Please introduce yourself and/ or your project. Please give a brief relevant history.

I am Ben Chasny. My main project is Six Organs of Admittance but I have also played guitar in bands such as Badgerlore, Comets on Fire, Current 93 and others.

What does the word ‘Animism’ mean to you? This can be as literal or abstract as you wish. Does it find life in your project or in your day to day movements?

For me Animism as an entire universe that is alive, though in a way, “aliveness” is just one of many displays that are available to us.

Do you talk with spirits or deities? Do they answer back?

Right now the spirits have mostly just been fucking with me and they think they are pretty funny. I do not. But I know the way I act when they fuck with me riles them up and they get a kick out of it. But in general, I have a general guy that I am in contact with and they he does answer back but it’s a pretty kick-back relationship. I don’t really bother him too much. But he came into my life, I didn’t go searching for them.

If you could have a secret magickal power or have one, what would it be? Or, what is it already? And finally, what would you wish to do with such a power?

To wake up in the morning and not be stressed out. With such a power I could be a kinder person I think.

What is the season of the year that resonates most deeply with you and why? Do these vibrations appear in your work?

Autumn. Always has been. I just start working harder and getting more inspired. I’d like to say it’s something with the spirit of the land but it feels more like whatever chemical that starts shooting through squirrels brains in the Autumn to make them start gathering nuts like their tweaked out, whatever that chemical is, I start to feel a little of it coursing through my veins.

What do you dream of destroying?

This question is making me realize I don’t think I’ve ever dreamed of destroying anything. I would like to see a lot disappear in the world that would make life something positive but I don’t know if I’ve dreamed of destroying. I’m not a destroyer.

What do you dream of creating?

Spaces with friends and future friends for creating and learning.

Do you have any components of ritual or practice you would be willing to share?

Music wise I just need my space to be really clean and organized.

Do politics enter into, inform or speak through your creative workings? What are your thoughts on the creative process’s responsibility to, or freedom from politics?

Politics do enter into what I do but not in an overt way. I’m just plain old not good at presenting my music that way. I do things that I feel are political but I have to say, like with most things I think people will catch, they may not go noticed at all. When I did Shelter From The Ash, only one reviewer got that it was heavily about the Iraq war (even though I had the website for Veterans For Peace printed on the inside). And then there are things that I do that no one would even know, like turning down a shit ton of money from GMC to use my music in a fucking car commerical (I would have turned down a car commercial anyway but the fact that the military uses GMC Humvee’s as military vehicles made it extra fucked up). I definitely admire bands that are able to creatively work in political ways. I found the move by Godspeed on their last record, to name it the number (at the time of printing) of Palestinians slaughtered in the genocide, which forced major news outlets to have to print it and not hide form it, to be a good creative move.

What does the word ‘community’ mean to you and how does it influence your process and practice?

Community is pretty important, always has been. Probably the best thing about playing music has been to make so many friends. I very rarely do music with people who aren’t already my friends. I often work alone in Six Organs so collaborating is my way to strengthen community.

Any last departing offerings? Anything you would like to talk about that wasn’t covered?

Thanks for having me and good luck!