Interview:

Does music have a spiritual significance?
I think so. I think that our reactions to music, whether they make us sad or angry, testify that music touches our soul. I know as a musician, I am in constant search of the elusive “something”. As a music consumer, I know that I am looking for the sublime, or the transcendental feeling I get from music. Once I find it, I am hooked.

When does music connect with your soul?
Sometimes it’s immediate. Other times, it takes years to understand. I went to many, many Melvins shows, knowing that they were playing something that I “should” like, but I couldn’t understand. Then one day, at the Berkeley Square in Berkeley, I was selling shirts for them and I just knew, right then. I understood what was happening, deep within my soul. It was a beautiful moment.

How does it affect your body and mind?
I was listening to Tragedy’s “Nerve Damage” the other day in line at school and just about jumped out of my skin, I was so amped at what they were playing. Early Die Kreuzen and Raw Power had the same effect on me as a young kid too. I get the cold sweats. I get antsy. Sometimes, like hearing Samuel Barber’s “Adaggio For Strings”, for the first time, I actually wept. When do you feel most spiritually connected with music? When I get to the moment where everything else in my life melts away and I feel that “other” that I think a lot of people are searching for in their lives. It’s like a satisfaction with something, or an inner peace takes over.

What happens when there is a message to communicate in your music?
I think that with my band, (order of the) White Rose, it’s very important that we have a strong connection to the spiritual side in the music. Since we are very leftist and address political situations from that viewpoint, we also have to temper our “judgment” with love. I’m not condemning people, but I do hate what people do. I’m not so sure that we have achieved the sublime in our music, yet. I know that as we create songs and it starts to come together, there are moments, but we are still searching and we thirst for more. However, with the way the world interacts with each other, the spiritual aspect of our lives is the first thing to suffer. Distractions such as TV or entertainment amuse us for awhile as well, and we lose focus.

Our reactions to music, whether they make us sad or angry, testify that music touches our soul.”
– Steve Hart, guitarist and vocalist in White Rose