Thursday, March 20, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Ideology
Every group has an ideology, whether its represented unconsciously or consciously. Each group consists of members that come from a certain socio-economic background, sometimes through a variety of sorts, sometimes not. It mirrors the current societal movements and systems it corresponds.
I hereby declare:
If you feel displaced from the place where you come from,
The SEA is our religion.
Our members seek beyond the unknown,
from the uncharted waters of your mind to the pyramid of your ego, ALL LANDSCAPES were meant to be remembered and forgotten, until they become a fractured image of multiple visions seen in various angles.
Alex Zhang Hungtai
I hereby declare:
DB is an entity
in which its members hold no loyalty to no particular state or country.
in which its members hold no loyalty to no particular state or country.
He/She is a country of one, sometimes of many origins, sometimes not.
We encompass ALL qualities of where we come from: Born, raised, nurtured, hardened, LIVED.
Home is a collage of landscapes and places. Home is where the heart sleeps at night.
Home is a collage of landscapes and places. Home is where the heart sleeps at night.
It is a temporary rest stop,
a harbor, a train station, a motel, an oasis,
amidst the desert of one's mind.
a harbor, a train station, a motel, an oasis,
amidst the desert of one's mind.
If you feel displaced from the place where you come from,
then this is the right place for you.
The SEA is our religion.
Our members seek beyond the unknown,
from the uncharted waters of your mind to the pyramid of your ego, ALL LANDSCAPES were meant to be remembered and forgotten, until they become a fractured image of multiple visions seen in various angles.
It is then reassembled from the ashes, and glued back into one cohesive image.
A passport of collages.
The spirit of running horses.
The waves of the ever receding tides.
Your identification card in a folding hologram of multiple colors and dimensions, like a neon blazing through the night.
Beyond any border,
beyond any social economical or political background.
I am my own country.
A passport of collages.
The spirit of running horses.
The waves of the ever receding tides.
Your identification card in a folding hologram of multiple colors and dimensions, like a neon blazing through the night.
Beyond any border,
beyond any social economical or political background.
I am my own country.
Alex Zhang Hungtai
Shanghai, Feb 20th, 2014
奔馬般的思緒
萬碎過的意念
一生的奔忙
哪怕是一瞬間，海市蜃楼與否
至此
一襲明瞭。
孤獨國，在此成立
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
My heart was meant to be burnt into black coal
My heart was meant to be burnt into black coal.
Baptized by hellfire,
and contort like plastic,
deformed in water.
Let all the good bleed out of you,
until there is nothing left.
The gods will open that door
and answer upon your prayers,
for you were meant to be
born
and live this way.
A pure
black
entity
of freedom
like
holding
hot
tar,
feeling it
melt away
your sense of grasp.
Until theres nothing left.
Then you will be free to do whatever the fuck you want.
Baptized by hellfire,
and contort like plastic,
deformed in water.
Let all the good bleed out of you,
until there is nothing left.
The gods will open that door
and answer upon your prayers,
for you were meant to be
born
and live this way.
A pure
black
entity
of freedom
like
holding
hot
tar,
feeling it
melt away
your sense of grasp.
Until theres nothing left.
Then you will be free to do whatever the fuck you want.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
DB next Europe Chapter: LISBON
2 weeks in Treviso, Italy went by. Usually, I'm scared of small towns because I always feel like theres some hidden ancient bad shit underneath the surface and I can somehow feel it. And I also know small towns usually don't like outsiders like me. But I have to thank my friend Vittorio for being a real pal, housing me and teaching me some very basic classical music exercises that have already helped spawn some early sketches for the next release. Special thanks to Federico, Chiara, Elisa and the Demarin family. Thank you all for all your hospitality. I feel lucky to have friends in this part of the world that will lend out a helping hand when you are a stranger in a new town. I've always hated transitions. They feel like limbo, a never ending hell of some sort where all you can do is wait. and wait. and wait. Like burying your head into some imaginary opponent who is twice as big as you, and you just lay it out on him the best you can, meanwhile not even fazing him, until you run out of breath and feel that impending doom of defeat and helplessness. I'm incredibly impatient and waiting can sometimes really fuck me up. Doubts start to surface. Old blood and bad shit that lies beneath the surface.
Its now 5am, the sun is about to rise in Lisbon. Upon arrival tonight at midnight, my friend Sergio picked me up from the airport, and we proceeded to the old town where ZDB is. Natxo, originally from Barcelona has a beautiful house next to ZDB thats only 500 eu/month. fucking amazing...
I took Natxo's advice and went to a neighborhood bar, the only one thats open late around here. He said, "there, you won't find anyone there at this hour on a sunday, maybe the occasional journalists or some guy writing, drinking and smoking, yapping about politics and what not. Go have a steak and treat yourself a drink. You look like you could use one. Go have a proper meal." I followed his directions and ended up there, a mysterious wooden door (locked) but looked obviously open as it was the only shop with lights on. I rang the bell, an older Portugese man answers the door, I ask: "are you still open?" "Yes" he replies. I sit down, looked over at the menu, ordered a steak with egg and fries and a glass of beer. I'm happy as a pig in shit at this point, its cooked rare. Then the waitress comes over, and asks me if I would like some dessert. I asked her what it was and she replied "pudding, flan pudding" I almost died. I ate it in 40 sec or so. Smoked a cigarette, pounded my 2nd beer and paid my bill (20eu) and left a 2 euro tip. I'm retracing some memories of walking here from my last two visits here playing at ZDB, but somehow this time I can feel the wind of the city, of the old walls speaking to me, the dim street lights and narrow alleys, completely empty. I know on weekends this neighborhood is like a warzone full of drunk kids and foreigners but at this very moment, I can feel new life being breathed into me, reviving me from the fatigue of last year and showing me a path that will kick start this new year. Not to mention its 15 degrees celsius outside. I'm grinning. This will be the perfect place for me to digest all that I saw and lived in Berlin, and counter all that craziness from last year's what seemed like at the time a never ending tour. I worked myself and the boys to death.
A new chapter begins. 33, ready to take on the world. Growth. Spirits and shit.
Pacific boy
Jan 6th, 2014 - Lisbon
Its now 5am, the sun is about to rise in Lisbon. Upon arrival tonight at midnight, my friend Sergio picked me up from the airport, and we proceeded to the old town where ZDB is. Natxo, originally from Barcelona has a beautiful house next to ZDB thats only 500 eu/month. fucking amazing...
I took Natxo's advice and went to a neighborhood bar, the only one thats open late around here. He said, "there, you won't find anyone there at this hour on a sunday, maybe the occasional journalists or some guy writing, drinking and smoking, yapping about politics and what not. Go have a steak and treat yourself a drink. You look like you could use one. Go have a proper meal." I followed his directions and ended up there, a mysterious wooden door (locked) but looked obviously open as it was the only shop with lights on. I rang the bell, an older Portugese man answers the door, I ask: "are you still open?" "Yes" he replies. I sit down, looked over at the menu, ordered a steak with egg and fries and a glass of beer. I'm happy as a pig in shit at this point, its cooked rare. Then the waitress comes over, and asks me if I would like some dessert. I asked her what it was and she replied "pudding, flan pudding" I almost died. I ate it in 40 sec or so. Smoked a cigarette, pounded my 2nd beer and paid my bill (20eu) and left a 2 euro tip. I'm retracing some memories of walking here from my last two visits here playing at ZDB, but somehow this time I can feel the wind of the city, of the old walls speaking to me, the dim street lights and narrow alleys, completely empty. I know on weekends this neighborhood is like a warzone full of drunk kids and foreigners but at this very moment, I can feel new life being breathed into me, reviving me from the fatigue of last year and showing me a path that will kick start this new year. Not to mention its 15 degrees celsius outside. I'm grinning. This will be the perfect place for me to digest all that I saw and lived in Berlin, and counter all that craziness from last year's what seemed like at the time a never ending tour. I worked myself and the boys to death.
A new chapter begins. 33, ready to take on the world. Growth. Spirits and shit.
Pacific boy
Jan 6th, 2014 - Lisbon
Friday, December 27, 2013
On the road to god knows where 7 ISRAEL
on the road to god knows where 7 Israel from Alex Zhang Hungtai on Vimeo.
Some post tour thoughts on Israel:
While some people kept writing me and asking me why we toured there based on Israel’s political activities, for me personally, it was an eye opener to see and experience it first hand. Theres Israeli Arabs/Jews, Morrocan Jews, Russian Jews, Ethiopian Jews, European Jews and everything in between… The population is so diverse and varied, it is almost beyond comprehension for foreigners like us to understand the history and their business there. The everyday people who housed us, showed and drove us around, told us their past military experiences, and all the fucked up shit they saw…I could go on forever about that trip. An hr drive each day between the cities of Haifa, Telaviv and Jerusalem, we swam in the ocean everyday, and it was the longest I went on without eating meat. 4 days. I wouldn’t trade the experience/memories for anything else. It sparked my interest to travel in the middle east which I never really thought about…Israel is surrounded by mountains, oceans, and deserts. Its got cities and small towns, speaks Hebrew, Arabic, and English, and is unlike any other place I’ve ever been to. It reminded me traces of Asia, but also North America mixed with hints of Europe…You should go see it for yourself, understand how much tension is there, and think of the insanity of the shit going on there and how much they are hated by their surrounding neighbors. Next time before you express opinions about a country you know not a whole lot about, you should really go there and see it for yourself. That was my lesson there.
For myself personally, there was a sense of connection I can relate to, this unspoken feeling of displacement with the people that were around my age (early 20's to mid 30's) Some people were of Arab descent, born there, or of mixed backgrounds, but whatever the combination of reasons why their family was there in the first place, I could sense a feeling (again, unspoken...just my intuition and observations doing the talking here...) that some people felt a sense of entitlement to be there because they were born there. They didn't choose to be there in the middle of all this conflict, they were born into it. And then there's a feeling where that entitlement is being questioned sub/consciously almost on a weekly to monthly basis, especially when news of the Israeli government policies or behaviours get into the international headlines. Imagine growing up in a place like that where theres people pointing fingers all around you and you have no clue whats right or wrong and have to figure it out for yourself to just have a somewhat decent objective sense of perception of whats happening in the world around you, instead of being brainwashed into hate machines, or worst, insensitive emotionless fucks that don't give a shit about anything or anyone. This state of lost feeling... of where you belong, was something I picked up on immediately and could heavily relate to and understand based on my own weird upbringing, of constantly having to deal with people trying to pigeon hole you based on your race, or background, telling you what you are and what your not, reminding you, that you don't belong here. And THEN, combine politics, religion, and history into the mix dude, it becomes fucking heavy man. Its so fucking heavy I can't even begin to digest this when I first left...It took me 6 months to write this and to have some what of a objective look at what it was that I experienced there...
I wanna thank my brothers Shub and Bernardino for keeping me in company, we were always taking care of eachother like family this year. And I wanna thank the people that hosted us, Ben, who drove and shown us and planned everything that gave us this experience, and all the people that came out to the 3 shows...it was really intense and we really appreciate all the support you've shown us. Truly, thank you.
One day, I hope to see the pyramids in Egypt, and play in cairo, Instanbul, go to Jordan, Lebanon, Morroco, and venture to Northern Africa, and hopefully get to see South Africa as well. I also want to play Central and South America too... When I've toured the whole world, I think that will be the end of Dirty Beaches. I know this will take years to accomplish, and its a dream...But so far all my teenage dreams came true. So I know god will look upon those who work hard. If god is not on your side, then you still have luck and the spirits of the whole fucking universe. And most importantly, your mother fucking self.
Here's to this fucking crazy year. 2013. Worked my fucking ass off. Thanks for showing me the way. Just gotta follow through like how I've always did for the last 10 years of my life. Work hard, play hard, write write write, record, write write write, Live Love Drive. Repeat until you succeed.
Yours truly,
Pacific boy.
xo
Some post tour thoughts on Israel:
While some people kept writing me and asking me why we toured there based on Israel’s political activities, for me personally, it was an eye opener to see and experience it first hand. Theres Israeli Arabs/Jews, Morrocan Jews, Russian Jews, Ethiopian Jews, European Jews and everything in between… The population is so diverse and varied, it is almost beyond comprehension for foreigners like us to understand the history and their business there. The everyday people who housed us, showed and drove us around, told us their past military experiences, and all the fucked up shit they saw…I could go on forever about that trip. An hr drive each day between the cities of Haifa, Telaviv and Jerusalem, we swam in the ocean everyday, and it was the longest I went on without eating meat. 4 days. I wouldn’t trade the experience/memories for anything else. It sparked my interest to travel in the middle east which I never really thought about…Israel is surrounded by mountains, oceans, and deserts. Its got cities and small towns, speaks Hebrew, Arabic, and English, and is unlike any other place I’ve ever been to. It reminded me traces of Asia, but also North America mixed with hints of Europe…You should go see it for yourself, understand how much tension is there, and think of the insanity of the shit going on there and how much they are hated by their surrounding neighbors. Next time before you express opinions about a country you know not a whole lot about, you should really go there and see it for yourself. That was my lesson there.
For myself personally, there was a sense of connection I can relate to, this unspoken feeling of displacement with the people that were around my age (early 20's to mid 30's) Some people were of Arab descent, born there, or of mixed backgrounds, but whatever the combination of reasons why their family was there in the first place, I could sense a feeling (again, unspoken...just my intuition and observations doing the talking here...) that some people felt a sense of entitlement to be there because they were born there. They didn't choose to be there in the middle of all this conflict, they were born into it. And then there's a feeling where that entitlement is being questioned sub/consciously almost on a weekly to monthly basis, especially when news of the Israeli government policies or behaviours get into the international headlines. Imagine growing up in a place like that where theres people pointing fingers all around you and you have no clue whats right or wrong and have to figure it out for yourself to just have a somewhat decent objective sense of perception of whats happening in the world around you, instead of being brainwashed into hate machines, or worst, insensitive emotionless fucks that don't give a shit about anything or anyone. This state of lost feeling... of where you belong, was something I picked up on immediately and could heavily relate to and understand based on my own weird upbringing, of constantly having to deal with people trying to pigeon hole you based on your race, or background, telling you what you are and what your not, reminding you, that you don't belong here. And THEN, combine politics, religion, and history into the mix dude, it becomes fucking heavy man. Its so fucking heavy I can't even begin to digest this when I first left...It took me 6 months to write this and to have some what of a objective look at what it was that I experienced there...
I wanna thank my brothers Shub and Bernardino for keeping me in company, we were always taking care of eachother like family this year. And I wanna thank the people that hosted us, Ben, who drove and shown us and planned everything that gave us this experience, and all the people that came out to the 3 shows...it was really intense and we really appreciate all the support you've shown us. Truly, thank you.
One day, I hope to see the pyramids in Egypt, and play in cairo, Instanbul, go to Jordan, Lebanon, Morroco, and venture to Northern Africa, and hopefully get to see South Africa as well. I also want to play Central and South America too... When I've toured the whole world, I think that will be the end of Dirty Beaches. I know this will take years to accomplish, and its a dream...But so far all my teenage dreams came true. So I know god will look upon those who work hard. If god is not on your side, then you still have luck and the spirits of the whole fucking universe. And most importantly, your mother fucking self.
Here's to this fucking crazy year. 2013. Worked my fucking ass off. Thanks for showing me the way. Just gotta follow through like how I've always did for the last 10 years of my life. Work hard, play hard, write write write, record, write write write, Live Love Drive. Repeat until you succeed.
Yours truly,
Pacific boy.
xo
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