Richard James Simpson has premiered his new video for the track titled ‘Playing God’, from his latest album ‘Sugar The Pill’. If this can be compared to the dystopia of George Orwell’s ‘1984’, then ‘Playing God’ is the part of the soundtrack going off in Winston’s mind while in Room 101. Words are the enemy. Or are they? They are also communication. But what is communication. Is the truth what we believe? And why does the word ‘believe’ contain the word ‘lie’?
After reading that, watch this video again and listen to the music. Really listen. Behind that monster hook and dirty grind within the music, what is the message, and, what do you take from this. Music is power. Do you embrace the power or fight the power. Now, having said all that, do you realize that most of these questions can be answered by trusting more in yourself? Maybe that is what Richard is trying to say. However you think this, he said it with a brilliant song and a vivid video.
Check out our other features with Richard James Simpson HERE.
About ‘Playing God’
In a time of heightened emotions, offense over the slightest transgression, and mass confusion, the song “Playing God” delves into how words have now become perceived as a more destructive force than actual physical violence. Not so dissimilar to Orwell’s “1984,” we have been initiated into an era in which language is perverted and free thought, communication, and humanity itself is at a turning point. Up is down, in is out, right is left, and 2+2=5. In this track, we are presented with the line “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but the hate you spread will always come home.” This brings to mind the Gandhi quantitation: “The shreds of individuality cannot be sewed together with a bayonet; nor can democracy be restored according to the Biblical injunction of an “eye for an eye” which, in the end, would make everybody blind.” The answer to what ails us is not less speech, but free speech, and none of us should ever play God.
The song was produced by the venerable Paul Roessler of The Screamers and Nina Hagen fame and features Roessler on synthesizers and Dustin Boyer from the John Cale band on guitar.
While leaning toward the experimental side, the songs from the his album ‘Sugar The Pill’ are fashioned in the Euro-American style for which Simpson is known: “The Wizard of Oz meets Eno” as the iconic Geza X once described Simpson.
The theme of the album is NOW. It is about a loss of love, the loss of freedom and humanity, charged with the intention of bringing a voice to an era that is ready to awaken and squelch any encroachment on the fight for human dignity and rights.
About Richard James Simpson
Richard James Simpson’s third solo album, Sugar The Pill, features such notable OG punk/rock icons as Jill Emery (Mazzy Star, Hole); Don Bolles (The Germs); Dustin Boyer (John Cale); Paul Roessler (The Screamers, Twisted Roots, Nina Hagen); and Geza X (Geza X and the Mommymen, The Deadbeats) – as well as these new top artists on the scene today: Grebo Gray, Wilton, and Kaitlin Wolfberg. Sugar The Pill offers mesmerizing, ethereal, voluptuous and lush powerful songs that evoke a unique sonic experience.
This hypnotic album harkens back to such albums as David Bowie’s Heroes, incorporating experimental vignettes and songs with efficacious, hard-hitting tracks reminiscent of such acts as Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Laura Nyro, Roxy Music, Siouxsie and The Banshees, and Radiohead.
While leaning toward the experimental side, these mood pieces are fashioned in the Euro-American style for which Simpson is known: “The Wizard of Oz meets Eno” as the iconic Geza X once described Simpson.
The theme of the album is NOW. It is about a loss of love, the loss of freedom and humanity, charged with the intention of bringing a voice to an era that is ready to awaken and squelch any encroachment on the fight for human dignity and rights. It is time to annihilate the jackals and catch the cowardly. If you don’t think something is wrong, it is time to find your mind.
Richard James Simpson is the brother of the late Rock Halsey from the infamous L.A. punk band The Spys (which included Ygarr Ygarrist of Zolar X); and son of actress Renate Huy. Former member of alternative band Teardrain, Simpson released his debut solo album Sweet Birds of Youth in 2017 and his second Deep Dream in 2019, both getting excellent feedback on international music press.
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/RichardJamesSimpsonBand
https://www.youtube.com/user/punkinmexico
