Ryan Walsh

Ryan H. Walsh is a musician, journalist and video/collage artist. His debut book, Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 (Penguin Press), received rave reviews from The New Yorker, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and was a New York Times end-of-year Critics’ Pick. Since publication, Walsh has toured internationally, speaking at The Belfast Literary Festival, The Irish Literary Festival in London, and locally at The Harvard Club, Boston Public Library, Google, Northeastern, and Suffolk University. His writing has appeared in the Boston Globe, Vice, Pitchfork, and Boston Magazine, and Walsh was a finalist for the Missouri School of Journalism’s City and Regional Magazine Award in 2015. His rock band Hallelujah the Hills has won high praise from Spin, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork; declared “Boston legends” by the Boston Globe; and toured the U.S. extensively over their 15-year existence. Their latest album, 2019’s I’m You, was declared “Album of the Year” by Glorious Noise, “a lyrical masterpiece,” by Metro, and reviewed 9/10 at The Line of Best Fit. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts at the end of dead end street, the metaphorical suggestion of which is always a nearby threat but never manifesting in any serious way.

QUOTES:

“I first learned about psychedelics from the late great comedian Bill Hicks, a huge proponent of their use. He even talks about Terrence McKenna in some of his bits, so I started reading his stuff based on that. The message I got from those guys was that psychedelics aren’t a joke and shouldn’t be taken cavalierly, it’s not a party. I’m lucky that I had that sense of respect for their use, probably avoided some choppy waters there.”

“My third psilocybin experience was very significant. It was like these huge barn doors in my chest opened up. I felt renewed & saw the world as I did as a child, but with adult wisdom. It was in the woods with a great group of friends. There were so many insights coming at me, and I immediately knew that part of the challenge would be like ‘what can I bring back?’ I asked a friend ‘do you know how to wave back to Massachusetts?’ That phrase became a song-title off of our first record.”

“So many things can be psychedelic experiences that don’t require ingesting anything & for me, music is definitely one of them! A great song, you love it closely and sing it to yourself, you step into that world and become the singer. Songs are incredible transportation devices”

“Any band that effectively communicates with an audience and isn’t too ego-driven, they know so acutely how the audience is the other half of the band. Since covid, we’re all doing remote performances & I see great artists often falling flat. It’s because the secret ingredient is the energy of the audience; over video it’s just not there.”

“The first hit of LSD taken in America was in Boston, in the 50’s, by doctors at a psychiatric hospital. These guys thought it could help with schizophrenia so they ordered some LSD from Sandos & dosed their superior, their patients, and put it in the punch bowl at the holiday party. Before you know it, the CIA came around!”

“I find all music and all creativity to be therapeutic. When you’re tripping, it’s like you’re on a foraging mission. You’re not in the editing, dismantling, what’s useful what’s not phase of songwriting. All that comes in later.”