What is Lethal Voice? (Part One in an Infinite, Yet Occasional Series)

What is Lethal Voice? Why Lethal Voice? 

^{When I was younger, right after University of Kentucky in 1992, I formed a band called Wild Love Rebellion and you’ll hear a lot about the band and its mission, as well as the connection between the Rebellion then and the Voice now as I dig in, explore, and expose those connections myself in future posts of this very newsletter.} 

However, today, as I really try to just introduce Lethal Voice to you and the world, and why it is important to me as a person… as a brand… and as a movement, I’ll reveal how –in that regard– this rebellion is quite a bit different than the last.

Wild Love Rebellion was the complete and utter manifestation of who I was and had been becoming at the time I was turning 21 years old: loud… abrasive… restless… intentionally provocative and… obnoxious. And it was very much a creature of the times, in style, and in sound and substance. We didn’t call our stuff “music”. Instead, swelled with pretension and ego, we referred to our songs as “sonic portraits” (yes, I’m kind of cringing now too). But my point back then was to blast through the noise of our world in the 90s… with more noise!

But somewhere along the way, I realized something… A whisper can be louder than a scream… If it knows where to land! If it is aimed.

I think I have been a philosopher for as long as I can remember. So even though I can’t prove it, I really like to say I’ve been a philosopher since the day I was born. Clearly, I cannot remember that far back, but what I can tell you is that I cannot recall single day of my entire life that was not spent pursuing philosophy and trying to understand the concept of “love”. What “pursuing philosophy” really means and what “love” means to me could fill hundreds of these posts but don’t worry - I won’t bore you. I’m here to stimulate your own thought and belief, not force-feed my own.

And that, my friends? That is one major difference between my belief structure and my own art today in my Mid-50s as opposed to my early-20s. That “manifestation” of who I was involved a lot of very loud, pushy ideas about what was wrong with the world and how we could fix it.  

But… even when you’re pushing a philosophy based on love… if you’re PUSHING, you’re going to naturally face resistance. 

Now I’m much more a believer of subtlety. Often it is subtlety through non-subtlety but again, that is a topic that could (and may!) be stretched into several posts by itself as well .

Whereas in my previous life, I might say something ONLY to get a reaction, I now believe that stimulating the strong reaction is like opening some massive window; and while it’s open some light must be poured into the darkest corners of viewers and readers.

In my 20s, I might have said and done things purely for that shock value and just because I wanted to see if you were awake or not. The one and only Wild Love Rebellion album is in fact called “Wake Up… or let me sleep!”

In my 50s, I’d rather you never see it coming. I’d rather the ideas creep in,,, and you only find them hours after you’ve experienced something I wrote or filmed. I’d rather know they got to you unexpectedly while you were driving home, brushing your teeth, maybe even in bed with your other half… letting that special person know something was still chewing at your spine… making your skin crawl.”

The brutality of the Falcone family murder in “Vengeance Turns: Volume One” or how Mia’s grief manifests as blind, homicidal rage. The concept in “Vengeance Turns: Volume Two” that your family may not be the one that you were born into, or that vengeance really only continues to open the door to further violence. 

In “SPREAD: Pigs to Slaughter” the concept of family continues to be questioned, and a rather direct and harsh light is cast on the toxic nature of much social media today. 

“Succubus Next Door” deals with family issues in whole new ways, and explores social norms in some very graphic, shocking ways. 

The story of my first vertical series, “Karma Mechanic” explores how lies connect us and the impact they have on our lives. Of course, you may see much more than that or NONE of that when you watch, but for me that is truly the beauty of expressing my lethal voice through art. You may experience it as you were meant to, on your own and for yourself. 

In my 20s, I didn’t care if my words hurt you, if they brought down your whole world around you as long as I got some type of reaction. I was proud of telling my fellow bandmates, our fans, friends and anyone who would listen that I didn’t care if you hated me or hated our band, our art – as long as I got that reaction that I craved! 

I’ll be honest. Today, I do care if you like my art, my films, shows, videos, podcasts, comics and even this newsletter. 

And yeah, of course sometimes I still go for the gut punch.
But I’m not doing it to start a fight... I’m doing it to open a window… And if some light creeps into a dark corner of your mind through that window? That’s the real victory.

So if something I write or film upsets you, good. It’s supposed to.
But not because I want to hurt you

Because I want to help release you.

If the lethal voice inside your head stings one of your old, outdated ideas… don’t fight it… Maybe the idea that got stung needed to die, to be replaced.

If we do this right, we make that the “great replacement” everybody’s so afraid of:
Not people—
But bad ideas.
Replaced by better ones.

All through nothing more than a lethal voice… or a few!

👉 Stay in the Rebellion! Listen to the Lethal Voice Podcast!

Watch Vengeance Turns: Volume One and Volume Two on Tubi for FREE!

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