Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Age: 19+

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (formerly punctuated Godspeed You Black Emperor! and abbreviated to GY!BE, GYBE, or just Godspeed) are a Canadian post-rock band based in Montreal, Quebec.

Formed in 1994 in Montreal, Canada, the band has been highly influential within the 'post-rock' genre. Working with orchestrated arrangements, the nine-piece group have created tracks with wide dynamic ranges, a highly evocative use of instrumentation and sounds and uncompromising long form compositions. The band's engrossing use of art and visuals in both album packaging and live performances has created an enigmatic aura.

The band took their name from a little known 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors.

The band is most commonly classified as post-rock, but exist outside any established scene and take influences from a range of styles including progressive rock, post-punk, classical music, soundtrack composition and the avant-garde. Each band release usually consists of long tracks (mostly between 15 and 25 minutes), divided into "movements" sometimes specified in the liner notes.

GYBE formed around 1994 with three members and has had as many as fifteen members but has tended to have a core group of nine. The band's instrumentation varies with the lineup but the music is mostly based around electric and bass guitars, strings and a percussion section. Other instruments such as the glockenspiel and the French horn make more occasional appearances. The music on some of their releases are often accompanied by spoken word samples recorded by the band across North America, including an apocalyptic street preacher from Vancouver, BC, Canada, an announcement at a gas station, a group of children talking and singing in French, as well as many recordings taken from shortwave radio. Most of the members are also anarchists.

GYBE members have in the past been reluctant to go in for the traditional self-publicizing interviews, and have openly expressed their distaste for the mainstream despite the wide availability of their music in mainstream CD stores and through online music vendors. This cultivated outsider status has given them a reputation as shadowy, even unfriendly figures, and not a great deal is known about the individual histories of band members. They did, however, become considerably better known after appearing on the cover of British music magazine the NME in 1999.

The member who interacts with the press the most is Efrim Menuck, and for this reason he is sometimes presented as a front-man. However, he has strongly repudiated this label, maybe due to the concept of Anarchy, which discourages the notion of having a leader.

Members of the group have formed a number of side-projects, including A Silver Mt. Zion, Fly Pan Am and Set Fire to Flames. The band contributed the song "East Hastings" from their debut album to the soundtrack of the UK film 28 Days Later; however, it is not available on the soundtrack album for two distinct reasons: its running time is more than 15 minutes, and the band refused to take part in the "mainstream, corporation-owned music industry" which, as they had already stated, they have a great distaste for.

The band released the CD versions of its first two albums on the Kranky record label, and released the LPs through Constellation Records. The LP and the CD of Yanqui U.X.O. were produced by Constellation after their contract with Kranky ran out.

In 2004, long-time guitarist Roger-Tellier Craig left the band on amicable terms to devote more time to Fly Pan Am.

The band has often played an unrecorded song entitled "Albanian" when touring. Efrim has said that when the band reforms they will record it for their next release. Another unreleased song, "Gamelan," may also be recorded. However, due to the band's open taping policy, both these songs are available as high quality audience recordings. It has frequently been the case, in fact, that new material is released through the fans before its official recording.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor announced an indefinite hiatus in the summer of 2003, and have no plans to reconvene in the immediate future. On August 24 of 2006, at a Silver Mt. Zion appearance, Efrim responded to a question about Godspeed's Hiatus by saying that he "[does not] believe that anyone has given up on the group, but it's very complicated." This is further confirmed that although high on the request list, Godspeed You! Black Emperor will not be performing at 2007's ATP Vs The Fans festival due to them being on hiatus. However A Silver Mt. Zion are playing at the Dirty Three curated event a few weeks before.

The group was in one instance misconstrued as being a band of terrorists. After stopping at a local Sinclair gas station in the small town of Ardmore, Oklahoma, for fuel during their 2003 tour of the United States, the station attendant working that day believed the group of Canadians to be terrorists. She quickly passed a note to another customer also getting fuel to call the police. When the local police appeared, the group was held until they could be questioned by the FBI. When no incriminating evidence was found in their various vehicles and background checks were run, the ensemble was released from custody and continued on their way to their next show in St. Louis, Missouri. Interestingly, Efrim Menuck later spoke to the crowd about what happened to them during their appearance in Missouri and said, if they were of any other race than white, they would have been detained much longer than they were originally, hinting heavily toward the suspicion of racism in the police force. The incident was mentioned in Michael Moore's book, Dude, Where's My Country?.

On the 8th February 2008 in an interview with the music website Drowned In Sound, Efrim Menuck stated that Godspeed You! Black Emperor were no more. Efrim claimed that an "existential freakout" relating to the Iraq War was one reason for the extended hiatus but also hinted at several personal issues between members of the band adding; "On a personal level I now find (Godspeed) to be inappropriate. There's a complicated back story. I reached a point whereby I was no longer willing to contribute to the steering of the ship; it was like, 'Okay now, someone else point the direction, I love you all, but I need to ride shotgun for a while'. I think that bands do have a short shelf life." In a statement by Efrim's A Silver Mt. Zion publicist, this was later said to be a misquote adding that Godspeed You! Black Emperor had not officially disbanded as such, but were still very much on indefinite hiatus.
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