Kevin Skwerl, aka the Cali blogger at antiquiet.com who made a gift to the internet of three previously unheard tracks in that nine-song Chinese Democracy leak last week, has officially received his comeuppance. There was the wrist slap from his hosting company for generating a site-crushing spike in traffic, and then there was the visit from a pair of "Mulder and Scully"-type FBI agents. You probably want to know more about the latter.
First, about Skwerl. The guy's a web designer who used to work in Universal's distribution department. However he insists the CD tracks came to him via an "anonymous online source." Rock Daily gets some quotage:
Yesterday Skwerl was surprised to find himself face to face with two FBI agents who paid a visit to his day job. "It was kind of an ambush," Skwerl tells Rolling Stone. "When I came back from lunch they were waiting in the lobby for me. It's a little creepy they know where I work." Two young FBI officers, who Skwerl describes as "Mulder and Scully types," questioned him for 15 minutes about where he got the tracks and made plans to visit his house at 7:00 a.m. this morning.
"I wasn't sure if they were going to come by with a warrant and trash the place, like in the movies," he says. "It was nothing like that." The FBI officials wanted to see the original files, but Skwerl erased them last week per instructions from Axl Rose's attorneys. Skwerl ultimately gave them second-hand files that are now widely available on the Internet.
It just goes to show, the government is all about equal protection under law, and they will unflinchingly protect and to serve, even when they are clearly protecting and serving an underwhelming piece of shit. No, I know there are some nice moments floating around, here and there, in last week's leaked nine. But really the last thing Axl needs to do is alienate whatever sympathizers he hasn't yet alienated with a decade of broken promises with artist on fan litigation, or a full court governmental press. That shit can get ugly, andit's a nasty road that winds up leading, tragically, to awkward and treacly stage banter. Nobody wants that.
