SLOGUN. YOURS CULTURE, MY KNIFE!

Once a very self confident journalist, a sophisticated cynic by nature, driven by curiosity went to a concert in Chicago and reported his impressions later.

„Im a very cynical person. Whenever I see a band try to be scary, my first reaction is to laugh at them. But this was different. During their set I felt something that I hadnt felt at a show in years. FEAR. I was afraid of them. Slogun weren‘t scary in the Ooooh, look at me sense. I mean I felt physically threatened. Not in some "Ok, ha-ha this is show biz" kind of way where theres lots of posing and menacing looks. No, I really thought that someone in Slogun might take a swing at me. Never mind the fact that I had met John Balistreri the night before and found him and his collaborators to be friendly people. That didnt matter. This was their show. It was them against the crowd. If I was in the crowd, I was the enemy, and I ran the risk of being punched, pushed or even strangled by John or any of the 10 people collaborating with him that night. And while I was afraid of the possibility of meeting physical harm, their set was invigorating. They had barreled their way through my cynical exterior and made me FEEL something. At that show, I realized that Slogun is MISANTHROPY in action.“

That evening the journalist went to a concert of SLOGUN in Chicago. This project was created by one of the most famous “power electronics” schools in the U.S.A. and one of the most famous “power electronics” teams in general. To be precise, it is a one-man, John Balistreri, solo project. Playing live, he collaborates with other performers that play in such bands as “Sickness”, “Navicon Torture Technologies”, “Bloodyminded”, “Control”. In 8 years of creative work, SLOGUN achieved cult status among the fans of harsh electronic music.

Music critics admit that SLOGUN is one of the few most extreme music projects in the world, if not the most extreme one. Started in 1996, this musical phenomenon became renowned not only for its’ particularly brutal and aggressive sound aesthetics based on attacks of remorseless noise and cruel documentary samples, but also for notably forthright, offensive, pessimistic lyrics, the sense of which is reinforced by loud and clear John Balistreri’s voice filtered through a sea of musical effects. SLOGUN is also famous for the topics of the lyrics, that are a deadly taboo in the value systems of many people.  That's serial murderers, maniacs, mass murderers and their committed crimes, briefly expressed in J.Balistreri's creative work by a peculiar transcription “TRUE CRIME”. Also the textual structures of the lyrics allude to slogans, and  the most famous of them – “Fuck The World” and “Therapy through Violence” – mark nearly every artistic artefact created by John. Spreading rumours about extreme shows of John and his team is the last straw that turns the phenomenon of SLOGUN into an absolute monster in the eyes of moral society. Some people talk that those sound terrorists rub their nostrils with salt before a concert, so that pain and tingle would provoke fury, others tell that they are lifting weights in order to feel a flush of adrenaline that triggers aggression. It’s hard to check if it is true, but the fact is that a few hours before a concert John and his collaborators don't communicate with anyone. And during a concert there’s strong confrontation with the audience that creates hot atmosphere of fight and collision. This atmosphere is a concurrent of SLOGUN conception with the main component - VIOLENCE. Why? John Balistreri’s biography gives an answer.

John’s parents are Sicilians, and according to rumours, they emigrated from Sicily because they got fed up with those peculiar rules of mafia that are a tradition in Sicily obligatory for everyone. VIOLENCE is a rather distinctive element of this tradition. But when they emigrated to the U.S.A. and settled down in Bensonhurst, a section of Brooklin that belongs to Italians, they realized that rules in the new country are exactly the same. Born in the U.S.A., John Balistreri, a future creator of SLOGUN, soon got assured of that. Bensonhurst was full of mafiosos, the streets were very unsafe, and life was running according to Sicilian rules. Recollecting his boyhood, John always emphasizes that he was habitually taking part in teenager fightings, and merciless fight for survival and DOMINATION was his austere everyday life. In addition to Sicilian peculiarities of “Cosa Nostra”, in his early childhood John experienced one even more shocking aspect of American violence, that deeply influenced the creation of SLOGUN and one of the principal interests of its’ creator.  8-year old John was walking down his native street. Suddenly some tens of police cars approached a neighbouring house, horns were hooting, some woman was crying. Although the view was fascinating, in the beginning neither John nor his father understood what had happened. It emerged later that the last night a notorious maniac David Berkovitz  (better known as “Son of Sam”), who was killing around in those days, shot a girl Susan Moscowitz in that place, and her boyfriend Robert escaped a deadly shot by chance. Although it was the last attack of “Son of Sam” (he was caught later), that event affected John’s psychics so much that he got extremely interested in serial killers, started collecting all available information, and it became his main hobby. That event raised a lot of questions for a child that he couldn't answer. Later on, seeking for an answer who are those lonely people destroying their lives because of their inappeasable desire for killing, torturing and ruining other lives, he got acquainted with even more remarkable apostles of American culture: “Ted Bundy”, “Ramirez”, “Gacy”, “Green River” (a maniac who was never caught). Those also had a great impact on Balistreri's creative work and on the development of his personality.

Violence, risk and danger surrounded John always and everywhere. He participated in fights of gangs in the streets, he was mainly interested in serial killers, and for many years he was writing graffiti on the walls of New York by night, expressing his creative energy in that way and taking a risk to be caught by police and to be sent to jail, or to be exposed by his dictatorial father who could employ really strict methods of Sicilian upbringing. John was getting drunk with his mates, and that usually ended up by hitting porno shops and breaking windows by night. Because of those vandal acts they even called their gang "Porn Lords”. But later John Balistreri realized that such way of life would ruin him sooner or later as it had happened to many of his friends.  Some of them were killed in gang fights, others were sent to prison. So he made a break with the street and was seeking for another way to express his elemental energy. John entered a college, studied architecture, and became designer. But the experience and the interests of the past didn't fade away, and John found that “power electronics” is the best way to link three greatest passions of his life: “noise” music, graphic design and interest in maniacs in one field – music, and to express his experience in that way. Emboldened by a friend, Balistreri started creating harsh “power electronics” monster SLOGUN, in the name of which he released in 8 years plenty of vinyls, tapes, CDs, postcards, pins, stickers, even a bottle of ketchup with the name of some maniac, provoking world mass culture and shocking people by demonstrating the most negative social phenomena.

Balistreri claims that he has no special goals creating this extreme music and design for it.  He doesn’t strive to become famous or to teach the world. But on the other hand, expressing his experience, he applies some kind of therapy through violence on himself as well as on the others. He declares that the main aim of the project probably is to be brutally and unmercifully honest with yourself.  John considers that a big privilege in hypocritical American culture that applies double standard in all aspects, and that has actually lost self control and keeps degrading deeper and deeper. John detests mass media that scolds serial killers although it has advertised them itself making them objects of cult and admiration. A market of books and films about serial killers prospers in America. People that publicly declare their disgust with VIOLENCE, glorify it in reality. Otherwise, why such serials as “Sopranos” are so popular, or what is the reason of the prosperity of MTV that mostly propagates the culture of black gangsters with its' concurrent - criminal crimes? John resents that people start whining only when violence that they adore backfires on them. But they indulge in violence when they feel safe, and they spit on everything. They don’t care about welfare of the others, about their fellow-men. That is the utmost irresponsibility, that is so common in every field in life. Condemning all that, John puts rhetorical questions: “Don’t such people deserve violence? Aren’t serial killers a symbol and an example that best corresponds that kind of culture? Wasn’t Charlie Manson right telling that a serial killer is just a reflection of masses?” But those John’s assertions and his fervent interest in serial killers don’t mean that he justifies violence. The artist claims that serial killers are the first to deserve death. And not only them, but also everyone committing acts of violence in order to pander to his own desires. He thinks that those people are lost as they will never try to change. As there are plenty of such people, J.Balistreri tells that the world is an ugly place, and although he was brought up as a Catholic in his family, any religion is alien to him and gives no hope. He rejoices at an inescapable occasion to die some time and to disappear from here. The artist considers himself a pure realist and trusts forthright only to the facts. He also claims that “power electronics” is one of the most perfect forms of realistic art. J.Balistreri denies any mysticism in his music maintaining that SLOGUN is harsh experience based on accurate facts. He notices that his music raises not from anger and hatred. Its’ source is total fatigue and frustration originating from the cultural space he lives in. It may seem that criticizing everyone, J.Balistreri exalts himself and reckons himself right, but this impression is very erroneous. In SLOGUN lyrics, as well as in interviews J.Balistreri often stresses that he positions himself with trash, scum, and shit as anybody else, emphasizing in that way that everyone is in this hopeless position and no-one is superior to the others. Everybody is full of shit. This feature of SLOGUN creative work is reinforced by J.Balistreri’s comments why he goes to the audience while playing live, why he discusses so fervently or acts brutally. John claims that he doesn’t want to be above the others on the stage. He doesn’t want to be gawked at as an idol, or to be adored. When SLOGUN project was started, John declared that he didn‘t want to climb on stage at all, and he would not play live. But he changed his decision later, although his performances were clearly uncommon. In concerts, John never repeats lyrics from his studio albums.  Usually he improvises and screams to the audience what comes to his mind at that point. It depends greatly on the particular audience. Maybe because of very different audience in different places of the world, concerts of SLOGUN are absolutely unpredictable. Only one thing is clear – Balistreri himself warns everybody who comes to “power electronics” concert that this is the most brutal form of art, and it is never pleasant or dealing with beautiful things.

“This is for all those people who "listen" to Power Electronics, yet seem to be surprised or shocked by violence during a show. GET OFF OF IT!!! DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS STUFF, OR ATTEND A POWER ELECTRONICS SHOW, IF VIOLENCE OFFENDS YOU!!! In this genre, NOTHING should shock you!!! Recent events at a recent festival makes me feel that people just do not get it. This is a very violent, extreme genre, and I would think that by the time you got to this point, to listen to this stuff, you've heard or seen it all. Nothing should upset you! Now, you may not agree with what the performer says, but to be shocked and offended. Give me a break! And another thing. DO NOT JUDGE A PERFORMER BY HIS PERFORMANCE! Just because the artist is doing something extreme, it doesn't mean he's out there fucking chickens or skinning young boys! Get to know the artist before saying shit about them on those dumb news groups!!! And with that, all the best to you, and thanks to those who give a shit!” J.Balistreri.

Many people, and especially those who will get offended by John Balistreri‘s show, will ask themselves why SLOGUN is in Lithuania, and why on earth they needed to participate in that nonsense. But in this culture that is getting American extremely quickly, and that has a phenomenal feature to absorb firstly everything most disgusting, everyone should answer to themselves one simple question: Who is John Balistreri? An aggressive product of horrible culture, or an unmerciful prophet of horrible culture rendering a rare chance to cast a glance over the perspective?   Or maybe both of them?

Written by Lashisha, translated by Alwyda, 2005-08-06