In the midst of a global pandemic and being quarantined with our own makeshift home studios, we thought it appropriate to take Episode 16 to process this greater reality of Resistance that we all face these days. It’s hard to find the positive in such a negative situation, but if we’re present, we can face the Resistance even in these darker days.
And in Episode 17, Matt Conner interviews Alex Ebert. You most likely know Alex as the front man for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, a group with a fictional singer (a “hippie trope,” he says) who ushered in the recent folk-rock movement (think of every “Hey! Ho!” band of the last decade). Before that, however, he starred in the eclectic punkish leanings of Ima Robot. As a solo artist, his output is kaleidoscopic with plenty of hip-hop influence on his latest album, I vs I.
(Warning: this interview contains some explicit language.)
In this episode of The Resistance, Alex Ebert shares the joys and sorrows of his ongoing commitment to pick up and spin whatever creative plates he desires. He’s engaging and inspiring. He’s also taken some very real hits along the way. It’s a lesson for all of us as we wrestle with Resistance and realize that making something always costs something—which is often why we end up caving in to our fears.