First of all, thank you all for choosing to participate in this chaotic project. I realize most of you are here because of my prior efforts. This project rests in stark contrast to those in many many ways. Specifically speaking, with Tool and APC it's about complete presentation. We explore every avenue possible. We take each piece as far as we possibly can before preserving and presenting them. It is as much about opening up possibilities as it is carefully guiding the experience. Not so, with Puscifer. Here we are a work in progress. We're attempting to grin and tap our foot in the midst of an ocean of chaotic processes and perceptions. It's an anything goes, light hearted party.
Backing up a bit.
Shit happens to some of us. Traumatizing events occur and then we spend the rest of our lives, either consciously or unconsciously, trying to work it out. Some of us become the aggressors, inflicting the same trauma on others. Some of us medicate. Some of us become creative and use different mediums to express our pain and healing process. It's a long process. And it of course gets worse before it gets better. If you happen to be one of the fortunate few who can express your self in a way with which people empathize, it can get even more difficult. The unhealthy behavior, which can surface during the healing process, is often times applauded. They applaud because you've touched on an experience with which they can relate. They applaud, you feel better, but only for a while. No ground is gained if we as artists only do it to be desired, praised, or accepted. The trick, for those who have chosen this expressive path, is to remember why you're here. The trick is to remember that you're here to heal and find resolution. That way if you stray off the path, or are seduced by the unhealthy accolades, you will be able to find your way back to the path. There are only so many metaphors for "feel my pain," "woe is me," and "pity this broken man." Eventually we need to move beyond the trauma, otherwise we're just a broken record and we offer no hope to anyone. If these stories aren't healing us, the teller of the tales, then how the hell are they going to help in the healing process of anyone else? Where is the hope if we are required to remain stationary, to continue picking scabs rather than move on to healthier places?
So, Remember. The goal for us is resolve and healing. The hope is that with each stage along the way, new understandings emerge. It would seem then that with each new threshold achieved, prior darker states of being become less and less relevant. And we in theory continue to move towards a lighter state of being.
Let's use the metaphor. There's been an earthquake or a tornado or hurricane or some large scale, tragic event. We're working to rescue the survivors, the injured, ourselves. We're exposed first hand to death. We're calculating what it will take to rebuild or if we should abandon. We're coming face to face with difficult if not impossible decisions. There is chaos. There are extreme emotions. But we are committed to seeing it through, however long it may take. For our benefit, and/or for everyone's benefit. And then one day we wake up to find we are out of the woods. We have persevered. But we've spent so much of our life dealing with the trauma that we're not quite sure what to do now. We've grown so accustomed to living under the most challenging of circumstances that we have no idea what to do with a lovely day. We are now in unknown and unfamiliar territory. So what do we do now?
The answer is simple.
It's time to celebrate. Drum roll…
Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you Puscifer, the party at the end of the storm. Kick off your clothes, it's time to get tipsy and dance naked under dime store strobe lights.