A year ago today, I recorded “Whatevermore: Live at the Raven” - a split live album with The ThoughtCriminals at the Pay What You Can Fest that features the current MC’s involved in that project with what, at the time, was a full band. It’s available for FREE DOWNLOAD from the ThoughtCriminals’ bandcamp.

I’m very proud of it! They were kind enough to give me NO ARTISTIC DIRECTION about my portion of the set at all, so I chose to do a set that was a middle ground between the one-man acoustic performances, my shows with The TickleBomb Orchestra and my more band-saavy hip hop material. It was recorded with impeccable quality, and I funded it for the most part with help from the PWYC organizer Greg McKillop of Speaker for the Dead.

Since that time, I’ve gotten wildly mixed reviews of my approach to the album…most of my previous fans love it, but the reception from ThoughtCriminals friends and fans has been a bit mixed, with Adam Warrock singing its praises early on, but others being a bit surprised by the approach of…GASP…PUTTING HIP HOP RIGHT ALONGSIDE NON-HIP HOP! haha

As an example, I was ribbed pretty hard on the Nerdcore Now forums by a few users who used my choice of laying heavy on the cover songs as some sort of ammo for their fucktard guns, though the truth is that MOST of the arguments were with a now-banned user who took great exception to my ideology of suggesting that it’s cool to avoid oppressive language when we speak. I appreciate that not everyone cares to understand the rich history of sharing songs from generation to generation previous to recorded material, or cares as much as I do to keep that tradition alive.

I want to be clear, though - when it comes to my art, you’re dealing with a man who hasn’t a fuck left to give. Allow me to explain…

I’m 33 years old, and I’ve been rapping in public for 14 years (and performing for 19 in other types of bands), if you don’t count the 4 tapes that I released in High School. I sure don’t! But there’s about 200 of each floating about somewhere to come back and embarrass me later. That was in 1996-1998ish or something. Here’s a hint: They’re full of awful, misogynistic material at worst and brutally self-important “knowledge exposition” at best…you’ll have to forgive me BUT I WAS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD. The awful content continued until my early 20’s, but I digress. I’ll ignore the fact that there’s dudes my age still doing the same shit for now…I talk about how wack that is often enough on the web, on stage and in person that I needn’t address it again here.

I’ve opened for and gained the respect of artists that have grown to become national and international superstars…some of them even remember me 10 years later and still others I’m lucky enough to count as friends. I opened for Buck 65 in Maine, Aesop Rock several times in Providence, Sage Francis cut my mullet on stage while performing his poem of the same name, one time b.dolan beat me up on stage while I was naked and pretending to be an Abu Gharib prisoner as part of one of the first Bombzo performances. I opened for Atmosphere, judged local battles, told local indie hip hop dudes to calm the fuck down about Necro’s hype man bringing a gun to the venue, did a show with Mr. Len from Co Flow in a renovated fire station in Connecticut, countless shows with Akrobatik and Mr. Lif back when they were active…and 9 out of 10 times it’s because people involved in the show at some level (promoters, artists, venue owners) have respected my art and simply wanted to give me the opportunity. I cannot describe with words how grateful for those opportunities I was then and have become even more grateful with age…especially now that many years later I do not often gain the advantages of them - it could be said that I squandered those opportunities by “virtue” of the same thing that’s always held me back, but this is my life and I can’t apologize for it.

One of the things that has always seemed to both hold me back AND be my greatest strength as an artist is that I DO WHAT I WANT TO DO. Which is a polite way of saying that I’m short on fucks to give out.

After opening for all these talented rappers, my muse decided it was time to play guitar and sing again…so I got together with some old friends and we started a hardcore crossover band called Dangerface that never really did anything but write a few awesome tunes. Then I started The Rectangle Club, which drew the attention of some folks and eventually moved on to performing alone with an acoustic - something I’d done for a while off and on but never took that seriously…this time, I did take it seriously. I recorded a solo album that, while it has is flaws in production, I’m very proud of (Basic Draining). I slept on couches, traveled all over the country and met new people and old friends wherever they were to play my newest songs…many of which I STILL play with The TickleBomb Orchestra.

After touring in support of Basic Draining, and at the frequent urging of an early fan turned dear friend and fellow artist H.W. - I decided that I needed to start rapping again. And…I DO WHAT I WANT…so I released a lot of my old rap songs on a long, crazy album called Structural Disintegration 1.0…a 19 track foray into just about every type of thing I’d done from 2003 - 2008. The art was done by the wonderful Sarah Velez (Horrocks), whom you really ought to follow on Tumblr and twitter and stuff, especially if you like indie comics, awesome music or magick.

This is a young man’s game (yes Greg, I know I’m not old! :) - the likelihood of me quitting my job and going on tour is next to nil unless someone’s cutting me a pretty big check to do it or it’s an artist that I respect enough to take a huge chance with my life (though I still tour for at least 4 weeks out of the year). I have a house full of creative types and I actually don’t mind my job. I certainly don’t mind the people I work with (artists, here’s a hint: the “regular people” who buy your shit and attend your shows are actually pretty decent human beings, try not to forget that).

I don’t believe a person is meant to do just one thing with his or her life. Everyone I know who has gone that route has ended up [even moar] insane. Keeping a job helps me stay in touch with myself, humanity beyond the art community, my usefulness as a person and in my house…which further allows me the latitude of creating WHAT I want, WHEN I want and with WHO I want. I’m not apologizing…THIS is what I’ve set up so that I CAN DO WHAT I WANT.

So yeah - I’m not going to be stopping until I’m physically unable. No fucks to give. I’ll play a show anywhere 2 hours away on a work night if it’s worth it…and some that aren’t. I’m driving 7 hours by myself to Buffalo, NY this weekend to take part in the Infringement Festival where they’re putting me up, hooking me up with an entire day’s worth of performances, and they’re even gonna try and pay me!

You can bet your ass that at these shows, I will play whatever songs I want to from Lykke Li, Willie Nelson and Brian Eno covers to rapping about how much better at rap I am than you, how dope my beard is and all the more serious shit that actually comprises the bulk of my material. I want you to ask if there’s a song you’d like to hear, and I’ll do my best to work it into a set (ahead of time always helps since I perform on backing tracks!)

And this all is to feed my addiction of meeting people and avoiding boredom at all costs. It’s the only two things I think I actually have fucks to give anymore.