INTERVIEW : 2013-04-25 Joseph Arthur Premieres Music Video for "All The Old Heroes" (by PledgeMusic)
Whether in his poetry, his visual art or his music, whatever Joseph Arthur creates seems to have a thread of spirituality woven throughout -- though it may not look like you would imagine. For his newest album, “The Ballad of Boogie Christ,” Arthur is chasing that thread, exploring the idea of a perfect being and looking at the similarities between humor and devotion.
Today, Arthur is premiering the song “All The Old Heroes” through a music video, which you can watch above. While you listen, you can also enjoy our exclusive interview, which ends with a poetic writing he penned just this week.
You said you’ve hesitated to pull the trigger in the past on the direct-to-fan model. Can you tell us more about what informed that hesitation?
I think just an old school and somewhat prideful mentality of not wanting to ask for help. But now that I’m in the process of my campaign, I see how wrong-headed I was because what is happening that’s as cool as raising funds is a deeper engagement with my fan base. Many have let me know how happy they are to help out in this direct way. It really feels like a healthy thing. It’s an odd twist in human nature, but it takes courage to allow yourself to be supported, and I’m glad I’ve taken that leap.
What was it this time around that brought you to PledgeMusic?
Realizing that I needed support from my fans to take the next step artistically. Though I’m not in the habit of asking for help, I am in the habit of sacrificing everything for the purpose of making art and music. I’ve always had that ability to wager everything on a dream.
‘The Ballad of Boogie Christ’ is such an interesting title. What’s behind that?
Well, I think it is ultimately about humanizing the pursuit of enlightenment or the concept of a spiritually perfect being. Also, it attempts to marry humor and devotion, which are actually strange bedfellows. It was born out of psychedelic wanderings and deep soul plunges that nearly landed me in the looney bin, but then left me with this character called Boogie who is either enlightened or insane, or most probably both.
You’re offering up several PledgeMusic exclusives that involved your own art. How’s the Museum of Modern Arthur going at this point?
MOMAR-the-place got shut down when I was caught illegally living in the back of it, but hey, how else could I afford the rent of a kick-ass gallery in Brooklyn? MOMAR-the-concept and the website are alive and well! Check out the Museum of Modern Arthur. And now you’ve just given me my next Pledge idea – Re-open MOMAR 2015!
After 2011’s “The Graduation Ceremony,” when did you know you were going to come right back to another LP? I know at other points you’ve taken a break, released smaller projects or collaborated with other artists (i.e. Fistful of Mercy).
I never really take a break from making art or music, and “Boogie Christ” has been in the process since before my last two releases. In fact, both “The Graduation Ceremony” and “Redemption City” were born out of Boogie. They were different roads I went down chasing him.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Sure. Last night, while riding home, I stopped to write this. I think it came as a response to the success of my campaign here at Pledge:
Here remains the truth.
If you have a passion for something
You are amongst the lucky.
If you have a belief that one day
Your labor might add up to something
Then you are among the blessed
I just saw a vagrant get strapped into a gurney and carried into an ambulance in
the frigid night of NYC.
I rode my bike past him
And thought, there but for the grace of God go I.
This life has already given me far more than I could have imagined
Its layers are endless
Its stories peopled with great loves, leeches and saints
And me myself, being all of those at certain points.
I want to be forgiven and suspect that I probably am
Which is also a great blessing.
I found a passion early on
And tho it led me into hardship and disappointment, it also built my character and
it gave me something to hinge my life on
And more than disappoint me
It blessed me
Over and over again
Especially in those private moments
When the gods asked me to dance with them
And when my imagination, concerned with little else and attached to nothing,
Took off in the rocket of my muse
And in the hours just before dawn
I communed with something ancient and from the future
I got to hang out with the infinite and smoke a bong
Or sing some hidden battle cry
Or seek revenge for who I was as a child
Or just be loved and nurtured by the Almighty
Who gave us music as a way to wander thru this world
I have been blessed. I am grateful.
This doesn’t even touch it all
But you get the idea.
I’m writing this for the bum in the hospital
Knowing that one day I will be no better off than him
And to say from here now
From this place of freedom and potential
From this powerful place where I am bright with hope and meaning
Where inspiration is everywhere
From here now
I wish to say
Thank you
And again
I love you and
Again
Thank you.
