Noam Chomsky steps in on behalf of Needs

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      Posthardcore crew Needs’ upcoming Rare Earths LP recently faced a delay at a Nashville, Tennessee, vinyl-pressing plant over a sample clearance issue, but luckily linguist-philosopher Noam Chomsky stepped in to save the day. The sample in question came from a CBC interview Chomsky undertook in 2002 on the topic of Israel and Palestine, which the band used as the intro to their track “Not What I Said, What Edward Said Said”.

      “It’s about the siege on Gaza,” singer Sean Orr explained to the Straight.

      Needs was surprised to hear back from the plant, which said it needed “expressed written consent” to use the sample. Though Needs considered dropping the bit, Orr opted to email both the broadcaster and Chomsky. While he didn’t hear from the CBC, Chomsky gave the act his blessing. He didn’t, however, take up Orr’s offer to send an MP3, writing: “Thanks for the offer to send the song. No use. Never have time to listen to or watch anything.”

      “He’s a master of language, so it’s really interesting that he’s just like, ‘No use,’ ” Orr said. “I imagine he’s just incredibly busy. I never thought he’d actually get back to me.”

      Needs hopes to have the self-released LP by the end of May, and has plans to play a record release in July.

      Comments

      2 Comments

      Sean Orr

      May 2, 2013 at 12:19pm

      In the meantime, checkout our bandcamp: needsvancouver.bandcamp.com
      THANKS!

      Peter Smith

      May 13, 2013 at 9:46am

      Based on what I know, yes, Chomsky is very busy.

      and, yes, he often, probably almost always, gets back to people, even and especially people who are not traditional VIPs.