#punkpoet

[independentartistbuzz]

Indie 5-0 with Stephen Jaymes

The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and punk poet Stephen Jaymes can only be described as Charles Bukowski ditching whiskey for psychedelic mushrooms while feverishly ingesting Rumi poetry and Phil Ochs records.

His newest single, the upbeat folk rock and punk infused single "Tokyo," is a rousing call to make the journey to a magical place that two people create together, even in the face of certain climate destruction. In a fun twist, "Tokyo" has nothing to do with the city.

We got to speak with Stephen Jaymes about his song, his career, and more!

What was the inspiration for your new song "Tokyo"? How did the idea for the song come about?

I do a lot of Dr. Seuss type singing with nonsense words and rhymes. Exercising the unconscious. I practice that kind of flow a lot, and I try to make a voice note of the best parts before they evaporate. I was in that kind of flow in my garden, thinking about the tiny gardens we make where we try to hide from what’s happening to the Earth. We failed at the big communal garden. That humanist dream is dying. So we retreat to our little gardens. The guitar riff popped into my head first, then the first line materialized and the lyrics kind of spontaneously coalesced into a story about improbable human love in a private garden against an apocalyptic backdrop. Tokyo might have been a temp word in the lyrics, but the word couldn’t be cut. It was the mysterious beating heart of the song’s rhythm, and it didn’t work without it. The song is about an emotional place, not the literal city, but if you can name your place Terebithia or any other made-up name, why can’t you can give it an existing name? The more I worked on it, the more a story developed in my mind about a future survivor who’s only heard the name from a world that existed before, so he appropriates it for a new one. Later I realized I also owe a debt to Joey Ramone, who liked to use Tokyo as a nonsense rhyme filler.   

Folk, punk, and other genres seem to intersect in your music. How do you approach blending different musical styles, and what role do these combinations play in expressing your artistic voice?

I grew up listening to the first wave of punk and New Wave, while at the same time listening to 60s folk records from the family crate. I found a lot in common between the two musical worlds, especially in the defiant attitude toward power structures and the representation of disenfranchised voices. Woody Guthrie was a total punk at heart, and so was Phil Ochs (who actually inspired a number of seminal punk bands). I think most of the artistically successful genre blenders are operating unconsciously. You have to trust that the right inspiration for the next chord or lyric will come like a remembered bird call, and that it will be authentic to your style. For me those bird calls could be The Boomtown Rats or Gordon Lightfoot. The critical, magical thing is that only the songwriter knows the bird calls they’re using. Once you mix them, they sound like something new. I recently saw a clip of Dave Grohl talking about how his Nirvana drumming was influenced by disco fills. That makes a lot of sense to me. We didn’t hear them that way at the time, because they blended with punk to help put the radio shine on grunge, and grunge was a mix of styles that sounded new.

What drew you to write music for a living? How would you describe your style?

I once thought I was an actor at heart, later I thought I was a psychiatrist, still later a novelist. It was a roundabout path and I had to wait a long time to figure myself out. I was always writing songs, but I believed absolutely that it was an internal game, like crosswords or golf (neither of which hook me like they do lots of people). It didn’t occur to me to share them for a long time. When it’s something you can’t stop doing, you don’t really have a choice in the matter. I’m a vicious critic of my own work, which is a curse and a blessing. A curse was I probably toiled in solitude for too long. One of the blessings of being such a sharp self-critic was noticing that I could procrastinate with production and mixing indefinitely to escape the writing work. For awhile I was trying to do it all, like Prince or Jeff Lynne. That’s how I do it now, but I couldn’t at first. So years ago I decided I wouldn’t record anything more than one vocal and one instrument (usually guitar, sometimes piano), and that forced me to do the harder work. Only in the last years have I gone back to full arrangements and multi-instrument production. I finally feel like I can create the sounds I want to without getting lost in the orchestration or making the songwriting suffer - without losing the personal style that’s evident in the stripped down version of the song. 

If you could collaborate with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Oh man. It’s hard to give one answer. I’ll cheat and give two. For alive people, I think it would have to be Questlove. His work with D’Angelo blows my mind. It does for my brain what ASMR does for others. He’s a skilled and wildly experienced collaborator. I don’t know what it would sound like, but I know it would be rare and it would challenge every reluctant part of me. As for my dead heroes, it would have to be Harry Nilsson, before he worked with Lennon and ruptured his vocal cords. The Nilsson who wrote Good Old Desk. I sing along to my favorite songs, and I think our voices blend nicely. I also have a fantasy that I could have kept him more on track. I definitely would have warned him of the harrowing disappointment awaiting anyone trying to reform gun laws in America, as he tried to do after Lennon was shot. Harry needed a medication that wasn’t alcohol and I would have liked to help him find it. 

Do you have messages that you like to get across in your music, if so please tell us about them?

I guess I do, but I don’t think about the message when I’m writing a song. I can’t see the forest for the trees when I’m writing, but if I find the heart of the song each time, the trees always make up a healthy forest when I come up and look from a distance. As to what that forest looks like, I’m not in touch with that when I’m writing a song. I’m never thinking about getting across a message. Each time it feels a lot more like, what message is this song getting across to me? How can I not obscure it? I look at my songs together and notice the trends after the fact. My songs talk about the predicament of having to know yourself in a world where really knowing yourself is very rare and uncomfortable. I think they promote the idea that truly loving another human being is the only way out of that predicament and the only way to find freedom. Chief Inspector, my first single of the summer, was very Jungian, an introspective mystery. Tokyo looks outward, inviting the listener to dance and find love even when everything is disintegrating. My next single, Virus Vaccine, is an exploration of how that dance can still go wrong even with the best intentions. Maybe the overall message is keep your eyes open - you are witnessing something as terrifying as the face of God and it’s occurring in your own lifetime. You have to ask why. Turning away is not an option.

[jonberkeley]

#bardofsalford #punkpoet #comedian #portrait #acrylicpainting #profileillustration #sketchbookspecials #editorialillustration #magazineillustration #magazinecover #illo #hollywoood #pencildrawing #lineandwash #artistsoninstagram #aiisnotart https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn1k2_9MR73/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[blendergallery]

⚡️ "I have always collected portraits of artists. My reasons are quite simple - I have a curiosity to see how artists present themselves in front of a camera. Creative people exude an indefinable presence and often project a striking persona. For me, portraits of artists are inspirational, historically relevant, and often time speak to the spirit of their own work." - Norman Seeff 📸 In her book, Just Kids, Patti Smith referred to Mapplethorpe as the "artist of my life"... incredible stuff.. Patti Smith & Robert Mapplethorpe, "Mine II", NYC 1969 by Norman Seeff .. Peace & Love ✌️❤️🎶 @normanseeff @thisispattismith #pattismith #pattismithgroup #justkids #portraits #robertmapplethorpe #normanseeff #becausethenight #rockandroll #punk #punkpoet #sixties #nyc #hangs #love #lovers #musichistory #legendsneverdie #rockroyalty #rockicon #musicphotography #styleicon #muse #style #easter #radioethiopia #horses #rocknroll #blendergallery (at Blender Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cjo_1OjvRER/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[iaintnobodyswhore]

Patti Smith by Allan Tannenbaum, 1974

[loudlove-64]

Timeless talent....

[geoparkin]

Permanently available on #bbcsounds if you haven’t yet heard it. #johncooperclarke #desertislanddiscs #punk #poet #punkpoet #nationaltreasure #moleskine #sketchbook #pendrawing #adobephotoshop (at Preston Village, Brighton) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0j2WUpn2O0/?igshid=1fw04jtnwaj75

[backroadsandcitystreets]

Ever Fallen In Love. From Mix Tapes and Photo Albums. Published in @quailbellmag. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

[straycatthepunk]

[idletongues]

💙R E B E L G R R R L💙

.Her eyes shine like emeralds.

.Her heart filled with a burning passion for life.

.Her mind glows with beauty and brilliance.

.She's my Rebel Grrrl and she has become the queen of my itty bitty world.

.If looks could kill, she'd watch the world slowly decay.

.She's got a style all her own and she don't give a damn about a bad reputation.

.Her smile, oh god damn, her smile could bring world peace.

.She's my Lucy in the sky, the most perfect constellation.

.The Wayne to my Garth, The Wendy O. to my Lemmy.

.Her walk could send a man to a psych ward and those emerald stained eyes could bring you to your knees.

.She's the Josie to my Blink, Princess Leia to my Han.

.She's got my heart in the palms of her hands.

.Years of damage and destruction to a broken heart can lead a man to insanity, but, I've slowly picked up every piece and repaired it...only for you.

.Rebel Grrrl, take my hand and don't let go.

.Sit next to me as we gaze upon the skyline of this city and i whisper into your ears, "I'm Yours."

*R.D.18*

[greywillow3]

Static: Here we go/ One more time/ Same old bullshit/ New tired line/ Telling me/ Things will change/ How many times/ Before I go insane/ Broke my heart/ I lost my mind/ Still can't see/ What I don't/ Want to find/ Say you'll be there/ Oh how you care/ What good is that/ If we go nowhere/ (Reaching through the static To find our frequency) The closer we get/ The further we fall/ Seems impossible/ To fucking evolve/ You punch through doors/ Begging forgiveness/ I run away/ Wishing for stillness/ My tongue has sharpened/ Like a knife/ Carving doubts in my mind/ You lose your baggage/ I'll lose mine/ Let's leave/ This bullshit behind/ (Reaching through the static To find our frequency) Reading Bukowski/ Into the night/ Drinking whiskey/ Just to fight/ You have the power/ To make me rage/ I lose my way/ More each day/ The static grows/ With every word/ We speak/ It's never easy/ To just let/ Things be/ Close your eyes/ Quiet your mind/ I know/ You can find me/ Just give it time. 💫Amber Comber 📸 Laurel E. Steele

[mudkissphotography]

PATTI SMITH: @ O2 APOLLO, MANCHESTER

I adore this woman, and indeed been a fan since 1978. They say the soundtrack to your youth never leaves you and this is so true. I was so pleased to be photographing Patti and her band once more. The standard rules for shooting Patti are two songs from the extreme left or right of the pit. I used mainly a 70-200mm Nikon lens and managed to get some close shots at this angle from the right hand side. The last time I photographed her we shot from the left, there actually is a difference. I was so delighted that I had a moment with Patti, in that she smiled right down my camera and her hair is a halo of lavender coloured lighting. This is the shot below. You can read my photo review on Louder Than War here:

Use of these images in any form without permission is illegal. If you wish to use or license any images please contact mel@mudkissphotography.co.uk

All work copyright Melanie Smith/ Mudkiss Photography All Rights Reserved

[backseatmafia]

1977 single on Small Wonder from punk-folk poet Patrik Fitzgerald and the iconic Safety pin stuck in my heart Added to the playlist - link in bio, go follow it? #punk #punkpoet #patrikfitzgerald #safetypinstuckinmyheart #smallwonderrecords #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylcommunity #vinylrecords #vinylcollector #vinyladdict #vinyljunkie #record #recordcollection #recordcollector #lexiconofundergroundmusic #backseatmafia https://www.instagram.com/p/CMPlripsVKH/?igshid=t384zrawy690

[adamgnade]

My record label for writers has announced its latest tape.

Self-Portrait with Ghosts and Trains is an hour-long full-length collection of writing by Jessie Lynn McMains @rustbeltjessie​ It's out July 2nd. It's a massive, encyclopedic, crowded, scary, and all-around fucking killer piece of work. Pre-order is up now at my shop or the label's bandcamp.

https://helloamerica.bandcamp.com/

[blendergallery]

⚡️“I'm constantly going through my contact sheets and discovering overlooked images that should be seen. I just digitized five more Patti Smith photos and I love this one of her kneeling onstage while playing her Fender Duo-Sonic taken at The Bottom Line in 1976” - Allan Tannenbaum⚡️ SO GOOD!! 🎸 WE LOVE IT ✌️❤️🎵 @soho_blues @thisispattismith @lenny_kaye @fender #pattismith #rockandroll #punk #fender #guitar #allantannenbaum #legendsneverdie #style #icon #muse #newyorkcity #musicphotography #musichistory #rockroyalty #rockicon #womenwhorock #womeninmusic #livemusic #punkpoet #rocknroll #blendergallery (at Blender Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/CU7HfWjF7WJ/?utm_medium=tumblr

[sahgoljewelry]

all the fly mamas tee...now available. if you're meshed in boho hippie, punk poet, then you already know this is the perfect layering piece, put it in your wardrobe... #mothersday #girlgang #wildflowers #hippie #punkpoet #bohostyle #bohemian #poetry #bohemianluxe ____________ Every Mothers Day we bring this code back for you, use code: LIVHAPPI to take $10 of your purchase. case sensitive.

[loudlove-64]

Kurt Cobain February 20 1967 - April 5 1994... 💔😍❤️💯