Watch Montreal-based band Duchess Says' amazing video for "Black Flag".

OK, have you watched it? Wondering what the hell was up with all that psycho-aerobicizing?

The footage comes from one of the compounds of cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Back in the late 1970s, thousands of Westerners flocked to his ashram (spiritual community) in Pune, India seeking enlightenment and orgies. Rajneesh was known as the disco sex guru because of his belief that uninhibited sex was integral to achieving enlightenment. His followers (known as sannyasins) lived communally and were encouraged to have sex with everyone, including him (of course). They were required to give him everything they owned and cut ties with their families. The sannyasins also participated in "therapy sessions" in which they released their frustrations by beating the hell out of each other. It was all about the obliteration of the personality. Once the self was destroyed, the person could be molded according to Rajneesh's designs. He freely admitted this: Only by destroying you, I can give you a new birth. Doesn't this make the video extra creepy and disturbing?

But it gets even weirder. Duchess Says has a cult of their own. The band claims that its sole purpose is to spread the good news about the Church of Budgerigars. That's right-- parakeets. According to lead singer A-Claude:

The Church of Budgerigars was created to promote the Duchess (or spiritual budgie) and spread its values through sophisticated and elaborate information programs. The church proposes a vast range of products and services including psychic lines, numerology, geomancy, religious shop, the Budgie Laboratories and, principally, our rock band, Duchess Says. (Source)

So the Duchess in Duchess Says is some sort of parakeet deity. You may have noticed that at the beginning of the "Black Flag" video there's a screen announcing that what you are about to see is from the archives of the CH.o.B. That would be the Church of Budgerigars.

Here's a video of them performing on the Canadian program "Mange Ta Ville." A-Claude appears to be in the midst of a psychotic episode during the performance. She makes Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) seem sedate.