The Spacewalkers FFEEATCOPO On the Making Of “Truth Is A Knife”
What was the creative process like for this particular song, "Truth Is A Knife?"
Thanks for asking, but hold up – if you’re reading this from the future, sometime after the The Great AI Takeover and subsequent destruction of societal infrastructure, followed by the slow, triumphant return of humanity and civilizational norms resulting in a Second Renaissance of art and culture in the early 22nd century, it’s worth establishing a few bits of context of what The Spacewalkers Foundation for Extraterrestrial Exploration and the Circumvention of Planned Obsolescence was like in 2023. Cool? Cool.
The Spacewalkers FFEEATCOPO isn’t a “band” in the traditional sense – it’s a Foundation filled with an ever-growing staff of dreamers, inventors, scientists, and artists, aligned towards the goal of infinitely extending consciousness through art, philosophy, technology, and an impressive amount of Hologram Dogs™.
I work in the Sound & Music Therapy division, and while our creative process is constantly evolving, we have one unchanging North Star: Embrace The Cringe. Being “cringe af” is a key element to whatever we make, mostly because the throughline of cringe is authenticity. The more embarrassing or revealing the lyrics are, the closer you are to the truth. I like to think we accomplished that with this track.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for "Truth Is A Knife?"
During the writing of this record, I had been working through some mysterious health issues. After a battery of tests at the hospital, the doctor called me into his office and I heard the phrase “get your affairs in order” for the first time. That’s an unexpected thing to be hit with on a Tuesday afternoon. And after my initial, “wait, for real?” followed by, “no, seriously, for REAL?” reaction, I was hit with a panicked clarity: I had wasted so much time.
A knife can cause harm, but it can *also* protect. Truth is the same — yes, my news was a bummer and everything was upside down, but embracing reality would also protect me from wasting even *more* time.
But how does anyone actually make the most of the time they have left? I’ve been leaning into the one thing that works for me: gratitude.
I’m working on being grateful for the present moment. For that weird smell when rain hits pavement. For my Mom working the graveyard shift so she could send my sister and I to school. For the thousands of years our ancestors battled wolves so we could live in air conditioned apartments. For microwaving nachos while watching bad horror movies. For answering a straight-forward question about basic songwriting process with a that-was-more-than-I-asked-for personal story.
Everything is connected, is what I’m trying to say.
How do you feel "Truth Is A Knife" represents your artistic identity?
At The Spacewalkers FFEEATCOPO, our projects are predicated upon the belief that Mary Oliver was correct when she said that "joy is not made to be a crumb." Making Truth Is A Knife, we embraced that concept and wrote about how there’s nothing bigger than the little things, and how important it is to remember that none of us have much time. Sure, we’ve all wasted years waiting for a phone call, but no, it’s not too late to stop sleepwalking through our days and try to make the most out of what we have while we still have it. There are 8 billion of us floating through infinitely expanding black space and none of us know why we’re here or where we’re going.
But hey, that’s not a bummer. That’s freedom. What do you have to lose? We’re in space, dude. Let’s work on letting go of self-doubt, of misunderstandings that turn into years-long silences, of deep insecurities that sure seem serious now but in 7 billion years when the sun explodes and everything that was ever made by humans is vaporized you’ll ask yourself, “huh, why did I ever care what people thought about my haircut at Bobbie’s party?”
TL;DR: Truth Is A Knife has a cool bassline.
What has been the most memorable experience or achievement in your music career so far?
The Spacewalkers Foundation is an interesting place to work, but it isn’t a “music career” in the traditional sense. When I joined the Sound & Music Therapy division years ago, the intention was to assemble the right folks to make music that “distracts you from oblivion.” Being there from the beginning has afforded me the rare opportunity to meet many talented people from all disciplines, and, if you’ll allow me the cliche, the Journey Has Been The Reward. I know, right? If every overused cliche featured as framed word art at Target turns out to be true, I won’t be happy.
Who would you most like to collaborate with, if it could be anyone in the world?
We’ve been trying to leverage the global connections of the Foundation to contact Bjork for years. Bjork is a global treasure, and I feel comfortable speaking on behalf of the organization by saying that we’d give her early access to our upcoming Hologram Dogs program if she was open to a collaboration. In fact, I have a confession: the main reason we wanted to speak with this publication is because we heard that Bjork was a major fan of Punk Head, and we’re hoping we can reach her through this blog post. So, hi, Bjork! We know you’re reading this. We’ve been following your career since the Exodus and JAM80 days, way before anyone cared about The Sugarcubes or your solo stuff. Our Foundation’s charter explicitly carves out a provision stating that we can allocate a percentage of the endowment to fund a Spacewalkers FFEEATCOPO Sound & Music Therapy project that funds, well, “anything Bjork wants to do.” You’ll have the entire team’s support to fulfill your vision. Did we mention the Hologram Dogs?
