_______________________________________________________________________________
K N I G H T L I N E
Issue 03/Part III of III
17th of November, 1990
Written, compiled,
and edited by Doc Holiday
KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL
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Knightline got the chance to ask Kurt Harland Valaquen of InSoc about the new album and his involvement with the CU.
KV:
Hello?
Me:
Kurt?
KV:
Yes, Doc ?
Me:
Yea, you ready for the interview?
KV:
Sure, shoot.
Me:
Okay, this is DH with Phrack Classic--
TC:
This is the Conflict
PH:
And this is Pain Hertz
KV:
I uh, hope you ask me what my hacker handle is..
Me:
Ok, what's your handle?
KV:
Because I believe that I have one of the coolest hacker's handles that I've ever heard.
TC:
uhh
Me:
What is it?
KV:
TRAP VECTOR.
Me:
"Trapped Vector" ?
KV:
yep
Me:
How did you come up with that?
KV:
What? You don't recognize it ?
Me:
haha
KV:
What.. . and you guys call yourselves hackers?
Me:
ah
KV:
My god. . you guys must be so young that you've never had to deal with assembly language.
Me:
Who would want to-- It was a sarcastic question..
Me:
Now, Kurt..
KV:
Trap Vector is a term from deep deep down in the functioning's of a CPU.
Me:
Right.
Me:
Uh, uh What kind of involvement, if any, have you had in the
telecommunications field?
KV:
In telecommunications what?
Me:
In the telecommunications field.
KV:
Uhh.. I majored in computer science at the University of Minnesota.. . Just long enough to get interested and not long enough to get a degree.
Me:
ah. So you didn't graduate?
KV:
No. After my 5th year I finally gave up and went to Vienna.
Me:
Uhh. Let's get into the new album .. uh now, what was the inspiration for involving the "hacking" theme in your new album?
KV:
Umm, well, it's not like we were inspired to do it -- and we sat around all day and said "Hey, let's like put this hacker's motif into it." -- it's
more like we just left all that stuff out on our first album because we
were trying to .. uh.. to not make any waves, since it was our first album.
And now we're cocky and think we can do whatever we want. So we just did
whatever we wanted. And whenever we do whatever we want, some of that
stuff inevitably creeps in because .. we're into it.
Me:
uhh.. have you been following all of the recent hacking busts that have plagued the country this year .. ?
KV:
Hacking "buzz" that has plagued.. .
Me:
BUSTS.. yea hacking busts..
KV:
Oh, I haven't been following it, but I've been hearing a little bit about it from my friends..
Me:
Yea, because your album comming out titled "HACK" really does tie in
with this time period of hackers getting alot of press..
KV:
Yea
Me:
And I just thought that could have been one of the inspirations.. .
KV:
Well, actually, believe it or not, we don't really know what it means to title an album "HACK". We have a list of about nine different
interpretations that we thought we could leave open and anyone else could
decide which is the real one and strangely the computer hacker
concept is pretty far down on our list. The first one we always think of
is uh.. the hack versus .. uh.. respected professional-- meaning-- like,
you know, their just hack, he's just a hack writer.. .
Me:
Right.
KV:
Their just hack musicians-- because uh, I guess we wanted to be
self-deprecating in a sarcastic and easily marketable way.
Me:
Yea..
Me:
What about your personal involvement in the Computer Underground? Is there one? With hackers?
KV:
Well, umm.. if I were not being a "pop tart" (which is our personal lingo for rock star) I would probably be trying to make my money off of
programming.
Me:
Aaah!
KV:
Ummm, however.. that's not the case.. I am trying to be a "pop tart" so my involvement is more limited that I would like it to be. I mean I do all my
work on IBM.. When I'm composing..
Me:
Hm, Kurt, what are your thoughts and attitudes toward hackers and hacking?
KV:
Umm, here are my thoughts and attitudes towards it: I am somebody who -- always. . always -- like when I had that telephone job, I just was, I
hardly did any work. I just spent the whole time trying to come up with
tricky things to do you know. Like I'd screw up other people's phone calls
and stuff and so like I'm way into it. And I understand why people want to
do it. BUT, I always kinda, knew that I just .. . shouldn't. Just because
it's stupid.. It was childish. And, I just wish that hackers could come up
with something better to do than get things without paying for them.
PH:
Like something more productive?
KV:
Yea, like .. uh.. umm, crash some sort of umm, killing organization's computer system.
Me:
Have you always had these thoughts or..just because of your popularity?
KV:
Umm, I've had this attitude as I got older, because .. um, I'm just
becomming really bored with people devoting all this intelligence and
motivation into like avoiding paying their phone bill.
TC:
Well, actually, that's getting away from the hacker as such. Because alot of hackers are really into systems more than their into .. you know, toll fraud.
KV:
Well I sure hope so..
TC:
Yea, I mean..
KV:
My Idea of great hacking is gathering information that other people are wrongfully trying to withhold.
TC:
Right.
KV:
But, most hacking to me seems to be petty ways of getting things without paying for them.. and that is just silly.
Me:
That is the "90's hackers" Kurt.
PH:
Yea, it's moving that way alot..
Me:
It's in that direction.
Me:
Tell us about the telephone job you mentioned?
KV:
Well, I worked at a market research place. You all know what that is-- you call up and say, "Hello, my name is Kurt and Im calling for marketing
incentives incorporated, and we are conducting a survey in your area
tonight... about toothpaste!"
PH:
Hah
TC:
ahha
Me:
Bahaha
KV:
"And I would like to know if I could ask you a few questions?" .. "What! I don't wanna buy no toothpaste!" .. "No we were just going to ask a few questions.." -- Ewwwwph..
KV:
Like... you would try to come up with ways to not make the phone calls because it was so painful to do.
TC: heh
KV:
The best thing was when I umm. . this was a time when I didn't know much about telephones.. or how they really worked.. umm. . but I managed to run
a little thing-- wires with alligator clips --uhh, from the phone that I
was at to the central switcher. And uhh, whenever I like got up to goto
the bathroom, or something, I'd go in there, and by connecting and shorting
the two wires out I'd break up someone's phone call.
PH:
ha
KV:
You know, but after a while, I thought to myself, WHY? I wish I could have pulled something more creative like umm.. . installing a uhh.. a pitch
transposer on the outgoing signals, so that the people on the other end of
the phone would hear, "AND NOW, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU: HOW DO YOU FEEL
ABOUT COLEGATE?"
Me:
Bahaha
TC:
ahha
PH:
heh!
KV:
That would have been funny-- aha.
KV:
But, I never did that..
Me:
Hmm, Do you know any other bands that are involved or interested in the computer underground?
KV:
No, I don't know that there are any-- most uh musicians are either
anti-tech or if they are into tech they arnt into it enough-- or they arn't
into it for it's own sake. Like, like hackers.
Me:
Did you guys have any problems with the title of your new album?
KV:
What do you mean?
Me:
Well, do you find that most of your fans think you guys are into the "hacking scene" because of the title?