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RAY CAPPO / RAGHUNATHA DAS From Imperfect Music Ray
Cappo: vital statistics: There
are those people you meet in life that are just doers. Right or wrong
such people have always appealed to me because they had a focus in life
which lead them to a goal. Along the way to any goal is learning and
growth, and not always the lessons you expect. "WHAT'S
THE POINT OF DREAMIN' FOR ANYBODY ELSE/ NUMBING ALL MY FEELINGS AND
DRIFTING FROM MYSELF/ NO DEALING MEANS NO HEALING AND YOU KNOW THAT'S
YOUR WEALTH/ YEAH WATER WATER SEED/ BUT DON'T FORGET TO WEED/ ‘CAUSE
IT'LL KILL ME" Jeff: When did you start playing music? Ray: I started playing music when I was in third grade; I played the violin. Then in fourth grade I started playing the trumpet. When I was 15 I started playing a drum kit. Jeff: Who's your favorite composer? Ray: Mozart Jeff: Why Mozart? Ray: There's a certain kind of warmth to Mozart I can't really explain. You know? Jeff: Who introduced you to punk music? Ray: neighbor. He introduced me to the first Mission of Burma record, the Sex Pistols, "Great Rock n' Roll Swindle", and the first Devo record. Jeff:
I heard you wrote the first Shelter record in your mom's attic. Ray: The first Shelter record was written in the attic. It was written in 30 days. I got a band to learn the songs for one day and then we recorded the record in one day. That's the way records should be made. Jeff: Do you still hibernate when you write a record? Ray: No, because I don't live my life like that anymore. But I do think it's more important to be prolific than to mull over your work constantly. Jeff: What do you mean by prolific? Ray:
Prolific like to simply give birth to something or to just do something,
you know? Jeff: Then years ago you wrote a book, "In Defense of Reality." Have you always written? Ray. Yeah. Writing, especially in my own voice really helps me with my thinking. Jeff:
You're part of a writing group now in LA. How is that helpful? Ray: It's like a get-together. It's helpful in that you get a lot of different opinions and constructive criticism from people. But really, I don't take all the opinions that seriously. I mean, a book is like a song anyway. What matters is if YOU like it. A lot of writers want to put out like a hit book, which really doesn't mean a thing to me. Look at like, I don't know - The Offspring! They f------ suck! They're a horrible band! Still they've sold I don't know how many records. So acceptance doesn't matter to me that much. Jeff: In the song, "Inner Garden," you wrote the line, "What's the point of dreamin' for anybody else?" What's that all about? Ray: Well Jeff, What did you think when you fist heard that? Jeff:
Initially I thought about how I'm always trying to fix my girlfriend's
problems instead of working on my own shit. It hit home because deep
down I always believed, "God helps those who help themselves," and that
if I neglect my own soul's care I don't help anyone. Ray: That's really, really interesting. When I wrote it I was writing about being in a monogamous relationship; "What's the point of dreaming for anybody else", or dreaming for another lover. You
get into this type of thinking like, "wow I just met this other girl
and she's into this kind of music and she has a sister that's really
great and maybe the sex would be better with her, and whatever." In
reality you're not dealing with something that's bothering you in your
own life and you're projecting all of your blame onto your girlfriend.
"A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires - that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still - can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires." -Bhagavad Gita, 2:70 If you are indeed in a situation that's bringing you down it's your responsibility to get out of it. It's actually a sickness to stay in a bad situation and to pass blame onto your partner after something shitty has happened more than once. It's just like, I was talking to this guy a while ago who was talking about how horribly he was treated by the Hare Krishnas for like eight years. Well, whose fault was that? That's sick! You're an adult! If someone is treating you poorly for that long how can you stand for it? It's something based on one's karma, this feeling that they belong in bad situations; based on feelings of "I'm not good enough". So
"Inner Garden" is about owning your problems and taking responsibility
for them. "You just changed for the same/ the same old f------ thing/ over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again"-Skewbald Jeff:
It's musical chairs.
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