Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 12:25:32 -0500 (CDT) From: Brad Will _________________________________________________________________ INFORMATION SOCIETY FAQ v2.0 by Brad Will 21 Apr 95 Amended by Kurt Harland. Written with help from: Kurt Harland, Nick Johnson, Jeri Beck, H.P. Nagel, and Mike Brown. _________________________________________________________________ Band History 1. Who are the band members? (past/present) 2. Where is the band from? 3. Has Insoc released any music lately? 4. What is the band currently doing? Music 5. What albums do they have out? 6. Have they done any soundtracks? 7. What songs has Information Society released? 8. Is that Kurt's voice that sings "Running"? 9. Is there an Information Society video collection? 10. Who was Think Tank? Computer Programs 11. Where else online can I find Information Society info? 12. Are there any InSoc programs for the computer available? 13. Are there any email mailing lists? 14. What was the "Super Secret Encoded Message"? 15. What was the "InSoc Plan For World Domination"? 16. How do I view the CD + Graphics from the first album? 17. How can I view track 12 of Peace and Love Inc? 18. What does track 12 say? Misc Info 19. What does InSoc mean? 20. What is the address for the Information Society fan club from the albums? 21. What is Ctl-Alt-Del? 22. Where does Kurt get his hair done? 23. What kind of car is Kurt's? 24. Is it true that the band once played a song on a daytime Soap Opera? _________________________________________________________________ Who are the band members, and when and where were they involved? In order of appearance: * Paul Robb/Schwitters - Minneapolis 01/82 - 06/93 * Pamela Tzara/Brussman - Minneapolis 01/82 - 10/83 * Kurt Valaquen/Harland - Minneapolis 01/82 - 11/83, 12/84 - Present Heather LeFay - Minneapolis 02/82 - 05/82 * Kaerlin/Kristie Leader - Minneapolis 10/82 - 11/83 * James Richter/Cassidy - Minneapolis 04/83 - 06/93 Chris Little - Minneapolis 09/83 - 03/84 Belinda Beasely - Minneapolis 01/84 - 02/84 Shauntelle Martin - Minneapolis 01/84 - 02/84 Lisa Tonra - Minneapolis 01/84 - 03/86 Murat Konar - Minneapolis 01/84 - 03/86 Mithat Konar - Minneapolis 01/84 - 05/86 * Amanda Kramer - Minneapolis 05/86 - 08/88 Sally Venue-Berg - Ney York City 10/88 - 09/89 Ed Potokar - New York City 11/89 - 06/91 Maria Nocera - New York City 11/89 - 03/91 Sherry Hart - New York City 03/91 - 12/91 Will Loconto - New York City 10/92 - Present Ed Wozniak - New York City 06/91 - 12/94 Kris Larson - New York City 06/93 - Present Liam Hart - San Francisco 01/95 - Present * - Actual partner/owners of the name, Information Society _________________________________________________________________ Where is the band from? The band originates from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they grew up. _________________________________________________________________ Has InSoc released any albums lately? No. Their latest album was "Peace and Love Inc." and it was reelased in October of 1992. Kurt is planning on releasing a new one early next year, maybe even as soon as January. _________________________________________________________________ What is the band currently doing? The band, Information Society, as we know it has broken up. Kurt bought the name from James and Paul, and he plans to start putting out music soon again. Currently, Kurt is producing music for video games and also performing shows occasionaly. He also recently announced that he has signed with Phisst records and will hopefully have a new album by January of 1996. Paul is doing a lot of music for MTV and others, he has done most of the incidental music for MTV's "Real World". James is living somewhere outside of Portland, Oregon, and has a job making sausage. _________________________________________________________________ What albums does Insoc have out? * The Information Society - 1983 * Creatures of Influence - 1985 * Running - 1985 (a single from C.O.I.) * Information Society - 1988 * Hack - 1990 * Peace and Love Inc. - 1992 _________________________________________________________________ Have they done any soundtracks? As a matter of fact, they have, otherwise I wouldn't have included this info in here. They performed the song, "Hit Me" on the Earth Girls are Easy Soundtrack. That's the only one, though. However, Kurt has recently done 2 soundtracks for video games, and is about to start another. The first is a SEGA Genesis cartridge called "X-Men II, the clone wars", made by HeadGames of San Francisco, and the second, not out yet, is a 3DO title called "BALLZ" by P.F.Magic, also in San Francisco. _________________________________________________________________ What songs has Information Society released? * Running * What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) * Walking Away * Repetition * Lay All Your Love On Me * Think * How Long * Now That I Have You * Peace And Love Inc. * Going Going Gone _________________________________________________________________ Is that Kurt's voice that sings "Running"? No, it is not. It was done by Murat Konar, who also did most of the vocals on Information Society's second EP, "Creature of Influence". _________________________________________________________________ Is there an InSoc video collection? No, sorry, there is not. There has been talk of putting one together in the future, though. _________________________________________________________________ Who was Think Tank? Think Tank was a fake name that Information Society used to promote a couple songs that were to be on the "Hack" album. It was released by Tommy Boy records under the pseudonym, "HAKKATAK" records. The album contains the songs "A Knife and A Fork" (Massively Parallel Mix) and "Hack One" (Internet Worm Mix), and was only released to DJ's. Paul Robb used the pseudonym "Mil Spec", and Fred Maher was the producer and he used the pseudonym "Freddy LeMarr". _________________________________________________________________ Where else online can I find out more Information society info? WORLD WIDE WEB - http://vulture.creighton.edu/~duke NON-INTERNET BBS'S * (904) 689-4339. Nick Johnson's Insoc site. Login as "cad" with password "thecat" * (508) 832-7542. Charles Grosvenor Jr's site. * (716) 626-4463. The Information Society BBS. IRC - Type "/join #insoc". PRODIGY - Insoc can be found on the Music Board #1 under the Alternate Rock Topic C-A-D: (Subject) AMERICA ON LINE Forum: Keyword: Rocklink, then Messaging, then (More); then Alternative Rock Topics; Browse Folders; Page down to C-A-D folder. Since we have been granted the permanent forum on AOL, the heading is C-A-D not InSoc/C-A-D. All InSoc news and Network News is posted there, but it is no longer InSoc specific; other Network bands post there as well. _________________________________________________________________ Are there any InSoc computer programs available? Yes, You can find some of them on the Insoc home page, http://vulture.creighton.edu/~duke/download.html Here is a basic synopsis of what is currently available: * insoc2.bmp - This is a Windows wallpaper BMP file. * is.zip - The newest version of the InSoc screen saver. * insoc.exe - A press kit for the first album * insoc90.zip - A program intended for distribution with the Hack album. _________________________________________________________________ Are there any Information Society electronic mailing lists? There are two mailing lists. 1. "thecatalyst@delphi.com" runs a free email newsletter which periodically updates everyone on bands featured in Ctl-Alt-Del, including Information Society. 2. "duke@vulture.creighton.edu" runs an Information Society discussion mailing list. To subscribe, send a message to "automailer@magellan.creighton.edu" with the message "subscribe insoc-list your_email_address" in the body of the message. To send a message to this list, send it to "insoc-list@magellan.creighton.edu". _________________________________________________________________ What was the "Super Secret Encoded Message"? The Super Secret Encoded Message was part of the insoc.exe program that was part of a press kit released with the first album. Basically, you had to answer a bunch of numerical trivia questions like "How many weeks was Amanda Kramer originally supposed to tour with the band for?" (The correct answer is "6") After answering the questions, there was a bunch of multiplication, division, etc, and if you got the answer right, the screen flashed a famous quote by lead singer Kurt Harland-Valaquen, "IT'S A GREAT BIG DISCO WORLD!" If you want to cheat and not do the math, the correct final answer is "2". That will get you the message. There is also a dark and unconfirmed rumor, that the program has a flaw: There is a section not intended for public viewing, and no one's sure what it is, because the program is designed to prevent access to that file. However, the rumor says that if you just keep on trying, you'll eventually get in...If you get in, you'll see Insoc's plan for world Domination. _________________________________________________________________ What was the InSoc Plan For World Domination? This is the message that you get if you get into the Insoc restricted files from the above question: I N S O C P L A N F O R W O R L D D O M I N A T I O N AS OF 2/88, FOUR OF THE SIX MAJOR ECONOMIC/CULTURAL VECTORS HAVE HAD SIGNIFICANT INROADS MADE UPON THEM. ALTHOUGH NO VECTOR IS COMPLETE, THREE ARE LIKELY TO ALLIGN THEMSELVES IN A WAY FAVORABLE TO OUR INTENTIONS THROUGH CURRENT INERTIA ALONE. INTERNATIONAL TRADE DEFINITION AND SPACE EXPLORATION HAVE YET TO BE POSITIVELY INFLUENCED. THE FOLLOWING IS NEEDED: - FURTHER INFLUENCE UPON WESTERN IDEOLOGICAL CLIMATE THROUGH POPULAR MUSIC. (SEE PRINCIPIA 7; INFORMA- TION SOCIETY BROADCAST MUSIC EFFECTIVE RANGE - GREATER TRAP VECTORING FOR TELEVISION PROPAGANDA CONTENT. - CONTINUED PROLIFERATION OF 'INFORMATION SOCIETY MEDIA OUTPUT. - CONSIDERING DEVELOPING OUR OWN INDEPENDENT SPACE PROGRAM. THESE CONSIDERATIONS, COUPLED WITH A STRENGTHENING OF OUR IDEOLOGICAL INFLUENCE THROUGH INFORMATION SOCIETY AND THE M-3 RADIX SHOULD BRING US WITHIN VISIBLE REACH OF WORLD DOMINATION BY 2030. _________________________________________________________________ How do I view the CD + Graphics from the first album? You can look at them by simply putting the CD (not the tape, sorry) into a Sega CD player, or a CD + Graphics player if you have one. The graphics inlcude: top ten lists, stories of how the band met, amusing cartoons of the band, etc. _________________________________________________________________ How can I view track 12 of Peace and Love Inc? Pick up an extention phone and wait until you have no sound... you may have to wait through various loud noises, recordings and the like. Then place the extention phone by the speaker you're playing track 12 out of. Walk over to you computer and in your terminal program type "ATD" and hit enter. Type nothing else on the line. The modem will pick up and wait for the track 12 carrier. _________________________________________________________________ What does track 12 say? So we're supposed to play in Curitiba in 18 hours, but our bus is being held hostage by the local promoters. They've formed some unholy alliance with the Brazilian counterpart of ASCAP: The PRS. Apparently the PRS has the legal power to arrest people, and they want a piece of the national tour promoter's money. The local security force, "Gang Mexicana", has been bought out for 1800 Cruzados and a carton of Marlboros each. The only faction still operating in our defense is "Big John", our personal security man, and he's hiding in his room because a local gang is out for his blood because of a 1982 knifing incident in which he was involved. Our 345-pound road manager, Rick only had this to say: "You wanted the life of a rock star!". Paul, Jim and I realized that this was one situation we were going to have to get out of ourselves. We convened a hasty conference in the hotel lobby. Paul suggested contact- ing our national tour promoter in Sao Paulo, but we remembered that he was in Recife with Faith No More, who had just arrived for their Brazilian tour. We thought about contacting our Brazilian record company in Rio, but they weren't home. Our ever-diligent American manager was arranging help of numerous forms, but he was in New York, and just too far away to get anything moving in time. And there were 6000 kids in Curitiba who just wouldn't understand. We knew it was time for action. Paul went up to the PRS guys and invited them into the bar to discuss it like civilized men over a few Brazilian drinks, offering each of them a cigar on his way. The amused PRS heavies seemed to like the idea of a few free drinks, even if they knew they would never give us our bus back. When Paul winked at Jim and I on his way in, we went into action. I stole off to my room to prepare while Jim went into action. Creeping carefully through a service duct, he managed to gain a vantage point some three meters above the bus, and dropped carefully onto the roof. After using his all-purpose Swiss Army knife (affectionately known as the "skit knife") to jimmy open the roof hatch, he went through the darkened inside of the bus and removed the inside engine service panel. Using some spare electronic parts he found while on an island in the Amazon, he wired the entire bus for remote control, not unlike a remote control toy car. At this point, he asked himself "Now how shall I get out of here?!?" Paul was having difficulties of his own. "Couldn't you see your way clear to letting us fulfill our contractual obligations in Curitiba? Think of the kids!" Through our translator, Fabio, the PRS man, Aldo, said: "No. You Americans think you own the world. Hah! We'll burn down our rain forest if we damn well please. We need room for cows!! We want a McDonald's on every... oh, sorry, yes anyway, no. We need 40% of your concert receipts to give to David Bowie," he said, winking to the local promoter, Phillipe. As Paul continuted this elaborate distraction, Jim effected an escape from the heavily guarded bus by crawling down into the cargo bay, cutting a hole in the floor with the Swiss Army knife's arc-welder, slipping into the manhole cover situated under the bus, and walking up to the hotel's basement from there. Jim called up to me in my room and gave the signal. We were now to meet at the back entrance, with our tech guys. But first, Paul would need some help getting away from his unwelcome guests, as things were getting ugly. "He says he has lost his patience, and that he can think of other ways of extracting payment from you Kurt and Jim physically," our trembling interpreter said. The moment had come. Jim began operating the bus from his back entrance vantage point. As the remote-controlled bus lurched towards the parking lot exit, the superstitious security youths fled in terror. Paul was pulling anxiously on his collar as the PRS man began describing his collection of World War II Nazi ceremonial knives when a sudden crash split the tableau. Jim had purchased me the gift of a complete black ninja stealth assassin outfit in Aracaju. I had been gearing up and crawling through the air conditioning ducts all this time. As I crashed through the cheap imitation-Styrofoam hung ceiling tiles, skates first, I flashed ninja stars all about me. In the ensuing panic, Paul escaped to the pre-arranged bus pick-up point. Unfortunately, my skates were a poor choice of foot gear for escaping over the broken glass of the table I had landed on. Were it not for the confusion and the ninja-star-inflicted-wounds delivered to the bad guys, I would have been set upon while floundering on the glass-strewn carpet. As it happened, however, I leapt through the open door of the careening bus as it departed the city of Maringa forever. If only we had managed to get our equipment in the bus, too . . . Every word of this story is true. - Kurt H _________________________________________________________________ What does "INSOC" stand for? Insoc is a shortened term for "INformation SOCiety". This is the politically correct version of the name. The preferred spelling now is "InSoc" (Note the similarity to "IngSoc" from "1984". _________________________________________________________________ What is the address for the Information Society fan club from the albums? Don't bother. I haven't heard from them yet, and I asked for membership over 7 years ago. Kurt would like to apologize once again for the shoddy mis-handling of the original "fan-club" address. Don't ever send anything to that address again. The official and functional InSoc fan club is C-A-D. _________________________________________________________________ What is Ctl-Alt-Del? C-A-D is a newsletter and a network in support of electronic music. We started with and for the fans of the band Information Society, but have now into grown an international Network linking fans of this genre with the bands producing the music we love. We issue a quarterly newsletter and maintain mailing lists and e-mail distribution lists for updates. Control-Alt-Delete PO Box 38553-1010 Houston, TX 77238-8553 TheCatalyst@Delphi.Com; JBeck@aol.com If you would like more information about the Network, e-mail your address and I will send you some of our flyers. Please join us. . . . keep spreading love and widening the bandwidth! ::TheCat:: _________________________________________________________________ Where does Kurt get his hair done? Kurt's hair is done by Sonia Peterson of the Hair Police in Minneapolis, Minn. (612-824-1641) There is also a new hair police in amsterdam, so if you're ever there, look it up. They have been the ones responsible for all of his great haircuts over the years. Oh, for those interested, his real hair color is "Scando Mouse Brown". _________________________________________________________________ What kind of car is Kurt's? Otherwise known as "The Hack Car", this is the car that appears on the front cover of the group's album "Hack". Kurt's car started as a 1973 Plymouth Satellite Sebring 318 V8. He installed a 440 cu. V8 HP from a 1977 Gran Fury police car which was later rebuilt with a 3/4 racing CAM, a high-rise manifold, tuned exhaust ports, and a beefed up transmission. He then welded an exoskeleton of an expanded steel mesh, re-bar, steel tubing, and steel structural augmentation. After gutting the interior (including the back seat), leaving only exposed metal, Kurt attached 18 Halogen floodlights, a functioning laser, an antique computer data port, and LED counters. _________________________________________________________________ Is it true that the band once played a song on a daytime soap opera? Yes, they performed live on the soap opera "One Life to Live". That was quite a long time ago though. _________________________________________________________________ This FAQ written by Brad Will, "duke@vulture.creighton.edu". If you find any errors or typos, or if you have a question that you would like answered for the next version of this faq, ask here.