Endgame Protocol

Dictor:  Yeah as I mentioned previously its a struggle.  I’m fortunate in that I have a unique sound, so perhaps that is enough.  I often have wished I had more consistency to my work.  I recently discovered the work of a musician named Nash the Slash who had a similar thing going on before he passed in 2014.  It really helped me come to the realization that whether or not there is room for an eclectic style in today’s pre-packaged cookie cutter industry, there have been other people who experience the same conflict between the desire to innovate and the pressure to conform.
Dictor:  So endgame protocol came about after a friend of mine introduced me to the mythos of David Icke.  Basically, this consists of the notion that human society was infiltrated millions of years ago by a race of extraterrestrial shape shifting reptiles who have worked their way into positions of power.  Both this friend as well as David Icke believe this to be fact.  The first thought I had was “This sounds like the plot to that really bad Super Mario Brothers movie from the 90’s”, and then “I could run with this aesthetic for sure”.  So the aesthetic’s inspiration comes from that: The glowing lizard eyes, the business suit, etc.
Dictor:  I have a backlog of a ton of music as I’ve been doing this for over 10 years.  The problem is that I keep getting better, and as a result the older stuff progressively sounds more and more like garbage to me.  Emerson’s emporium of sonic curiosities is starting to fall into that category now, although its still available on band camp.  Even my album’s under the name antiPLUR haven’t aged well.  At the end of the day I know non musicians won’t be able to discern how bad the mixes of these songs really are, but its still something that really bothers me; you know, to have something out there that isn’t your best work.  I guess I’m a bit of a perfectionist.
Dictor:  So I would say that all of the tracks are fictional with the exception of “Patriot”, which you released an early mix of on one of the compilations for Brutal Resonance in…November I think?   “Son of Man” and “My Life For You” are more of my anti-theistic rhetorical standby.  The Eastern Star tracks, Specimen 666, and The Monster and me are more story tracks having to do with my version of the Icke mythos and concerns a spaceship sort of like the infamous ghost ship “The Flying Dutchman” which comes as a herald of the end times to gather the chosen reptilians  who have been stranded on earth and take them back to their world before laying waste to the remains of humanity.  Patriot is about a dark time that occurred in my life during my 20’s.  Something horrible happened to me; I was the victim of something terrible.  After that I adopted a sort of machiavellian philosophy for a time and got wrapped up in a lot of bad stuff.  Its an odd fit, but I think people will be able to appreciate it rhetorically even if they don’t truly understand the metaphors involved.
Dictor:  Well the story concerns a being who is locked in a crashed interstellar prison vessel known as The Eastern Star that flash froze somewhere in Antarctica during the last great Ice Age.  As we are losing more and more polar ice, the being (known as Wormwood) escapes and spreads an infectious pathogen that has mind control properties to a third of the earths population, who prepare the way for his “Birth” into human form.  At the end of the album, the ship carries him and his followers to a new world as the old one is destroyed.
Dictor:  So my process is that I don’t really have one.  The songs start with an idea of course, but the lyrics are written stream of consciousness.  I often don’t discover the meaning behind them until much later.  There is a lot of subconscious overtone involved.  As such, I often feel really dissociated from my lyrics.  It doesn’t feel like I wrote them even though I know that I did.
Dictor:  I usually write both simultaneously, or I’ll write some music, and then all the lyrics, and then finish the music.  Sometimes I’ll write lyrics and sit on them for a long time.  I won’t change them, but I won’t write the music until much later.  So I guess it depends.
Dictor:  Hmmmm thats a tough one.  I really don’t have a favorite.  In terms of work I think Specimen 666 took the longest to make as Ive been working on it for several years (off and on).  I’m really proud of how far its come.
Dictor:  I’d really like to do more live shows and refine my performance.  Its hard to find time to do so.  As for other music being written Ive already finished tracks since I sent “The Eastern Star” off to be published.  I’m constantly working on music.  As for releasing tracks in a formal way I’d like to do a follow up to my Canned Resistor album and continue that story as I kind of left it on a cliff hanger.