CHINESE DEMOCRACY LEAKER ARRESTED BY THE FBI
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 3:52pm by Axl Rosenberg
One of the leaked songs from Chinese Democracy, “I.R.S.”, features the lyric “Gonna call the FBI.” And apparently, Axl Rose wasn’t dicking around.
Yahoo! News reports that 27-year-old Kevin Cogill (whose name had previously been reported as “Kevin Skwerl,” but whatever), a.k.a. the dude who leaked a shitload of Chinese Democracy songs earlier this summer, has been arrested by the FBI “on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws.”
Cogill/Skwerl had previously said that the FBI paid him a visit at a work, and he apparently admitted to leaking the tracks. In hindsight, I’m betting that now seems like a pretty silly move.
ANYWAY, I kinda have to wonder: “Why now?” Tracks from Chinese Democracy have been leaking pretty consistently since 2006; I guess Cogill/Skwerl was way easier to track down than some other leakers since he used his own website, AntiQuiet.com, but at least one other leaker also has his own website (which I’m going to decline to link to here) and was even granting interviews after leaking what may or may not be the new GN’R track “Shackler’s Revenge” this month. Then again, that dude is using an alias, and if the American government can’t find Osama Bin Laden, I guess finding some GN’R fan is just too much to ask.
I don’t know enough about the internal politics of this kind of thing to know if it’s even possible that Axl Rose’s camp pressured the FBI to prosecute, or if it just took them a couple of months to build their case… although, again, Cogill/Skwerl had already pretty much confessed to the crime, so that seems unlikely.
Meanwhile, I’m sure the GN’R dork boards (of which, I admit, I am myself a frequent visitor) have already interpreted this as a sign that CD will finally get released sometime soon (”Why else would Axl send the FBI after this dude?!”). While we wait for that theory to be disproven, please try to keep this story in mind before you once again e-mail us and ask why we don’t do that “Take a Leak” column anymore.
-AR
I’m starting to not see any way that this album can be even slightly good. JUST PUT THE DAMN THING OUT ALREADY!!!!
Check out the recent Guitar World article on Chinese Democracy and the snags it has hit. The article covers only the year 2002, which if my math is correct, was six years ago. There is a real possibility this album will be held up in litigation for so long it will never be released.
The evil side of me is kind of hoping Rose will swallow the barrel, ala Cobain.
I didnt know Axl was in the bloods…
and @ Sammy: We all know Courtney hired someone to kill Kurt. 3x the lethal dose of Heroin (would have been passed out), upcoming divorce, all 4 of Kurt’s tires were slashed earlier, the nanny saying Courtney offered him 50k to kill him and passed a polygraph saying so, etc.
I think what is really holding back the release of this unwanted album would simply be axl’s fear of what will happen, no record sales, the end of his career. Which I’m shocked hasen’t happened yet. I have never heard a positive word EVER about Axl’s live performances.
@Devin
Have you read anything about the months leading to Cobain’s death? He was on a downhill drug-induced spiral, could barely perform live, had mentioned to all of his friends and a distant cousin that he wanted to die, had tried to OD on rohypnal (sp?) and left a long, rambling suicide note, in his handwriting, and the crime scene investigators confirm the gun shot was self-inflicted. You might want to take the foil hat off and stop reading too much into website conspiracy theory conjecture.
Addressing the Cobain tangent: Cobain sucked, single-handedly threw music in the gutter with the message that anyone, yes, even burnt out wannabe hipsters in their parents’ garages, could make music. This sent metal underground for a while and made it utterly uncool to express any musicality or depth of composition. People who believe he was murdered think so because they have trouble accepting that he was a total fuckup loser. I mean, he chose to be with Courtney Love, for whatever infinitesimal period of time. Isn’t that pretty damn conclusive proof the guy did not have his shit together, and was a prime candidate for suicide?
Anyway, about the article: This is beyond fucked up. THIS IS NOT WHAT THE FBI SHOULD BE USED FOR! I hate to be all “write your Congressman, kids!” but I’m seriously shooting off a letter about this one. This is the new America, and I don’t want any part of this bullshit. If the RIAA wants to rough leakers up themselves, then let them bring the fight to my door. But sending the FBI? That is wrong on so many levels.
not concerned about my name. and when i said i havent heard anyone say anything positive about axl’s performance, I mean people i ACTUALLY know either friends/family/co-workers. Your opinion is irrelivant, rembrant
He’s got a point, if I could I’d never leave the house.
To clear up a couple things about Cobain; (LMFAO at how an Axl Rose article became a Cobain debate)
@Devin
The Nanny is not El Duce, two separate people. The Nanny was one of the last people to see Kurt alive in the house.
@Sammy
Kurt quit performing yes, and people speculate about his drug problem, but I would probably say it’s more due to health issues with his stomach and his newborn daughter.
Several friends of Kurt were interviewed afterwards and nearly all of them claimed that he did not seem suicidal.
The overdose in Rome is suspect, there is debate whether it was self-inflicted at all or if he was given the medication without his knowing.
Last 4 lines of his suicide note appear to be written by someone other than Cobain, verified by handwriting experts. These were the only lines that even remotely referred to a suicide in the entire note.
Furthermore, you’d think a shotgun would leave an exit wound when fired at point blank range straight to the back of your mouth? Think again. Also try doing that after shooting up nearly 4 times the lethal dose of heroin! Also, why would you commit suicide by overdose and THEN blow your brains out (and neatly comb your hair afterwards)? Actually the crime scene is also interesting in that the shotgun casing was found on the opposite side of the room that it was supposed to be..
This leaves me with only one conclusion, and it troubles me to say this to you all… IT WAS AXL!! Get him FBI!! Get Him!! Put him in jail forever!! AAHHHAHAHAHAHA!! lol
Ahh, I’m so glad to get that out in the open… oh yeah and Chinese Democracy will still suck in three months when they put it out. It’s not like a fine wine or anything.
I liked what I heard from chinese democracy, hopefully this guy doesn’t get put in the pokey. He did generate a lot of press for axl, and most of it good.
As for Cobain, really now, who hasn’t done a heroic dose of heroin at some point in their life?
To me, this seems almost like Lar$’ tricks taken to the next level. Axl Rose just keeps on enhancing that extreme ‘up his own arse’ image with every turn! No offence to any fans but he’s not changing my opinion that’s he’s pretty much the biggest douche alive at the moment. You just have to hope that the music compensates for this.
i’m hoping this makes him even more paranoid and delays the release of this “opus” and hastens his disappearance from the cultural landscape.
Say what you will about Lars, he never sicced the feds an anyone.
The hell do you call Napster exactly?
yeah thats all fine and dandy but were talkin about the guy who jumped off stage JUST to beat the shit outta some guy who TOOK A PICTURE of him. if you didnt say i couldnt see it comin who would???
That’s fucking weak.Axl needs to stop being a bitch and put the fucking thing out already.It’s gauranted to sell AT LEAST half a million in the first week, if not pushing the million mark.Dude is fucking weird.
And as for Cobain, I hate that he died, because if he lived, people would have heard those last 4 mediocre Nirvana albums.The ones that got the band to hang it up for good.Yeah, the ones they were sure to write but never got to.Nirvana were an alright band.But lame asses suck this guy’s cock so much, fucking Gene Simmons is jealous.He’s dead, even if he was murdered, the fact that people go on quests to prove it is just so ludicrous to me.
But still, LMAO @ Axl killed Kurt.
Surely Axl trying to sue somebody shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign of anything other than he’s awake?
The whole chinese democracy formula is what Metallica should have done after the black album. Lars:”umm, yeah, we have a new record, its called umm LOAD, aumm and it’s gonna be released umm sometime in the future”. That way they would have the world waiting, and no load/reload/garage/s&m/st.anger/somekindofmonster-magnetic crap to worry about!
The thing about this arrest is it is a criminal charge, not a civil suit. I am not aware of the FBI arresting anyone for “copyright violations” for streaming music in the past. Usually the copyrights are enforced in civil court and damages can be awarded, this is a different deal. This uses federal muscle/dollars to enforce copyrights presumably for violating a Federal statute. Does anyone know what statute so that we can read and abide by it? Jail andcriminal defense costs really suck.