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The Mystic Technocracy is a new and exciting science-fiction story and music project that has been in development for a number of years. It is the fictional outcome of a very simple observation: for 4000 years man has tortured, murdered, waged warfare and committed genocide in the name of the same God worshiped by Christians, Jews and Muslims, the three monotheistic religions. It is not a story against religion, but it is a story about the madness of man when he falls under the influence of fanatical dogmatic faith. This religious premise has then been plugged into a science-fiction universe, in which religion was created by a silicon-based life form, the Mystic Technocracy, in order to control, manipulate and eventually destroy humanity.

If you like TV series and 1930s serials like Babylon 5, Space 1999, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, this is for you. If you like progressive rock bands like Yes, ELP and Dream Theater, AOR bands like Asia and Journey as well as Duran Duran, David Bowie, Jarre and The Rockets, this is also for you. If you have, like me, a healthy dislike of fundamentalism, and blind dogmatic faith, and spend lots of time wondering why so much pain and destruction can be generated by religions whose main goal is supposed to be love and compassion, then this is definitely for you.

This project and this page will be a work in progress for quite some time. In the meantime, this will be the central hub between me, the band and the fans. Do not hesitate to post your comments, observations, criticisms and even complaints. I will try to respond and interact with all of you as much as time permits. I hope you will enjoy the Mystic Technocracy project, so come back often for updates!

"There is joy and there is sadness in the tidal wave of life, but there is no good or evil in the mutation of matter in energy… "

SPACE: SILIX IV, A MYSTERIOUS PLANET LOCATED NEAR THE CORE OF THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY

TIME: THE BEGINNING OF THE ARCHAEAN EON (3.8 BILLION YEARS AGO), SHORTLY AFTER THE APPEARANCE OF LIFE ON EARTH

PLOT: From the dawn of time, near the core of the Andromeda Galaxy, lurks a mysterious silicon-based techno-organic life form known as the Mystic Technocracy. They are the absolute rulers of a vast and desert region of the Universe known as the Virgo Supercluster, which contains the Milky Way as well as the Andromeda Galaxy. They live on Silix IV, an eerie world illuminated by UV rays, with mountains of crystal and metal, black deserts of silicon sand and seas of liquid mercury. The Technocrats possess special abilities that allow them to manipulate reality, time and space at subatomic level, resulting in phenomena that appear to have mystical or supernatural causes.

One of the first sentient races of the Universe, the Technocrats suddenly witness something unexpected: on a multitude of planets, carbon-based molecules are quickly assembling into highly adaptable and self-replicating sequences. The Technocrats, although able to mutate and adapt to their environment, are unaware of the concept of evolution which does not apply to their rigid silicon structure, and they immediately perceive a threat. They decide to exterminate all carbon-based life forms wherever they find them, because they realize that eventually their evolution would result, billions of years in the future, in a proliferation of very adaptable intelligent life forms against which the Technocrats could not compete. Therefore, they send a Technocrat to every planet showing signs of carbon activity in order to corrupt its DNA sequences and terminate all carbon-based life forms. A self-destruct mechanism is programmed to quickly lead all living species to extinction.

A Technocrat [ZZ 999] is dispatched to Earth, but once it reaches the Solar System, for unknown reasons, it malfunctions and crash-lands on the planet.

SPACE: EARTH

TIME: FROM THE END OF THE ORDOVICIAN PERIOD (444 MILLION YEARS AGO) TO THE END OF THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD (65 MILLION YEARS AGO)

PLOT: Seriously damaged after the crash, the Technocrat is unable to complete its mission, and carbon based life thrives on Earth. Several million years pass, while the Technocrat repairs itself. Only partially functional, it repeatedly tries to wipe out life on Earth, but fails each time. After each attempt, drained of most of its energy, the Technocrat goes back to a dormant state in an attempt to restore its functions.

Modern scientists refer to these attacks as ELEs (Extinction-Level Events), during which a large percentage of life on Earth became extinct in different prehistoric ages. So far, there have been five major ELEs.

This last ELE backfired on the Technocrat, because the elimination of the dinosaurs led directly to the rapid evolution of mammals, eventually leading to humans and intelligent life on Earth.

SPACE: EARTH

TIME: FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE HOLOCENE EPOCH (9600 B.C.) TO THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES (1000 A.D.)

PLOT: Humans become the first and only intelligent life form on the planet. The Technocrat, having failed to eliminate life with external means, decides to destroy humanity from within. He manipulates the human genetic code to limit their potential. The need for organized religion is therefore embedded in the human psyche. The religious systems become increasingly dogmatic and intolerant as the Technocrat modifies and introduces new beliefs and divinities to accelerate the process of self-destruction. Animism and shamanism, among the first religions on the planet, are quickly considered too benevolent and disorganized, and are quickly replaced by complex polytheistic systems which span several continents. Finally, to increase the chaos created by conflicting systems, the Technocrat introduces monotheism in three successive waves. These new systems, which worship the same single God in different and conflicting ways, become rigid and dogmatic, with an absolutistic sense of morality that inaugurates a 3000-year era of constant religious fighting, first between the old and the new religions, then between the different monotheistic faiths.

From this setting, the story slowly unfolds toward an unexpected climax and conclusion. Several questions will be raised and answered in the process. How has the Technocrat shaped the past ,and how will it affect the future? Will humans discover the Technocrat and its location? And what will they do about it? Is it still alive and active, or has it succumbed to its crash? Will humans find a way to liberate themselves of its influence? All of this and much more will be revealed song by song through the double concept album in development.

My name is Douglas R. Docker and I am the founder of Docker's Guild as well as the creator, author and main songwriter of The Mystic Technocracy story and music. Of French and American origins, I grew up in Italy where I completed my classical music education. I began to study piano at the age of seven and violin two years later. Until 1989, I performed regularly as a second violinist in the orchestra of the Istituto Musicale Corelli of Pinerolo and as a solo classical pianist. I participated in a dozen international classical piano competitions (Stresa, Bardolino, Senigallia, Torre Pellice, Capri), always reaching the top positions, including two absolute first prizes. At the age of thirteen, I participated in a classical piano master class with Jean Micault (former assistant to Alfred Cortot), and a few years later in a jazz improvisation master class with Raf Cristiano. In 1989 I obtained my BA in Classical Piano at the Conservatory of Cuneo, under the supervision of Aurora Verso. Between 1983 and 1992 I also played in a variety of rock bands, such as High Voltage (rock), Anatema (Italian rock and '80s AOR), Spleen ('80s new wave) and Dirty Secrets (ELP, Yes and original prog rock).

In the '90s my attention turned to pop and rock: in 1991 I won a scholarship and I obtained the diploma of sound engineer at the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale (APM) in Saluzzo (Italy), then I relocated to Los Angeles to attend the Keyboard Institute of Technology at the Musicians Institute, graduating with honors in 1993. Soon after graduation, I joined Biloxi, a melodic rock band whose debut CD "Let the Games Begin" obtained worldwide success, reaching n. 10 in the Japanese charts (Burrn! Magazine) and n. 1 in England as the best import CD of 1993 (Kerrang! Magazine), as well as collecting an impressive amount of rave reviews worldwide. Biloxi toured the Los Angeles club scene extensively in 1993-1994, regularly headlining and selling out all the legendary Sunset Strip clubs, such as the Roxy, the Wiskey à Gogo and the Troubadour, among others. Biloxi then went on a promotional tour in Mississippi which culminated by headlining a show at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi (MS) in January 1994. Biloxi was about to record a second album and tour Scandinavia and Europe, and even open for the Monsters of Rock festival, but the band broke up following the tragic deaths of Bob Simis (our manager) and of Rich Symons (our guitar player). During my stay in the US I had the opportunity to work and study with some of the most skilled rock musicians in Los Angeles, such as Derek Sherinian (keyboardist for Kiss, Alice Cooper and Dream Theater), Tony Franklin (bass player for Jimmy Page, Whitesnake), Philip Wolfe (keyboardist for WASP, Keel, Angel), Tim Bogert (bass player for Vanilla Fudge), Craig Goldy (guitarist for Dio, Giuffria), Al Pitrelli (guitarist for Alice Cooper, Asia), Elias Arts (producer for Duran Duran, Yes), Carl Schroeder (pianist for Sarah Vaughan), Tom Hooker (Den Harrow) and Cat Grey (keyboardist for Prince).

In 1995 I returned to Italy where I founded the electronic space-pop/rock project Area 51 and the following year I released its debut album "In the Desert". Featuring Mio Nakamura on vocals and guitar, this project was a unique blend of progressive rock songwriting, AOR vocals, synth-pop sounds and arrangements with a futuristic image. At the same time, I founded Silhouette, a band which presented a split show with a first part concentrating on progressive rock (ELP, Yes, Rush and Dream Theater) and a second part focusing on R&B, funk and disco covers. In 1997 I created and developed Night Fever, which was designed to be a theatrical disco music band with a rock attitude and a futuristic sci-fi look inspired by Kiss, Star Wars and Japanese anime. Today known as Disco Inferno, the band is considered as the best theatrical disco music show in Italy.

After Night Fever, I took a break from performing for a few years, traveling to Sweden, Thailand and France, and resuming my academic studies. In 2005 I obtained a second BA in Musicology at the Sorbonne University. I also resumed my performing activities with American Piano Music, a solo piano program with a historical perspective that focuses on African-American piano music, particularly spirituals, ragtime, novelty, stride, boogie-woogie, honky-tonk, progressive rock and classical music. In July 2006 I returned to Thailand to shoot a 2-hour DVD documentary on pi phat ensembles and in 2007 I obtained an MA in Ethnomusicology. My specialization is traditional Thai music, with an emphasis on the ritual repertoire, pi phat ensembles, the wai khru ritual and the Tantric and esoteric worship of Brahmanic deities and demons by Thai musicians, particularly the supreme demon/god known as Phra Phirap. From 2008 to 2009, I worked for the Istituto per i Beni Musicali in Piemonte as a freelance researcher. I am currently devoting all my time to my new sci-fi prog rock project called Docker's Guild.

Besides being a pianist, keyboardist and musicologist, I am also a songwriter, composer, arranger, producer and teacher in a variety of music disciplines. I have recorded several albums, both as an artist and as a session man, and I have composed soundtracks.