Welcome back my fine fellowship of friends, the time has come again to imbibe the cool waters of, The Craneskin Bag. This is a very special edition as it marks the one-year anniversary of beginning the blog last May in 2020. Yes, this is the 13th new moon since we first encountered one another all those months ago.
Epiphany~
Since our last encounter within the bag I have undergone a tremendous spiritual, physical and mental rebirth. This year so far has been one of great healing for me as I delved within the cupboard of my psyche and found my neglected demons foaming at the mouth and needing to be embraced and released. I realized I have been existing within a vacuum of remote space, far removed from the world at large, alive, but with no connection between myself and humanity. During this time I began reading a book, How The Occult Saved Rock and Roll, in it the author proposes a definition of magic as,
“Having one foot in the past and one foot towards the future.”
Something about this sentence really stood out to me and I began to see that for my entire artistic and personal life I have existed by having both of my feet planted firmly and often times stubbornly in the past. I was unconcerned with contemporary culture, uninterested in technology, unenlightened by the present, disenchanted with the future. This has completely become reversed for me now. Through several months of introspection, therapy, psycho-magic, and ritualistic release of trauma, I am ready to plug into the world. and I mean this literally.
This was not a gradual decision; it was almost as if a light switch was turned on in my brain and I became elevated into another sphere whereby I have become an expanded soul, open to everything, everyone and tapped into the the infinite possibilities awaiting around every corner. All genres of music, all colors, sights, sounds, cultures, the world has suddenly appeared to me much larger, brighter and more profoundly beautiful than I thought and I suddenly want to be part of the world. In fact, I just wrote a song with that title, here are the words~
I Want To be Part Of The World
I never had a chance with both feet in the past
I was never on my way to tomorrow
Like a shriveled fetus I was tiny and curled
But now…
I want to be part of the world
This world where I am is not the same as where I’ve been
The ice I stood upon was as thin as a coffin lid
I was a solitary moon orbiting a broken circle
But now…
I want to be part of the world
The joke was on me I’d miss the punchline completely
The future was laughing, but not with me
I was a universe which God had refused to unfurl
But now…
I want to be part of the world
I want you! I didn’t before but now I do
I want you! I hope that means you want me to
I want you! You know I’m not lying, you know its true
That I want to be part of the world
Even if the world is upside down
Even if the world is making me frown
Even if the world doesn’t got my back
Even if the world is smokin’ crack
I want to be part of the world
Allvater by Ludwig Fahrenkrog (1867-1952)
New Album~
This brings me to a very special announcement. Along with this new expansive outlook has come an unstoppable fount of words and songs. I am putting my full energy into writing and recording the first Dalrymple and the Wild Daimons album, along with a new band line-up of 4 highly talented musicians whose mysterious origins and instruments of choice will be announced soon.
What is coming is a mystical puppet rock opera, tinged with mythic undertones while also paying homage to my Detroit high-energy rock and roll heritage. My father was the manager of a Detroit rock band called The Dogs in the 1970’s after all. The Dogs, formed in the late 60's, were part of the Detroit proto-punk high energy, decibal-breaking rock and roll along with Iggy and the stooges, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper and The MC5.
Rather than break my ties to the world where I hail from, I am embracing it with wide open arms and an overflowing beaker of tunes and it turns out that this feels like the absolute right thing to do. My first gigs were performed in Detroit at coffee shops and anarchist co-ops, I would back up my dad with guitar licks as he read his radical political poetry and then I would start playing my own music. These are memories I cherish, so I have decided to return to my first instrument, the electric guitar.
I traded in my Fender Strat for an electric acoustic when I was about 20 years old and so now almost 20 years later, I find myself feeling that I am coming home as I begin to plug in. Here is a snapshot taken by my older brother Shane of a 16 year old Dalrymple, (then known as Dylan Sheets) sitting on his bed, working away at his first album, March To The Sun. released in 2001. This year actually marks the 20th anniversary of the release of my first album. Did I mention I was a total hippie back then? Enormously inspired by Syd Barrett.
March To The Sun is available in my online shop. Limited quantities remain...
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