasn’t specifically about America. I think it was more about consumer culture in general. It’s been going on for a long time and it’s just getting worse. Bill Hicks is a long time hero of mine. We weren’t sure if we would be able to get the sample cleared but we did get it.
HRFQ : Have you been following Bill Hicks career?
Adam : Well he has passed away. I don’t think I really discovered him until about the time he passed away. But I pretty much have all of his stuff. He was a prophet, not just a comedian. He was very passionate about saying something.
HRFQ : Have you played ‘We want your soul’ in front of American people?
Adam : They love it. Whenever I play it in America I have had people come up to me and say you don’t understand how much people need to hear this message. I think there is a lot of suppression and fear to speak your mind in the States, in a supposed free speech society. It isn’t really is it, and that’s kind of the point of the track. I was really surprised how people reacted really positively.
HRFQ : On the topic of commercialism, you had the ‘Big Wednesday’ featured on the Animatrix soundtrack, how did it feel to have your music featured on such a big icon?
Adam : Well what ‘We want your soul’ is about is that we can’t escape it (commercialism). Living in the modern world. My records are sold in major stores, put out by JVC (laugh). I still have my own copyright but it’s hard to do anything these days and I have done my best to keep it totally independent. The whole point of the track is that we are all part of this picture whether you use technology or not. I think you have to take it case by case. I personally was a big fan of the Matrix and the Animatrix and was something creatively I wanted to be involved with. So I am happy for it to (‘Big Wednesday’) to be on there. It is a wicked bit of art and incredible animation. But we just got an offer from a large chain store in the US called Target. They wanted to use ‘We Want Your Soul’ for their new advertising campaign. But they wanted me to change the lyrics (laugh) which is pretty ironic. To be honest, we could’ve really done with the money and we could’ve have done with that kind of exposure in America because we haven’t put it out in America yet. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t have ‘We want your soul’ on an advert for one of America’s biggest corporations. I don’t think there is anything wrong with consuming, but I think I think it is important that there is an emphasis on ethics within that. If you know your sneakers are causing suffering in a sweatshop environment then maybe you should not considering buying them. I have a Mac laptop by Apple who are a large corporation. I love it, I make my music on it and I couldn’t do what I do without this machine. You know you can’t avoid but you have to inform yourself about each product.
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