Rest In Peace Keith Flint

  I tried to get this out the week Keith passed but due to some computer fuckery, the post was lost when i tried to save my work & it was tough bringing myself to get back into this headspace again. Many of us were hit extremely hard by the news. For many of us suffering from depression, hearing that he took his own life hit a bit too close to home. 

  Personally, I've been living with depression since my early teens. Some days are better than others. I've been prescribed Zoloft, Prozac etc. They all made me sick &/or changed my personality. Though I'm sure drugs help some, they never worked for me. I used to give myself piercings randomly for fun, I used to cut myself, I've cut my wrists before in half hearted suicide attempts. It's a weird thing to not want to die but to simultaneously not want to be alive. That desire to not be alive can be quite pervasive. It can grow in strength & become a nagging voice if not kept firmly in check.

  There are suicide prevention hotlines and their numbers are broadcast anytime a high profile suicide appears in the news. The problem is for many, at that point it's too late for a stranger to talk you back off the ledge. If you haven't heard from someone in awhile or notice a change in behavior, check on them. If you're suffering yourself, try to reach out to someone you trust. I understand this may be difficult for some. You're feeling painfully vulnerable. But by getting help you're disproportionately more likely to have your situation improve. 

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Statistics show just how pervasive depression is as well as the likelihood of improvement after mental health treatment. 

  What all this means is that "you're not alone" isn't some bullshit you're fed to make you feel good. It's a genuine problem many of us are dealing with & often it can be easier to work through tough times with others even though in your head, you'd rather isolate. We're stronger in numbers. In fact, my DMs & email are always open should you feel alone & need to talk to someone. 

  Now I'd like to take a moment to celebrate Keith Flint. As a mohawked teenager in the 90s with a deep love of electronic music, hiphop & punk rock, The Prodigy was like few other acts in appealing to my myriad tastes. The Firestarter video was among the first music videos I'd ever seen for electronic music & it absolutely blew my mind at how dirty & punk it was. This was not just rave music, this was rife with attitude & a FUCKING SOUND that made other acts short of Atari Teenage Riot seem soft by comparison. While this aesthetic is extremely common in dance music now (particularly in the US), back then, this level of punk rock energy was unheard of. 

 

  Roughly back in October I'd started developing Burning Valley. My initial designs which won't see release were pretty uninspired. Just taking a photo from the internet & slapping my logo on it. One day, I had an epiphany that would begin to give the brand a solid direction. That epiphany was this Prodigy/Stephen King mash up:

Burning Valley I'm A Firestarter tee

  Since it would be in grossly poor taste to try to profit from this design now, I feel it's best if the profits from this shirt go to a suicide prevention organization. Currently NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness is my first choice but if you feel like another organization would be a better choice, please let me know in the comments below. I will post any donations made to our instagram page for oversight.

 

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