The Plug – DIY Plumbing, Ecology and Cosmic Spirit

Not all Severins songs are about cosmic power, depth psychology, ecosoirituality, animism and the like. Some are about plumbing. The unrelenting pressures of parenthood, including showing loving kindness to children even when they are unravelling our patience faster than a kitten works over a ball of wool, only not so cute. The need to clean up after ourselves and take care of water. The desire to just get the job done, as best we can, and then put up our feet. You know, the everyday stuff we can all relate to (with a subtle message of the cosmic psyche business woven throughout – I can’t help myself 🙂

The big gig where we play this psychedelic post-punk indie art rock for the world, the album launch for the Severins vinyl record “Reconnect”, is coming soon.

Friday the 28th of June at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne, Australia. If you’re there, be thrilled by a cosmic wondershow, a passionate call to arms for the ecospiritual rebellion, and a laugh, to be sure. Listen to all Severins songs and check out some film clips, including a new one and some archival footage of our sonic madness, here.

The Plug – lyrics

I wanna hold this water, Do I gotta? Yeah I oughta

But I got a screaming daughter, I gotta get my house in order

We used up all this water, Now it’s dirty and it’s sordid

The toys yeah they’re my daughter’s, I gotta sort this bricks and mortar

Coz it’s in and it’s out and it’s up and it’s down

It’s all over the shop and i’ve gone out and bought the wrong part

Now it’s swirling around, if I slide the blade under

I can take out the broken bit and then I can get some relief, yeah, and put up my feet

If I cut it too short then I’ve really mucked up

But if I leave it too long I’ll be doing this over again, yeah, all over again

Coz it’s in and it’s out and it’s up and it’s down

It’s all over the shop and i’ve gone out and bought the wrong part, again,

I’ve bought the wrong part

Punch out a hole, let it all go,

I fixed up a thing, now I’ll go with the flow.

Give It Some Mince!

Give It Some Mince!

How do you feel in your body? Do you enjoy it? How does the way you move relate to the way your mind works? There’s no separation. Just as the universe is consciousness made manifest in physical reality – at least one kind of physical reality, which in itself is already insanely complex and diverse, let alone all the other possible dimensions lurking about within this one, or through intergalactic wormholes, or on the other side of a black hole, or laughing at everything from within black matter … so our bodies are consciousness, as countless messages sent from our pores, our internal organs, our senses and subtle perceptions. Our bodies make up consciousness, our minds feed off the physical sensations as well as the hopes and dreams within and all the infinite possibilities everywhere; but our minds can also roam endlessly, beyond physical limit and mortal frame.

Might as well enjoy it, hey? Walking should be a supreme pleasure. Being a self-aware primate, with the infinite potential of human consciousness – what an opportunity! Yet we too often allow the forces of socialisation to limit us. I’m an Aussie male, which means i have been entrained to keep myself pretty rigid; don’t dance with the hips (that’s ok for Latinos but not us) and definitely don’t walk with a rolling gait, as if you really enjoy it. Too gay! But I’m here to challenge the status quo, question the dominant paradigm, give it to the man (ooh that might be too close to the bone – ouch I’ve done it again!) … I’m here to Give It Some Mince! “Let the way that you move celebrate your life on Earth,” say I.

Now you all know what I’m talking about: walking. Walking like you mean it. Mince in Aussie slang is a kind of homophobic insult; it means waltzing about like a fancy pansy, probably with a limp wrist … but what if it feels good? When you get into your primate body and move about as if you mean it, you might find yourself using some muscles and moves that feel right, yet look … different. But if you are going to be true to what you are – “consciously evolving stardust, rising up out of the earth” – then you need to “front up in your body”, beyond socialised fears and tensions, so that we can “get a sense of our embodiment, as a part of the self-aware universe.” Coz “we’re living in an unrepeatable moment right now. Right Now!”

Hope you enjoy it. Please Like, Comment, and SHARE with everyone! 

Lyrics – Give It Some Mince

Give it some mince

Walk that talk

Put some bounce into the way that you cross that floor

Yeah give it some mince

Feel your way into your body and let’s explore

Give it some mince

Pump that walk, yeah

Let the way that you move celebrate your life on earth …

And give it some mince

Front up in your body, yeah

Give it some mince

Walk that talk

Get some pep into the way that you cross that floor

Yeah give it some mince

Sense the way that your body opens out through your pores

And give it some mince

Pump that walk, yeah

Let the way that you move celebrate your life on earth …

And give it some mince

Front up in your body, yeah

Consciously evolving stardust

Rising up out of the earth

Get a sense of your embodiment

As a part of the self-aware universe

And give it some mince! 

Front up in your body, yeah

We’re living in an unrepeatable moment, right now

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The Ocean is Alive and Listening

I’ve always felt that the world is alive and aware of us. It’s almost as if, as a child, i could feel intelligence in the sand, on the breeze, soaking the earth with rain and pushing up out of the soil as plant life. Thankfully, i’ve never outgrown this feeling.

But lately i’ve been wondering how the world would feel, if it were able to sing? What came to me, after spending copious hours on the beaches of south coast NSW, was a set of lyrics that expressed anger and frustration at the endless stupidity of the human race, as well as love for self and all, wrapped up in a sound that could best be communicated in rollicking, rocking, big electronic sounds inspired by the punk DIY ethic, the industrial nature of modern society, the grunge explosion and everything in between. This seemed like the kind of music that could carry my lyrics of dark ecomysticism and cutting social commentary; especially when i was lucky enough to be able to record such songs with incredible musicians capable of improvising their own way around this sonic scape of mythic dimensions.

That band is called SEVERINS. And lo, they do rock, my friends, they surely do. The forthcoming album is titled RECONNECT.

Listen to What The Ocean Feels

The first song in this set is called “What The Ocean Feels“. The lyrics are inspired by the oceanic shorelines i live and breathe every day. I wrote some of the words watching them, some diving into them, some while underwater, and some while running alongside them. These words spring freely out of the foamy waves crashing upon the beach, just as Aphrodite is constantly reborn, just as the white-maned horses of the sea god thunder down upon our shores, writhing in passionate embrace of their elemental existence, celebrating what they are without limit, destined to rejoin their kin in the sky even as they rise from the depths of The Ocean to greet us on land. The Ocean wants us to love it, to revere it, as the home and great regenerative fount of life … but it is angry, it is roiling over as it also must spew forth the rubbish we dispense upon its beauty, which rolls out of the rivers and despoils It. Please listen to it sing, give thanks to The Ocean, and share the love as widely as possible.

What The Ocean Feels 

Say hello to the ocean, 

Say hello with your mind

Say hello to the ocean, 

Say hello with your body

It may not not want to be friends with you

And you’re gonna have to roll with that 

It may not want to play friendly now

Not since we used it as a dumping ground

Our ancient ancestry

Formed out of brine and solar energy

Home of life

Our first bodies swam out of here

So how would you feel, 

Ignored and abused? 

When you gave birth to life

And then received all of our refuse

So how would you feel, being the ocean … 

listening in? 

So say thank you to the ocean, 

Say thank you with your mind

Say thank you to the ocean, yeah, 

Say thank you with your body