Old dogs, new beginings...
A TRiBE Overview.

How's that go?  You know, the addage about sleeping dogs?  Whatever, I'm
sure you know what I'm refering to.  Here I was, less than two months away
from a nice, quite "retirement" from drawing ANSi's, and what happens.  A
second rate, would be despot, orchastraits a coup'de-tah-de-fuckin-da, and
declairs himself a soveirn NaTiON, all supposedly in the name of "fun".

"Deja-fuckin-doodle-do.", you say?  Keep in mind, *I* publicly quit iCE
and it was months before anyone who was in iCE at that time *ASKED* to join
TRiBE.  Sure, in closing in on four years in this scene, perhaps it was the
kismet of some of my past sins, but that incident wasn't one of them.  To
paraphrase Tempus, "I see where you're coming from and agree with your
decision."  Supposedly, NaTiON was in the planning stages for several days
before the March Pack (TRIBE-10) was released, AND until the recent Gothic
break-up, consisted mostly of TRiBE Members.

Regardless, this isn't about jumping up and down, pointing fingers at
Maestro and the Musical Mayhem of his RyTHMiC NaTiON.  There has been and
will be enough of that elsewhere, to be sure.  This is about an old,
sleeping dog that some smart asses thought would be fun to give one last,
hard, quick kick before he was put to sleep.  As the addage leads one to
conclude, not the wisest of actions.

As I've chronicled elsewhere, TRiBE, in both name and function, was
a joke.  Weeks before I came to the decision to leave iCE, whilst talking
to Corigan about comics, (specificly how he hated the 'big butted black
chick book' called Tribe) I joked that I was quitting iCE to start a new
group that would only draw big butts, called, TRiBE.  When the time came
that I actually did quit, I thought it humorous to start a "one man group"
called "TRiBE", for that is what it was, just me.

Realisticly, however, as with most things, "it's just not fun by
yourself".  Some were asked to join (such as Mr. Man and "the rest" of
Mindless, Logan the guy who got me into ANSi and Dreamevil, another old
bud from the LTD days.) and others came to me (such as the whole ChroniC
mishap, Quazar, et al).  Before I knew it, TRiBE was in danger of becoming
a "real group", in that it would look and opperate like all the others.
I'd be having none of that.

At every oppertunity I bucked the scenes conventional wisdom.  No
sites, no staff, no non-artists, no competition, you know it all by now.
On the one hand, this was successful, as it kept things so loose, that
TRiBE never got any real continuity to be actually considered as a group.
It was as it claimed to be, a collection of individuals.  The only problem
was that other hand, which was usually wraped around a knife that could be
found stuck in my back.

No.  It was not "people leaving" that was ever the problem.  Anyone
would have to be an idiot to think that a group setup and "run" (if you can
call zipping packs running a group) like TRiBE could be a 'successful' group
in so much as beinc capable of holding the attention or ambitions of the
type of artists that populate the scene today.  From very early on, I was
more than content with the PRIVATE thought that TRiBE was *THE* "Minor
League" group the scene always needed, where talent could be developed and
shipped up to the big game.  You can look at the member lists of groups out
there and find quite a large portion of them having had a stint in TRiBE,
which just happens to coencide with a noticable improvement in thier
product.

The problem came, mostly in the actions of an admitedly few people who
traversed thru the revolving doors that TRiBE was built with.  It would be a
rather short list of rather well known overly-ambitious-under-achivers if I
were to go thru, actually listing them on a case by case basis.  The only
people who would "stand by" any of these people today, are afew people who
happen to be in their same group, today.  I'm sure alot of you know alot of
them, if not personally, than thier type.  They're frauds of the worst kind,
two-faced opertunists who'll lie, looking you straight in the perverbial
eye, most of them, at one time or another, having called you, friend.  They
are betrayers of one of the only things holding this community together,
trust.

Tired of the "all too real group like work" of having to find out who
is or isn't still with you.  Tired of so called "friends" twisting the
knife in you as they leave, I disbanded TRiBE.  In the next few seconds that
followed my rash decision (that ended with a rather loud thud of hanging
up a phone), that old dog stat striaght up with a very feral, very familar
growl.  "These little shits just pissed on your grave.", he said.  I'd be
having none of that.

Making a quick list of everyone I would want in a group from the last
TRiBE member listing I had, I quickly called them up.  Apon notifying them
of what had just transpired and why, I invited them to join a new group I
was starting, called TRiBE.  At the time, I did not know where it would
be going, but as those first few people can attest, I was enjoying myself
again, for the first time in several months.  (Of course, it was at the
expense of others, but that's besides the point.)

Rather quickly, the path to which we would be walking was becoming
crystal clear.  For the past eleven months now, everyone has been pissing
and moaning about how TRiBE's full of shit.  How it did this, didn't do
that... generally contradicting (often simply to be contradictory) anything
I claimed.  TRiBE wasn't different, it did compete, and I was in charge.
Ok.  They WANT to see that?  They got it.  After all, if "all this shit"
could happen when I sat back and did nothing, imagine what I could do if I
TRIED.

TRiBE became Invitation Only, and that would be a limited, one time
only offer to join.  Pass it up, you're shit, out of luck.  Who'd be
invited?  Only people *I* wanted in, and nothing else would matter.  All
this time, where just about anyone could get into TRiBE, and now only a
few people would ever even get the CHANCE to join.  NOW, there would ONLY
be TRiBE, and if you weren't in TRiBE, SCREW YOU!  You lose, slick.  I was
there durring the iCE Age, which is pretty much the example we all measure
ourselves by, even today.  I seem to be the only guy out there today that
really understands what the term "best" *SHOULD* mean.

Of the Ex-Tribe guys Invited to TRiBE, all accepted.  Of the Master
List of "Possibles", so far, only three have been Invited, all three
declined and will never be TRiBE members.  Of the four "off the cuff"
Invitations, only one was not accepted.  Future Archives will keep a
running tally for entertainment purposes only.  Please.  No wagering.
(Yes, we're taking it seriously this time, but our tounge is still firmly
stuck in our cheak.)  It should be obvious that with the Invitation Only
System, TRiBE will (nor should) ever be the 'megalithic' type groups of
ACiD and iCE.  Fewer people will EVER be invited to TRiBE than either of
those have REJECTED.

Today, TRiBE is as different from TRiBE, as KFK's Mirage was from
the Triumvirate's MiRAGE or from R.Noble's Mirage-D-Light.  The name may be
the same, there may even be some of the same members, but it IS a different
group, let NO ONE tell you otherwise.  You will see it as plain as day,
in the weeks and months to come, in all words, actions and end results.
People will still confuse the two, but as before, whenever there's
inaccuracy, I'll be having none of that.

Just as Mirage put out 5 Compendiums (in two years), TRiBE has put out
10 Archives (in ten months), this month's will make it 11, our 1st.  We are
not ashamed of nor ignoring our past because it was in it's fire that our
resolve was forged.  We are not a fly-by-night group that has just poped
up, destined to crumble within a matter of months.  Only 4 other art groups
have been in existance longer than TRiBE, of which only 3 are still alive
and kicking.  Few groups prior have accomplished what it has and none since
have even come close, most won't even TRY.

This old dog knows that the best revenge it could ever have on those
who went out of thier way to take a swipe at him on thier way thru HIS
yard, is to get up off the porch one last time for the great chase.  TRiBE
will become one of the most exclusive, premire art groups the scene will
ever see, LONG after the likes of Maestro and his RyTHM NaTiON have faded
from peoples memories, as anything other than the passing fancies that they
were.  From Legacy to Valiant, Gothic to Eternity, all these groups have
collapsed from the weight of the ego's which spawned them.

It is Monday, April 25th, 1994, twenty days since this all occured.
As of 3:00am, we do not have one. single. finsihed. thing.  Nothing.  I can
tell you here, and now, without any doubt, that this will be the best TRiBE
Archive to date.  With the PRiDE! Policy in place, you are looking at the
first group to officially and publicly proclaim a set standard of quality.
(Not to mention one that doesn't shoot ones self in ones foot.)  Yes, we've
thrown our hats into the ring, and we'll take our share of shots.  Just
remember, it's only the first of MANY rounds, and you don't expect to get a
title fight your first time out.  We've proven, TRiBE's here for the long
haul.

"TRiBE '94 - Today the NaTiON . . .
...tomorrow the world!"

Shihear Kallizad [TRiBELCHUNG!]
- Paradigm -