The industrial band “Skinny Puppy” has sent the Pentagon a bill for $666,000 after discovering that the U.S. military allegedly used their music to torture Guantanamo Bay prisoners.
According to The Huffington Post, the band discovered that their music was being used by a former guard who was a fan of the group. The hard rock band maintains that the U.S. military used their music illegally and owes them royalty fees.
The band’s keyboardist, Cevin Key, spoke of the fan who contacted the rock band. He said, “I think he was coming at it from the fact that he was shocked that our music was being used because although he was a guard at Guantanamo Bay, he also happened to be a fan of our music.”
The Brooklyn Vegan reported that the band originally planned to design an album cover based on an invoice for the Pentagon but then discovered that they could bring suit against them for using the music without permission.
“We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody,” Key said.
He added that several of the band members were offended to learn that their music was being used to torture detainees. “I wouldn’t want to be subjected to any overly loud music for six to 12 hours at a time without a break,” he said.
It is hard to tell if the amount of $666,000 that they proposed is serious; rock bands often make reference to 666, the number of the beast.
The U.S. military denies receiving an invoice from the group.
Pentagon Spokesman Colonel Todd Breasseale said, “One wonders how such a bill might reasonably be generated and lawfully delivered, based on an unsubstantial claim by some random, nameless fan, as one member of the band alleges, or via ‘grapevine’ as another member of the band alleges.”
Breasseale stressed that the use of sleep deprivation and sensory manipulation was not authorized by the Army Field Manual and is prohibited by law.
“The futility approach in Army Field Manual 2-22.3 does not authorize the use of loud music. We simply do not use it,” he said.
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