How I learned to stop giving a shit and just love my androgynous kid.

I want to talk about my daughter Karianna for a bit.

She is pretty, bright, capable of straight A's, funny and determinedly artistic. She is compelled by some inner force to draw, paint, design, create. I can relate. I was (and still am) the same way myself.

K came out as "androgynous" a while back. Had a girlfriend, had a boyfriend. Wore heels and dresses, wore skinny jeans and t shirts and bound her breasts to minimize her girly profile. For her its a combination of things: music, cosplay, fandom. The fact that dad raised her up on glam and new wave, comic books and sci-fi didn't help either.

She is 15 now, and goes by "Kyle," and wants to identify as "he." I don't know if its a phase, or an act, or a permanent life pattern, and I don't really care. All of the things that make K special are gender-pointless, anyway. The FUD is besides the point. I love my kid. He is awesome. His little brother -- a force of nature in his own right -- looks up to him no matter which face he is wearing. He brings joy and fills my house with art. What more can I hope for?

I want my children to be happy. To give and receive LOVE from the universe-at-large no matter where the journey takes them, always.

Everything else is kosplay.

Not Today

I wanted to write something to kick off the record, "Us Against Ourselves." I wanted something anthemic, with lots of attitude and a huge dose of cheek. Skot wanted actual three-part harmonies so he recruited the gifted and lovely Robin (from Muscle Memory and I'm So Sorry) and Joe (who played Sax on Little Girl and who is an outrageously talented guitarist, bassist and singer in his own right, and they laid down the third and the fifth for the choruses. Skot also recruited his daughter Emily and her friend to record vocals for the gang-chorus at the end, and you can hear them laughing and being silly after the guitars start to fade. Skot also contributed a sick cry-baby style lead with a ton of peel and feedback for the solo, arranged the drums, played bass and mixed the resulting song, which is "Not Today."


Irony intended, obviously.

A Cautionary Tale

I wanted "A Cautionary Tale" to be "all the way on" from start to finish with a slight pause at the break. I think we did a pretty good job of achieving that here -- on this recording -- though I will admit that tying to sing like Joey Shithead from DOA after 20 years of not doing it was an incredible interesting and frustrating experience. I also wanted the performance to allude to the early 70's guitar vrs. singer juke, jab and swagger, and I think the trailing end of the refrain comes pretty close to nailing the anarchic Richard's / Jagger vibe of late period Watching Alice, which is probably a cautionary tale, all by itself.


Play loud.


The Electric Heathens -- Cautionary Tale by COEH

So Connected

The Electric Heathens -- We're $0 Connected by COEH

The Dead + Official Music Video

I wrote the original words for "The Dead" a few years back, near the beginning of the current "financial crisis." On the surface it is about a horde of self-determined "zombies" who march on this world and a billion others just like it, before storming "Heaven," and seizing control over "the machine" our multi-verse "runs" on. The idea of zombies as symbolic of rapacious consumer isn't really a new thing. Rather it is a distillation of more than 30 years of Bowie, Burroughs, Dick and others, who inspire these kind of warped "what if?" scenarios in my primitive imagination.

Had I possessed the ability -- or stamina -- to "do the video" myself, I would have probably tried to incorporate a lot of bullshit symbolism in its imagery. Instead, a good friend of the Church has volunteered this -- his first ever animation short (over 200 hours in the making!) -- to the cause of Entertainment Hedonism, and for the advancement of electric dissent, everywhere.

Think of this song + video as a manifesto for a related half-world, where zombies roam in search of brains (or cash?) and compute firing solutions for interdimensional  missiles in their downtime. It's a twist on an old friend, with apologies to Romero, and Brooks, et al.

Extra big piles of love to Steve Johnson @ smokin' kettle, for his hard work here. Bonus points to anyone who can find all 27 Easter Eggs.

Muscle Memory Featuring Robin Nivans

"Muscle Memory" is a duet from the future of your love life, beyond the singularity. Two androids rationalize a break-up that lasts centuries. 


Plus, it's got Robin Nivans on alternating lead vocals, and that's always a  good thing.

The Electric Heathens -- Muscle Memory by COEH

I Know, Right?

IKR is a song inspired by my 13 year old daughter, Karianna. I make no claims as to an actual understanding of Karianna and her friends -- that would be insulting. But it wasn't too long ago that I was 13 years old, and though I can't walk around in her shoes for her, I certainly do care what she's going through.

IKR (Skot Pollok / Chance Derek Gregory)


I like to know just what you are
Not that I care what you're going through
I like to think that the distance between us is there
For a pretty good reason....


But what you don't understand is that "everything" is
part of the plan -- and you can
either let go -- and drop down out of the flow -- or you can
Grab on with both hands and -- start squeezing


I like to think there's a greater good than
the One that we keep in our -- pockets
I like to know that there's a reason we fight
and it doesn't really matter -- what you call it
Your secret schools are all just -- "mystery meat"
There all -- grist for the grill that I'm smokin' on
Your precious secrets don't mean nothing to me
They're just -- tender for the fires -- that I'm stokin' on


But what you don't understand
is that -- every little thing is only -- part -- of the plan
And you can either step in to a suicide booth or
you can -- grab on with both hands -- and stop teasin'


I Know, Right?
I said you know I know you know I know right


I like to know just what you are
Not that I care what you're going through
I like to think that the distance between us is
Relative to Time and Dimension


But what you don't understand is
that -- everything you dream Is also -- part of the plan
and you can -- either come clean -- and get reborn in a dream
Or take a bubble-bath and stop all yer screamin'


I Know, Right?
I said you know I know you know I know right

IKR by COEH