Apocalypse Alabama by The Disbeliefs

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the offices of Infomercial USA (iUSA) were contacted by a fan who identified herself as "T.F. Baqueur." Baqueur had long admired Infomercial USA's "Grand Opening" LP (https://infomercialusa.bandcamp.com/album/grand-opening) which she viewed as a potent anti-Putin protest record. She tapped iUSA to remaster lost recordings by The Disbeliefs, a shadowy musical group fronted by the late and enigmatic Crackers Graham. According to Baqueur, Crackers died under suspicious circumstances, though it remains unclear whether his coffee was poisoned, or if he was dragged into the woods and shot by pro-Putin sympathizers. Perhaps both.

Sensing a unique opportunity for market expansion, Infomercial USA's Research and Development Department traced the origins of The Disbeliefs group. It uncovered rumors overseas among anti-FSB resistance pockets in Chişinău, Moldova, then - puzzlingly - followed a thread to the palustrine wetlands of the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta in Alabama, USA, and various truck stop communities along Interstate 10 into Eastern Louisiana.

Crackers and The Disbeliefs aligned themselves with a backwoods apocalyptic religious group with loose ties to the now-defunct "Tribe of Zendik," purportedly to find an underground outlet to disseminate their music (the Zendikites prize artistic expression above all in the face of the impending apocalypse). Whether Crackers and team were "true believers" in Zendikite eschatology or posing as cultists to evade their FSB pursuers cannot be confirmed. What WAS confirmed: Russian agents eventually caught up to the group, leading to Graham's untimely demise.

Infomercial USA is dedicated to the expansion and diversification of musical assets across multiple genres. In that spirit, The Disbeliefs Project was approved and initiated. These Bandcamp recordings represent realizations of original basement demonstration tapes recorded somewhere in the wetlands of Alabama, and whose poor fidelity prevented any intelligible release.

Until now.

As Crackers Graham was assassinated before professional studio sessions could be scheduled, iUSA retained a cut-rate musical theater actor and amateur musician to stand in on lead vocal (Jim Cooper). This first single, "Apocalypse Alabama," is a "translation" from source field recordings with Cooper in the role of Graham. Though Crackers is not physically present on this recording, great pains were undertaken to preserve the spirit of his source material.

All of us at iUSA trust that Crackers' singular vision is adequately represented here. T.F. Baqueur assured iUSA Legal via notarized fax that she and the surviving Disbeliefs members recognize these as the "official" renditions of the songs.

Baqueur's fax concluded with the following:

"Music is a weapon.
So Crackers is dead.
But Gorbachev will rise again.

Trăiască Biscuiții! Trăiască Ucraina! Jos Putin!"

Believe what you will.

Terrence Honeywhistle, PhD
Executive Archivist and Information Scientist
Research and Development Dept.
Infomercial USA
10/31/23

A mysterious group whose paper trail can be traced from Moldova through the American Deep South. Rumor has it they're part of an anti-Putin underground movement or members of a clandestine apocalyptic cult group. Or both? Frankly, we don't know what to believe.