Gainesville-based hip-hop artist Bryant Perez and local experimental musician Mr. Blank, both of whom are dabblers in genres and multi-faceted creatives, have come together to release a music video today for the song “Sinking Ship.” Delving into the dark depths of mental health struggles, the track shines an encouraging beacon of hope that guides the listener back up to the top for a breath of fresh air.
“I pondered on the lyrics for days until it came to me—Mux [Mr. Blank] and I are both working hard to get our projects, JOKERJOKERtv and Bryant Perez Music, to a height where it is financially self-sustainable, but there are struggles. Whether they be emotional, such as depression, to the financial toll running a business can have. At times it can feel dismal, so the song is a reflection of the self doubt one can feel trapped in—like being on sinking ship. But the chorus offers us a song of hope and triumph, for we will always find a way to survive and overcome,” says Perez.
“While working together with JOKERJOKERtv, I’ve had the chance to see Bryant work on song after song, video after video, and collab after collab as he gathered his friends and cohorts together on projects. So even before he mentioned it to me I was already thinking of how we could do a collab—an avant-garde noise theatre artist and a hip-hop/metal artist working together on one piece,” adds Blank. “I’ve always been a fan of hip hop through my years growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, but I’ve never seen myself as a hip-hop artist. I’ve always wanted to create weird beats, but never had anyone to collab with on something like that.”
The creation process for the song took place back-and-forth between Blank’s JOKERJOKERtv studio and Perez’s home studio. First Blank created sample sounds using his noise toys, then Perez used those samples to build a cohesive beat. Known for branching out far beyond the hip-hop genre, Perez says he’s always looking for a way to mesh different genres and sounds. After working out of his own studio, Perez brought the beat with the lyrics he wrote back to Blank.
“He really captured the essence of our shared experiences and presented it in a way that told this super imaginative story: The story of two guys on a sinking ship, who through it all are still trying to hold on to the hope that they will survive. I really liked the metaphor, comparing our own struggles as starving artists who never give up to going down with the ship trying to make it through,” says Blank. “I felt that not only was I on the sinking ship, maybe I WAS THE sinking ship. My life has always been rough. I’ve had tragedy after tragedy in my life… I’ve always managed to continue to survive through it all. Maybe that’s what life is about, learning to survive on this sinking ship.”
Both creatives have strong DIY spirits, and they spent two or three days filming for the music video using a green screen in the JOKERJOKERtv space. Then Blank says the editing process took months, working on the project in between other responsibilities and the regular JOKERJOKERtv programming. But the opportunity to work on this music video pushed Blank’s editing skills, in addition to prop crafting, animation and layering all of the elements.
“Doing art is usually a solitary effort: You make your art and other people are only involved once they are the audience for your art. Doing a collab with someone means learning how someone else does their art, which might be different than how you might do it,” says Blank. “I think this song and video was only a start to this collab relationship with Bryant.”
“There have been so many times that we discuss a way of doing things to one another only to find that we were thinking of the same way. We are finishing each other’s sentences before we can get it out at times, saving us the time of having to explain in detail and restructure any plans. It has solidified the fact that resilience is a major attribute to have. Even if the ship sinks we float on until we find land and we keep going,” says Perez.
However, the “Sinking Ship” music video is not where this voyage ends. The process inspired Blank to create a 13-day multimedia immersive performance art project “Ship’s Log” that officially ends tomorrow, Mar. 26. The entire journey has been catalogued at mrblankisdead.com.
“There was a piece of the story that wasn’t fully explored, and that’s where Ship’s Log came from. The scene in the video where I am screaming, ‘I Am The Sinking Ship,’ inspired me to explore that part of the story further by writing a journal of the guy going down with the boat, as he speaks into the CB mic of the radio, calling for help, sending out an SOS, and telling his troubles into the void probably never to be heard… but he does it anyways,” says Blank.
The ongoing performance art piece is doubling as a fundraising campaign for JOKERJOKERtv, with details about the sponsorship tiers, rewards and funding goals in the details of the YouTube video as well as on the mrblankisdead.com site. Blank says that he has been creating physical art pieces during the time-span of the visual project to be claimed via donation, but any pieces not sold by the end of the project will be available at future art shows.
To follow what the whole JOKERJOKERtv crew is up to, visit jokerjokertv.com. All things Bryant Perez can be found at bryantperezmusic.com, and Mr. Blank’s website will be updated with future projects once the Ship’s Log has been completed.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
