PART I: BORN TO ROCK
When I heard Lennon’s Imagine in the early 90s, I had to not only learn to play the piano but also that epic drum fill before the chorus kicks in (which I could kinda do with the left hand finger drums on this keyboard I got one xmas from Santa). I loved the euro techno hits of the time but also bands like Green Day, Offspring, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, Oasis and Metallica, all of whom inspired me to start playing guitar when I was eleven. That eventually led to more sophisticated players like Clapton, Hendrix and of course the great Stevie Ray Vaughan.
These rock gods were my heroes. I wanted to learn how to play like them, be like them, talk like them, look like them, live like them. So I bought the CDs, read about them in magazines and books. I cut out their photos which I covered my bedroom walls with and proudly were their shirts. I was obsessed. My mission had begun and for many years I was enchanted by their rock god spells.
In 1998 I started writing my own songs. I was 15 at the time. Of course I sucked at first but it was the only way I could really process what was happening around me without anyone having to know who I really was or how I really felt (which I was ashamed of). As a songwriter I already felt like a God but as a teen lad I had zero confidence or self worth. And so I became a chameleon in a clown world for the next few decades, trying on different personas, characters, names, styles, accents, roles. Guitar and booze helped. I probably should’ve just moved to Hollywood where successful charlatans are glorified as celebrities. I could’ve at least failed in public. Instead, I became a king of the shadows.
I guess I thought the world didn’t want the real me. You had to join the pop clubs/tribes and toe the company lines. Or join the anti-pop clubs/tribes and step on the toes. It’s like like there was this constant war of ideologies, no matter the field or group. It was confusing and disappointing to see this same phenomenon wherever I went, even in art and music. Just endless human drama and the struggle for power. The all-prevading “hustle or die” culture and its relentless pressure to achieve, succeed and become, never felt right. But it seemed like almost everyone I knew was in on the scam.
I tasted the kool-aid but spit it out, packed my backs and fucked off to the promised land. There had to be another way to live in this God forsaken world. And I was gonna find it, then come back to share it with my people.
PART II: BOUND IS THE BOATLESS MAN
I heard whispers from those that weren’t part of this capitalist shit-show spectacle. They sang to a different tune. Not necessarily for nor against. Here nor there. They lived different. Ate different. They were the painters, poets, prophets and mystics of history, some of which you only know now because they are dead and gone (long, gone lonesome blue as Hank Williams sang). Dead prophets are much easier to follow.
So I went in the opposite direction and kind of began to disconnect from the modern world. My path was towards being instead of doing. Truth and love became my beacons of light. I met many mentors and masters that helped me see things clearly and de-program from the mass brainwashing. Was it easy? No. Was it fun? Yeah.
As my own path unfolded, I began to integrate art with spirit, inevitably seeing it as one and the same; the poet and mystic becoming one. I knew there were others like me out there. I didn’t really “know” what I was doing but I kept going. To be a mystic is to go beyond the known and having faith in the experience of whatever is happening.
Occasionally I would meet fellow travellers like me that gave me courage to persist. We traded war stories and sang into the wee hours of the night. My music and poetry gave me the confidence and worth I never had as a teen nor wanted as a man.
PART III: A REVOLUTION OF CULTURE
After spending the last 6 years on my own in a quiet town near the Russian border, I have put together a collection of songs about all this that I feel obligated to share with the world.
The album is called “DRIFTER’S PARADISE” (available for free on all streaming platforms December 1st, 2024).
As for my story, you will find more in the songs, poems, videos, writings and performances. And remember: “It’s the same universal love that flows through each of us”.
Thanks for reading Bubba. Hope to see you out there somewhere.
To be continued…
Written by Mark Lund
November 2024
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