Jonestown Tea

"There are so many people out there that have dealt with this, but they've hidden it because they think it's their fault. They think that they should have had some way of stopping it or avoiding it. So it became very important for me to give them a voice, to let them know that they are not alone. That's what this art is for." --Otep

(that's off their official site)

i always understood it as autobiographical...if you listen to the actual song the music really gets to you and gets you pissed. which, of course is the intent. but it keeps you thinking for a long time after you hear it. this is one of my favorite songs but not for the weak at heart

This song is incredible. The way that it leads up to the first climax is so emotional, and then the way that the music is structured during the climax makes your feel her fear, pain, confusion, etc. And the final climax, you really feel her anger. Otep is a genius.

I've always thought of the connection with the Jonestown as a way of trying to cover up what's been done. We watched a Jonestown documentary in my History class a while back. He was getting away with molesting and raping people and he had taken most of his followers to Guyana, to escape the people that were beginning to question his leadership in the states. When politicians began to figure out what was happening, Jim Jones gathered them all together and got them all to drink the koolaide and cyanide, as an attempt to cover up everything that he had done to those poor people. In this song, I think it could be her father trying to make her forget all that he had done and to make her trust him again. It's like he's trying to cover up that what he's done is wrong.

The follow up to this song, "Where the River Ends" is just as amazing and power as this one.

This song is probably the greatest Otep song. I found this song at the same time I was going through the same shit and it meant the world to me. The harshness of the lyrics is exactly how it felt. I think the meaning is pretty obvious. As lame as it sounds, this song probably saved me.

Otep rock \m/

amazing song... i just want to know... is it autobiographical of Otep's life or is she just championing a cause?

It's a very cryptic song. But it is autobiographical. That's what makes such a good song, it's honest and she doesn't hold back the truth about her life. darkspot and Communist Spy are both right. She is trying to get the word out about sexual abuse of children because of what happen to her. In one of the tour diaries on her website she talks about a child pornography ring that was busted up and how disgusted she was with it. It was mostly the parents of the children being abused. Some parents traded their children.

"My idea? disembowelment. Their abdomen is sliced open, an incision is made into their large intestine, one end is then pulled out and threaded into a rolling device and their intestine is then slowly pulled out and rolled up like a giant spool of thread. All while they are awake and can see their entrails leave their body, much like the spirit of the children they chose to destroy." -Otep

Sidenote for you all: The title "Jonestown Tea" refers to this cult run by a guy named Rev. Jim Jones a while back. He and 900 of his followers went to Jonestown, (?somewhere?) and performed a mass suicide in a small house in the woods by drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide (thats your "Jonestown Tea" people) . The thing with that is some people who were formerly involved with the CIA confessed to this being an experiment the government was doing about the power of mind control and munipulation of the masses (which is somewhat expressed throughout the song).But it was never investigated by the government and no reports of this being a CIA Op. have ever been officially released to the public. But yeah, I read somewhere that Otep said this song was about her childhood and man, this song is so incredibly emotional. It makes me feel sick inside everytime I listen to it. Otep = most intelligent emotional metal band in existence. Shadow soldiers, keep on fighting.

• Jonny Slag

I dont understand what Otep is trying to get across...are we supposed to feel sorry for her...are we supposed to realize that shit like this does happen...or are we supposed to be angry for the fact that this happened to her and we cant do anything about it...whatever the reason may be I love her music and the feelings she puts into every song

very few bands have the ability to write music that buries your ass in a mountain of goosebumps the way that otep does it,and even fewer female singers have vocal cords That fucking powerful!vocal cords many male singers could only dream of having.very impressive in my book.

....and she makes kittie fuckin suck!!!!!!!