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Here is a selection of e-mails addressed to Klavdij Rebec, the Vain
Tribute site's imaginary webmaster. Received between February 2002 (when
the Vain Tribute
site was opened) and October 2004 (when the Vain album was released),
these messages represent an invaluable insight into the public's perception
of Vain. Our policy was to skip dry praise and witless criticism and
select the messages that attracted our attention with their sincerity,
shrewdness, ardour or humorousness. All authors are anonymous.
March 25th, 2002
Ne'er
Was flattery lost on poet's ear;
A simple race! they waste their toil
For the vain tribute of a smile.
Lay of the Last Minstrel. Canto iv. Stanza 35.
Great work. Thank you for sharing.
March 26th 2002
I don't know why I was compelled to write to you. ... I would like to
reach this young man through spirit communication. Please write and
tell me your feelings on this.
April 4th 2002
The site is beautifully done
but the subject himself brought me to tears
it is the voice of a ghost heard in those songs
and I can't wait to hear more
I'm saddened not only by the abrupt ending of such a talented soul
but by the lack of evidence of his short existence
though what I did experience will haunt me for a while
tonight, I feel a reawakening of my own poetic spirit
and I thank Vain for that
May 20th 2002
I like it a lot. OK, the background music is a little bit nerve-wracking.
It's very gloomy. But the rest is great. Especially the pictures you
found in the ALU archives. Honey, even though you've tragically died...
a bright future awaits you
July 10th 2002
His sketches were amazing and his music...no word can describe it. You
can tell he had put his heart and soul into them. They mesmerize you
in a way that you just can't explain.
July 12th 2002
I feel that everyone has a story and each is as important as the next.
I feel that is where a lot of today's problems come in and that is no
one considers the feelings of others anymore...I am only 28, but I remember
when my parents and grandparents always talked about how neighbors helped
neighbors... Sadly today, it seems that no one wants to help anyone.
I always try to help whenever I possibly can. I like getting to know
people and their stories. I am a major people person. Sometimes, we
all just need someone who will listen to us for just a moment. It's
amazing how much talking about something can make us feel so much better.
Sadly, Vain is unable to do that himself, but it is wonderful to know
he has a friend who keeps his story alive by dedicating the site to
him. I will always remember him and his story... by doing this, his
story will always be known.
August 4th 2002
I'm mailing this to you because I know that the singer in the songs
is Boris Benko. I know this because I like his old band Silence. So
can you explain to me what the hell is this for a bad joke with Vain!?!
Do you want to make money with his name???
September 10th 2002
Hello and Good afternoon. I just wanted to say a few words in regards
to Matej... I accidentally clicked on to vaintribute.com, as I was searching
for an 1980's Heavy metal band from the United States. I thought that
is what I was clicking on, but instead it was about Matej. I can not
stress how deeply his story has affected me. I have joined the VAIN
bullentin and I hope that I will continue to get updates on your progress
to put out his music. It only makes me more sad to hear that his music
is so good... better than half of the stuff published and put out over
here in the U.S.A. I am very happy that I found this site and I will
continue to check for updates. Keep up the good work...
December 3rd 2002
All I have to say is that it is some of the most beautiful and wonderful
music I have ever heard. Thank you so much for sharing it with the world.
April 13th 2003
I share a lot of simularities to Vain. As I read your notes on the subjected
song I reread the lyrics. Could it be that Vain heartbroken meant "She"
to be chaos and destruction. A neverending source of death and decay
that never seems to go away. A vulture that perches upon his soul and
tears at him for evermore.
It is saddening to see a man such as this come to an end. I hope he
found the peace he tried so hard to cry out for but never found. He
could see the world for what it was because he spend his days separate
from it. He was like a man watching a chess game that could see all
the moves the players miss.
Maybe to someone who is a constant in the chess game of life his so
called "ramblings" make no sense but to someone that has walked
his path they are clear and precise. Please publish what you consider
chaos and let us who can relate judge his words. You gave tribute to
your friend by offering us his world. Now let's see if we can give you
something in return.
July 28th 2004
The hoax is a little too obvious, though the whole thing is definitely
good! Congratulations to Silence for yet another great album...
May 16th 2005
Too bad he didn't believe in god. To say that everything beautiful has
no Creator is... foolish. His music revealed great talent and yet he
dismissed god revealed in the beauty of the nature. I think the good
question is what is the purpose of it all. I mean, his and our lives.
If everything is just a big coincidence then we are just a wind that
blows and is lost in time. Also it is very unwise to judge god by imperfect
humans who only claim to represent him. I think he never even tried
to know god, am I mistaken? Perhaps if he really experienced the love
of Christ he would never talk as if it is "overprized"...
Just a few thoughts.
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VAIN-RELATED FORUM DISCUSSIONS
Here is a selection of posts taken from numerous forum discussions
triggered by the Vain
Tribute site. The posts were selected by the same criteria as the
e-mails. All authors are anonymous.
Slovene Forum, topic started on July 12th 2004
Nice concept... but possibly somewhat too professionally executed (especially
the music, which is too Silence). Ok... undead and all... I can buy
that. Undead is fine with me. Really...
-
Wow, that really made an impact on me... I listened to the music...
there is a big Depeche Mode influence in the songs but I like most of
the stuff. I viewed the artwork and noticed that he rarely draw faces...
that's interesting... a body without a face is like a body without a
soul, without an identity...
While reading his biography I found a lot of similarities with a character
from Paolo Coelho's book "Veronika decides to die". If you
read it... think of the guy Veronika falls in love with at the sanatorium....
Just a coincidence though....
Silence's remark: The similarities between the fragments of the past
Benko shares with Vain and the profile of Edvard from "Veronika
decides to die" are truly astounding (though absolutely coincidental).
The fact that Silence were recently asked to write the soundtrack for
a contemporary dance performance based on Coelho's novel continues this
amazing series of coincedences.
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"Promising young artist looking for killer / web site designer.
Form of payment: counter-service after the first phase of the action
is completed. Cipher: Snow White"
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Hehe... seems like Boris and Primoz have seen Blair Witch Project once
too many... Anyway, should the tunes from the music part of the page
really trumpet the arrival of their next album, I'd be quite delighted.
So, nice concept, now go release the damn thing already!
Slovene Forum, topic started on July 26th 2004
You know, everytime I discovered a good band and became a big fan the
following happened;
- the guy killed himself
- the guy was killed
- the guy died
- the band split up
Matej was talented, the music is excellent, I'm taken by it. I can hardly
wait for the album.
Sadness is mixed with mysticism and incomprehensible things. Incredible.
I don't have a closing thought, I'm just sorry for everything. The revelation
hasn't ruined my day, though, it has just convinced me that it is worth
living for moments, creating, loving...
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Yep, that's Bostjan Hladnik for sure... so that everything is very suspicious.
And if we're right in our suspicions than we must congratulate and give
the deepest regards to the designers and creators of this project. Super.
-
Hm... Silence is a Slovene band? The music is so good... I'm having
troubles (pardon me) placing it into the Slovene music scene. Marketing
experts can learn a great deal from this hoax - this band will kick
ass with this hoax... Only one thing bothered me... Pitaju me pitaju...
the man was such an original, I think he would've never resorted to
a cover version... as far as everything else is concerned, I bought
it all :)
-
I gave it some thought and came to a conclusion. Marketing strategy
- OK, morally - very bad. Where is the line of common decency here?
Look, most of us sympathized and regarded "Matej" as an excellent
author, we simply couldn't believe that such a talented person could
die. The fact that I grieve for someone I don't even know and then find
out that it is all a hoax - pardon my french - makes me want to smash
the teeth (or worse) of the one who came up with all of this! Isn't
this unscrupulous manipulation? Aren't we dealing with the exploatation
of a man's welfare here?
-
You're over-reacting. The whole thing left me indifferent - I don't
appreciate drawings and I can't stand wannabe-deep tunes. And even if
Matej came up with one more song in his dying breath (a quickie before
I go) and wrote it on the wall with his own blood and vomit, I couldn't
care less. However, if all of you like what you saw and heard, what
do you care? The important thing is you like it and that you'll buy
the CD.
-
The picture of the urn is probably genuine... Hm, I can't make up my
mind whether the story they came up with honours or disgraces the memory
of the true occupant of the urn - I have mixed feelings.
Silence's remark: The picture of Vain's urn is a photomontage done by
the Phant&Puntza graphic design studio. A very good one, judging
by the fiery debates it generated.
Slovene Forum, topic started on July 27th 2004
Awesome, really. This is the first time I see and hear this. How come
I've never seen this before? I'll write more about the site as soon
as I return from this mental journey...
-
Hm, what's so cruel about his life except for what happened to his parents?
The drawings are great, especially "Theona". The lyrics are
a kind of late teenage "weltschmerz" that is slightly above
average, something between Tindersticks and U2. Not particularly good.
I still have to listen to the music. He was very talented, though, I'll
give you that.
-
Psychiatrists and psychologists would have a ball with this guy. Lyrics
alone are nothing special, though when combined with music they become
something completely different. I still can't believe how much I like
every single song of his. We've lost a huge unexploited talent.
-
Do you really have to be this messed up to get some inspiration and
be creative???? I don't think so... I'm not saying his life wasn't fucked
up on account of his parents, but still... I also think there's some
people around that have experienced similar things (I personally know
two), however none of them made web pages or released posthumous CD's
- and don't get me wrong!!! He said it himself: life is a lottery: sometimes
you lose and sometimes you lose...
-
OK, is this fake or not? I doubt that someone can be twisted enough
to make all of this in order to promote a CD. The picture of the urn
speaks volumes. I doubt they would've gone to such lenghts in order
to promote a SINGLE CD.
-
Everything is obviously a (very well done) fabrication. I don't see
anything bad in it. I think we're free-minded enough not to be shocked
by the use of death (the notion alone) for promotional purposes. Right?
-
Of course we're free-minded enough. We also laugh at invalids, that's
how free-minded we are! ... This is a pathetic promotion campaign targeted
at our emotions... I wouldn't mind if they conceived another kind of
promotion but this is sick. Especially because everything's been made
so credible. The notion alone that someone is prepared to invest so
much effort in order TO PROMOTE his band with a site OF SOMEONE WHO
IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD is perverse.
-
Hm, and what if the person in question is not dead at all?
-
You don't understand. This kind of promotion is sick nevertheless. They
went so far as to put his pictures and even a film on the site. To my
opinion, that's far from normal.
Disgusted by the subject of death? Who's disgusted? I'm disgusted by
the way they used death for promotional purposes. Someone visiting their
site may even feel sympathy for a man who's never existed and for what?
The pathetic promotion of some band that is apparently suffering from
a lack of ideas. Or that labeled this promotion as some "new age"
bullshit. Look, I've no problem talking about death, it's not some sort
of taboo for me, but I think that, in the end, death has a meaning because
we humans are social beings and, faced with the loss of someone dear
to us, we can experience very strong feelings. That's why we shouldn't
fuck with death or "sell" it.
Invalids? I've used them as a comparison to death. Some people make
fun of invalids, some advertise death. Both are social taboos of some
kind. Why should we judge the ones who make fun of invalids if others
can play with people's feelings by convincing them some ill-fated person
died?
-
You're fixated with the idea that this person died. Try looking at it
from a different perspective: maybe they're describing the life of a
fictitious person that was incredibly talented and, as such, able to
draw the attention of people...
-
This is no conformistic indignation. I'm a big admirer of new approaches
in marketing (the only thing that really interests me in economy), but
in my opinion they've crossed the line of good taste. I won't explain
why this feels wrong enough to outweigh the originality of this project.
It simply feels wrong.
-
Presumption #1 - good things advertise themselves
Presumption #2 - good things are unable to advertise themselves without
"good" promotion (refutes presumption #1)
Presumption #3 - nowadays, one cannot succeed - in any kind of business
that deals with the marketing of material goods - without "good"
promotion (without any kind of promotion, for that matter)
Presumption #4 - social norms do not coincide with the norms of an individual.
Nevertheless, individuals form society (go figure)
Presumption #5 - all your thoughts are subject to my "norms"
Presumption #6 - the members of the group studied economy and are aware
of how expensive it is to promote a CD. They lock themselves in Matej's
room, where they laugh orgasmically while watching his bed. They forge
a devilish plan to become rulers of the universe and Matej's aunt Mara,
who is a great cook.
Presumption #7 - r39482t$#"%$)&FDSF#*?"$=GG$%&=$#
-
This kind of promotion is far from original and is beyond logic and
good taste. I don't know, everything seems so improper. It's as though
Laibach made the video for the Tanz Mit Laibach track with rachitic
concetration camp inmates dancing in it (as a matter of fact, this would
still be better than this Vain shit). You read this story that absorbs
you (at first), but then, rather quickly, you discover that it is a
fake. Badly done.
As far as extreme marketing is concerned; this is a field where Benetton
and Toscanini ruled a whole decade... Those were the days... rather
cruel ads with instant effect... but here... I think that - from a marketing
point of view - this thing is rather uneffective (and don't talk to
me about Blair Witch Project, this thing was obviously inspired by it
but - unlike Blair Witch - it crashes and burns at the very start)...
Not to mention the music... At first I quite liked it, then I thought
it was very good, but now it totally sucks. The effect of bad publicity?
Who knows... One thing I'm sure of: the guys are unable to come up with
their own image, so they resort to these kind of lame jokes... and then
expect who knows what...
-
Every day, we watch movies with fake bodies stock-piling in them and
no-one seems to mind. Anyway, they've accomplished their goal; we're
talking about it and the whole thing is very nicely done. The only thing
they should've devoted more attention to are the people who appear in
the story. What's the difference between fake and real anyway, what
if we're all fake and all of that is true?
International forum, topic started on November 19th 2004
Uh, is this real? That's pretty morbid. I'm afraid I don't really like
the music, by the way.
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A conundrum within a mystery within a kaleidoscope within an enigma
within an onion of ever repeating layers of half truths and outright
lies.
-
I see... Internet certainly helps with these things...
-
It is kind of interesting, these things that affect being real whilst
everyone acknowledges that it's fiction. Kind of like... real life.
Oh my god, I've gone all monoid!
-
Speaking of monoid...apparently some Germans wanted to visit Vain's
grave... Imagine the disappointment :)
-
I remember going to visit Jim Morrison's grave (and I didn't even like
The Doors, I know, crazy!!!!) and the best bit of graffiti was "Chix
dug him". I hope someone writes that somewhere near the unmarked
pauper's grave they eventually tip my syphilitic remains in.
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HA! Quite nice it seems! This site is interesting but i think these
kids are thinking and gossiping too much.
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