The Truth Behind Appalachian Anarchy - I Was... Wrong?

Yes I've seen the Moonshine Moshpit video, no it does not prove the first album was real. It only proves everything going forward from then is real.
At a guess Patrick was trying to run an AI content farm and had one track, Banjo Bloodbath, unexpectedly take off. He then tried to pass AA off as a real band but with growing popularity came growing realisation that it was AI. So he put his knowledge of music production to use and... made it a real band? Well blow me down. The lad actually did it.
I'm not covering this topic again, you can decide for yourself what the Appalachian Anarchy early days were all about.
00:00 - Foreward
02:25 - On Sources
03:15 - Intro
03:46 - Argument Summary
06:12 - Debunk Speedrun
10:36 - BetterLife Soundtrack
13:11 - Spotify Slop
14:23 - Why BLS Matters
15:11 - How AA Is Made
17:15 - Standard of Proof
21:48 - Covering His Tracks
24:16 - Spot The Difference
31:19 - Patrick's Response
33:33 - Website FAQ
34:09 - Written Response
35:09 - Sleight of Hand
36:24 - Summary
37:58 - Evidence of A Does Not Prove B
39:26 - Closing Thoughts

[@hokipokiloki]

When will we be getting an Anchorsmashed Debunking video? I don't believe you are real.

[@anchorsmashed]

Nothing to debunk mate, Anchorsmashed has been a fake Alestorm ripoff since day one. I downloaded all their MIDIs and put them into a neural network and used that to write new songs for me.

[@hokipokiloki]

@@anchorsmashed release your midi files, coward

[@DarkStar3339]

@@anchorsmashedSo you’re a fraud who doesn’t deserve the respect?

[@user-pb2pf7bt2x]

They are

[@Ceolskog]

It's good that he's decided to make music with people, I actually see that as a positive outcome. I still agree with you, definitely not convinced that the previous rapid-fire output wasn't AI, but whatever, at least moving forward it won't be. I am happy about your plan to move on from this now though, because I'm worried you're gonna get a bit of hate. I went to their video and quite a few comments are calling you out. You know what fanbases can be like. Regarding fanbases, I expect soon there will be big ones for openly AI bands and artists. Unfortunately most of us can't compete with that, just as many other people in other creative fields can't for their respective AI replacements. But there's always something else in life to pursue besides art. Until whatever that gets replaced too, lol. Maybe I'll try to find a farm owner who is looking for a farmhand and pursue farming, surely it'll be a while before we have farmer automatons...

[@anchorsmashed]

Yeah, it's the most realistic "happy ending" I could have hoped for with this story. Ideally he'll show evidence the earlier stuff is real or admit it was AI, but I'm not holding my breath. And yes, I am 100% done with this. After Patrick sent me the Moonshine Moshpit recording session video I knew that's all most people would need to believe it's always been real. I decided to continue and upload my video as I thought I should do what I feel to be right and call it a day. I lost the "battle" but I stayed true to myself. Hurrah lol. And yeah, there are a lot of people who don't care if it's AI or not, but many, MANY more who do care. The people passionately arguing that the video proves they've always been real aren't doing it because they're ambivelant about AI. I still believe in art and artists, but I can see a future in which making money from art becomes increasingly harder. We'll all need to get day jobs lol. I'm fortunate that I have a career outside of music, but I feel tremendously for those who are facing a serious threat to their income.

[@Boogerz2136]

AA just posted a video going through the session tracks from their first release. It clearly was not AI generated like this guy has stated over and over.

[@SophieB2023]

Oh wow. I was one of those who was skeptical from the start but got satisfied when AA started replying to comments and making it seem real, and I totally was excited to see the live video. You really did your research, and I can tell this isn’t coming from a malicious place. You just want to stand for the TRUTH, and I respect that. It may seem silly, but if musicians aren’t held accountable now, then how often is this going to keep happening in the future? It’s a bad reflection of character. Honestly a lot of fans might still keep supporting him/them (myself included) moving forward if all the efforts are made to make it real, but all this cover up is ridiculous. 🙃

[@anchorsmashed]

Thank you. Patrick making it a real project is probably the best outcome I could have realistically hoped for. I don't think he'll ever admit the first stuff was AI generated, but he's shown he can make music people who liked that stuff will enjoy. I think going forward he'll stay far away from AI.

[@SophieB2023]

@@anchorsmashedIf that indeed is how the course of things keeps progressing then what a strange beginning to a band 😂

[@Boogerz2136]

​@SophieB2023 the band released a video of them going through the digital session for one of the first songs they put out. This guy is gross for posting lies about them, probably in an attempt to get extra views on his channel.

[@SophieB2023]

@@Boogerz2136 Hmmm okay, i just checked it out. I don’t really know what to believe anymore I guess. Why was the band so associated with the other AI music channel in the beginning then? And then it was deleted later? That’s the weirdest part still, but I’m open-minded. I’m still listening to AA and rooting for them. Love the more transparent direction they’re heading. I don’t WANT to be disappointed.

[@Boogerz2136]

@SophieB2023 I mean, it looks like they fiddled with some goofy, awful LOFI AI at one point and then later took it down. 🤷‍♀️ They never claimed that the AI channel wasn't AI that I've seen. My take is they are obviously talented people, and just because they have posted AI content in one facet at one point in their life doesn't mean AA is, or ever was, AI generated. It's logical fallacy to make conclusions like Anchorsmashed has, and honestly it's borderline harassment at this point.

[@Gishiki3]

Even if that is the case I can't trust someone whose involved in basically an ai content farm spanning over multiple channels and is clearly doing shady shit with ai and trying to hide it. Even if the newest video is real I will never trust Appalachian Anarchy

[@user-pb2pf7bt2x]

Fr he is such a liar all the time he is just stupid

[@FreakyLittleFish71]

I think you for the information. I too love the all of this music. And when you spoke out I was bummed. But thank you again.

[@Astronaughty]

Great video, I'm glad you're making light of this.

[@Boogerz2136]

You really need to watch the new AA video from today. They show the session file from their first release.

[@Peter]

On June 28th, Appalachian Anarchy posted a multitrack breakdown of Banjo Bloodbath, the first and most popular of their songs. It's gross that this channel continues to farm views off fake controversy.

[@Radwalls]

What a beautiful summary. This is AMAZING Anchorsmashed! Thanks for doing the detective work!

[@MyOwnPufferFish]

Thank you for this content. It's the first time (and probably far from the last) I've encountered a situation where AI music was marketed as "real" music and I was actually doubting it. It's a bit sad and doesn't sound great for the future of music and internet content. But I appreciate the in-depths research and articulate arguments. AA might be going more "real" moving forwards, but I'm not following a band that tries to deceive their audience.

[@Boogerz2136]

AA just posted a video of the session from their first release. It's clearly not AI.

[@MyOwnPufferFish]

@@Boogerz2136 this is covered in the video. They might have released one real song, but that doesn't make the other ones legit. This new song sounds widely different from the previous ones, making them even more suspicious

[@Boogerz2136]

@MyOwnPufferFish the video that AA posted today was them going through the session files from their first release. It's literally one of the songs this guy is saying was AI, and clearly he was wrong.

[@MyOwnPufferFish]

@@Boogerz2136 My bad, I didn't see this new one. However (and this might sound paranoiac, so I'd need more people to confirm this) I am pretty sure the individual tracks are NOT the ones that make the released song. The tone is different when playing in solo and when playing the whole song (and no, it's not just the effects added on to the track or the mix), and in some parts (like the toms) the MIDI outputs some sound while you can't hear any on the full mix. I have experience in recording and mixing and midi programming, and this whole thing is very suspicious. It sounds like they took the original song, and rewrote it using midi and actual instruments (with a few mistakes, I assume since it's hard to hear specific sounds in the AI mix) JUST to prove it was not AI in that video, which goes along the last video of the guy playing in his studio in order to convice people. With their very new song sounding like actual instruments, it seems like they're transitioning from AI to actual music (which is good), and they're trying to sweep their AI era under the rug (which is dishonest). I hope Anchorsmashed will be able to weigh on it again, or that other sound engineers will pick up the same things as I did to try to get to the bottom of this

[@Boogerz2136]

@MyOwnPufferFish I can respect skepticism and your takes. My main hangup is this guy is stating definitively that he knows these people are lying when he doesn't really know. He's not saying "I think AA is lying to you" he's saying "they are lying to you" and "this is 100% AI." There's just as much evidence out there that it's not AI.

[@ShushnSilver]

Only time will tell, if they can play it live, it'll be a miracle

[@Boogerz2136]

I can't wait to see your logical contortions explaining away the new video they posted going through the Banjo Bloodbath session file. You look more and more clueless each time they post.

[@eleanortaylor4389]

Sigh. How depressing. Hopefully he will make it real now. Thanks for standing up for what you believe in!

[@firstarcanist4952]

Thank you for your service in uncovering his scam!

[@user-pb2pf7bt2x]

This man is stupid he has hardly any proof they are ai like they are real he is just jealous of them

[@Peter]

You should take these videos down. You are misleading people. There have been comments from the last couple of days from people who believe it is AI when (on June 28th) Appalachian Anarchy posted a multitrack breakdown of Banjo Bloodbath, the first and most popular of their songs. It's gross that you continue to farm views off fake controversy.

[@NotyoBizness]

Thank you What a shame,... I realy liked a couple of those tracks. But I will NOT support A.I. art. Never will.

[@Peter]

On June 28th, Appalachian Anarchy posted a multitrack breakdown of Banjo Bloodbath, the first and most popular of their songs. It's gross that this channel continues to farm views off fake controversy.

[@Zanenoth]

Evidence does not point towards. It proves. Definitively. That's why it's called evidence.

[@Boogerz2136]

The amount of narcissism required to come to the conclusion that this group became badass overnight and changed their entire process because of you vs you just believing that they have been honest and you've overanalyzed things. 😂❤ Stay well, guy.

[@Hiddenleaf_88]

Maybe he would have more followers if he made music instead of trying to put other musicians down.

[@Boogerz2136]

@@Hiddenleaf_88 watch out, your comment is going to magically disappear soon. It didn't 100% agree with what Anchorsmashed already thinks. 😂

[@anchorsmashed]

I apologise if it wasn't obvious in the video, but my claims that it was me who made them go legit were in jest. I think it was a response to seeing how much traction the music was making. You are free to disagree with my conclusions!

[@Boogerz2136]

@anchorsmashed yeah, I do. You know why? Because nothing they've shared contradicts itself, and the info hasn't changed. You're over here hurting your little legs jumping to conclusions, and they've been super cool. Casually adjusting what they are doing to show you're wrong, but never specifically calling you out.

[@anchorsmashed]

@@Boogerz2136 >nothing they've shared contradicts itself, and the info hasn't changed I'll point you to 15:11 in my video where I go over the changing claims. If you're going to make an argument against my claims please understand them first. I have little interest in arguing over the internet, especially in the KZbin comments section lol, so I'll just leave it here with this and my reply to your other comment. Feel free to respond, but I am no longer fighting this.

[@Zanenoth]

This is some low quality bottom feeder clickbait

[@communications23]

Yes, sadly people believe they are a real band so this is an important video.

[@Zanenoth]

I think it's hilarious you'll show art that is AI generated, and descriptions that are AI generated but you won't play the music, the one thing you're claiming is AI generated. Also, no one cares if it is AI generated. Welcome to the future.

[@anchorsmashed]

I played three of their tracks in the spot the difference section (24:53). "Screamin' & Hollerin' of Souls", "Moshpit Hootenanny", and everyone's favourite "Banjo Bloodbath". I mislabeled them to demonstrate that when played side by side with AI generated music you cannot tell them apart. I explain this at the end of that section. I don't mind if it is AI generated, I mind if people are dishonest about that.

[@Boogerz2136]

@anchorsmashed the thing that is most telling about you is your inability to actually be corrected. You gain any new information, and your claims get slippery and change. "This band is 100% AI. I can tell because I'm a music producer and I can hear things that normal people can't. They'll never release a photo of themselves because there's no actual musicians involved." The band releases a video of themselves playing the music. "Uh, I mean, they are real musicians clearly. I just wasn't talking about that specific song (clearly referenced in multiple of your comments across the internet and your original video, btw). The other songs are fake." Okay. What happens when this guy takes the time and posts the stems for Banjo Bloodbath? What then?

[@anchorsmashed]

@@Boogerz2136 You say that I am unable to be corrected and then go on to give examples of me being corrected and updating my claims. Please understand my point of view before arguing against it. The band didn't release a video of "themselves" (multiple band members) playing the music, Patrick released a video of himself (sole member) and a session drummer. This contradicts prior claims that the band are multiple people (see section starting 15:11). I was wrong about Moonshine Moshpit and have updated my claims since then to reflect my new understanding of events. I have not seen evidence to show that I am wrong about the previous tracks. If Patrick can provide the evidence I've asked for then I'll gladly retract every incorrect claim, but until then I'm standing by what I've said. It's okay to disagree with me, you're wrong about what I've claimed so I'm correcting you. It's all right if this doesn't convince you, I'm happy to agree to disagree. You're clearly convinced they've always been real and that's allowed - disagreement is not a bad thing. I have said what I felt I needed to say with this video and I have no desire to continue the argument, be it with Patrick or with yourself, so I'll leave things here. Feel free to respond, but I am no longer pushing my arguments.

[@Boogerz2136]

@anchorsmashed a huge section of your first video is specifically about gathering info on why Moonshine Moshpit was the fakest of them all, and then you caught amnesia for your second video and your new argument was Moonshine Moshpit obviously being an exception to your AI narrative.

[@pseudonamed]

@Zanenoth LOTS of people care if it is AI generated