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think Australia has always had ‘ drys ’ since I can remember . Before climate change , there have been drys , and I remember as a kid going to places in the country with my parents where it hadn ’ t rained for five years , you know ? So Australia has always had that , those drys , definitely .
IE : The last time we talked , Don ’ t Look Up had just come out , but you hadn ’ t seen it yet . That was a real zeitgeist-capturing moment , I thought . SK : Yes , and I did see that movie , and it ’ s true – that was a zeitgeist thing ! What an incredible film that was , and it ’ s funny – within a couple of weeks , everybody I knew was saying , “ You ’ ve gotta see this film !” And now ? No one ’ s talking about it anymore .
IE : What ’ s this hyperbaric oxygen tank you ’ ve been talking about on Instagram ? SK : Look , my girlfriend joined me to a gym , and experience with the float tank . They ’ ve got one of those at this place I joined , but it ’ s a dry one , so don ’ t have to lie in water – it ’ s like the water is in there , but there ’ s like a skin , and you lie on top of the skin , and you don ’ t have to get wet . I haven ’ t tried that yet , but of course , as soon as I tried to book into that they said , “ Oh , that ’ s busted now .” But it sounds good in theory , because I always found that when you ’ re in those flotation tanks , just when you ’ re in the farthest reaches of the cosmos , experiencing some incredible enlightening event , a drop of cold water would condense on the roof , then drop on your face and wake you up . So they haven ’ t quite got it right yet .
IE : In the ‘ 50s , ‘ 60s , and ‘ 70s , the CIA was conducting these creepy MK ULTRA experiments , trying to covertly alter human behavior . It sounds like your Hypnogogue concept could easily have been a part of that . Where and how did you come up with this idea ? SK : The Hypnogogue in my story is a machine and a place , and it ’ s also an event . It ’ s sort of like … it ’ s an indefinable thing . It ’ s ambiguous because I don ’ t know exactly what it is . So it isn ’ t just confined to a machine or a place or a building , and there ’ s a sort of occult aspect – it ’ s a machine ,
The Church circa 1985
it ’ s that thing where they have all these hot and cold pools and infrared saunas and weightless float tanks and stuff . And that was one of ‘ em , that was one of the things you could try . So I tried it , and I didn ’ t notice anything , good or bad . So that ’ s the end of that . But apparently , if you really need it , it ’ s really good for you , I hear . It ’ s good if you have bone injuries and skin grafts and stuff , but I didn ’ t have any real reason to be in there , so I didn ’ t notice any benefits , I ’ ve got to admit . It was just like , I sat in there for an hour , wishing it would end .
IE : These days , I wouldn ’ t mind owning a sensory deprivation tank , like they had in old sci-fi flicks . SK : You know what ? I ’ ve done plenty of that . My brother worked in a flotation tank center back in the ‘ 80s , and they used to have hundreds of those things . And sometimes , it just felt like you were lying in a hot salty bath , wishing it was over . And other times , you ’ d have really profound astral happenings , you know ? You could never tell what was gonna happen , but I have quite a lot of
but there ’ s a drugs and occult side to it . It ’ s a really dangerous dabbling in something that nobody understands in my story . This woman has invented it , and our hero goes along to try it out against his manager ’ s advice . And he tries out The Hypnogogue to write some great songs to have some hit singles , and there are some disastrous consequences . But there ’ s a lot of ambiguity again – I ’ m leaving a lot of it up to the listener ’ s imagination . I ’ m not even sure how the machine works , and I ’ m not sure what the disastrous consequences are . I don ’ t wanna tell people too much of what it is – I just want them to enjoy it and flesh it out as much as they want . Or not at all . One person may flesh it out and really get the story together of what they think happens , and someone else might go , “ Fuck all that – I don ’ t wanna do all that . I just want to enjoy this record .” And you can do any of those things .
IE : But it sounds like the Hero ’ s decision is made for him without his permission . But he goes along with it in the name of art ? SK : I ’ ve never thought of that . But I like that . I
22 illinoisentertainer . com february 2023