Influences and Inspirations

Hey Everybody! Thank you so much for checking out the stories and engaging with the world that I’m making. This has been super fun for me to experiment with writing creatively outside of the music space. After working so hard on these short fantasy stories, I wanted to take a step back and do a more personal exploration of where some of these ideas are coming from, some of my inspirations and some of the stuff that I really like. Some of these things I talk about in this post may not seem like they connect to the fantasy world of Randos I’m creating or my music but these are the things that I enjoy and make me who I am creatively on some level. Hope you guys enjoy this piece and I will get back to more fantasy content soon!

Lets start with something basic, my childhood. I was super fortunate to grow up with a lot of open space. I grew up in Williamson County, Tennessee and in a town that was far less developed than it is today. I used to off on my dirt bike and ride for hours to just see what I could find. I really loved looking for rocks and feathers that I could bring back and show my dad. This lifestyle gave me a sense of adventure and adventure is something I still seek out. As a kid, the places that drew me in the most were the places on my farm that I was scared to go to. There was an old dilapidated house out in the woods that I would go to. I would take one step in and then run away because I was too scared to go inside alone. But I would constantly go back, waiting for the day that I could take an extra step in and explore that old spooky house. I would sit outside that old house (we called it “The Shack”) and imagine all of the things that I could find inside and what creatures or ghosts could be in there. The unknown is the best fuel for the imagination.

As far as media goes, Pokemon as a franchise has inspired me in so many ways, creatively and personally. Its a franchise and concept that I gravitated to at a young age and I still love to this day. I grew up in the 90’s and was about 6 years old when Pokemania first gripped America. I would go out into the woods and pretend I was searching for Pokemon, to catch ‘em all and be the best like no one ever was. Where I grew up, wildlife was everywhere. We also had pets like dogs, cats, horses and chickens and to me as a kid, all of these were like Pokemon. I think Pokemon influenced how much I love animals today and was probably the reason I ended up going vegan when I was 20. It only lasted about 3 years but animals (and Pokemon) are still a big part of my life, even if that means that I eat them.... (animals not pokemon)

One of my favorite things to watch is a show called Twin Peaks, created by the brilliant David Lynch and Mark Frost. The show is about a young girl who is murdered and her body is found on the shore of a lake. Her death reveals a dark underbelly in the small town of Twin Peaks and it turns out almost all of the residence have dark secrets. If you have seen the show, you know that the plot slowly starts revealing paranormal and metaphysical elements that impact Twin Peaks and its citizens. It’s a concept that gives the audience a lot of agency in crafting the story for themselves, especially in the reboot, Twin Peaks: The Return. Not only that, it plays with themes of light and darkness and explores the area in-between them. Its a rabbit hole worth going down for anyone with an interest in world building and story telling.

I think I want to wrap this up by talking about music. Whether its a song I hear while I’m driving or a song that is stuck in my head for no reason, music truly is the thing that I draw the most inspiration from. One line in a song can get me to write an entire story on Randos and its lore. I grew up surrounded by music, it’s kind of like a second language for me. It’s something that fills in the gaps. The world of sound is a whole other world that one can live and get lost in. It would be impossible to list all of my favorite artists and songs. I listen to folk as much as I listen to hip-hop and as much as I listen to techno. It all helps me think and also to not think. Well, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this rambley and somewhat scattershot look at some of my favorite things and influences. Hopefully it makes you understand me and my work just a little bit better. If I think of anything else that could be interesting or helpful I might do a part two to this piece. For now, thanks for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy the stories.