Stu Folsom (SpiritWorld)
SPB: Your musical inspiration (heavy + country) combines two worlds. Was that part of the concept behind the project’s name, which is also a melding of two worlds (of sorts)?
Folsom: That is interesting. I'd like to say I was that on the ball to tie everything in but no, the name is an homage to the movie Young Guns. Our demo starts with a sample from their peyote trip. The samples are only available on the physical demos or the bandcamp stream.
When I started this project, it was just for fun. Matt Schrum (Folsom, Fight Like Hell), Justin Fornof (WristMeetRazor) and I were just hanging out making racket at Matt's apartment. Once I got really serious and writing a lot of material, I made the decision to get as weird as I want. On one hand, there is an expectation from bands to pick a genre and try to perfect that sound that I am not really interested in, and on the other hand, there is the challenge of pushing yourself to do something new and uncomfortable. I am much more intrigued by the latter and like to try out things that are new and exciting and maybe stumble onto something special.
I have played guitar just to write riffs for years, but I had never played an instrument live, much less play guitar, and sing at the same time. That alone has added a whole level of difficulty to SpiritWorld that has been very rewarding.
You are spot-on to pick up on the melding of two worlds. The worlds that I am trying to merge are my beloved hardcore punk and metal scenes with the roots music that I grew up on. I really believe that people will get behind music that is authentic and crafted with care. There is nothing stopping me from building a following of hardcore punks, skins, greasers and long hairs who are all stage diving and screaming along together except me not putting in the work.
