How the Colours Began to Surround
There isn't much to this story in all honesty. A young lad was born in the boroughs of Polonia, moved to the communist free West Germany with his family, got kicked out when the wall came down and settled in Canada. And so, if there is a beginning, it would be right there.
The lads name is Mojo PiN, a recent graduate of Ottawa's Carleton University who had too much going on inside his head to keep it all buried down inside. Growing up poor, PiN was able to see all walks of life, all manner of people struggling for the same thing.
"It really didn't seem fair. There was all these people, from all different backgrounds, cultures, religions. They were, for the most part, hard working people with families, ambitions and dreams. But they could never get anywhere because they had to work shit jobs for people who didn't give a fuck about them just to buy bread for the day for the family. It wasn't fair at all, but that's when I learned that life never makes the claim of fairness, nor does it try to. You make of yourself what you make of yourself, there's no other way about it. If you get kicked down, beaten and torn, if you're still alive, you get up and struggle on. One short day at a time."
It is of no surprise that having grown up in such conditions makes one want to escape, makes them demand something to look forward to. For PiN, this came in the form of music from the Madchester and Shoegaze eras, as well as some Brit Pop bands who he felt was the complete embodiment of what music should have been.
"My brother is seven years older than I am and he had some buddies older still who listened to these absolutely brilliant bands. Coming off of the grunge scene which was a big influence on me as a kid music became very direct and up front. The imagination and the feels other than angst were gone. People were making music to face reality, not to distort it, and it was a bit disconcerting. But then I found these incredibly imaginative bands through my brother, bands that didn't just rely on distortion and maybe a bit of chorus for effects. There were the Stone Roses, Primal Scream, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Suede and the Verve and they all blew me away. They made me realize that music can be used not only as a tool of social awareness, but also as a form of escapism, an element just as necessary as anything else."
And with that discovery the quest to learn the guitar and begin to write lyrics commenced. In the beginning the songs were standard affairs reminiscent of any teenagers regular lifestyle, but after a couple years of honing his skill, PiN's awareness of the world around him began to take shape and much more important and imaginative songs were being written.
"I took a trip out to Europe to visit some family. I travelled around a bit in Scandinavia, the UK and back to Poland. England blew my mind man. All the people, the cultures, the love of music and the underground lifestyle and all the activism. It was an awakening. It was also around this time that I started a pretty regular regimen of using hallucinogens. Somehow, they just helped me understand parts of myself and the world around me that were difficult to see before. They just put you into perspective and make you realize that the world does not in fact revolve around you. It doesn't revolve around anything. All you've really got is your will and determination to test your boundaries and push yourself to your absolute limit. When you do that, then you can start doing some real good in this world.
It is words like that which peak most people's interests. And although of late PiN has been focusing a lot of his attention on managing other bands and building up a studio, a set of EPs are set for release by Christmas '07 and those who have been with him the longest are in eager anticipation.
Does he hope to score a record deal with the releases and gain worldwide recognition? "The only reason I would want worldwide recognition is to stir the world out of a state of apathy. Sure there is a lot of activism going on right now; anti-war rallies, environmental movements and those are all brilliant. But I want people to realize that life doesn't work out on its own terms. There is so much that can be done each day and people don't stop to see it. We're living comfortable lives, especially in the Western world and that has made us soft. Together people can make big changes, people can impact the world for good. So that's what I want to carry across. I want people to sit up, realize they make their own destinies and that no matter what the situation's like, there's always hope."
A bold task, one that can only be accomplished if the songs are powerful enough to move. Will they be? I guess we'll have to wait for the EPs to find out.