| Brian is one of those geezers who believes passionately about his punk rock, so much so he can go off on manhunts to justify a point, but you gotta give him his due, he means well. And if unlike himself you can't supply the genuine McCoy with a quality finish and more importantly the bands blessing I think you made a BIG mistake. So good on him for sticking to his principals. Check out his releases for proof of his punk rock passion or his MaximimRocknroll columns for more on his quest to bring quality long lost punk rock artifacts back from the dead. |
| PERUVIAN PIRACY Hi, Brian from Grand Theft Audio here in Los Angeles with a warning about an Anti-System discography cd being advertised by Pelea Records in Peru run by a guy using the name "Julio B." who is involved in piracy and ripping off other labels using counterfeit currency. I received a warning about this cd from several distributors. I made contact with Julio and he started claiming he had permission from a band member named "Mike" to release this discography. That was sure news to Mike's brother Mark whom I have been in touch with for a while. Mark told me that neither him nor his brother gave permission to this "Julio B." or even knows who Julio is. What makes this even more messed up is that both Mark and Michael have been through some tough times including having not long ago had their brother murdered by an unknown assailant. Still Julio was insistent that he received permission and kept pushing for Mark to contact him directly, probably thinking that I did not actually know Mark. He also asked me if I was quote Mark's "father", bragged about the many copies he was distributing all over the world, and wrote ha ha ha ("ja ja ja") as if stealing from Mark and the band was all some kind of joke. Julio even tried to claim it would "lose the business of Grand Theft Audio" to publicize what he was doing and that I should trade with him for this cd, perhaps thinking that my greed to sell cds would be greater than my friendship with the band members. I started notifying people of Julio's actions and the illegality of the Anti-System cd and received an email from Julio claiming that I was trying to take his release from him (as if he actually owned it),called me a "bastard",and that it was all a big "mistake", he was no "criminal". I think we can agree that scamming off overseas musicians and record labels (using counterfeit currency) does make someone a criminal. Well Julio did receive a rather strong email from Mark from Anti-System telling him to stop. All of the sudden Julio's story changed from I have permission to please feel sorry for me, I am just a poor diy label and not "rich Californians" like GTA who makes money off selling music. (It should be noted that Julio is wholesaling the cd at $7.00 and that the cost of living in Peru is nowhere near as high as that in Los Angeles so this guy is definately making plenty of money cheating people.) He even referred to Mark as his "friend" in the email as if he even cared anything about Mark. It became clear that Julio's approach was to do/say anything in an attempt to get him what he wanted and I doubt he is as poor as he claims but we will get to that shortly. Julio stated that there is nothing anyone could do about him continuing to sell the cd and then requested that the band give him their "official" blessing as if he thought he could bully or force the band to give up the rights to their music. Mark responded in no uncertain terms that Julio would not be receiving their blessing to rip Anti-System off and that he must cease and desist from his continued violation of releasing their recordings without permission. Julio refused to respond making it clear that he did not care what Mark's answer was,he was going to rip them off either way. Apparently this is not the only questionable activity Julio is up to as he has also been involved in passing off counterfeit currency as he did when he scammed Captain Oi! Records in the UK. Read below as Mark Brennan from Captain Oi Records details his own problems with "Julio B.": "About 2 years ago we received an order in the post from him with $100 note for 5 CD's and a letter in appalling English (though better than my Peruvian I must say!) saying along the lines of "you send me CD's no rip off". We duly dispatched the CD's plus two other orders and one to his mate Raul, all for $100 each. Lo and behold the the notes turn out to be fake - not getting many $ we don't actually know - and though we tried to contact him he gave no response. I did eventually email him and told him the scene doesn't need wankers like him and that he should Beware The Power Of Oi! Three days later there was an earthquake in Peru and I for one was hoping that he'd had his head severed by a flying 4-Skins CD!Him and his mate are the only one in the history of Captain Oi! to delibertly defraud us - we've dealt with some right sharks in that time but always been paid or had proper reason why we weren't (i.e the customer went broke) which is why we put him on the website to warn other labels and distros not to touch him though it seems he's already beaten us to a few. Bastard. "Mark Brennan/Captain Oi! Records I should add that Mark Brennan found out the money was counterfeit when he was at a shop while traveling overseas. He unknowingly tried to spend the money and was detained by a security detail. Somehow Mark was just barely able to avoid ending up doing serious time in an overseas prison. I believe there are many more labels/distros who Julio has passed his "funny money" onto though they might not have realized it but it would not be so funny if it got them arested. A legit Anti-System discography is currently in the works which will be from the master tapes and there is plenty of unreleased bonus material as well, plus it will be much better packaged. Basically the Pelea Records release is illegal and should not be carried, and with an investigation underway against Julio it would be a wise move to keep your business at a safe distance from this individual. So in conclusion I would like the people reading this to ask themselves if they think that what Julio is doing is right and if they want to support such practices. I am sure most of us can agree that his behavior is completely unacceptable. There will also be a more detailed account of this published soon. Thanks for your time - Brian/Grand Theft Audio GRAND THEFT AUDIO RECORDS or BOMP! Mailorder, P.O. BOX 7112, Burbank, CA 91510 USA |
