An Interview with Josh Thomas of RxGhost
Earlier this year I was afforded the opportunity to create a music video for a band out of Kansas City called RxGhost. The band is fronted by lead singer and songwriter Josh Thomas. The song they asked me to create a video for is called Candles.
To me the song is evocative of the light that burns in each of us, and how highly subject that light is to the volatility of the elements around us including our own self-destructive tendencies. I set about shooting the video by enlisting a young friend here in Los Angeles who is an aspiring hyperpop star and alternative artist named DELARAY!. More information on her to come but her predicament and energy matched the vibe of the song well I think.
In the video for Candles, DELARAY! struggles to leave the house in an effort to go out job hunting. She is consumed by social anxiety and ultimately it winds up driving her back into the familiar confines of her apartment. In the end she is granted a moment of peace after she decides to make it down to LAX and watch the departing jets in a moment of meditation.
After first meeting Josh I mentioned to him that I had been working in the psychedelic and consciousness spaces as a journalist and he shared with me that he had several experiences with psychedelics that he would be happy to discuss.
I caught up with Josh at a recording session for his band at Massive Sound studios in Kansas City on a visit home recently, and parts of our conversation appear in this video.
When I was in high school my first exposure to LSD was the knowledge that a friend of mine who I began my first band with, had been taking it on his own, and supposedly in large quantities. At this time this young friend was exhibiting more and more eccentric personality traits as it turns out by the end of our senior year he would be unhoused, and his eccentricity had gone far beyond anything that any of us were familiar with. He was likely suffering from considerable mental health issues and was the sort of person that doing large amounts of LSD recreationally likely had no positive impact on. He was the archetypal cautionary tale and for that reason primarily I never had any interest in trying it.
Josh shared with me about his experiences utilizing psychedelic substances and in a way that I think is important to cover in these spaces. He addressed some of the concerns that may come up as a result of cavalier psychedelic use, or overuse potentially in this instance. It was heartbreaking in a way for me to hear about Josh’s feelings that during his trips he envisioned himself playing a large if not spectacularly grandiose part in the history of the world, and then how he was enveloped by melancholy when it became apparent that his efforts were not having as immediate or widespread an impact as he initially imagined during the times in which he was under the influence of a psychedelic substance.
Josh worked in his life to become sober as alcohol also began to poison his wellness. As it is with many musicians, alcohol is a regular part of life; it is ubiquitous in am indistry that thrives on alcohol sales to perpetuate the existence of the venue and the whole rolling affair. A lot of times in my experience, it seems musicians are ripe for abuse as they tend to have addictive personalities, intense focus and are naturally prone to reach for the states of mind that substance can seem to help elicit. But Josh has found focus and clarity in his life and craft now and I was happy to hear that he feels like he’s in a good place overall with regards to his arts practice and his own personal aspirations for health.
For clarity’s sake I do think it’s important to show examples of what life looks like for people after they have introduced psychedelic compounds into their system by illustrating anecdotes that aren’t necessarily immediately clearly cheerleadery or flattering. We’re not just talking about getting high, we’re talking in all honesty about investing in our consciousness, and recklessness in this effort can be amplified to calamity, just as it can for legal substances like alcohol and cannabis.
In Josh’s case, he feels like everything that he went through has contributed to who he is today. But I know that for every example like his, there’s also an example like my young friend who, left to his own devices, over-utilized a substance that probably did him no favors in the long run, especially as his pre-existing mental health conditions situated him for difficulties after psychedelic experimentation. Young people are savvier now, and there is an abundance of resources to help outline how best to endeavor to journey as desired.
Music is such a powerfully transformative art form and it is my aspiration to continue to showcase conversations with musicians on this platform, not only about their own psychedelic use or the use of any particular sort of medicine, be it pharmaceutical or otherwise, but also delving into the process of what it takes to make manifest the tune you hear in your head before anyone else in the world can. It’s a special sort of alchemy that has always interested me.
Are you a musician that has utilized psychedelics in your life, whether as part of your creative process or simply as a part of your life and upbringing? Would you like to share how you think it’s influenced you, for better or worse? Care to share about your own journey with mental fitness and how you keep your arts practice and survival in balance? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at my mindbend@gmail.com to share your story