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Psychedelics & Performing Musically

Boognish

Boognish

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
353
Wasup everybody? This is my first post after being a lurker for quite sometime, so hello to all, and I hope this topic is valid for this sub-forum. I am a drummer that has recently joined a band that plays local gigs quite frequently; and I also happen to have been indulging in various psychedelics for 10+ years. My question is to any other performing musicians/psychonauts: Which psychedelic do you find enhances creativity and/or ability when playing in live(or studio) situation without causing too many handicaps (i.e. jitteryness, confusion, incoordination)? I know that is a kind of vague way to state my question and that there are a lot of potential factors involved; but put quite simply: Do any of you musicians have a favorite psychedelic to use when performing?
 
It seriously varies man. i play guitar, and sometimes when i'm tripping I can take my playing into interesting new ways, but sometimes i cant play for shit. I usually find that I can't play very well on LSD, but I'm good, sometimes better on mushrooms or rolls. i can play the motherfucking shit out of hand drums on lsd though, and I can't while sober. its weird
 
I dunno. I can't play guitar on psychedelics. Everything just seems out of proportion. And especially not on shrooms as I become such a lazy bastard and can't put together the concentration to put two chords together.

Drums on the other hand I can do but it's not exactly anything groundbreaking lol
 
One of my friends used to be able to wail out on the sax and keyboard like nobody's fucking business when he was on acid, he used to take it specifically to play shows with.. I've known a lot of DJs who would drop acid and play [good] sets too.

The only thing is, you need to know your instrument inside and out beforehand or it'll be useless to you when you're intoxicated.
 
I can't DJ very well on mushrooms or acid because I don't have the patience to mix and I find myself unable to choose what track to play next.

Amphetamines on the other hand..........now thats a good DJ booster.
 
I've found that cannabis is always good re: creativity when writing and 2C-D is good for mixing of anything where you're just listening then twiddling knobs & sliders.

For live performances though, I don't think any psychedelic improves the performance as you tend to forget what you're doing (as in what part of which song, playing the instrument never really seems to suffer unless the dose is big); the best drug for on stage is amphetamines plain & simple
 
pot is wonderfull, it really gets the juices going. Ive found that when using stronger things like LSD though you might want to wait untill your coming down if your preforming for others, but in the studio go for it. sometimes entire songs can be written in one of those magical sessions on the spot and flow right through you.
 
i've written electronic music on acid a few times - i seem to get a flood of creativity, but if i were playing guitar or something i wouldn't be able to focus on it for as long i don't think..
 
One of my favorite things while on acid is to play guitar. Some of the most creative and unusual pieces ive written have come from blotter. Can't do it for shit on mushrooms, but acid and guitar are like heaven for me.
 
I write a lot of electronic music on LSD, namely dub and psy trance. The creative process seems enhanced- manual dexterity is defintely decreased for me, so guiatr playing is difficult. As with other, drumming seems fun to trance out o.
 
I first "mastered" picking the guitar while on acid. Who knows what it sounded ike to everyone else - they were all tripping too.

I did retain the ability to pick, tho, so I guess it was breakthrough of sorts.
 
I think any real dose of psychedelics will make you useless towards the instrument. But small doses can give you some energy to pull through easier. I like to take small amounts of mushrooms, it eases some pains if you are tended, or any kind of pain actualy ehe, I remember once i had this kidney problem, it was hurting and i didn't know what it was, I took some shrooms and I played as if nothing was hurting. Two days later I had to go to the hospital as the pain was not anymore concentrated in the kidneys (but it was found it was coming from there...)
 
Thanks for the replies guys. So far recently, I've tried performing on Methylone, 2c-e & stimulants(ritalin & adderall). I'd probably have to agree with F&B with the amphetamine notion - just not too much and I make sure to be hydrated or I become jittery. On low doses of 2c-e, I had bad time distortion, which obviously isn't good when a drummers primary purpose is to keep time... lol. I really thought that M1 would've been a great enhancer, but I just couldn't focus and play confidently, kept 2nd guessing myself and fucking up. Back when I had loads of L & IT-290 laying around I would take those in medium sized doses(not together) and my chops and creativity would flow with seemingly never ending energy. The only problem I have when playing a show on one of the aforementioned substances is that everybody wonders why I don't drink since we mostly play at bars. I started drinking once to calm some rising 2c-e anxieties and very quickly became dehydrated, needless to say the rest of that show sucked ass for me.
 
^ I forgot about AMT - low doses of that (~10mg) don't override the descision skills that you need as a musician, but do let you see more scope (switches off the 'that'll sound crap, I'll not bother' critical function of musical skill). Sometimes it doesn't sound too wonderful, but for the most part it comes out just fine & occasionally you'll surprise yourself (in a good way!).

I've known some people who've taken benzos or other depressants (some for nerves, some for the hell of it) with and without alcohol, but personally it takes the soul of the experience. The whole point is to get the adrenaline pumping tp the point where you think you might puke then getting it all out of your system in the performance (that's how you get 'performance junkies' who are addicted to the rush before performing)
 
thehandtruck said:
No it didn't come from blotter, it came from you. Forget that and become lost in a chemical.
Click to expand...

excellent advice there

some people will take it to enhance what they do... until it becomes what they do...
 
Hendrix would fry nuts playin shows! I love watching old video of him at Woodstock and Monterey, could u imagine dosing lsd at Woodstock an hearin Jimi fuckin live!!!
 
Jerry Garcia. Watch the Closing of Winterland show its pretty obvious Jerry, Bob Weir, and Mickey Hart, as well as the whole crowd are trippin on acid. There is one interview with one of the dead's roadies where he says it was routine to have trash cans full of acid laced punch at Winterland shows.
 
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