Cut me with your sun.
MASTODON, “CRACK THE SKYE”
14
MASTODON, KING KONG, AND INSPIRATION
Within spiritual circles, you’ll often hear the word inspiration equated with being “in-spirit.” This means that true inspiration comes from being in alignment with our spirit, or our spiritual self. I get that. I’ve certainly experienced it. There have also been plenty of times throughout my journey when I’ve felt completely defeated and uninspired—well, spiritually speaking that is.
I’ve gone through periods where it seemed like no amount of meditation, mantra, or prayer was connecting me to anything deeper than that of my normal waking state. These were times when I found myself wondering if the whole spirituality thing was a sham. But thanks to the many direct experiences I’d already had that completely contradicted this frustrated thinking, I knew better. These times also reminded me that spiritual practice isn’t just about basking in the bliss of peak experiences. It’s also (and more importantly) about touching the present moment in whatever way it presents itself to us, embracing and working with the good times as well as the ones filled with utter shit, keeping an open heart to it all because whatever is happening in life, is the path itself—all of it. (Did somebody say Everything Mind?)
Spirituality is not something to be forced. It should flow through us. Inspiration works in very much the same way. The question is, once we’ve been doing this spirituality thing for a while, will we still be open to inspiration in all its myriad forms? Will we still be able to take a moment to look at life through an unfiltered lens, which also includes laying aside the spiritual lens? (Because after all, that’s just another lens too.)
I have no problem admitting that there have been many times in the past when my head was so far up my ass with this spirituality thing that I lost sight of the fact that inspiration can strike from anywhere. I touched on this when I wrote about Lloyd Dobler, but another example of inspiration could be someone deciding to learn to play the guitar because Ian MacKaye or John Frusciante moved them. Some of you reading this had to have been inspired at some point to pick up a guitar, turn on the distortion, and rock the fuck out to songs by Minor Threat and Fugazi. Hell, maybe you just wanted to make the ladies (or men) swoon by playing them a cover of “Under the Bridge.”
Regardless, inspiration is inspiration, and who knows when and how it will strike, or where it will lead? Can you imagine if Hendrix had never been inspired to pick up a guitar, or Gretzky to put on a pair of skates, or Hawk to step onto his first skateboard? Hell, maybe there’s even someone out there who decided to take up acting because they thought that if Ice Cube and RZA could do it, well, so could they. (Respect of course to Ice Cube and RZA. I’m a fan of their music . . . and acting—for the most part.)
While I’ve found inspiration from all the aforementioned examples, my greatest source has come from those closest to me, like my brother, who after going to a small-town high school—where the majority of the teachers were closed minded and gave the skater/alternative kids a lot of shit for no good reason—went on to become a teacher himself. He learned from his own teachers’ mistakes and became the kind of educator who doesn’t discriminate and actually cares about all of his students, regardless of their personal interests or style.
Then there’s my mother, who, besides being a loving, supportive, and all-around incredible woman, has lived with lymphedema in her leg the majority of her life, yet still manages to get out there and walk in 5K events for various notable causes. I definitely can’t leave out my father, who, besides being a loving, supportive, and all-around incredible man, was raised in foster care by a woman and her daughter, and had no male role model in his life. Yet he still managed to become one hell of an amazing parent and role model himself. (Huge props to all you single parents, male and female, out there raising your kids. Respect.)
And of course, there’s my amazing wife, Jenn, who on a daily basis inspires me in countless ways, some of which include her incredibly huge heart and her tremendous creative, artistic visions and projects. Then there’s the coolest thing she’s ever done, which is bringing her little girl, Morgan, into this world. She is equally inspiring in her own silly, fun, curious, and loving ways.
So it’s fair to say that inspiration is available to us at all times—spiritually and otherwise—as long as we’re open to it. That’s just my two cents. I’m intrigued by how others find inspiration, so I’ll often slip that question into conversations and interviews I conduct. I’ve found there’s never a shortage of interesting responses.
Among them, an answer that I really appreciated happened during an interview I did with Mastodon’s drummer, Brann Dailor. I asked Brann from where, besides music, he drew his inspiration. He replied:
Pretty much any and everywhere all day long. I’m big into movies and documentaries. I was actually telling this story the other day about when the King Kong remake came out, that I had to leave the theater in the middle of it to go use a payphone so I could call my house and leave a riff on the answering machine. It actually became the riff in “Crystal Skull” that Scott Kelly [of Neurosis] sings over on our Blood Mountain album. So it could really be anything. I’m always seeking it. I read a lot of books and look for things in the pages, a phrase that lights up which I can take and use as a jumping-off point for lyrics. I try to travel as much as I can, even when I’m home from tour. I’ll go to Peru or Egypt or Russia. Thanks to my trip to Russia, I was able to finish my Crack the Skye story with the Rasputin thing because I became really inspired over there by all the bestial imagery and so on.1
Okay, so unlike Brann, we’re obviously not all able to just pick up and travel to places like Peru, Egypt, and Russia; or to have completely unfamiliar sensory experiences, resulting in new, out-of-the-box inspiration. But, as Brann went on to explain, that’s not entirely necessary to get our creative juices flowing:
I’m always looking for it no matter where I go, keeping my eyes and ears open. You can get a riff just walking down the street, in silence. You could be minding your own business when all of a sudden, the most beautiful noise enters your brain. And in my case, when that happens, hopefully I can guide that noise, that sound, to Bill or Brent’s fingers, which then will possibly make it onto the record, resulting in the people in the crowd enjoying it. And when it all comes full circle, that chain of events happened simply because I decided to take the dog for a walk. I love that.2
So whether you’re in Russia marveling at bestial imagery or checking out the latest blockbuster at your local theater or, hell, even simply out taking the dog for a walk, inspiration is always out there (and in there, thanks to Everything Mind) and often found in the most unexpected places—but only if we’re open to it.