Written in the wake of Prince Rama’s split, during an intense period of isolation with only a 7 foot Sonoran gopher constrictor snake for company, “Welcome To Paradise Lost” is an orgiastic celebration of ennui and disillusion, as Taraka elaborates further:
“One day, I found myself living in isolation sleeping on a sand floor with a 7 ft long constrictor snake. My band (Prince Rama) just broke up, me and my boyfriend just broke up, my bank account broke up– my life in general just felt pretty broken up. I started constructing this trashed simulated Garden of Eden in a gallery near my Texas hometown out of dreamlike fragments of my youth– a Nirvana poster, a burned Green Day CD-R, some spikey belts wrapped around dead trees.
“I picked up an electric guitar and wrote “Welcome To Paradise Lost” as a joke homage to Green Day, an anti-“Welcome to Paradise.” I wanted to make an anthem for innocence destroyed, a world turned upside down, an orgiastic celebration of ennui and disillusion. I wrote it for my inner teenager, so she would have a song to sing when she felt the absurd futility of pining for lost paradise– to whisper to her that perhaps paradise is nothing but another empty societal construction– a mirage-like prison of perfection– and the moment it is lost, we are left with the remembrance of some inner forgotten freedom.
Tell us about the genesis of your project. How did you get to where you are now?
I don’t know how to really trace the origins of things… did it start when my last band broke up? Or when I struck my first power chord? Or got my first nosebleed in a mosh pit? Or listened to Bob Dylan inside my Mom’s womb?
What is the favorite song you wrote and why?
That’s a terrible question. Do you ever ask your mom who her favorite child is?
Who are your all time musical icons?
All of them died in 2020. All of them. Except Kate Bush and Johnny Rotten.
What are some things to do to keep your inspiration alive?
Finding joy in the mundane small things.
Who are you binge listening to these days?
Silence.
Favorite movie or TV show?
The Wizard of Oz.
Do you have any peculiar pre or post show rituals?
Sometimes I pray before a show. And usually cry afterwards.
What’s the future looking like for you?
No such thing as the future. All we have is now.
Who inspires your style and aesthetics?
Autumn leaves. Maggots on dead animals. A snake unceremoniously shedding its skin. Rain falling on night puddles. Fire erupting on a piece of trash like some mysterious spirit being released.
What is the achievement or moment in your career you are the most proud of and why?
I wouldn’t say I have much of a career. I don’t really like to look at my music as a “career” or what I do as “achievements”. It’s more of a path. One I’ve been on for lifetimes. There have been many detours and roadblocks along the way, but every once and awhile you get an “aha moment” or a beautiful scenic view. And that feels nice. Then you keep going.
What do you think is the best way to make it as an artist nowadays?
Just make music for you and God (if you believe in that stuff). Everything else is an illusion.
What would you change in the music and entertainment industry especially after this past year?
I wouldn’t change a thing. The music industry has always been a perfect paragon of corruption, ego-inflation, pathological political agendas and corporate avarice. This year has only revealed what has already existed since time in memorial. I have come to realize putting energy towards trying to change the industry is futile and useless. Instead, I think we should put our energies towards changing our attitudes towards it, and the power we bestow on it. Once the emperor is seen to have no clothes, he ceases to be an emperor, but stands as a naked, sad, pathetic little man. If we all collectively realized how little power the music industry actually has, that it is only a mere pawn in a more elaborate game, a hollow tool for sociopolitical / corporate agendas propped up by smoke and mirrors, it would cease to influence culture the way it does today. And the ground would be ripe for a new musical revolution to be born.
