Places and Spaces: Making Beats on the Road - ‘Innerlight’
In 8 months, Buffalo Bill Cody killed 4,280 buffalo in and around what is now North Platte, Nebraska. In the same amount of time I made around 100 beats. I guess that means it was a hell of a lot easier to pull the trigger on the once proud Bovidae than it is to flip a sample. I was hunting for wax from Vancouver to Minnesota when I found the pieces and inspiration for ‘Innerlight’, one of my favorite beats on Holodeck: Program 2. It all started after a homeless guy threw the remnants of his hamburger at my van, a no less shameful waste of ruminant vertebrate, but a drop in the bucket compared to old Buffalo Bill.
Killer Boots Man…
Vancouver:
I buffed out the ketchup and stopped at a spot on Hastings by the name of Beat Street Records. As a Hip-Hop head, the name alone was enough for me to make it a priority stop on my list and I can say for certain that this place did not disappoint. Many crate diggers can attest to this feeling, when you’re in a store that simply has too much, and you have to make some tough decision. The few records under my arm quickly became a stack that I couldn’t afford let alone carry, so periodically I had to cull the herd. The pain of leaving behind some excellent records was real that day, but I know where to go if I ever find myself back in Van City. Beat Street also has a great logo. I bought the record that contains the drums used on ‘Innerlight’, plus a bunch of magical wax that I used on many other beats.
Later that week, I stopped over in Victoria to visit some friends and go camping around Thetis Lake. It was here that I grabbed the samples and started putting together the skeleton of what became ‘Innerlight’. The sound of the beat is clearly influenced by my surroundings, with the calling of birds, crashing waves and lilting piano being a reflection of sounds I heard every morning.
Cool Crystal Lake…
Victoria:
I didn’t even dig for records in Victoria, I just tried to enjoy myself. Vanlife was difficult in Vancouver and I didn’t get a lot of sleep. But Victoria was quieter, easier for parking, and it felt a lot safer so I was able to decompress and catch up on sleep, except when it rained. When you’re living in a car and it rains, it’s loud as hell. What a simple truth I took for granted.
I remember always having an MTG deck in my breast pocket those days, and on my last day in Victoria I played a bit and had a beer at Phillips Malting and Brewing Co. I decided to spare them the sight of me dragging all my gear into their tasting room to take more samples, I was happy with the progress I had made and needed a break. Sometimes not working is the best thing you can do to advance your work.
Mural outside of Phillips Malting and Brewing, Victoria, BC. Possible commission for the new van.
Westward the Wagons:
After the brief respite in Victoria, ‘Innerlight’ was forming but unfinished, and I had little time to work on music because I had to haul ass out to Minnesota for some family business. 1,600 miles of plains, where the proud buffalo once dominated the landscape from Victoria to Minnesota, begged for my crossing. In between there was a lot to be seen. The drive started through hundreds of miles of wildfires in Washington state, you could smell it in the air the whole way. From there, I hit Missoula, MT where I found the source material for Gravamen.
I remember this drive fondly. It was all big skies, cool nights, and the white noise of the road. At one point on the trip everything seemed to be in perfect harmony. No one was throwing food at the van, the sleep was restful and the wi-fi was reliable. As luck would have it, I had the privilege of seeing some unexpected friends in Bozeman, MT who just happened to be in the area. I was fully recharged after a rough go of it in Vancouver and hundreds of miles of wildfires in Washington.
Like any good trekkie, I took a detour through the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. If you go there at the tail end of summer, remember one thing: bug spray has been and always shall be your friend.
By the time we got to Lake of the Woods, Minnesota, I was in a groove. Guilty Simpson had already sent a few verses in for Actus Reus, and my hard drive was plump with potential head-nodders. It was here where I finished both the beat that became Gravamen and the beat that is now ‘Innerlight’. The title comes from a Star Trek: TNG Episode of the same name, I suggest you watch it. I don’t have much else to say about the beat other than it was made at a time where I was feeling a lot of peace and stability when both were hard to come by. The sound of the beat was informed by the landscape and the healing power of being in motion.
Creating music can sometimes be a struggle to endure, a puzzle to solve, or a feeling you need to wrench out of yourself. The time I took to make ‘Innerlight’ was one of those rare periods where the act of creation felt natural, easy, and completely in tune with the whole of my experience. It still makes me happy to listen to this beat and I hope the tranquility and balance that I felt at the time emanates to the listener as well.
The old shit-kicker and the blue sky.
Fun fact: The sample where the voice sings “cool crystal lake” makes me think of Jason Voorhees sitting on the shores of Camp Crystal Lake, feeling the water between his toes, breathing a sigh of relief after finally killing every single camper. Something that Buffalo Bill Cody couldn’t quite do to the American Bison. This is a low-key request for fan art (wink wink).
