OHIO MATH ROCKERS INOCULOUS RELEASE LIVE EP ‘WE OUT HERE’ TO BENEFIT BLACK LIVES MATTER GLOBAL NETWORK
1. What does blm mean to you? Black Lives Matter is a peaceful cry for equality. They are not asking people to drop everything and shower black people like royalty. They are demanding the same privileges and rights that everyone else enjoys and that we have neglected. Assurance that we will not be shot at a traffic stop, or that we can hold a toy gun in a store and not scare other customers. To me, the organization is a step forward toward systemic racism in the house, police brutality and criminal justice reform.
2. How have the recent events affected your musicianship? With COVID-19, I have found myself in a bit of a rut. I’ve been writing a lot more in Guitar Pro and teaching myself how to play the impossible music I’m programming as a personal quest to level up. As for promotion, I have felt a lot of pressure to not release music. I had a follow up to Creature Beach set for release in May. But current events have pushed self-serving matters further down the line for all parties involved. There is also backlash on social media toward some artists promoting their work as it seems selfish currently. While we should encourage citizens to consume content that will educate potential allies and social media is a convenient place for doing so, it disregards the emotions of artists looking to share healing and offer escapism from the world crumbling around us. I often like to remind people that they probably have never heard their favorite song yet.
3. What changes do you want to see in the world and music scene as it relates to the recent events? I want black people to be perceived as equal in the eyes of the law. This starts politically with political reform. Most of our current congress members are outdated and cannot possibly empathize with the needs of those crying out in the streets. I want police to have more extensive training when it comes to conflict resolution. Why does America have more police fatalities than most European countries combined? Music will forever continue to serve as a higher power, offering relief from troubles, setting a new mood, and some songs becoming the soundtrack of the movement ultimately becoming the anthem of a generation.
4. What have you learned from what’s happened? People are justifiably mad. But a lot of people are misdirecting their anger. Some things I have seen online have been telling white artists not to release music. Music will heal people I believe and limiting that flow of art from certain races and handpicking what to support is such a privileged perspective to have. The movement to shop at black-owned businesses feels this way too. How will any of these actions ACTIVELY institute reform? They won’t, and when all of this is over those same people will probably revert to their same habits, shop at the same stores, and listen to the same albums on repeat. People should be furious and flooding the streets, but they also need to channel their anger into thinking, really critically thinking, about how to influence power holders into long term reform. Who are they? What do they like? What makes them tick? What have they voted on in the past? These are the questions we need to be asking.
Comments