Cultiples #2: The Pied Piper of Goth: Robin Brennan and Kurt Draven

[pirate_anon]

 

The Pied Piper of Goth:
Robin Brennan and Kurt Draven

Draven is born on Cape Cod on June 10, 1977 (Draven
2004c). Much later on, the Phantom will describe the
circumstances of Draven's birth, alleging, "the body in which I
currently find myself was born extremely prematurely, and
almost – if not entirely – dead" (2012 August 13). He mentions it
as a possible reason for their plurality, stating, "There is no 'body
personality.'"

In other words, by their own claim, Draven never has a
sense of self, merely an empty vessel. Later, that emptiness will be
filled by a succession of figures from pop culture—or "PC" as
Draven calls it. Draven will later describe taking on these
identities throughout their childhood: "I've been doing it my
whole life, as far back as I can remember. At first my parents
tossed it off as 'cute' -- like, 'Aw, he gets attached to these
characters' -- and then it just didn't go away" (2004 November
8a).

They also describe an early obsession with greatness and
cosmic purpose: "I remember very, very clearly standing in the
huge open field/lot/playground in the second grade, with a little
tape recorder under my arm[I had to have music everywhere]
feeling completely isolated from everyone else, and saying
'There's something I'm supposed to be doing, something BIG,
some reason for me to be here... I'm not like them'" (ibid).

At the age of nine, Draven's family moves to the
Farmington area of Maine (Bolduc, 1999), an area that Draven
will leave and return to again and again throughout adolescence
and adulthood. Perhaps the smaller, less accessible towns in
Maine proved intolerable, but relatives provided financial and
psychological support.

At fourteen, Draven discovers James O'Barr's The Crow
(2008 June 15b). The comic becomes the object of almost
religious devotion, to the point that they will later describe it as
"one of my personal [...] inspirational bibles" (1999 April 15) and
get their first tattoo of a crow in its honor (2017 May 31). Even
now, the book's importance can't be understated; they later
claim, "every Halloween, at midnight, for two decades, I've
quietly donned the makeup, sometimes taken a photo, and been
silent for a somber and yet monumental minute" (ibid).

They never outright state that the Crow is one of their
system members, but during an online battle in 2005, Draven's
aunt will post a full list of system members, which ex-followers
later pass on to me; the Crow is the first name on the list (personal
communication, 2006 May 22).

The Crow is a story of death, rebirth, and revenge; it seems
to have supplied some of the core metaphysical beliefs behind
Draven's system. The Phantom specifically quotes The Crow in
describing how it works: "Sometimes, something so bad happens,
the soul can’t rest…. back to put the wrong things right” (2012
August 13). Tony describes it more fully: "people, REAL people,
from 'somewhere else' - call it an alternate reality, call it a parallel
timeline - can sometimes cross over into 'this reality'... via a
conduit, if the desire is great enough, if they have work to finish,
a purpose to fulfill" (2015 March 2). This is exactly what happens
to the fictional protagonist of the Crow, who dies under such
unpleasant circumstances that he is brought back to find
vengeance. It is also how the Draven system gets new members—
though oddly, they don’t necessarily have to die first.

In April 1994, Kurt Cobain tragically commits suicide, and
sixteen-year-old Draven organizes a vigil in Maine (Buldoc,
1999). They report, "I remember saying to myself, 'I'm going to
learn to play this stuff- this man's songs- and carry on this voice
because it's not ready to be forgotten. There's too much there."
(ibid).

From anyone else, this would be an expression of
devotion; for Draven, though, with that craving for importance
and bigness, that lack of innate identity, it implies something
darker and more grandiose. They start learning guitar (Buldoc,
1999) and make plans to start a band.

Draven claims to have joined the kink community at
around this time (2008 June 13), though the statement seems
dubious. Having a few friends who’re within the BDSM scene, I
know for a fact that children are steadfastly not allowed in any
reputable group; asides from the massive ethical concerns, to do
so would risk the entire group’s safety and likely lead to exposure
and arrests. Regardless, however and whenever Draven starts
BDSM, they will later claim their long experience gives them
some authority in discussing the subject… despite how
unethically they practice it.

In 1995, Draven graduates high school (Unknown Date C)
and here the story becomes a little muddled. They move to
Boston, that much is for certain, but they claim different reasons
why, depending on their audience: either they attend Boston
University for a couple of years (ibid), or become a homeless
drug addict (1999 April 8). The BU period is never discussed,
except for a couple oblique references to Draven having gone to
film school (citation available upon request). Draven focuses
more on the homeless drug addict period, describing themselves
as "a street rat" "trying rather unsuccessfully to score a job or
some money or something so I could […] concentrate on my
songwriting, skipping between friends' couches and floors... and
going twice-weekly to the needle exchange" (1999 April 8). It is
one of the few times they will admit forthrightly to the addiction
issues that will plague them throughout their life. They also
mention self-harming during this period (1999 April 17b). All of
this is a similar narrative to the protagonist of the Crow, who
besides being a heavy metal guitarist is also a cutter. The heroin
addiction, of course, reflects Kurt Cobain.

By January 1996, Draven is playing back-up guitar for a
grunge band called "Bleach," fronted by Maine musician Arend
Trent and playing in Boston bars, but they aim higher (Trent,
2008). In April 1996, they release "The Recovery Song" on the
"Angels Bleed: Songs of Tribute... From Seattle and Beyond"
album (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1996), the sales of which "at
least 50% of the profit […] will benefit chronically depressed
young people who can not afford treatment" (Bassoul, 1995).
Grunge music is not my forte, but even I can tell the
influence of Nirvana in “The Recovery Song.” The sound quality
is not the best and the mixing uneven, but I can’t offer much
judgment about the song itself. It’s catchy enough, I suppose; I
could imagine hearing it on a local punk radio show some
evening. Due to a hearing impairment, I can’t even make out
most of the lyrics, though the song is clearly about suffering, drug
addiction, and recovery.

The name Draven gives for the album is Robin Brennan.
In all my records, Draven never mentions who Robin is, but their
aunt's list of system members includes Robin Hood; it seems most
likely that Robin Brennan is him.

By summer 1997, though, the system has switched over to
the name of Kurt Draven (findthefun.com, 1997)--a composite of
Kurt Cobain and Eric Draven, the protagonist of the first Crow
movie. Since Draven's aunt lists them both as system members,
it’s clear that Draven's new name is not merely tribute to their
fictional Bible and beloved musician, but a literal statement of
who is in the system at the time.

At 20, Draven is the lead guitar and vocals of a grunge
band with the appropriate name of Broken Messiah (ibid). This is
a motif that will turn up in their activity for decades afterward.
At the time, the band is in Centerville, Massachusetts, working
on their debut album, "Temporarily Happy," and while they
originally plan to self-release it, they are instead picked up by
John Dyer's Unintentional Music in Blue Hill, Maine on October
25, 1997 (Verna, 1997). By this point, the band is now in
Nantucket.

The band remarks that it’s “seeking live gigs to promote
the record and to raise funds for their upcoming 1998 overseas
tour,” (findthefun.com, 1997) and apparently they get enough to
make it to Switzerland. There, in late 1998 or early 1999, Draven
meets W, an award-winning science fiction writer who Draven
claims sought them out after hearing their music online (1999
April 17a, paragraph 6). For a time, W gives them financial
support, housing, and their seizure alert dog, Menemsha Blue
(2002 December).

Menemsha Blue will sadly die an early death in 2007
(Draven, 2008 January 7). An ex-follower reports, “Draven
treated Mnemsha [sic] (the dog) ok, but because of his constantly
destitute situation, the dog never really got the medical
care/stability it needed” and that “he did have horrific mange,
and Draven never did anything. [...] It ended up killing him” (ex
-follower personal communication, 2017).

A year or so passes, and by July 1999, "Temporarily
Happy" still hasn't been released, but Draven nets an interview
with a local paper in Maine, where he and W spend their time
when not in Switzerland (Bolduc, 1999). "[Draven's] musical
style has been compared to that of the late Cobain," the article
states, begging the question of, by who? "'It's really erie [sic]' said
[W] of the likeness." Kurt even claims that he "learned how to
sing by locking [himself] in a room with the Nirvana recording,
'Nevermind'" (ibid).

As far as I know, Kurt never publicly comes out online as
the quantum reincarnation of Kurt Cobain, but it's the start of the
formula that future system members will use before coming out.
First, they allude to how uncannily they resemble the people
involved, physically and mentally, in memory and skills. They
mention how much the "pop culture" means to them, and
attempt to emulate it. They ease a prospective follower into the
idea with suggestions and implications, testing to see if they're
receptive. When the time seems right, they finally theatrically
disclose their identity for maximum emotional effect. They also
help beef up their credentials by having their followers and
partners speak for their veracity. All of these behaviors will
become more pronounced over time.

“Temporarily Happy” does eventually come out, some
time after the interview, but under the name “This Perfect Day.”
Rather than a full album, it’s an EP with five songs: “The Recovery
Song,” “Widow,” “Sometimes I’m Happy,” “Black, Like Guilt,” and
“Gethsemane” (2009 March 18).

On April 9, 1999, Kurt appears on a newsgroup devoted to
Poppy Z. Brite. But before discussing what transpires next, a brief
digression regarding Brite.

In 1999, Brite has the peculiar position of standing at the
nexus of Draven’s interests, having just published their 1999
biography of Kurt Cobain’s spouse, Courtney Love, and their
1998 novel set in the universe of the Crow. He also shared space in
1995’s Splatterpunks II anthology with W. Was all of this a
coincidence? Did Draven’s interest in one fandom lead them to
others? Who knows?

Now twenty-one, Draven appears to be at least somewhat
aware of their plurality, even if they're not open about it. Kurt
mentions how Brite's book, Lost Souls, appeals to him because "LS
is like aspects of my personality - and many others, I'm sure -
fragmented into several personas" (1999 April 16b).

Kurt introduces himself using the email of W, who he
claims to be his fiancée (1999 April 8). Kurt seems to love Brite's
work as a reflection of himself: "I've found Poppy's works to be,
well, about myself and everything and nothing, about all that
makes me what I am" (ibid). He describes his homeless junkie
period in Boston as a teenager, and claims that it was during this
time that he first read a book by Brite, stating that it was given to
him by a mysterious stranger saying, "I think it's for you."
Despite an initial positive impression, Kurt soon rubs
other newsgroup members the wrong way by posting some of his
fiction on the newsgroup—double-posting it, in fact (1999 April 9
and 10). A couple commenters request he not do so—they are
here to celebrate the works of Poppy Z. Brite, not Kurt Draven.

The statements are fairly mild, but Draven takes them as
blistering personal attacks. He complains that the newsgroup has
spent “three days […] blasting me” and insists, "I don't need a
flame fest, okay? [...] I didn't come onto this newsgroup to be
hurt" (1999 April 13). This exaggeration will also prove
characteristic of Draven—the slightest criticism is inflated into
bullying and harassment.

This inability to handle criticism doesn’t endear him to
some of the newsgroup members, and Draven adds fuel to the fire
when he sends an effusive fan letter to another writer on the
newsgroup—Jessica Amanda Salmonson. That on its own is no
bad thing, except that when she posts his fan-letter on the
newsgroup (1999), it sounds almost exactly the same as his intro
post, hoping to reach the attention of Brite. It's so cookie-cutter
that some of the commenters joke that Microsoft Word now has a
form letter for the purpose.

But it gets weirder. Draven's specifically signing his work
Kurt Anthony Draven. Jessica Salmonson is the author of
Anthony Shriek, and the titular character is a tortured Goth
painter in Seattle who falls into other worlds via his art and has
deep obsessive relationships with women. Those traits that aren’t
present in Draven already will appear over time. Does the
"Anthony" part of their name come from this novel? Was he a
system member too? I have no idea. And while it may seem
absurd for me to even wonder in the first place, Draven is very
fond of the slow fade when introducing system members, as will
soon become apparent.

Needless to say, Draven is doing a good job at pushing
away more and more of the newsgroup members, but the
breaking point is Tiffani. Apparently a minor, she makes a post of
only two sentences: "i find a comfort in cutting...as i find comfort
in poppy. can anyone tell me why i might find the same thing in
inflicting pain on myself as in reading poppy?" (1999).

Kurt's response is to send her a private message. (Or so he
thinks at the time.)

It starts with an isolation attempt: "that group, no matter
what the FAQ says, is NOT a friendly, open-minded, or
underground group of people. [...] Several people actually wrote
*me* to warn me of the same thing, and to say I'd be better off
with personal e-mail" (as quoted by Rocky, 1999 April 17a). So
from the start, he's trying to separate her from the group to talk
to him privately, where they won't be overseen. (And who
exactly are these people who warned him? He never says.)

Next, he goes on to talk about cutting, reassuring her that
he does it too and that it's a sign of their shared specialness.
"Cutting, etc., is very common among people who see and feel
too much, who read the pain of the world like other people read
a newspaper; those of us who wander the streets at 3 a.m., longing
for something better," he says. He then moves on to paint himself
as a rebel, a brooding bad boy. "I'm an artist, and a musician for
an underground band. [...] I have scars, piercings(earrings, navel
ring) and tattoos [...] and am a long-time ex-junkie" (ibid). The ex
part, sadly, will change over time, if it's even true in the first
place.

Finally, he ends with, "Please, please keep in touch if you
dig this letter; I'd desperately like to know. I'm attaching
something that I think you might find compelling - it's the recent
piece of mine I sent to the ng to try and communicate. It speaks
to *you*" (ibid). What follows is the piece of writing he posted
that got him in trouble in the first place, which describes cutting
in graphic detail.

The message might have been effective, had it reached its
young target, but it doesn't. Kurt sends the message to the wrong
group member, an adult. The receiver, after sharing it with one
trusted friend named Rocky to decide what to do, sends it back
to Kurt, but he isn't satisfied. He complains, "I *didn't* appreciate
you passing it around like a love note in junior high, because it
*was* private" (1999 April 16a).

To which Rocky responds, "So priate[sic] and so important
that you didn't even know who it was your [sic] were emailing it
to. Okay lookit, you were a little werid[sic] in that email, and just
a little scary. [...] The things you suggested to that girl where [sic]
off base [...] You're playing at this Pied Piper of Goth thing and
leading all those kids right into the river" (1999 April 17b).

This statement will prove outright prophetic, but it also
shows just how intensely Draven hates being witnessed in his bad
behavior, and how he overreacts to even a single other person
seeing his words when he doesn’t want them to. He calls it
privacy; really, it’s secrecy and isolation.

Kurt does not back down and finally, angry at his reality
distortion, Rocky posts the Tiffani email in its entirety for all to
see (1999 April 17a).

Unsurprisingly, Kurt is not pleased about this turn of
events, but he tries to spin the whole thing as a cruel attack
perpetrated on him by an unfeeling group of bullies with no
artistic taste. He insists that he hasn't romanticized cutting at all
and claims that anyone who thinks otherwise hasn’t suffered the
pain he has: "if you think that's romanticized, man, you've never
done it, never felt the need. Never felt the need to cut or scream
or break your own hands to keep from exploding open from the
inside" (1999 April 17b). It’s as though he can’t imagine any self
-harmers disagreeing with him. He also claims protection under
the first amendment (1999 April 17a) and compares another
commenter to a Nazi, saying, "you are neither my mother nor my
Fuhrer, and [...] [this] does NOT give you complete and total reign
to act judgemental [sic]" (ibid). He also acts as though people are
upset with him for the email's style, not content, declaring, "I'm
saddened to know that so many people flame me just because of
the style in which I write" (ibid).

In the future, these guilt-trips and spin doctoring will
work, but the newsgroup doesn't buy it. "Jesus, shut up," says one
commenter (FSL, 1999). "You used that kid to try and get shit
going outside the ng, and now you feel violated. [...] You are so
self-involved that you do not see your own manipulations and
how every single thing in your mind has you sitting upon it as the
king. Wake up." Another commenter says, very astutely, "I got
news for you, kid. ALL OF US HAVE SUFFERED. All of us have
had shit lives. [...] You haven't got any corner on the market for
pain. Nor for the artistic expression of pain. But the rest of us
don't need to inflate our sagging egos by blaggin on about it for
days and days" (S, 1999).

W shows up to attack the detractors and defend Draven
(1999 April 18), but it's over. In sum total, Draven is tarred,
feathered, and sent packing within a week and a half.

I bring up this incident because it displays a lot of the
themes of Draven's later behavior—coming into an existing
fandom community, trying to impress it with their own creative
work, focusing special attention on minors, and exploding into
bilious defensive rage when things don't go their way. Always
playing the victim and martyr, bringing in their partners to
defend them... Draven will never abandon these tactics over the
next fifteen years, only elaborate on them.

However, this blow-out also demonstrates how to
effectively safeguard a community from such a predator. The
newsgroup staved Draven off in a matter of days, because they
recognized Kurt’s manipulation immediately. They named it as
such and called him on it from the very beginning. They didn't
let him keep his words private or secret; everything was made
public, with his statements debunked and analyzed as they were
made. The culture of the group was such that Kurt's increasing
guilt-trips and reality distortions only made them angrier and
more adamant. They held to their boundaries and grip on reality,
and the harder they held on, the more Kurt raged, until his
massive temper tantrums could no longer be passed off as
innocent. He self-destructed and left.

Sadly, groups in the future will not be so wary, or lucky.