Since no one has never seen Of Tanz Victims faces, and their true identities are a vague mishmash of fact and fiction, this Web site is designed to present the rumors that have been circulating for years about OTV as well as different hypotheses about who they might be and why they have been hiding behind masks and paper bags. It is extremely strange, and rather incredible, that not much is known about OTV since they were the precursors of every modern musical movement since the 1980’s and have attained the status of cult legend. To understand how and why this has happened, we must examine the known facts and the rumors. ORIGINS Rumor: The band is composed of Russian immigrants that came to Montreal in the early 1980’s. On several occasions, in interviews, the band claimed that they were Russian immigrants, but never gave the reasons for leaving Russia. Why did they pick Montreal? Because it was easier to immigrate to Canada than the States before the fall of the Iron Curtain? Did they have family here? Were they political refugees being sought by the KGB? Were they, in fact, Russian spies and part of the KGB, using their anonymity as a ploy to gain information? OFFICIAL MEMBERS The members of OTV are: Robert de la Carignan - Guitar Rumor: He is currently a conceptual artist living in an abandoned power plant. It is said that Robert de la Carignan is half French, half Russian. Where does the name de la Carignan come from? Was his father a member of the French nobility? Is Carignan perhaps the first town he lived in when coming to Quebec? Certain paintings signed “de la Carignan” have been discovered in private collections. Some say that the famous “La première fusée à décoller en Afrique” is attributed to de la Carignan (is this the same de la Carignan that was a member of OTV?) Roy Batty - Synthesizer Pseudonym obviously taken from Blade Runner. Philip K. Dick quotations appear often on Of Tanz Victims’ album sleeves. Rumor: Roy Batty is in fact Don Wooty, the Belgian sociologist who wrote an essay entitled “The Impact of Italian Sports Cars and Secret Societies on Modern Politics”. I have not read Wooty’s essay, but I have heard that its subject deeply rooted in occultism and secret societies, i.e. the Templars, the Illuminati, the Masons, the Cult of the Yellow Hand, with ties to the famous German philosopher/writer/sociologist Theodore Adorno (the same Theodore Adorno that was working for the American government on the MK Ultra project). It has similarities to the works of Robert Anton Wilson, not surprising for a member of Of Tanz Victims, who were obviously linked to the occult, conspiracy theories, etc. Sat W. Ford – Drum and Bass and Loops Rumor: His real name is Stephen Faulkner. His father may have been in the KGB and defected to Canada, and got his nickname that he used to drive a black Ford GT40 with the kabbalistic symbol of the Tree of Life painted on the hood. Rumor: Ford worked as a sound engineer for the Cirque du Soleil in the early 1990’s but died in a car crash on the freeway around San Jose Rumor: He was the illegitimate child of William Faulkner It has also been rumored that OTV was a side project of other bands, such as: The Residents This, of course, has never been proven, but if you play the strange sound effect on the second track of the first side of “The Big Bubble” backwards, at about 23 seconds, you can hear someone with a very thick French accent saying “We are OTV” The Orb At the beginning of the long version of “The Blue Room”, you can hear a guitar sound that is exactly the same sound as the guitar sound of the OTV track “Spiked Heel Titanic”. The KLF The most plausible hypothesis is that The KLF was again poking fun at the record industry by getting this strange band to seemingly produce music, but in fact the music was produced by the KLF. It follows that the members of OTV were only front men/actors pretending to play the music. And of course if you are familiar with the OTV logo - the inverted pyramid with a vertical line – you will notice that it looks a lot like the KLF Logo of the Masonic pyramid The KLF released a 12” version of “3 A.M. Eternal” in Portugal, and on that album cover, their logo is inverted and there is a thin grey line running through the pyramid, which is even more similar to the OTV logo. KISS Peter Criss, enraged at KISS for kicking him out, decided to put out some experimental music while he was in rehab, with the help of a young man named Richie Hawtins/Plastikman, who was living in Detroit at the time. Of course, Plastikman has since become a famous, well-known producer/DJ. Asked about this project, Hawtins declined to comment. Laibach Being such an obscure band and so into political conspiracies, the analogy seems obvious. Devo Mark Mothersbaugh, leader of Devo, was frequently seen in a small Montreal studio called Jacason. His frequent travel between Akron and Montreal raises questions. When asked about this in an interview, he answered (jokingly) that he was secretly dating Céline Dion. Alleged Technicians/Contributors Peter Seversson – Played the Fairlight on the first EP Seversson is probably the same P. Seversson who sells sheet music on the internet, but it has never been proven, or he could be the P. Seversson from Iceland who is a famous magician, rumored to have dated Bjork when she was in the Sugar Cubes. S. Figiel – Sound technician, recorded and mixed first album. He is now a mastering engineer for Adult and Solvent. Robert Vincent – Bunker Record Label owner (1st Bunker Records in Canada, not the one in Holland). He is no longer in the music industry and he is almost impossible to contact. Mr. Vincent now spends his time reconstructing Celtic temples in the south of France with his wife, the international photographer, Sophie Bellissent. Denis Wauthy – producer of the final album (Ostrova Novo Sibirski). There was also a Denis Wauthy who was a mastering engineer for Sub Rosa in the early 1990’s. It seems that Mr. Wauthy is now a Web master in Brussels, but we have not received any return e-mails from him. François Giroux – produced the first video clip that was banned on MTV/Musique Plus for anti-religious content. When contacted, Mr. Giroux claimed to have never seen their faces during the entire filming of the video. David Kristian – produced the second video clip. Being very secretive, Kristianhas never publically talked about the filming experience, but there are rumors that he was one of the few people who was close to the band and it is possible that he knows the truth… When Mr. Kristian’s manager, Peter xxx was contacted, his only words were “No Comment.” Mr. Kristian no longer wishes to speak to the public about any controversial subjects after the goat/boat scandal.” Seeing that only a very few people (who, incidentally, are very difficult to contact) claim to have seen the members of OTV’s faces, all – or none - of these hypotheses could be true. Does OTV play their own music? Are they just actors? Are they some crazy occult societ
