[toog]

Hi,

I just heard Huddle Formation in a Honda Civic commercial. Just a few months ago when the band came to my hometown (Lawrence Kansas), our local music magazine ran a Go! Team interview in which they stated that they had turned down a Nike commercial and claimed that they would never use songs from Lightning Strike in commercials. Anyone know why the change of heart? Was the song used without their permission?

[the go team]

This is a fair comment and I knew people would be disappointed (including me)

certainly no change of heart - I hate bands who do adverts. I've turned down lots in the past - forgoing potentially lots of money. It got to the point where the people who publish go team songs were getting so fucked off that being dropped was looking very likely - they weren't making any money. theres a limit to how many times people will take a No.

I'm not worried about fucking people off but the trouble is that for the second album we need a publishing company to clear the samples (which is what a publishing company does) before it gets released to avoid the mistake of the first album. It would be a serious handicap to have an album full of uncleared samples.

basically this ad was a concession so that there would be someone to clear the samples. Hypocritical i know but its a tricky thing to navigate through when you make sample based music. it's a minefield.

[toog]

Honestly, I wasn't angry, just a little suprised as the go team was just about the only indie band of late to publicly state their distaste for selling songs to advertisers. Indie rock (pardon the phrase if you hate it) has been feeling very un-punk the last several years and hearing one band speak out was a real breath of fresh air.

I get it though; really. I hate US copyright law and I know the trouble you had with the first record. I'm still a fan and will be grabbing record #2 as soon as you release it.

On a related note, have you heard about LG stealing Jens Leckman's "Night on Hammer Hill" for their advert? They asked if they could buy the rights and he said no, so they just re-recorded it note for note and used it anyway. At least you got paid!

[ZoSo]

I was extemely excited when I heard it just because it felt good to hear the go! team and though I don't like when good bands end up commercials, I know how fucked up all that bullshit is and as long as I get another team album it's cool with me.