John Lovero

Today, Daniel speaks with guitarist & founder of The Higgs, John Lovero. John shares with us his psychedelic experiences as a teen & how they helped him bond with music in a therapeutic way. He recalls seeing a 2005 performance of Phil Lesh & Friends, took some acid, & had a deep experience of love & healing that inspired him to pursue his bond with music.  The LSD helped him connect with the driving emotion & thought behind Phil’s tunes & greatly enhanced his overall experience.  

The psychedelic effect of ego-dissolution is discussed in terms of how thought-forms are structured & how this can be both constructive & destructive towards the creative process. Especially when improvising, it seems that psychedelic use dampens thoughts & amplifies intuition, which really tends to create the best jams!

Quotes:

John: If I’m on stage & am stuck in my own head & not in a good zone, not in a flow state, thinking about things too much, the music suffers. And when I’m not in that flow state, and my bandmates aren’t dancing together on stage, it definitely hinders the jams. And esp. with jam-band improv acts like mine, you’re not gonna be able to be free flowing & roll with the punches if you’re stuck in your head. It enhances your playing so much, to get out of your head & move into an intuitive state.

John: We label our thoughts as yes/no, good/bad, ALWAYS rating and judging ideas immediately! When I’m on psychedelics, similar thoughts just pass through, without judgement, but can still be seen clearly.  I’m not slamming a good/bad rating on it, instead just seeing it as it is.

John: Being in bands is like being in a marriage. You’re around each other a lot, you know exactly what makes each other tick, and what makes them happy. Nothing’s always perfect, your thoughts don’t always match & line up. But, what you do is talk thru things & work on things and you come to an agreement; and the goal is to get to the peak of the mountain, to discover those blissful feelings, and so you do what you have to to get there.

Daniel: There’s this idea of the hero’s quest & the journey to the underworld, to go into the darkness & find hatred & greed—to absorb the various pains.