Image: No, I didn't make the cover, but here's a little image I put together to celebrate my recent interview in the German Deaf Forever magazine. @deaf.forever
Good morning, it’s Friday in Golliak canyon.. a beautiful campfire crackle is all I hear over the faint hum of the western winds that are crossing through this canyon notch. I awoke early to the morning hum of Warmoth songs in the distance. Ezra is sleeping although she wakes frequently at each crackle and pop of the burning hazel wood fire. I’m close to her because she’s quite warm and dare I say cuddly.. although I wont say that to her.. she likes to think she’s fierce and scary. We're on the move again… plotting a meeting with an ancient moon on white mountain. It’s a culmination of a lot of things… the pinnacle of what I’ve been working on. I hope I can get there in time. Winter is nipping on these first days of autumn… soon the clocks will change and the darkness of 2024 will slowly creep over this fateful year of highs and lows. There’s a real poetry to time… one season connected to each before and after… like a lonely word that needs others to survive and have meaning. A phrase before and a phrase after that in harmony describe our existence. I’m writing a story and I’m almost done with the first chapter. The “Breakers” are almost complete. A little update today:
To Germany with love: On August 5th I was contacted by Micheal Kohsiek regarding an interview for a German heavy metal magazine called “Deaf Forever”. And so this week the magazine article came out along with a very flattering review of my “Beyond the Breakers” record. I posted it below. Ya know, I’ve been around in my life… I’ve had a lot of bad reviews on projects I’ve done over the years. I’ve done everything I possibly could to succeed as a song writer and musician in my former life.. I worked relentlessly… throwing caution to the wind… sleeping in rehearsal rooms… sacrificed many a relationship with many a people because of my ambitions and will… I’ve quit… I’ve given up… been lost… been counted out more times than I can remember… told I wasn’t good enough… many many times… even by my closest of friends… but, I always seem to find that fire again. It never really dies. Life is funny, the hardships over time really do mold us into something. In truth we all do suck… and we all really are amazingly awesome at the same time. I think in order to cross the bridge… you really must understand that. It’s easy to turn around and make friends with the doubters and naysayers of your dreams.. to question yourself and succumb to the keg of ale in a drunken midnight stupor and gossip your life away over what could of beens and what could bees. Or… you can just keep walking with proper blinders on… inside those blinders is the vision you know and feel in your heart… it’s different for everyone. There are small victories in life and harsh defeats.. it’s inevitable… as long as you’re not dead yet, rise again I say and look to that next hill… and turn off the noise around you. Just listen to the wind and the low rumble of the streams that flow from the mountain tops. Obey your dream as silly as it may be. Your dream is as real and as unpredictable as that mountain stream. It’s amazing and all that stands before you and it… is time. Not your enemies… not your shortcomings, not any obstacles, no, you’ve been designed already good enough for dream hunting, we all have been. Time is your greatest ally as you drift down the river. Use it my friend.
Anyway, sorry, I lost myself there a moment. I do that. I think I’ve been drinking too much Grasslandian tree bark tea. Ezra thinks it makes me crazy. She often “grumbles” when I reach for it. But I love it so.
Well, thank you to Micheal for the interview and for caring enough to ask me questions. He’s one of the first people to hear my record and reach out to me offering to help spread the word about it in Europe and for that I’m somewhat indebted to him. Him and some others. Metal music has a way of connecting people. It’s a strange unseen power really. I know it all too well myself. I’ve now become of wielder of such power, so to say. I’m humbled by it.
All Hallows: On Halloween night I planned to release the first of the 2 music videos I’ve been working on. The first video will be for the song called “Long is the Road” That was the plan. However, some things behind the scenes have been happening that could shift the release back so that it coincides with a physical release of the “Beyond the Breakers” vinyl . I don’t know yet if that’s going to happen, but I will say, the videos will be something special to me and a direct reflection of the “Breakers” record. For now I’ll say “All-Hallows” night, but if things change, I’ll be sure and update the timeline. The first video takes me back to New England during the hey day of American Heavy Metal. We’ll get to see Hadder on his Bokonian hillsides and hear from an old mage who was the original creator, the real east coast memory maker, seer and appointed voice of heavy metal in Rhode Island. The “Rabbit” video will show the aftermath of my life and the hill and ashes I once called home. I’m hoping that video finally puts old ghosts to bed for me. Life is but wishful thinking.
Well, that’s all for today. My tea is cold and my morning fire is but a smoldering ember of it’s former self. Time for some new wood. I’ve included my interview in “Deaf Forever” below, feel free to send me the translation, I haven’t a clue what it says.
Just a little more time, it’s almost done, Farewell friends
-j
