Canadian Band Skinny Puppy Invoices US For Using Their Songs To Torture Inmates At Guantanamo Bay

A lot of torture took place at Guantanamo Bay and some of it involved Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy's music. So, they decided they wanted some compensation and invoiced the U.S. Department of Defense for what they thought was an appropriate figure: $666,000—which sounds about right.

The band's music was used to "inflict damage" on detainees by being played for long periods at a time. They were alerted to its misuse by a former Gitmo guard who was also a fan of their music and was a little perturbed that it was being used this way.

Which is fair enough. Keyboardist Cevin Key was happy to acknowledge that their music might not be to everyone's taste, calling it "a terrible nightmare" for some, but for their fans it's "a creative artistic endeavour that plays with dark writings and dark cinema." And NOT an alternative to waterboarding.

From CTV News:

Cevin Key, the band’s keyboardist, says the band at first planned to design an album cover based on an invoice for the U.S. government, rather than sending a physical invoice. But after learning that the government had allegedly used their music without permission, Key says the band was told it could bring a suit against the Department of Defense.

“We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody,” Key told CTV’s Kevin Newman Live.

And Key said band members were “offended” to learn that their music was played in the notorious prison to “inflict damage” on detainees.

"I wouldn’t want to be subjected to any overly loud music for six to 12 hours at a time without a break," he said.

Let's hope the U.S. Department of Defense pays up.

via Boing Boing