*update July 2005*
Well, 4 and a half years after the beginning of this mess, and we (this is Nat speaking here but I think I speak for all of oxes) have learned a lot from this experience.
I think both sides were out of line at least a little; we certainly were so involved in our own microcosm that we had absolutely no clue that our actions could be construed as attention-getting, insulting, childish, or naive. I also think that AOR and Weasle Walter overreacted to a degree and were not very fast to listen to our side of the story.
The whole thing began as a fleeting idea at a practice one day as we started jamming something that turned into something sounding like a Lynx song (see Battles for Dave from Lynx); I exclaimed that we should some day do a fake split release, where we do half Lynx songs and half Oxes songs.
About six months later the idea came up again, but instead we figured maybe Arab on Radar would be a better choice, since if you even ATTEMPT to sound like Arab on Radar, you won't be sounding like something else, whereas if you try to sound like a band like Lynx you could come off sounding like Don Cab or Pizza or Rumah Sakit or any other number of bands in that vein, including ourselves at the time. This of course, we thought would be a compliment to a band like AOR, who sounded SO original that you can't really mistake anybody else for them.
We figured the best way to get into the mood to writing those songs was to get to a level approximating an AOR show, who we loved seeing every time they came to baltimore. So Chris and I smoked a big doobie of Arcata weed from his neighbor, and Marc drank at least half a bottle of whisky although it could have been even more than that. Then we messed up the EQ on our amps, set up the mics and started playing. After about 7 jams we picked out the 3 best, dubbed vocals on them and mixed it down all in one afternoon. Then the good time of naming the songs came along one day on a long road trip, i believe to Florida; we had a notebook out and were coming up with as many toilet and sexual puns as possible. In fact I really wish i still had that list, there were some pieces of gold in there.
Then there was our friend at Wantage who had agreed to put it out; we had fun making the artwork by videotaping ourselves in the hallway of UMBC Fine Arts building outside of the student recording studio, then going to Marc's parents and using their video printer to print out stills of ourselves, one as Oxes normal, one as 3 guys with microphones singing/screaming and jumping. Wantage ended up coloring the B/W prints in blue, adding a great finish.
Then there were the 'pranks' on top of our original 'stunt' which to us wasn't even that, it was merely an interesting thing to do and to have out in stores and see what happenned. If my memory is right, i beleive it was Sonny at Independent Distro [something or other] out of San Diego that decided to catalog the release as a genuine 'Oxes' and 'Arab on Radar' release, even though we had agreed with Wantage that he would just put it out as a simple plain Oxes EP.
That really made us look bad for a few months, as actual fans of AOR sent money to San Diego to get this new release. Some say there was 800 people who sent money to San Diego. -Although in retrospect this sure is funny-... This is where it gets really tricky: where finger pointing that we're attempting to ride on the coattails of someone else's success abound (although 'success' on the order we're talking about here means something pretty insignificant; 500-1000 more people buy your record! wow, i can retire!)
But our original plan was to maybe fool 10-20 people, shoppers who would see this Oxes record in the 'O' section of a store and notice the JVPVJ NO QVJV as it was placed upside-down resembled "Arab on Radar" and think "Hey, is this Oxes record that I'm interested in buying because I am in the O section and not the A section also a split release with Arab on Radar?"
Unfortunately all of this releasing to stores and catalogs happened as we were in europe for the first time for 2 months; checking email every 2 weeks I'd get more and more info on how pissed certain people were. It was Brian Peterson of Fireside Bowl (RIP) and then-future owner of skin graft who tipped me first in an email that something was up, people were pissed, and other people were talking.
We were so excited and happy about the Europe experience that we didnt really realize the gravity of it all until we started hearing the threats of violence and vandalism through friends and acquaintences. Part of me died that year, the innocent confidence I had with all my ideas; I had really pissed off some, and possibly alienated others who I respected. Later that year I was very relieved to know that other groups, who shared the hometown of AOR, actually liked what we did (if you ignore the part about how shitty everyone felt in the end.) Talking to those groups when they came to Baltimore was much better than when AOR next came to baltimore a year later when wild-and-crazy baltimore legend Hank decided to get really really drunk and disruptively and violently heckle them all night and get punched by the band. I was planning to attempt to make peace that night but after seeing the fight on stage and in the audience, i thought it best to leave them alone. Marc was able to speak with them that night and the begining of an understanding began.
But things didnt really change for the better in my eyes until we found ourselves unexpectedly playing with Chinese Stars in april of 2004 in Philadelphia. It was Sean Agnew, a stand up promoter, who had long before made a pledge to do the first Oxes/Arab on Radar show after the conflict. He succeeded in part, props out to him!!
I found Craig (drums) sitting alone in a back room and came up and offered peace, he welcomed it and my conscience lifted a little.. and the same went for Eric (vox), later that night as we sat next to each other at the merchandise stands. But things were much more smooth later that year in Italy, when Chinese Stars played a festival in my newly adopted town and we all were just able to enjoy Italy together and look to the future.
To this day I still have yet to speak with Steve or Jeff (guitars) at all, and I hope this b/w text won't be my only contact to them on this, as there were never any hard feelings meant. I sit here listening to Mu, thinking about the future. Peace and love everyone.