Been writing songs since 1998. First it started unmechanically, as a way to process what was happening. I was 15 and everything felt like it was falling apart. Or perhaps I just woke up out of my childhood slumber to realise something that was always happening: worlds being born at the cost of previous ones disintegrating.
Until then I had a good childhood, loved sports and video games. I grew up on two continents (Finland and Canada) which kept things interesting. I also loved listening to music and watching movies. I was fortunate to grow up in the 80-90s before the internet ruined everything and killed all the romance.
All my obsessive tendencies eventually turned towards the art of the song and I dropped everything else. With a drum machine and 4-track tape recorder, I got to work, feeling ready to take on the world long before I actually was or would. Honestly, I haven’t really stopped since then nor will I. Ever. Stop what? This.
The years went by and so did my fading smile. I woke up (again) in 2008 when I read books like The Power of Now and I Am That. Life was hard at times but so was my ambition and drive. I went deeper and deeper into the mysticism woowoo rabbit holes which in hindsight was a disastrous move regarding success in the music industry. My priority was no longer rock stardom but spiritual enlightenment. However, my spiritual hunger turned out to be a good auxiliary side hustle for the creativity and continues to this day. I had to learn how to smile again which became easier once I understood the punchline of the cosmic joke ie. the human predicament. At some point the poet and the mystic became one which is inevitable since they are essentially two sides of the same coin.
For a decade (1998-2008) I had been learning the ropes as a songwriter. Performing. Writing. Recording. Playing with other musicians. Playing solo. Failing hard and proud, a trajectory I would get to know a little too well. I lived like I was famous but without the money, spotlight or bad reviews. I thought I was way better than I really was but I suppose that is part of the game. A man must have confidence in his own potential because if he doesn’t believe in himself, nobody else will either. I had to learn the hard way that sooner or later, life will serve you a piece of that delicious humble pie. Yummy!
The next ten years I travelled around without a plan, just wandering from place to place. Lover to lover. Friend to friend. Every time I found a direction or community (or God forbid some sanity and love), I went the opposite direction because I never quite fit in or felt at home anywhere or with anyone for too long. What little success and opportunities I had, I burned it all to hell and back. I was being tested by the gods. But I was also the one doing the testing as one of them. Life itself my canvas and laboratory. And sad to say, hurting many in the process. Hurt people hurt people like the saying goes. The primal wound yearning for healing… but good times were also had. Great times in fact 🙂
As I explored and studied the world and its ways, I continued writing and singing about my troubles and triumphs. I often liked challenging clichés and traditions regarding success, God, work, love, morality, etc and all that “journey not destination” self help “the alchemist” feel good fluffery. Sorry, maybe that stuff is solid and useful for some and I just don’t get it. Perhaps life is what you make of it, a choose your own adventure. What the hell do I know?
But I gradually learned to curb my provocateur-ism when I noticed it wasn’t really getting me where I was going. And that most people prioritise safety/security over truth. So I doubled down on the poetry which is a license to be abstract and non-linear in how we think and live.
Poetry is an eternal union with the supreme unchanging absolute. There is no right or wrong. No rules. No boundaries. No separation. No identity. No religion. No future. No past. No countries. Life a dreamworld. But to be a true poet is to be an awakened warrior mystic of the Dying Light. We dive head first into the unknown unknowns, smiling. Fear turns us on. We are shape shifters. LETS FUCKING ROCK!
Sometimes I feel like the young kids nowadays are older than I will ever be. It’s like the modern world killed the youth. You go from age 10 straight to 20. Where are all the artist icons and geniuses? Great art has to be threatening to the establishment and our egos. But a revolution is in the air and my music is dedicated to inspiring and igniting this feeling in everyone I come in to contact with. A reckoning is coming! There will be flowers.
So here we are now. This human journey has been a wild ride so far. Yeehaa! Wouldn’t change a thing, not even being me because there is no such thing. I am your imaginary friend whose spent the last 6 years living as a recluse in a quiet town on the Russian border. I needed a break from society. From everyone and everything. It was the revolution and enlightenment I was always looking for. And more. Mission accomplished. But it was time to come back. I missed the danger.
I guess you could say my wilderness years are over, for now. So I decided to return to society to share my songs and vibrations with the Earth people. Now I just gotta find y’all and somehow get through these death culture wastelands and zombies lurking everywhere. I know I will make it. And I got my songs to protect me. The Earth needs us now more than ever. Make Earth Great Again. M.E.G.A!
My new album “Drifter’s Paradise” is the soundtrack for our kind. It’s out Friday, December 20th, 2024. Ten songs that are honestly a much more accurate biography of who I really am and what I’m all about. My songs are the real me. Everything else is just the space between. I am a complete nobody, a messenger at best. A mess at worst. I take great pride in not really knowing what I’m doing. That’s what makes this whole dream quest so exhilarating.
My music and lyrics are an ode to fellow dreamers and awakened grumpsters. Go back to sleep! And join my mailing list while you’re at it. Everything I do is an exploration in form so expect the best of the best of me and you as well. We deserve no less. I will probably disappoint you and surprise you regardless, sometimes simultaneously. I’m the greatest and worst artist alive in history.
Thanks for reading. Enjoy the website 🙂
Sincerely,
Viking Elvis aka Shakesbeard aka Mark Lund
November 1, 2024
Helsinki, Finland