Stu Folsom is an enigma. Full stop. As the mastermind behind SpiritWorld, the Las Vegas-based frontman, musician, and author unleashed Pagan Rhythms—a cohesive, critically acclaimed ambitious platter of metallic, death-metal inspired hardcore drenched in Western/Americana themes last summer.
Since then, Folsom continues to manifest his lofty vision across several forms of media. He expanded on the Pagan Rhythms universe with Godlessness, a collection of Western/Horror fiction, and he even created a set of “comancheria” toys to supplement the record. One year later (and not surprisingly), Folsom continues mining from his well of ideas for a Pagan Rhythms follow-up. We talked to Folsom about Pagan Rhythms, the writing process for new material, and what’s next for SpiritWorld.
SpiritWorld dropped Pagan Rhythms last summer, almost a year ago. It’s out into the ether. It’s received critical acclaim across the board and cosigns from legends like Max Cavalera. How does that feel?
It’s crazy. As you said, it’s already March. My girl and I talked the other day, and we realized it’d been a year since all this lockdown stuff [started]. It was weird to put out a record that I worked hard on when I can’t play any shows or do anything. I’m grateful and super stoked that it got out as much as it did.
The reception has been great. The digital stuff came out in July, and then the physical release just came out. The copies got here in the middle of February, and basically, everything sold out before the preorder was up. Everything went as good as it could have, and we’re grateful.
Obviously, with the world put on hold due to the pandemic, you can’t bring the SpiritWorld vision to life. At your first show, I remember the stage props like cacti, the costumes … Pagan Rhythms had pre-order packages with Comancheria toys. You now have Godlessness — a collection of Western/Horror fiction set in the world of Pagan Rhythms. I know a large part of the band goes beyond the music, [and it becomes] more of an experience. Talk to me about how you carry that vision during pandemic times.
Yeah, I mean, it’s tough, right? You create these good ideas of how to do things. I thought the live show would be the centerpiece of this whole project. But, since that wasn’t an option, I forced myself to spend a lot more time with the artwork. I did all the artwork for the record myself. I also wrote a collection of stories. I did some extra work. People have started getting the pre-order bundles, and they’re now seeing what went into it. A lot is going on, and a big piece of it is like, taking this crazy idea I had of combining all these different artistic approaches under one umbrella.
Big picture—moving forward … I can’t announce anything yet, but I put together a pretty good team of folks to help me on the management and touring side. It looks like hopefully, by the end of the year, Pagan Rhythms will be re-released worldwide through a much bigger channel. As soon as the world reopens, we’ll be set up to do some pretty badass stuff on the national level. We plan on doing some festival runs and support runs.
This project is far exceeding anything I thought would come out of it. [That’s because] I intentionally set up my life to be able to make art. I already have the following record done; I start working on that with Sam Pura tomorrow. I’m sending him the stems of our demos. We’re going to get on Zoom and dial in the MIDI drums, which will be weird. I get my second vaccine dose on Friday, so two weeks after that, I’ll be able to get up there and start tracking guitars and getting the next record done. I’m thinking maybe summer 2022, considering the re-release of Pagan Rhythms.
I keep coming back to that first SpiritWorld show with the costumes, the cacti … all the props. I remember listening to the demos of this heavier side of the band. From an outsider’s perspective, SpiritWorld was initially this kind of honky-tonk punk rock band. Ever since Pagan Rhythms dropped, I’ve been talking to people and everyone’s just like, “Man, how is this going to be live? Like, how are they going to navigate playing these two sides of the band? How are they going to do that?” Talk to me about what to expect with the new SpiritWorld live show.
I’m somebody that’s been obsessed with rock and roll and live music. I’ve spent my whole adult life in underground clubs. So if we open up for somebody like Cannibal Corpse, I’m not going to be the guy that comes out there with a Telecaster and then plays a bunch of stuff that doesn’t fit that crowd. I think, initially, it will be a lot of playing metal shows, because I think that’s going to be the biggest opportunity. I’m excited. In Vegas. I’ll be able to do both, where we’ll do a set of cowpunk stuff, then drop it into the Pagan Rhythms stuff.
On the national level, it’ll be more geared towards who we’re playing with until we get to the point where all the material is out there and people understand what they’re getting into. I don’t want to have another situation like the one that happened at our first show, with my girlfriend getting hit in the mouth when we played a few Folsom songs. That’s not an experience I want to share. I have material that’s more of the singer-songwriter country stuff that’s going to be coming out. Time and place, I guess, is the right thing.
As far as logistics, I don’t think I’m going to play guitar when we play the metal stuff. Matt and my buddy Randy, who played all them rippin’ ass solos on the record, will play with us live. Justin Fornof from wristmeetrazor will handle bass. And I think I’m going to add one person who’ll drop all the sound clips and then have a mic to help with all the screaming and shit. I wrote that stuff so rapid-fire, with vocals bouncing around. It will be tough to keep that intensity, so I want to split those duties between three or four people. You’ll get a pretty good representation of what’s on the record, but it may still be karaoke. You can’t duplicate a record that we spent a month in the studio layering four different guitars, but you can get it in the ballpark where it captures that intensity.
Speaking on the new record, you mentioned who will be playing on it. How is it sounding? Is it going to be similar? Pagan Rhythms is this giant vision; it’s conceptual to an extent. Can we expect the same thing? Is it going to be a full length? Is it going to be a similar sound, or are you bringing the two worlds together?
It’s kind of the companion piece to Pagan Rhythms>. I’ve got around 40 minutes of some thrash/hardcore/death metal, which is very similar, but I think I’ve improved songwriting because I hadn’t played any heavy stuff for a while. So some of those ideas, it’s just like bam, bam, bam.
With the new material, I made it a point to let some of the riffs breathe. I think we have really good songwriting. It’s super heavy, and I think it’ll be a full-length at this point, but that could change depending on what ends up happening.
And then I have an EP of more cowpunk stuff; I don’t know when it will come out. I also have a debut novel set in that same world, which will continue the story of Godlessness. I’m trying to get all this stuff done, get these records out, do some touring, and then drop a book by 2023.
Let’s talk about that. You mentioned the album is a companion piece. Godlessness itself is a companion piece to Pagan Rhythms. Can you speak to me about Godlessness and the impetus behind it? I know it’s pretty rare, especially for local bands in Vegas, to drop published works on top of the music.
It’s just something that’s a passion of mine, too. I don’t separate the artistic stuff. I have a studio set up in my house, and I have space where I can create—whether that’s doing the visual art that comes with it or the actual writing of fiction. I make it a point to spend as much time as I can being creative and making stuff. And I’ve distilled that down into creating this fictional world made up of a bunch of Western themes that I’m into, and dealing with the end of the world, which is the way everything’s been going the last year. I think it’s been motivating for me, just seeing everything locked down and spending so much time creating. Being forced to be contained … I’ve retreated into that artistic world a little bit more.
The response has been amazing, and opportunities are popping up. I realize that there’s a pretty big opportunity to get the art I’m making out into the world. I’m pretty fucking fired up to get after it.
Yeah, that’s exciting, man. And you mentioned the novel—you’re continuing to get into the literary world. What are your goals in that world? Are you just trying to create and put things out and see where shit sticks, or do you have to have a goal beyond the novel?
I really like some of the characters in the storyline I have. Godlessness was split into three point-of-view chapters. I don’t want to ruin it, but basically, it was like a prologue for this next book. It builds the world and introduces some of the themes that are going to take place.
I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, but I have at least two more full-lengths’ worth of material done: One great metal record, a cowpunk record, and then I have this idea for this novel. By the time I execute all that and get it out there, and supplement it with some touring and live shows and things … I have no idea where it could go from there.
When are we going to see SpiritWorld in any iteration?
I don’t know; I guess it depends on when it’s safe and appropriate to do so. The band is spread out because we’re not all local. Before we can do it, we’re going to have to get to the point where we can travel and meet up to rehearse and get shit done, so I’m hoping before the end of the year.
I would love to do some record release, but it’s also weird, too, because I put out a record that’s now sold out; it will get re-released. It took seven months to get the vinyl pressed. I have meetings next week, and so it could be something that gets rolling. But I’m not sure that I would even have the re-release of Pagan Rhythms done and out by the end of the year. For all I know, it could be next spring.
And so I don’t know. I’m itching to play live, especially here. Like, it’s such a special thing in Vegas. I’m dying to have that back … our little community. I’m sure you feel it, too. It’s been a year and a lot of the relationships and friends I’ve had, I mean, they go back so long. You don’t realize how much your life is based around punk rock, hardcore and metal shows until you haven’t seen your friends in so long.
Spiritworld on Bandcamp: https://spiritworldprophet.bandcamp.com
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