Witness Underground Podcast
Artists Escaping Cults - Podcast - Documentary - Series
Follow the Witness Underground Podcast as we dive in to stories of artists escaping cults from around the globe.
Build that ecclectic playlist with art from people who successfully navigated cult mind control. Created by the team who brought the award winning feature documentary by the same name, the director and featured artists interview fascinating artists, musicians, actors, directors, authors etc. who also left a cult. Through making our documentary, artists all over the world emerged with amazing music, art, and stories. Listen in and let us know what you think.
Film short synopsis:
Witness Underground is a feature documentary that reveals the insular DIY music community that emerged within a high-control cult. Music, fame, and success are typically forbidden in this faith, who instruct its members to “beware of independent thinking.”
The artists at the heart of the music scene have their faith tested in deeply personal ways. They battle for positive mental health and push the boundaries of their religion’s norms, where leaving means being banned from interacting with your entire family and social circle for life.
Although severely restricted, they create the record label Nuclear Gopher and produce over 30 albums of earnest and personal music that spans singer/songwriter, riot grrrl, psychedelic rock, pop, EDM, shoegaze, and post-rock. Carefully curated songs and live performances punctuate their stories of friendship, deep loss, and personal growth.
Watch the film - Follow the podcast
WitnessUnderground.com
Watch:
Vimeo.com/ondemand/witnessunderground
Patreon.com/WitnessUnderground
Youtube.com/@WitnessUnderground
Witness Underground Podcast
Music Heals Trauma - Panel Q&A - Witness Underground Podcast #25 (S02E05)
Links discussed and posted in the discussion:
The Witness Underground Documentary Project:
https://WitnessUnderground.com
Watch & Support these ExJW artists:
https://Patreon.com/WitnessUnderground
Listen to the music:
http://WitnessUnderground.com/Art
http://Vaureenband.com
We're back again with another excellent Q&A featuring the artists highlighted in the feature documentary Witness Underground. One of our guests highlights the power of music and self expression to transform and even save lives.
From March through May we hosted live, private Virtual Cinema events, with a Film Festival style Q&A after each screening. The panel this time includes musicians: Annie of the band Vaureen (never-JW), Chad Rhiger of Daytrip, Ghost Army, HighTV, Ryan Sutter of The Lavone, Trumpet Marine and others. He's also the co-founder the Nuclear Gopher music production studio that the film discusses, and of course the film's director and this podcast's host, Scott Homan.
We had excellent guests in the audience as well that contributed a lot.
Join us for this engaging Q&A as we reflect on our past, present, and future as former Jehovah's Witnesses and musicians.
00:00 Introduction
05:44 Annie of Vaureen - Power of music to heal and save lives
08:26 Ryan's Sutter's JW music origin
13:38 Audience question - How did we decide to frame our documentary around the Jehovah's Witness indie music scene in Minneapolis?
15:26 Godfather & Speculatio - Chad's nicknames for Ryan & Scott
16:51 Audience question Has the cult become more lenient over time?
17:25 Ryan Relates last personal interaction with cult family members.
21:30 Song Errands by Ryan Sutter - inspired by interactions with cult member father.
22:30 Guest Trinity discussion what "Just Announced" means in cult terms.
28:37 "Control and fear is the enemy of love" discussion
29:26 The Apostle Paul McCartney & Pop Riveter on love
33:40 The Akai Pretty Songs About Ugly Things - Eric Elvendahl's production Opus excellent art!
35:14 Hira Hira - Ryan's blog that changed many lives and inspired this film - search instructions to download present version
36:44 Trinity guest - Their unraveling moment after leaving
40:05 Advice - Check the references and quotes
40:46 Advice - http://RecoveringFromReligion.org
42:28 Fuck I'm an atheist moment - also a great fresh start - label becomes powerless over time
47:10 Outro
Subscribe to the newsletter for weekly episodes:
https://bit.ly/WitnessUnderground
Watch now:
http://WitnessUnderground.com
https://tubitv.com/movies/100018684/witness-underground
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/witnessunderground
Support:
https://Patreon.com/WitnessUnderground
https://YouTube.com/@WitnessUnderground
Reach out directly:
XJWdoc@gmail.com
-Scott
