Damien Taylor shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Damien, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Mellow and free! I tend wake early almost purely to wake with the day itself. get out of bed, get some light stretching in and ease into action. I put on the Bialetti, have some water and a banana and make a light breakfast to eat when the coffee’s done. Send kisses across state lines and timezones, play my guitar a little (and quietly! I lately get up at 5:55 somehow) watch the sky prepare itself and enjoy the time as “no one’s”. I like to enjoy a smoke, do some breathing exercises and take a good, soft walk. I found it most helpful for me to bring a blank canvas mind into the day instead of the usual sketches and unfinished works up there. Plenty of “flying paint” out there, no need to bring yesterday’s painting! Once my mind feels like a leaf floating on an endless sky, then I feel most ready to dance. Some mornings take all day!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hallo, I’m Damien and I work with a little fuzz-rock combo called The Flash Hits. Within our camp we make little films, books and magazines, we screen print and build things and work to keep the ethos of family village adaptable and sustainable as hyper-ubiquitous clutter aims to gain a grip on our consciousnesses. We aim for simplicity and seek an unlimited potential atmosphere, an Oulipo Montessori of sorts. Our primary medium is Rock N’ Roll; traditional, modern/ contemporary, and futuristic. It is not very important to the culture at large at the moment, and so we are just tossing little seeds and gemstones just in case the seekers return. We exist pretty far outside of computer and media culture, and I guess nowadays there is a curiosity about an operation that has essentially maintained the position “hiding in plain sight”. It was never in my cultural upbringing to be pushy and blabby about what you’re up to with your art. Put it where it goes when it’s done and let people tell You how they feel about it. It’s not exactly common practice to put that connectivity in play instead of exhausting resources for promotion. We have to keep the lights on under our respective roofs and that takes food! All of our work is to serve playtime. We know it’s only Rock N’ Roll, but we Like it. We Love it. Yes we do! So we kiss the Muses back, so to speak. And, thank goodness! people enjoy our work, and that is the most important resource of all to work with.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I like how this ties into the last question! The world has certainly shown me who I am and am not to be, and thankfully it takes opportunity to mercilessly tumble me smooth where edges appear! And that’s what this is for me. Through all of my frustrations, missteps, disasters, goal actualizations, moments of sheer awe at the “acts of the invisible world”- you know, just moments that are inexplicable…. It’s all inexplicable really, isn’t it? I mean, we can describe everything in this world to a certain degree, but beyond that; like, this interview is being transmitted through the air across some major distance. We can describe to each other why and how we understand that it works, but then to get into the finer threads of it all… I can’t translate what air is thinking or doing as far as “It” is concerned any more than the air can explain me! For the most part, I’d say I listen more to what the world itself seems to be trying to say instead of the people in it since we’re all just translating it to the extent of our experiences. Which are all individual and unique! Once that is established as our common thread, we can get down to describing together, see what we can surmise. Music is vibration, and most Rock instruments are magnets and metal and wood.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
It’s so nice to see You, little Me.
From where You sit, how are we doing? Where have I failed us, and where am I serving our true intent? Are you happy in here, where we are now?
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I would say associating with descriptors instead of accepting that every one of us have so so so so so much more to learn about what goes where and how to work together, because everybody’s smart in their own way and it’s all important. It took me ages to understand that. Everyone is smart about something and can learn whatever they put their hearts and heads into. The rolling up of the sleeves and putting the shoes on the sidewalk is the only way to know how much more there is to learn, and to help stop “getting mad at the math”. The current notions of specificity and specialization are taking lean more toward what reads as “sophisticated bigotry” than wisdom. At the end of the day, it’s the beginning of the night and only you can fall yourself to sleep.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
Time Machines
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @the.flash.hits
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/the.flash.hits
- Other: https://strangemono.bandcamp.com/album/witch-kids-seek-magic-world
https://frontierrecords-flashhits.bandcamp.com/album/growths-2
Image Credits
Mark Zimin, Abby Codrea, Mike Hammel, Matty Taylor
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
