Negativland’s Next Album to Include Don Joyce’s Ashes

Although Don Joyce of Negativland died in July 2015, the band have found an innovative way to include him as part of their next record. When they release The Chopping Channel this Friday (Oct. 21), it will come with a small bag containing Joyce’s ashes.

Each bag is marked with a label that reads, “This sticker of authenticity certifies that this packet contains approximately two grams of the actual human remains of Negativland member Donald S. Joyce (2/9/44-7/22/15).”

Negativland announced the news on BoingBoing, where they swear, “This is not a hoax. We’ve decided to take the Chopping Channel concept to its logical conclusion by ‘productizing’ an actual band member. It is also a celebration of the degree to which no idea in art was ever off-limits to Don, and offers a literal piece of him, and of his audio art, for the listener to repurpose and reuse. We are pretty sure he would have wanted it this way.”

Joyce passed away of heart failure only six months after another of its members, Ian Allen, died from complications after heart valve replacement surgery. A third member, Richard Lyons, lost his battle with melanoma in April 2016.

The Chopping Channel is the ninth installment of their Over the Edge series, which stems from the weekly radio show of the same name that they’ve hosted since 1981. They’re calling it an “atomized mix of thousands of fragmentary samples, remulched into one continuous and time-saving stream of music,” and say that it was finished before Joyce and Allen died. The group have made a promotional video that explains the record’s concept and features Joyce’s ashes being spooned into a bag. It is embedded above.

You can order a copy of The Chopping Channel at Negativland’s website.

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