“act I: inhale”, the concert film, 5 years later

April 9th has become a really important day for me.

Today marks eight years since my spinal surgery, and five years since I released my first concert film, Inhale Act I. At the time, I was still adjusting to everything. Still figuring out my body, and what performing even looked like for me on the other side of that. But the desire never went away.

The idea of doing a concert film had been sitting with me for years. I just hadn’t acted on it yet. Coming out of the pandemic, working on what would become GASPING4AIR, and fresh off the INHALE EP, it finally felt like the right time to bring it to life.

I reached out to Tahjee Wallace of No Fun Productions, who I had worked with before on some live sessions in Norfolk, and from there it turned into a real shoot. We ended up with a small team, about eight people, everybody bringing their time and talent to make it happen.

We filmed it at Slowdive Gallery, which makes it even more special looking back. I was able to bring my brother King Koltrane through to perform, and that moment meant a lot to me. We even created a limited long sleeve for the film that I designed with my guy WOLF, so it really felt like we were building something around it, not just capturing a performance.

Looking back, the biggest thing that stands out is that we didn’t wait for perfect conditions. We didn’t have everything figured out, but we had the idea and we went for it.

Five years later, I can still watch it and feel proud. It still feels honest. It still feels like me.

If anything, it reminded me that live performance is really my foundation. That’s where everything connects for me.

And now, as I’m stepping into my new project 2NDWIIND, that idea has been coming back around. I don’t have all the logistics figured out yet, but I know it’s something I want to return to.

So it feels right to finally let this live fully.

My concert film “act I: INHALE” is now available to watch in its entirety on YouTube.

Thank you to everyone who helped bring it to life and until the next one…follow the cloud.