The Captain Comes Out Of Hiding... Declines to Fight For Intestinal Fortitude.
October 21, 2009
This is not a biographical article, but, to put things in perspective, Intestinal Fortitude was launched in the summer of 2005 as a one-man band. With Chris "The Captain" Andrews at the helm, writing, performing, and recording all of the music and lyrics for the act and releasing demo tracks via the internet, the band was, for all intents and purposes, one man's vision. Over time, however, the vision started to blur.
This reporter has personally communicated with the Captain on several occasions. I met him in mid-2005 at a live WWE event -- striking up a conversation based on a Brutal Truth T-shirt in which he was clad, it was soon revealed to me that this man, who physically resembled Triple H, also happened to play drums in a locally-based grindcore band with which I was very familiar: Kill the Client. I conducted an interview with him for a class of mine (at the time, I was a sophomore journalism major), and, shortly after receiving a passing grade for the resulting report, the Captain contacted me about covering a new project of his from its inception. The project was called Intestinal Fortitude, and I loved the concept so much I promised to write articles, update the website, and perform various other duties, free of charge, for as long as the band was active. However, as time went on, the Captain quite noticeably lost the flame he had in those early days of the band’s creation. It became harder and harder to reach him, until, eventually, he stopped returning my calls altogether. Intestinal Fortitude would gig sporadically, and I would always find out about it through some indirect source. Watching every Intestinal Fortitude show chronologically was a testament to the deterioration of the Captain’s state. The skill in his playing, his will to interact with people, and even his physical appearance steadily declined. As a recovering drug addict myself, I recognized many of the telltale signs of a self-abusive downward spiral in him, but there was obviously more than just one single source factoring into his problem. But, as is the case with so many people plagued by these types of demons, they will be the last person to communicate the depth of their issues to the world outside.
Now it is the Fall of 2009. Intestinal Fortitude has officially and unofficially broken up, quit, and/or retired multiple times over the last 4 years, and their last known public performance was over a year ago (see: “What a Lack of Difference a Year Makes!” lower on this page). As far as I knew, the Captain had hung up his boots for good, so it came as a shock when I discovered Intestinal Fortitude was booked to play Reno’s Chop Shop on October 30. Was this a new band, unaware that the name had already been used? Or had the Captain beat his demons and regained the motivation to reactivate his pet project? The answer ended up being neither of these.
Earlier in the summer, I reported on a video Lord Valcron and Mantooth had made (see: The Captain's "Great Depression”) in which they accused the Captain of shorting them for money promised them as compensation for their services in the band. As Valcron told me over the telephone last week: “We told him he needed to give us our f***ing money or else we’d take it from him some other way. After a while of trying to get a hold of him with no answer, we just decided we would make the money back using his own songs, his own brand…” Valcron detailed to me a plan intended not only to reimburse the monetary debt incurred by the Captain, but also to smear reputation of the Intestinal Fortitude creator with any chance he is afforded. “He decided not to play by the rules, so we won’t either. What’s he going to do, sue us?”
In a week and a half, Valcron will unveil his new Intestinal Fortitude in Deep Ellum, Dallas. “The first line-up of the band had its first show here, and now the line-up that everybody will remember 10, 20 years down the road will have its first show here.” Valcron claims the group he has assembled is “faster, sicker, brutaller [sic], and just f***ing better,” than previous incarnations, and he also claims to have a few surprises up his sleeve, such as the return of an ex-member who “likes the music but can’t stand being around the a**hole who wrote it… just like us.” Valcron has also issued a new video statement, dubbed “The Valcron Chamber,” in which he gives a first-hand account of the issue at hand. I have posted that below [
Now it has been reposted in the October 21st update -- ed.].
I know reporting is supposed to be objective, but I would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to editorialize a bit here. Music is a gift to the world, and, once it is created, it is the property of the world, not the creator. If that creator can no longer support or put forth the effort required to sustain the perpetuation of the music, and someone else can, then more power to that someone else. As someone who has been around Intestinal Fortitude since its humble beginnings, I give my full endorsement to Lord Valcron and his undertaking of this new line-up. I wish them nothing but good luck and success.
Intestinal Fortitude v.2.0 plays Friday, October 30 at Reno’s Chop Shop on 210 N. Crowdus in Deep Ellum.
The Captain's "Great Depression;" Band Mates Tell All!July 3rd, 2009
The underground metal scene is never short of lunatics and flakes. And what often amounts to a business with no revenue can certainly bring out the most cretinous qualities of any human being. I do not know what to make of the following video, sent to this reporter by "P.R. Public Relations." In what plays out like an Al-Qaeda ransom video, sans beheading, recorded for cable access television, the guitarist and drummer of the last known Intestinal Fortitude live line-up speak out against the Captain and his business practices. I cannot blame them, the economy being what it is, for taking this course of action, though it is not exactly clear what they want, and there certainly are better courses of action to take (Judge Alex, anyone?). Do they want the money? Do they want physical retribution? Both? You decide: