EGO DEATH.

Garrett on the road to clarity, redemption, and therapeutic bliss.

(Blue photos by: @diannakphoto IG)

Garrett Jewell is part of the experimental psychedelic hip/hop group UY SCUTI. His musical taste ranges across many genres but his main inspiration came from the masterminds of the 60's with Jim Morrison being a big influence, giving him the personal epiphany that he no longer wanted to lean on samples for production, but from scratch. He has built his creative output through hours of solitude and "tabs" of revelation as the music has started to not only shape his future but what his staples are as an individual; through the trials & tribulations of life hes found that music is his main source of freedom, and gives 0 f*cks about the responses from people. It's more introspective, more relatable and less "I'm better than you here's proof" type of music. I know I'm not the most appealing , and that's perfectly fine.

"You can't put standards on pure expression----as long as you can tell what goes on inside my mind i don't really care how you feel about it, i'm not hiding behind anything."

What happens with the territory of accepting the individualism in your music, comes the possibility of people not understanding your vision, Garrett explains that its like "you're screaming but no one is listening". With this however comes the great isolation that makes great music. He kept himself hostage in his room with fellow UY SCUTI member Cameron Hill for over 48 hours just micro-dosing and with that session they ended up finishing most of their debut album "Trees For Deforestation". The most recent single "Debbie You Fool" released after the album has become a favorite as of late; it has a dark story yet filled with connection, good energy and EGO DEATH. Just before the making of the song the duo were discussing the topics of ego, nostalgia, and death itself, that came from a place of feeling lost & searching. The greatest music comes from the strongest emotions. After the two left and came back with verses, they had seemingly wrote the same bars on the same sonic wavelength that intertwined with ease. The end result of the song made them feel free again, feel oneness, feel love. It will soon come to be a "subconscious foreshadowing" as the late member and powerful individual Cameron Hill unexpectedly passed soon after this, in September of 2017. Garrett feels linked with Cam daily, and stresses that he will keep pushing to make the most organic honest music on his mission to execute excellence for the both of them.

"There's a storm coming....the amplitude of this next project will be bigger."

I was able to speak with Garrett about his expedition and obstacles on the way, you can also listen to "Debbie You Fool" here.

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CHASE: From your growth as an individual, finding yourself, expanding influences, how has that impacted your music or what kind you have started to make?

GARRETT: I've literally had to think about this question for this amount of time. It’s genius. I think people are pigeon holed into thinking through industry standards of recent. Music to me is freedom, I don’t think you can put standards on pure expression. I’ve learned that if your soul is in it people don’t really care too much how it’s served it’s transparent. That’s what I love about Ariel Pink it’s like that shit is so grimy it’s pure madness but it’s beautiful when you click that first track of an album it throws you into a world that not many people are willing to travel through and that’s fine with me. I’ve taken that careful carelessness into my music. Like as long as you can tell what goes on inside my mind I don’t really care how you feel about it because I’m expressing myself I’m not hiding behind anything.

The first time I took LSD I was listening to a song me and cam made that was sample based and I was just like this shit isn’t me, it’s not right that I can take someone’s hours if not days of hard work and writing and make a beat out of it in 15 minutes....and call it music like I feel there’s limitations to sampling. That’s when I started making everything from scratch and I haven’t looked back since. It really started when I watched the Oliver Stone movie on the doors. Jim Morrison embodied the rawness of being completely out there without needing reassurance. He peaked my interest in psychedelics and the late 60's. Listening to music from that time feels like ancient knowledge to me and shows that a lot of time has passed and we’re still dealing with the same issues. It feels like fate that 50 years later to the T there is a resurgence of these substances and a profound interest in the unknown areas of the mind.

All my new music stems from ideas of psychedelia whether that be influenced by a trip I had or making the music directly under the influence of. It’s not only sonic-ally different but it’s more introspective more relatable, less of “I’m better than you here’s proof” type of music that you hear more and more of everyday. It’s more of just like an understanding with yourself like yeah I know I’m not the most appealing and that’s perfectly fine with me. It is so hard to fight the demons that come with wanting to be an artist or just move society forward with your vision it feels like you’re screaming but no one is listening you know. That’s why I like to stay super off of social media. Nothing is left to mystery in music anymore with genius and snippet videos and all that I want to leave some questions open ended. I can’t wait for people to hear this new album I think it’s going to ruffle some feathers and I’m ready.

And what I said about sampling was poorly worded. I love the art of sampling I love sample based music. I just feel like i can’t truly express what I’m feeling with a sample I get too caught up in what the other artist was thinking or feeling or trying to express. Maybe in the future I’ll make a sample based project I don’t know.

CHASE: Incredible. I understand what you’re saying though about the sampling. Leaning too much on recycled sounds almost makes you reverse the effect of free expression, your art becomes interpreted through someone else’s vision more-so than your own.

The beginning of your psychedelic journey made you change the way you approach your music, and your approach on life. Is the most recent release: “Debbie You Fool” a leeway into that newfound knowledge you’ve gained as of late? Or was it just a sincere letter to think about the past? The lyrics encompassed a lot of mindfulness: ego death, death itself, nostalgia from childhood, etc. I know a few other songs on trees for deforestation had a similar theme to Debbie you fool as well but I guess I’m referring to how that single had a rage of mindful fuel.

GARRETT: That song is so strange to me how it came together. Like there’s 2 songs that me and cam made before he passed, it was that one and the one we made the night of his passing which I think is going to be a big mind fuck it’s almost like the finale to Debbie you fool. After we put out trees we were already working on another album like the next week. It’s so crazy when I make music now it’s like good god what would cam have done on these beats like it still trips me out to this day but I just gotta box it. We were both kinda like damn we put this out and people were fuckin with it but we worked so hard on it. We literally locked our-self into a room for 48 hours straight finishing the majority of the album just kinda micro-dosing and smoking a lot of weed. It was awesome greatest couple days of my life.

But Debbie you fool came together like I laid the piano down and played this really distorted synth bass over it and it just sounded so moody. Songs like those actually come from a really dark place like we had to go through some shit to make that song. It’s just eerie we were talking about death and all of that as like a wonder. But as you listen to it now it sounds like a sort of subconscious foreshadowing. I was like I’m working dead end jobs not making shit. I’m workin hard on my music not seeing the turn out I want like what is the end goal here. I was bummed out with the chick I was with at the time it was just like fuck man. Then a spark hit. I wrote that shit in like 20 minutes it felt so therapeutic and freeing. It was like the death of all my worries and feeling bad for myself, you’re exactly right a lot of ego death. Super putting myself out there like I’m not afraid to admit I don’t have it all together ya know. Then cam came through that next night and when I heard what he wrote I was just so happy i was like he was feeling the same way as me just his perspective and place at the time was different. It was like we met at the same fork in the road always, and it’s tough now when I go through shit like that I don’t have him to feel what I’m feeling. But he’s there he’s always there that’s what gets me through and that’s why I keep pushing.

CHASE: Your immaculate answers are makin my questions limited, you're answering a good abundance in one shot lol. I appreciate your time man and opening up to me the way you did.

One last question: can we expect music anytime soon? 

GARRETT: There’s a storm coming chase, the amplitude of this one is gonna be a lot bigger...