Somewhere on the other side of a glistening Rainbow, perhaps one not of this earth, yet in the minds and hearts of those who celebrate the eclectic the theatrical and the magical, dwells the Captain Of The Lost Waves.
The master of modern Vaudeville, the Captain has sifted through Earth’s Technology, and has unleashed online a small journey into the chambers of his soul with a mind-blowing video, “Mr. Many Men” a sample off his compendium: “Hidden Gems- Chapter 1.
The sparkling dance of his inspiring performances can be experienced if you dare, throughout the UK, that is until he returns to the mysterious place we have borrowed him from…In the meantime, the words of the Captain reign through the heavens for all to enjoy…
The Captain’s Prelude:
Now the first thing I should say here is that my ability to digress is an art form In itself … I can circumnavigate the outer Hebrides of my mind and return to a question that initially & tentatively formulated in the digestive tract of my Ganges, yet still return to the request after collating roaming satellites into a cluster and a constellation which resembles a well behaved inter stellar stag party….
The Captain is a very magical character, where is he from, and what does he believe it? What inspires his music?
The Captain resides in a timeless vortex, that which has a residue of deep familiarity, yet equally Alien, when we brush up against its rumbling,highly charged yet silent atmosphere, it surpasses any intellectual knowledge we have gathered or accumulated over the years on this gravity heavy, gassy planet ..
.it’s beautiful there, it can sound like pleasing ‘ white noise’ … barely audible but slightly effervescent….,
No need for clock watching, nowhere to be …no diary monitoring here…
Much like a musician between sound check completion and the performance itself..( go ask Charlie watts).
To those who aren’t musicians, it is like that moribund disquiet of the airport terminal when your craft has been delayed due to a black box recorder fault’ ‘drunk pilot’ or ‘missing wings’ …
apathetical pondering and ‘what ifs’ circling around ones head until you just slowly implode and forget where you are…. it doesn’t help that they term such places ‘ terminals’ …. mmm…
Depending as to how you see it, we die each & every day, old ideas become replaced by new ones … reincarnation does happen for all of us… evident within this lifetime alone, don’t worry I’m not about to disclose that I was Cleopatra…. (though I can tell you I was once a tax officer called Gilbert in the early 1800’s…. it still gives me nightmares. I was so stoic and ate a pound of pickled herrings with a Slab of ‘brick bread’ , so called due to its concrete wheat consistency , daily at 12.41 pm) …
it’s like the act of breathing …. it’s always there, the air, but can you connect with it consciously? …
most of us breathe without any awareness… imagine if it wasn’t an automatic response ? We’d capitulate before knowing we’d stopped… thank goodness the body has its own operating software.. where would we be without it? … imagine? …
” right I’ll just need an hour to focus on getting my kidneys to filter my urine!” …
Human body instruction manual ;
page 47..
“in order for the kidneys to filter effectively, you must first carry out these steps… 116 steps later , both dizzy & fatigued… you gasp and say ‘ how does my body do this, I can’t even read a map! !!
There, you see it…. that’s a lost wave right there, urine, along with sines & cosines!!!
I ask for no ownership of any of the music , artistic strains or inspired ideas that invariably sieve through ‘Ones subconscious being ‘ into a realised tangible creation .. i am but a mere conduit/ vessel for such occurrences… in turn this allows a freedom & an autonomy that is both wildly natural ,unlimited and intuitive…. all of the greatest works can never be explained or measured, only felt….
Watch a child in complete synchronicity with a paintbrush, a mud bath or a new texture or food … the most innate witnessing of complete hypnosis … that’s the state.
Nothing else exists outside of the state… the paintbrush is the beginning, the middle and the end… when the hypnosis subsides , the altered consciousness then screams for the toilet!!! The physical callings make the loudest demands!!!!
my creative process is not about learning more, it’s about unlearning and letting go of that which keeps us invariably suppressed or informs and tells us as to how things should be arrived at or how to execute…
I’ve never been big on rules. I divorced my own limited concepts & opinions a long time ago…. ironically it’s only when ‘ one gets themselves out of the way that with the way one becomes one’
I do enjoy the simple yet complex ramblings as to how the sense of zen manifests in my tumbling forth of bloated vocabulary ….
We are all Artists… that timeless vortex is universal, the gateless gate for all to embrace I dare say … ( if not now then zen again I hear you say??) but looking & seeing are not the same thing… can you see with fresh eyes?
What can people expect when meeting the Captain at a live performance?
A splendid exchange of story & sonic moods, undulating emotive states, unhinged humour, child Like play, furious frivolity & fun, palatable pathos, peculiar profundity & anything else you imagine a show can be in your minds eye; though as a rule, you have likely not been privy to in abundance, especially in the prescribed ‘ gig goers handbook’ ….
the heart of rock n roll was about not being ‘ like the man’ ….
the blandised same old same old…
Are we not now awash & saturated in the ‘same old same old’ ?
Nothing but a giant lame tribute show, a pale imitation of what was… wasn’t this idea of Rock n Roll first forged as dangerous? In so many quarters we see ‘the man’ pretending to be anything but ‘the man ‘ …..
call my bluff, it’s happening everywhere… have we all become too comfortable with the wearing of such societal masks? ….
I suppose in reality it matters not whether you buy into anyone else’s excessive facade or not… business thrives on giving you that which you’re not sure you even want most of the time …..
Am I calling your bluff now?
It cannot be intellectualised, only interpreted through a sensory awareness beyond our logical analysis…
As the life changing ethos of the true rebel, loner and starkly innovative Artist has been hijacked by the very source that dumbs it down into a safe conservative pill to take twice a day…
we have but become ‘tourists’ in this new landscape, not the landscape of our forefathers who carved out astonishing musical & Artistic experimentation in the glare of the masses….
there is much of that still happening in the underground & on the fringes…. I’d dearly love to see the uninhibited, wide eyed having their day again … life is cyclical however … we may well get to witness it all over again… with a sense of it feeling like it’s almost the first time again … ah the first time again… isn’t that life right there, trying to feel like you did for the first time again…
I make a conscious effort daily to re imagine things for the first time again… seeing the sky as if I’d opened my eyes for the first time, eating a chilli soaked handful of olives with Stilton cheese, putting one foot in front of the other and pretending to be the largest toddler that ever lived… “wow, this is how it feels to walk !!!”….. i leave off the nappy mind; the visual capacity to imagine is enough… nb:this doesn’t apply to the sumo wrestler of course…I’ve never been a sumo wrestler in this life though…. ( pulling oneself back as about to digress into a past life recollection …. yes I was
Somagahana fuchiemon
I loved the sport, back there in 1850… I am very tactile and tend to hug firmly … possibly a cellular memory from my wrestling days)
Now it’s not that I have a ‘ Rock n Roll ‘ sound at all … that’s another social faux pas, I believe ,we have excelled in…
i’m talking about the spirit of ‘Rock n Roll’ ; what we first perceived as a glorious liberation and fierce expressions of independence ….did that get lost in translation?
it’s a very young medium, still in its infancy you might say , … when you look at the history of the planet, of man himself…. he is but a microcosm… like a little amoeba…. he has firstly to lose his own sense of self importance in order that we address all that is of importance here & now.
Rock n Roll, popular music …. our association of what we believe it should align with, or should or should not represent ?
To comply with the idea of what others desire you to be, musically, or otherwise, is the ultimate passive retreat… also the betrayal of oneself
I adore the multi faceted behemoth of mediums to tweak , morphing and fuelling a myriad of expressions, neither constrained or take flight, creating an experience both original to performer & audience…. there is a distinct chaos in the order… when something is truly artistic it becomes… unlimited,
True Art is… unlimited, in turn it becomes scary for some, due to its being unlimited …
let’s just say you should leave your notions and concepts of what a show should be at the door.
Would the Captain be so kind as to explain the inspiration behind the music on his recent release?
The ‘hidden gems’ & tales that are consigned to the shadows, the lost stories & unacknowleged accounts of people who left legacies of a greater kind… no sweeping epitaphs or grand gestures remain here…
more the inspirational humanity of those we come into contact with in our lives… extraordinary people, those likely to leave an imprint on us which we hold to the end of our days’ …. I have travelled lifetimes to bring forth the beauty from such creatures of perfect pertinent persuasion … from the ramblings of the undead, to crooked gangsters, Edith Piaf & vaudevillian giants….
The steam punk community seems to be quite attracted to The Captain Of The List Waves, what do you think it is that attracts them?
Steampunk at its most pure, distilled & organic is welcoming of every individuals potential & creativity, however that presents itself…..
it yearns for unbridled passion, expression without parameters or boundaries and is equally king & Queen of the genre free , expansive and open minded… from music hall to gypsy folk , chap hop to goth, dark funk , vamp sleaze & beyond ….
it also ‘houses’ a wonderful affinity for the Victorian aesthetic fused with sci fi… my stories and time travelling tales told in a gentlemans rampantly tall top hat ( wait until you see the new stovepipe!!!), tails, tailored trousers whilst married to an array of luminous braces, appears to be within that swoooing all inclusive demographic…
eccentricity and self deprecating humour is also a deep part of the movement…
residing in the British isles whilst not traversing the galaxies, its Clear to conclude that the British excel at laughing at their own sense of ridiculousness… the Captain excels in the ridiculous… hence it is a beautifully loose, Ill defined, yet perfect fit.
It was destined however; I have always been a fan of tea… steampunk celebrates the Art of Tea…. not the cheap substitute that proclaims to be tea in fashionable coffee houses ….
not that insipid variety that arrives in a white paper cup looking like poor fish stock though without any distinct flavour.. real leaves in ornamental tea pots served with a candid courtesy in regard to the deliciously heady brew which steeps before you….
& Gin… there is an avid appreciation of all things Gin, lectures on Gin, Gin tasting, Gin parties and so on… now I’m certainly keen for a tipple of the botanical brew that makes Gin…
I have just developed dry lips and a parchment in the throat… it’s either Russian caravan in a large pot or Rhubarb & ginger Gin poured over Ice with Tonic …
The Captain is audaciously unconventional, what inspires your alternative style and fashion?
It certainly is not conscious… like all good things it presented itself, being drawn to the feel of a fabric or a design.. …. the image presents an invitation to all of those who dare to adopt being ‘who they are’… we wear uniforms without realising we do… tribal affinities to recognise those of your kind.
Though my kind are all kinds… those who become the ultimate manifestation of themselves, whilst allowing others the grace and passion to do the same… with no fear of extradition, ostracism or violation…. those who are the opposite of what I am… the contrast makes for the complex beauty that is the life experience… I hail our differences … let that which makes us what we are not into what we are ….
I believe my sartorial expression is only that of saying ‘ come forth, be who you are, it matters not whether others approve or not… that includes your lifestyle choices…. follow your path of least resistance & be an instinctive heart led being….
and oh damn it I do love a great hat and jacket… plus a cane when one has no instrument to contain with !!!
If you could be remembered in 100 years for anything, what would you want it to be?
That my work becomes a catalyst for others …. and that they take the baton of new possibilities and run their own race…
our nod to what we create becomes an embodiment of what we aspire to or can dare to be… may my creations inspire others, however small, to find the courage to be what they choose to be…
never be told, never be ordered, never be constructed or constricted by another’s lack of vision
… see with your own eyes … not another’s, do not ever lose yourself in others approval… that might be the greatest prostitution of all.
Our own evolution as a species, our growing pains and our rebirth depends on our ability to keep moving forward when it’s easier to turn back …
The caterpillars cannot speak the butterfly language… when it’s time to fly, then fly you must….
May the seeds I sow today grow into gargantuan oak trees for another …
permeating the outer reaches of mind dominated societies and letting the hearts energy concoct a new, fluid, accepting, brave world.
AKA…. do your own thing ( maybe I need learn to self edit and leave huge spaces for imaginary musings……..!!! )
If one were to venture out to catch a performance of the Captain, where might they see him by chance, and where would they be able to view his video and listen to his music?
Everything is at the website… adventures, cinema , scribes , captains logs and an emporium should one wish to purchase anything … physical copies of the critically acclaimed album ‘Hidden gems’ along with obtaining downloads of the music at www.CDBAby.com
There are festivals & little performances in a range of some conventional and the more unusual kooky settings too … it’s all here ;