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  1. #1
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    Death Cab's Walla: Feds Took My Music

    Death Cab's Walla: Feds Took My Music
    Wednesday, October 17, 2007 9:49 PM EDT
    The Associated Press
    By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press Writer

    http://broadband.zoomtown.com


    SEATTLE (AP) — The guitarist for indie pop rockers Death Cab for Cutie still expects to release his solo album in January even though federal border agents seized a computer hard drive containing the master tracks.

    A courier was headed to Seattle-based Barsuk Records from a studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, when U.S. Border Patrol agents seized the hard drive Sept. 19, Chris Walla said Wednesday.

    "I don't know what red flag could possibly have gone up at the border," Walla said in a phone interview from Portland, Ore. "It's so baffling to me."

    Walla said he had been in British Columbia working on the album called "Field Manual." Barsuk needed the music to meet its production schedule, and a Hipposonic Studios employee volunteered to drive the mixed songs, on tape, and the original master tracks, on a computer hard drive.

    Guards at the Peace Arch border crossing in Blaine let the courier keep the tapes, but seized the hard drive for examination by computer forensics experts, according to Walla and Hipposonic President Rob Darch.

    Mike Milne, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said he did not immediately have any specifics about Walla's case, but said commercial items must be formally imported through the nearby Pacific Highway border point.

    Walla said he believed the confiscation was random, but Barsuk and some music publications hinted that the seizure of such a politically charged album may have been more than a coincidence. The album includes songs criticizing the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq war and the firings of U.S. attorneys by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

    "Interestingly, a strong political thread runs through the record's lyrics; Walla takes more than a few shots at U.S. policy, both at home and abroad, and challenges at least one senator to find the exit door," said a statement on Barsuk's Web site. "For whatever reason, the drive has still not been returned."

    Milne brushed off any suggestion of political motivation for taking the hard drive.

    "These guys don't even know who Death Cab for Cutie is, let alone that he's doing political music," Milne said of the border guards.

    Walla had the seized files on a backup hard drive on Vancouver Island, which was copied and shipped to Seattle. The lost time prevented Walla from finishing the album on time, but it's still expected to be released Jan. 29, Rosenfeld said.

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    Tell me this ain’t staged by Bushes Boys

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