Interview:

Music has always touched people in a way no other kind of art can. The spiritual significance of music is uncanny at any large gathering of people. I have many times stood side stage, and watched twenty to sixty thousand people go from a dead standstill to utter chaos, now that’s spiritually significant! I have never seen any “God” provide that kind of movement in such a short instant. Music is like an invisible energy that can not only provide a positive reaction, but a negative one as well. Try playing Country music over the speakers at Wacken Open Air, and it will not be pretty.

The best music comes from tortured souls. The spirits of “artists” speaks to everyone, in almost every minute, of every day, through paintings, music, and architecture. It’s everywhere, all the time. That provides a “chain reaction” of how each day will turn out, because people’s actions are affected by their moods, and music changes those moods almost instantly. In turn, those moods create different reactions throughout the day for many people and, in my opinion, that is the direct spiritual significance of music.

“Music is like an invisible energy that can not only provide a positive reaction, but a negative one as well… The best music comes from tortured souls.”
– Kelly Shaefer, vocalist in Atheist