From Camel to Taco Bell, corporations have been shamelessly–and possibly illegally–co-opting indie-rock in their advertising lately. The latest culprit? Greyhound Bus Line, which recently ran an ad in XLR8R magazine that includes photos of (weirdly enough) acts like Japan's Ruins and Baltimore's tweaked pop genius Dan Deacon. In a MySpace bulletin last week, Deacon slammed Greyhound for using his likeness without his knowledge or permission, and hinted at possible legal action. But the beef is personal: Deacon has famously toured the country via Greyhound before, and he had this (among other things) to say about the company in his statement:
"It really upsets me that I am being used to promote them. If I had my way I would see all their buses transport guns to all the people they have fucked over. Like many evil companies they are trying to use subversive advertising, and I will not allow myself to be a cog in their wheel of lies and deceit. These rats stink like rotten cum. Fuck them with 1000 fires."
This reporter had the pleasure of interviewing Deacon in early 2007, and the musician had this bus-related anecdote to share:
The A.V. Club: What was the weirdest thing that ever happened to you while touring on the Greyhound?
Dan Deacon: One trip I was going from Seattle to Missoula, and they were doing random bag checks. Normally the bus doesn't do that. So I opened up my bag, and they saw my electronic equipment. They were mortified. They were like, "There's no way this is getting into the bus." I was like, "No, you don't understand. It's just musical equipment." So they said, "Well, make some sounds with it, then we'll believe you." But I needed to plug it into a speaker, which I didn't have. [Laughs.] I don't know why, but after 45 minutes, they were like, "Whatever, just get on the bus." I also looked totally insane at the time. I pre-bought all my food for the tour, so I had 50 cans of corn and 50 cans of beans and all this peanut butter. They were all in tied-up pants, 'cause I didn't have any bags. I was wearing all these tied-up pants filled with corn and beans, trying to convince them that I wasn't a terrorist. They just thought I was insane, and let me get on the bus. The bus was almost entirely empty, but this one guy came and sat down next to me. He said, "Don't ever let anyone tell you what you can or cannot bring on the bus." Then he opened up his jacket, and he had like 15 knives. He was like, "They're not taking these away from me." He also had a belt with knives, and he was telling me that he checked in two bags that were filled with, like, 150 more knives. And he had two swords. [Laughs.] Every time we stopped at a rest stop, he would buy another knife.
Of course, our partners over at The Onion have some troubling news about Greyhound this week, as well.