My love and admiration for California-based reggae artist, Stick Figure, goes back to some of his earliest days releasing music, and I’ve enjoyed watching his career steadily progress. 

I remember when Stick Figure was just Scott Woodruff aka “Stick” releasing music that nobody else had a hand in writing, recording and releasing. I remember his early, self-made YouTube videos, such  as the one of him performing on a rooftop in the snow and the tribute he made to his dog who had been killed by a coyote, “Little Doggie Holly,” a real tear jerker that got the waterworks flowing every time I watched it.

I remember when Stick put together a band and toured the east coast for the first time. I drove 90 minutes to watch him perform at the now-defunct Philadelphia venue, The Blockley, where I actually met him for the first time. 

I remember when my friend started the Stick Figure Family fan group on Facebook, which has grown to a staggering 69,000 members and branched off into other subgroups. 

I remember when Woodruff added a new member to his band, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Johnny Cosmic, and wondering to myself why he felt compelled to bolster his group with another member. 

Of course, over the years, that has become obvious. Not only does Cosmic enhance Stick Figure shows with his shredding guitar solos, but starting with 2015’s Set in Stone LP, he’s had a hand in co-producing Stick’s music. Furthermore, beyond those contributions, he has made a name for himself as a sought-after producer and engineer working with a growing number of big names and up-and-coming artists in the American reggae scene. 

Cosmic’s notable credits include the song, “Things You Can’t Control,” from SOJA’s Grammy award winning album, Beauty in the Silence, as well as other award-winning LPs such as Ways of the World by The Movement and Castles by The Elovaters. Recently, Cosmic produced the well-regarded albums from up-and-coming artists, Hector “Roots” Lewis and Brendan Clemente, who in Rootfire’s Album Showcase for his Peaks and Valleys LP had referred to Cosmic as a “legend,” saying he is “one of the most talented artists and mix engineers I’ve ever seen or heard.”

Of course, Cosmic has been lauded for his own music as well, amassing millions of streams for his singles, “Kingdom,” with The Movement and “Sun and the Moon,” with Collie Buddz, both part of his What a Trip LP released last year.  

KBong (left) & Johnny Cosmic (right) Photo credit: Spencer Stanley

A few weeks ago, after a series of singles recorded along with his bandmate in Stick Figure, keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Kevin Bong aka “KBong,” Cosmic released a new album titled Spirit of the Light. I first learned about this album when speaking with Cosmic at Levitate Festival earlier this summer, when we made plans for me to interview him for an article to help celebrate this release.

On an August 15th Instagram post announcing the upcoming release, Cosmic and KBong stated about the album, “Our intention for this album was to collaborate on every song while showcasing our growth as song writers and musicians.” About that statement, Cosmic elaborated to me, “With each project you learn more and more. Speaking only for myself, I feel like these past few years the veil has lifted and the path to better articulation of these ideas is clearer for me. Even though I’ve been at it for so long, in a way, it feels like it’s all finally starting to kind of make sense…I guess I’m just a slow learner lol. Or I’ve just taken many exploratory detours in the outback searching for novel inspirations.”

While he’s made a name for himself only somewhat recently, as Cosmic stated, this multi-faceted artist has been making music for a long time, starting over 20 years ago in middle school. By 7th grade, Cosmic’s band with his schoolmates began playing gigs in bars, opening up for the older groups around their Chicago-area town. “I remember coming home, shirt reeking of cigarettes from the second hand smoke, and just thinking it was the coolest badge of honor,” he recalled with a laugh. “It started then and it’s just been steadily accelerating from there.”

In addition to performing, Cosmic showed a predilection towards producing even back in his formative years. Expanding on his earliest days making music, Cosmic told me, “I started my first multitracking recording project when I was a sophomore in high school using a boombox that you’d find around the house. I had just discovered the concept of vocal harmony, but none of my friends were singers. So, in order to practice, I devised my boombox method. I’d record myself playing rhythm guitar and singing the harmony vocal line. Then I would take that tape out, put it in another boombox sitting next to me, put a fresh tape in the first boombox, and record myself singing lead vocals and playing lead guitar along with the original tape. It was a home made system that I took full advantage of.”

Cosmic said he made “a ton” of tapes perfecting his 2-track craft, adding that he had posted an example of one of these on YouTube, titled  “Winter Time (High School Cassette Tape Demo).”

Still, at that point, he did not consider himself a producer or engineer but instead only viewed his work as fun and practice. “I really just wanted to sing, play guitar and make songs, jamming with my friends,” he said. 

Then, when one of his buddies started recording with a “real” Tascam 4-track, it felt like the “big leagues” compared to the boombox. “Almost right away, these big visions of sound possibilities were coming, and I was definitely overwhelming my buddy working the 4-track who was just trying to have some fun and not take it so seriously,” Cosmic recalled.

Despite his friends’ more casual attitude,  Cosmic had caught the bug, so he got his hands on an old used computer that had been collecting dust, opened it up and built it into a better machine, adding some cracked recording programs. The first one he used was Sony Acid Pro 1.0. 

Cosmic points out that he never had any formal musical or production/engineering training. Rather, he learned his craft by “real world experiments,” just trying things. “I would listen to Dark Side of the Moon and be like, ‘How the hell did they do that one sound?’  Then I would imagine what they might have done to achieve it,  and then I would test it on some riff or song I was working on and see if it worked. Reformulate, test again, etc.”

Cosmic became comfortable with that process and recorded a handful of albums for his band. He said “I was by no means proficient or equipped with proper gear and space, but I had an ocean full of spirit and love for the craft, and that was enough to give me confidence.”

That confidence, along with anger and frustration, drove him to start recording other bands from his local scene. “I had a lot of amazingly talented friends who I thought were equally deserved for attention,” he recalled. “Their songs moved me as much as anything I heard on the radio, and it started to really bother me deep inside that there was no help on the way. When you hear the lore and mythology of earlier periods of music, there is this rich history in jazz, blues and rock n’ roll of mentors to guide the young cats coming up…but my friends and I were coming up in what seemed like some wasteland of opportunity, coinciding with the birth of Napster and the death blow of the music industry. The boat started sinking as soon as we had bought our tickets and stepped on board. It seemed unfair.”

Looking around this “wasteland,” Cosmic decided if there was nobody knowledgeable and qualified around that could help his friends, then he would take the bull by the horns. “I felt like it shouldn’t have been me, because I still had so much to learn about the craft, and about life. But a shitty recording is better than no recording. So I got to work.”

The first band that Cosmic recorded was Obie Call from Rockford, IL. They did it in Melody Sunrise Studios, the name he gave to his parents’ basement. “And that recording still stands up to this day,” Cosmic said proudly. “From there, the floodgates opened and I was on my quest to record everything around me that sounded interesting.”

Cosmic’s second band, Cosmic Haze, who he played with in high school, sounds like a low-fi Sublime. About his formative time in this band, Cosmic recalled, “It’s where I really started to get in touch with who I could be as a musician. Around that time, I had experienced a lot of growth and inspiration. I was discovering so many cool things –  Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, 311, Sublime and many more. I realized that it was ok that my soul reflected all these great sounds. Any sound or approach that moved me was on the table and available to try. It was a liberating feeling to give myself the authority to be whoever I wished to be. And my music definitely reverberated with those eclectic tastes.”

Johnny Cosmic & KBong. Photo cred: Keith Zacharski/In The Barrel Photography.

Eventually, in 2015, Scott Woodruff invited him to join Stick Figure. Cosmic told the story of how this life-changing event unfolded.  He had been bandmates with  another Chicago-area musician, Mike DeGuzman, in a group called Fluid Minds. In 2011, DeGuzman got recruited into Savannah, GA-based reggae/rock band Passafire. A couple of years later, out of the blue, DeGuzman called Cosmic to ask him if he could fill in for their stage tech. Their tech had gotten hired for Warped Tour and they needed someone for a tour that was starting a week from then.

Cosmic shared that, a few weeks prior to this,  he had actually prayed for a reason to find a new direction. Recognizing this opportunity as the new door opening that he had been hoping for, Cosmic took the job and joined Passafire’s three month run across the country co-headlining with Stick Figure. Throughout the tour, he had become friends with KBong. 

After the tour,  KBong and Cosmic decided to work on some music together, with Cosmic contributing some writing, playing and mixing on several songs that would appear on KBong’s  first album, Hopes and Dreams. Woodruff heard the music and asked if Cosmic could help him with some things on what would become the Set In Stone album. Not too long after that, Stick asked Cosmic to join the group, and he moved to Oakland to live with Stick at Great Stone, the recording studio Stick had purchased from Green Day. 

“That time was very creatively prosperous for both of us,” Cosmic said.  “I think working in the same space propelled us forward in a way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. We supercharged each other. We worked closely on the World on Fire album. That was definitely one of our masterpiece moments which coincided with my work on The Movement’s album, Ways of the World, as well. Very fruitful time.”

About working with Woodruff, Cosmic said, “Stick is a master of melody and rhythm. It’s been a great privilege to watch him and his writing partner, TJ O’Neill, create. He’s very methodical, very driven. He has a way of focusing on precisely what matters about a song.”

He added, “It’s crazy to see it unfold in real time. Just studying how he approaches the craft has helped me learn how to focus more as well. I’ve learned so many lessons from him that I take with me on all the music I work on.”

Johnny Cosmic (left) & KBong (right) Photo credit: Spencer Stanley

As a musician who has become known for his studio work with other artists as much as his own compositions and releases, I wondered if Cosmic has a favorite aspect of producing others’ music and whether he gets the same satisfaction from doing that as making music of his own. “The act of creation,” he replied. “Bringing something into the world that didn’t exist before. It’s a thrilling experience. It’s my meditation, my connection to the great spirit, my motivation. It makes no difference who’s music it is. It’s always a joy to participate. It’s the essence of what it means to be alive and truly present in the moment.”

With that beautiful thought in mind, let us turn our attention to Spirit of the Light, the album Cosmic just composed, recorded, and released with his bandmate and friend, KBong. I asked Cosmic about when he and KBong had begun conceiving this project and if he could speak to its evolution.  “It kind of just happened,” he said. “We’ve been working on music for over a decade. We had pieces of things we were working on. At some point the idea crystallized into an official joint album. Then, we began gathering all the ideas we thought would be good candidates. Most of it was already bubbling. A few more new ones popped out while we were wrapping those up – which usually happens. The momentum starts building and things spring to life.”

With collaborative bodies of work that unfold over time like this, the songwriting process often varies rather than having a consistent approach with each song. “Most tracks had a unique path to fruition,” Cosmic concurred, adding that he really enjoys that. “I think it goes back to that eclectic sound palette from the beginning. I try not to force a song into a specific shape or through a predetermined assembly line process. I try my best to hear what the song is wishing to become. It only speaks in a whisper, so you have to be very sensitive to it. But if you listen closely, you’ll hear what it’s telling you. I want to serve the song’s wish, not the other way around. It’s so much more interesting that way. You never know what’s around the next corner.”

Continuing, he explained, “Certain songs unfolded over the course of many years. Some of these songs could be up to like 5+ years in the making. I don’t mind when songs marinate. It gives me confidence when I can come back to it years later and it still feels fresh and relevant. Then you have a better chance of knowing you’re making timeless art. I don’t want to make something that is only relevant now. A truly great song will be great today, 100 years ago and 100 years from now. Time cannot dissolve it.”

Just as some songs don’t reach completion in a continuous manner, working at the highly regarded 17th Street Studios in Costa Mesa, where two of the songs from Spirit of the Light were recorded, similarly manifested in a nonlinear fashion. Cosmic explained,  “I almost got a chance to work with Lew Richards of 17th Street back in the day right after ‘Lay Me Down’ by Dirty Heads and Rome came out. KnowledgeBorn07 and I had just recorded our album Cosmic Knowledge. He heard the album and gave us a really positive response. He said he was gonna sign us to 17th Street Records and mix the album. We were over the moon. But then it ended up falling through. We were definitely bummed, but ever since then, I knew one day I’d get my chance to finally work with him. As we were going through options of studios to cut the live band, I seized the opportunity to make it happen. Long time coming. And it was awesome. We all had an amazing experience at Lew’s place.”

Part of the joy that Cosmic felt working on Spirit of the Light at 17th Street Studios stems from simply having the opportunity to work in the company of his friends, especially considering how Cosmic, just like Stick Woodruff has done, has built songs track by track by himself, playing and recording each instrument, etc.  Even though he has the know-how, he prefers working with others in a live recording setting.  “I can do the remote thing if need be,” Cosmic told me. “Having that control is nice, but I’ve found, through many years of experience, that the lone producer method is just that…lonely. If I have the choice, I choose friends. There’s a magic in the chemistry between the right people. It’s God’s way of entering the situation. The intangible thing that you can’t buy and you can’t force into existence. Sign me up for that please. I don’t want to be the master conductor of the life force, I want to be the grateful vessel and the diligent antenna.”

The friends that joined KBong and Cosmic in the studio include Andrew Maloney aka Drewbie Dub, keyboard player from Colorado-based reggae/dub outfit, Tatanka as well as Eric Bumb and Marcus Agundes, who have drummed and played bass together with California surf/acoustic rock/reggae band, The Wheeland Brothers. “They are part of our live band that have been playing together for many years,” Cosmic said. “We’ve been a great team on the road, so it makes sense to utilize our momentum in the studio when we’re able.”

And so, with a little help from their friends (a reference to the Beatles cover that graces the album), Spirit of the Light came to life. The album kicks off with “Honey for the Soul,” a breezy, uplifting, acoustic guitar-forward reggae-rock mashup that brings to mind 1970s AM radio music and could easily have also been the title of the album. The expression, honey for the soul, of course, is a metaphor for something that nourishes one’s spirit by bringing comfort or joy, and the song lives up to its title by being exactly that.  Its signature element comes from the choral singing that was recorded with help from live audiences in the fall of 2024 in Chicago, Indianapolis and Columbus. 

About this, Cosmic said he had used the same technique previously on the Stick Figure song, “Smoke Signals,” where they had the audience sing, and then they purposefully cut out the music so it’s just the audience. He then took the crowd mic tracks from the live show and added them into the studio song.

For “Honey,” he decided to try it again. “On like the last half of the 2024 fall tour, I would announce to the crowd before we started the song that we were recording,  and that at a certain point in the song, we’re going to stop playing and have them sing for the purpose of capturing samples and adding them to the studio track,” Cosmic said. “So when we got to that part, I would spend like 2-3 minutes directing the audience to sing a variety of different ways to try and find good samples to add. People were stoked to possibly be part of the album and to just do this fun experiment together.”

“Breaking the flow of a typical concert to craft crowd samples,” he restated, fondly recalling the experience and perhaps marveling at the boldness and innovativeness of it.  He added, “It was great because you can only get that sound from a large group of people. Overdubbing you and your buddy 100 times doesn’t get the same effect as two hundred different people singing together. You can’t fake that, you can’t capture that specific sound any other way.”

The song appreciates what’s sweet about life and then offers encouragement in what feels like a dark time for many, and that sentiment is reinforced by the powerful and beautiful vibration of hundreds of people singing together in harmony. 

 Redemption isn’t easy and

Perfection ain’t a goal

Living the life that we’re given

That is honey for the soul…

 Life is too short

We never know when it will end

Love every friend and foe yeah

Just because you can

Time can crumble a mountain

Pressure takes its toll

Still you’re shining like a diamond

That is honey for the soul…

In the darkest of moments

Stick together now

Bring the balance back to the people now

For the world needs everything that we’ve got to give

And let’s save it from a burning flame

The next song, “Moving Slowly,” maintains a similar vibe but with a more upbeat tempo, a groovy rocker with a subtle guitar skank and keyboard bubble underneath. The tune really hits its stride in the final minute when the vocals drop out, shifting focus to Cosmic’s guitar playing, an airy jam that invokes Phish and The Grateful Dead.

KBong & Cosmic keep the pace rapid with“Soul Remedy,” another title that could have worked as the name of the album.  What’s cool about this ska song, besides its nifty guitar work,  is that halfway through, they slow it down to a reggae beat for about thirty seconds before picking it back up again. Then, for the final 45 seconds, they revert back to the reggae beat. The changes of pace keep the listening experience fresh and differentiate it from just a straight-up ska song. 

The fourth song, “Comfortably High,” is a fun reggae-rock song with rapped verses about smoking weed. The lyrics and to some extent the melody of the chorus where they sing, “I wanna smoke you up” bring to mind the 1991 r&b single “I Wanna Sex You Up,” by 80s/90s boy band  Color Me Badd. This clever reimagination may stir up some nostalgia for fans of a certain age.

From here, the vibes pivot with one of my favorite songs on the album, “Ancient Stone,” a subdued dubby romp with acoustic guitar and a rumbling bass line. The song that Cosmic also singled out as his favorite on the album, “Ancient Stone” has a darker mood, flavored by the haunting sound of a distant melodica,  which is actually a trumpet tone that Cosmic played on a keyboard.  

About this dynamic track, Cosmic said that the song had always been one of his favorites of Bong’s demos, which had been recorded in Cozumel, Mexico. “You can hear cars driving by,” Cosmic told me. “That’s not sound effects. He was recording the demo on the porch of his room and that’s the real sounds of the street leaking through. I was really drawn to that and wanted to keep it intact. It creates a feeling, it puts the tune in a physical space.”

Cosmic continued, “Back in January, I was like, ‘I’ve always loved that one, why haven’t we made this into something?’ The real roadblock that had stopped us previously was finding the right lyrics. So we sat down together to brainstorm. My goal was to keep it related to Mexico somehow. I wanted to honor the inspiration of the song.” 

“I started thinking about when I visited Chichen Itza and Tulum. The thoughts of the ancient indigenous cultures, their lives, their history, their beauty, their mysteries, the tragedy of colonization. And it all started pouring out. We had waited like six years for the inspiration and then in a matter of an hour we had the lyrics and vocal melody written. Then right away started recording all the lyrics and extra instrumentation. We had the song finished by the end of the night. The way it came together was magical.”

KBong. Photo by Keith Zacharski/In the Barrel Photography.

“Ancient Stone” rolls into a mellow 1:47 instrumental interlude titled “World Between Worlds,” a jazzy lo-fi number with an effect that gives it kind of a warbly sound, as if one was listening to the track outdoors on a blustery day and the wind kept shifting. When asked about the choice of the title, Cosmic obliged, “The song title was inspired by Star Wars. In the Rebels series, Ahsoka goes to this place that’s kind of in another dimension of space and time. I’m not sure why but, when we made this one, I saw that place in my mind. And the thought just popped into my head, ‘The world between worlds.’ So I saved the song as that and the rest is history.”

 I also asked Cosmic about the placement of the song and the overall sequence of the tracks, whether a lot of consideration went into it or if it was more of an afterthought. “The placement of this was strategic. We felt like this was a good palate cleanser for the next movement of the record,” Cosmic responded, adding, “The whole song sequence was very thought out. It’s understood nowadays that people are consuming one track at a time on playlists, etc. There’s less focus on the album experience. But we thought that IF anyone did choose to rock it old school and go on the journey with us, we would ensure that this album would take you on a ride. We set aside a whole night trying every combo we could think of, making sure the flow of the album was just right.”

“World Between Worlds” is followed by the title track, “Spirit of the Light,” a beautiful, gently sung reggae song seasoned by the steel guitar playing of Scott Walker. The lap steel  gives this song a  distinctly Hawaiian feel. 

The lyrics in this song are minimal, but, combined with the delightful music, it doesn’t need more than this to make an impact:

Time keeps going

We’ve been finding a way

We’ll make it through

As long as we’ve got faith

May heaven smile down

May heaven smile down

May heaven smile down

On you and me

While I’ve mentioned that I felt several song names on this album could also appropriately serve as the album title, as far as how the musicians settled on this one, Cosmic emphatically stated, “Spirit of the Light represents us as people and it describes our music best. There was never a more fitting choice.”

The fellas stay on the steel guitar tip with the next track as well, “Whisper in the Wind,” which also features Walker on the pedal steel guitar. Whereas “Spirit” gingerly wraps a lei around listeners necks, “Whisper” transports listeners to the honky-tonks of Nashville. This reggae song steeped in buttermilk encourages us to listen to our inner voices and reminds us to be grateful with the inspiring line, “If you’re breathing, you got a reason to celebrate.” 

Not only has Walker performed with Stick Figure a number of times but also with KBong and Cosmic. “He plays a mean pedal steel guitar,” Cosmic said about the luthier who has crafted guitars for several members of Stick Figure, adding, “which basically makes any song sound like the angels from heaven came down and joined in. It’s a glorious sound. So whenever a song needs some heavenly spirit, I give him a call. And he’s always enthusiastic to participate… We’re blessed to have him in our corner.”

Photo credit: Spencer Stanley

Up to this point in the album, KBong and Cosmic handled all the singing duties, but the next two songs, “The Way Back” and “Ganja in My Garden,”both feature collaborations, first with San Diego-based collective, Boostive and the latter with the inimitable Mike Love. “For this album, we purposefully decided to not overload it with features. We wanted to be able to make the art stand on its own merit,” commented Cosmic. 

He then further explained, “I noticed recently so many albums where it’s just feature after feature after feature. I started wondering, even for my own art, are we all afraid to just release a song without the crutch of having someone else there to help the streaming numbers and visibility of a release? It almost seems like it would be revolutionary at this point to release your own album pure. Back in the day, the best records were not stuffed with guests. Bands were not leaning on a crutch. It was your art against the world.”

He continued, “With that being understood, the few guests we have are genuine connections. These gatherings were not based out of fear streaming oblivion. We truly respect each other’s craft and the fruitfulness of creativity. Mike Love is hands down one of the greatest musicians in our scene. He is a prodigy. It’s like if Mozart happened to be a ganja farmer in the mountains of Hawaii or something. He’s on his own level and it’s always a pleasure to be in his orbit. Boostive is one of my favorite up and coming bands. They’ve been on our radar for many years now. We’ve played shows and made music in the studio together. It’s been a mission of ours to do what we can to make sure people know about them.”

Self-described as a mix of dub-hop, soul and world music, San Diego-based collective, Boostive, blends reggae and dub, cumbia and hip-hop with electronic elements, creating an intoxicating downtempo tonic that I could drown myself in and die happy. Their collaboration with KBong and Cosmic, “The Way Back,” is absolutely divine, incorporating the sounds of flute and melodica with thunderous sub-bass and the steamy vocals of Boostive singer Divina Jasso, whose alluring voice melds well with KBong’s as they sing together in harmony. 

As the title suggests, the song speaks to disillusionment and the struggle to find solid footing that many people endure. KBong’s verse really hits home:

   Heartbreak and tragedy

This world keeps testing me

No turning back when I’m on the track toward my own destiny

Keep on trodding

Until I reach higher ground

All that’s lost will be found and now

My life has much more clarity

With abundance no more scarcity

Endless love universally

The collaboration with Mike Love that follows, “Ganja in my Garden,” provides the perfect sonic complement to “The Way Back.” The slower bpm, the deep low end, a steady skank and of course the unmistakable singing of Mike Love combine with the voices of Cosmic and KBong to create one of the better paeans to herb that I have heard in a while. 

With the deep bass continuing to anchor the voyage, “Ganja in my Garden” flows seamlessly into the next song, “Can’t Take this Fighting,” a stripped-down dubby roots song laden lovely echo. Lyrically, the song starts out as if Cosmic is singing about a romantic relationship, but when KBong takes the mic, the song seems to shift to a more societal theme, perhaps commentary on the toxic rift that currently divides our national psyche:

World ain’t the same

When all of the people don’t get along

Hoping and praying

One day we will see the right from wrong

As one would expect from KBong though, with his beaming smile, affable nature, and consistently positive music, he wraps up the song with a call for unity:

 We pray for peace for those in the need

So many faces gone

Brothers and Sisters come together

And keep holding on

Next up, KBong and Cosmic treat listeners to an upbeat reggae version of The Beatles’ classic, “With a Little Help from my Friends,” which had been a single prior to its inclusion on the album. “The Beatles are everything. They are undoubtedly one of the greatest groups of musicians and songwriters in history,” Cosmic said, adding, “I love to play all kinds of tunes of theirs. Taking this one on was pretty random, no big plan. We just started playing it live because we thought it’d be a fun tune that people knew and enjoyed. And we decided to record it while we were working on some other tracks. The mics were up, we were there, we said fuck it, lets give it a go. And it happened to make its way on the record.”

The 13th song on Spirit of the Light is “Rolling Thunder,” a pretty straightforward reggae song about rolling with the punches that is elevated by the saxophone of Kyle Jerome of The Movement and spiced up with percussion by Joan Reggae Drummer.  “Joan is a fantastic drummer,” Cosmic began about the Catalonian-based drummer who he had been following for a while online. “We originally recorded this with a more indie style beat. After we finalized that version, we started getting curious if it would sound better as a reggae vibe instead. I knew Joan had a great roots feel so I sent him the vocal stem and asked him to perform along to it just as an experiment. He has a very nice studio that he records at in Spain. Bong and I were so stoked at how it came out that we re-did the song reggae style.”

Finally, Spirit of the Light wraps up with “Inner Voice,” essentially a 12-minute instrumental rock jam enlivened with the flute and percussive sound effects. Although the song has no singing, it does have a vocal element, as Cosmic layered the philosophical musings of Alan Watts throughout parts of the track. I suspected this song probably had a good origin story, and Cosmic confirmed it with his explanation of how the track came together.

As the story begins, at one point while recording with the band in the studio, they were all just relaxing in between takes. Drewbie picked up the acoustic guitar and started playing a riff. “I was like, Dude…what is that?” Cosmic recounted. “He said this was like his go-to riff in college or something…whenever he’d be sitting around with a guitar, he’d play that. I was like, WE NEED TO RECORD THIS RIGHT NOW! So everybody got back to their station and we proceeded to play this song. No one had any idea what we were going to do before we pressed record. We did a 20-minute freestyle version! It rocked! We were so stoked how it came out.”

“After everyone left, I made an edit to the freestyle and whittled it down to the best parts, which brought the time down to a slightly more digestible 12-minute length. And then I brought back a technique I’ve used before by adding in Alan Watts to serenade our minds and souls with the wisdom of the Buddha.” 

“I had a period of time where I was digesting tons of Alan Watts lectures. It’s fascinating to hear his breakdown of ancient teachings. I feel like it’s good to get those ideas floating out in the air. And a song is a great vehicle for it. It takes these lessons and brings them out of the classroom and into art and entertainment. Hitting people with some serious knowledge when they weren’t expecting it. This is one way in which I’ve tried to be a good influence for expanding the boundaries of thoughts and possibilities…The part when he hits the bell gets me every time. Goosebumps.”

Spirit of the Light, the LP, elicits some goosebumps of its own. As KBong and Cosmic stated in the aforementioned Instagram post announcing the release of the album, “We believe this collection of songs has a little something for everyone,” a declaration that alludes to the fact that this eclectic collection of easy-listening reggae and reggae-adjacent songs encompasses a range of styles and flavors. One consistent thread runs through the album, though – the camaraderie and good vibes shared amongst these friends can be felt in the music.

KBong, Johnny Cosmic and friends. Photo cred: Keith Zacharski/In the Barrel Photography.