Kush Conversation (n): recorded discussions with Salt Baked City’s favorite musicians and artists to discover why they love and consume cannabis.
It’s tough to determine whether music is a gateway to good cannabis, or if cannabis is a gateway to good music. Either way you look at it though, this combination has been fueling flow-state amongst artists and listeners for generations. It’s also fair to say that cannabis reform has been driven by musicians such as Buddy Guy, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Bob Marley, and Willie Nelson since the War On Drugs began. Now, there’s a new generation of artists like Snoop Dogg, B Real, Dr. Dre, Wiz Khalifa, and Berner who are carrying the Bic Lighter, so to speak, and their music is helping us push the plant into a bright legal future.
To help you get to know some of these canna-heroes, let us present to you Salt Baked City’s first ‘Kush Conversation.’ These discussions are meant to discover why an artist loves and uses cannabis. We already know about their career, so let’s take one step further into the mind of a remarkable artist and learn how they use cannabis in their lives, and in their music. We all have a special story about why we first decided to support the plant, or better yet – when we decided to allow the plant to start supporting us.
You probably already know that Dan Kelly is the lead singer of the reggae band, ‘Fortunate Youth,’ but did you also know that he’s a lifelong advocate of cannabis. Well, that’s probably not news either if you’ve listened to his irie sextet band play before. A lot of their lyrics revolve around consuming cannabis and legalizing the plant. Some might say they’re following in the famous footsteps of the Grateful Dead who strongly supported the psychedelic movement in the 60s and 70s. Now, this Hermosa Beach band is trying to do the same for the cannabis revolution today – one smoked out city at a time.
To find out more about Kelly’s cannabis journey, we were lucky enough to sit down with him in the mountains and have a session while he was touring through town. So, sit back and relax. Make sure your favorite herb is ready to go, and let’s get ready to burn one with this rebel.
Salt Baked City: What’s in your jar? In other words, what’s on Dan Kelly’s cannabis menu for today?
Dan Kelly: I’m lucky when I go on the road, and I’m surprised by road candy that comes my way. The Road Gods always provide, let me tell you. This one is OG Kush (Kelly just began rolling a joint). I really like this strain. If your weed doesn’t smell like the dirt it grew in – then it must be a sativa (heavy laughter).
*We learned Dan Kelly does not prefer Sativa cannabis flower. He favors indica, and well, anything that can put an elephant down.
Salt Baked City: I’m going to get right to it. Why do you love cannabis?
Dan Kelly: It’s the only thing that you can really get into without getting too far into anything. The world is too high-intense. I wish people could just take a shot, smoke a joint, go mediate, go prey, or do whatever they need to do so they can get to a calm spot. He who hesitates is lost, right? So, calm down, figure out a plan, and be a successful stoner. That’s why it’s my thing.
Salt Baked City: I hear you grew up in Mississippi. What was weed culture like while growing up there?
Dan Kelly: Growing up in Mississippi, cannabis was surrounded by the dope cliché and negative tension. That really has no context of anything. That kind of thinking doesn’t even stand on its own moral ground anymore. I know I can’t go back and play Mississippi, and I never have in the 13 years we’ve been a band. Never once plucked a guitar and made a dollar because it just wasn’t important to me, because I know I’m so far away from them. That kind of thinking is so small. My heart still lives there though.
Religion comes and plays with politics and the dollar bill says, “In God we trust,” you know. That stuff is very serious in the south, and a lot of that has caused its own baggage and tension because they’re not willing to accept an idea, or believe that anything is possible. Weed isn’t Satan. It’s all from the earth. It all comes to light. Where’s the part where this plant is bad? If you want to get to the data, Mississippi State was the only school that was even doing testing for the plant in the last 70 years; of course until now though. We just didn’t go anywhere with it. My dad was always scared of me smoking pot because he had a college friend who got caught with one joint in his car and the rest of his life was shit. He couldn’t get into college, he couldn’t get a job. If something like that happens, you’re branded for life in the south. For me, I needed to move away so I could be free. If cannabis allows me to be a little more free in my mind, then I’m going to project that into my life, as well as in my music, as well as in my relationships. Cannabis! Who would have thought?
Salt Baked City: I can assume traveling the country, and the world, has given you a unique perspective of cannabis culture. Where do you think it is the most accepted and where does it need more reform?
Dan Kelly: It’s accepted in a lot of places right now. I mean, I didn’t expect Oklahoma to go there, right? It’s gone in so many places and it can’t go backwards now. I didn’t expect Roe vs. Wade would go backwards either, but it’s not fully there yet and I hope there’s a God Prayer for women’s choices as well as our choice as mankind. It’s just a plant. I’ve been a chef for so many years, so I think there’s so many awesome factors of this plant and it’s so dumb to just shut it down. Texas is so big, but Texas is like, “If I can own some of Oklahoma, I can legalize it there and I can still make money on the reform in Texas.” Wait a minute, let’s just take it easy. Legalize it everywhere and then we can figure out what the deal is. If Texas went legal, it’d be a lot like Philip Morris and the cigarettes. They have so much space. I just came back from the Pakalolo festival in Fairbanks Alaska. Shout out to them. It’s blown up in the places I wouldn’t have imagined.
Salt Baked City: You say, “we’re going to legalize it before we get old,” in the Fortunate Youth song ‘Burn One’ found on the Up-Lifted EP. When do you think that is going to happen nationally?
Dan Kelly: It’ll happen. We’re learning at a fast pace and it’s going to take a long time to get the whole Unites States to become united. Alcohol still isn’t so regulated. In Philadelphia you have to go to the state department to pick up your alcohol. It doesn’t get delivered to you, and if there is a sale on your vodka Tito’s, the state made that sale. Not the liquor brand. The state is all so different from everything. It’s kind of a good thing and a bad thing. As long as legalization keeps moving in the right direction and people keep getting out of prison. Even finding people help if they have a problem. There’s a whole path that needs to be carved out and I think it’s inevitable.
Salt Baked City: Your song ‘Sweet Sensi’ is considered one of the best songs to listen to while lit. Why do you think cannabis and music have such a symbiotic relationship?
Dan Kelly: I thinks it’s about chilling out your heart. When you’re on cannabis, you’re not going to go on a race, or on a treadmill. You’re going to chill out. Sweet Sensi is just that. You’re chilling in your car, rolling a doobie, and it’s after school and you got your girl in the back. Music is great because it puts an image to the story. I wish I could describe the songs more like a video because people would really engulf themselves in the songs, music, the moment. A lot of our songs are weed friendly. Most of the songs if you never noticed are not about ‘I.’ It’s about we, us, them and that’s because the first letters (of the band) is for you. We wanted the band to be for the people. The Grateful Dead was our inspiration because their fan base was so culture driven and the grateful, fortunate-dead youth was all supposed to be sort of symmetric to that, so it would be an endless piece of art for an endless piece of time, forever and perpetuity for the people. Instead of a rap song being like I’m a ball and chains and I’m going to crack some whips. No, hey, don’t fight, love is the most high.
Salt Baked City: Herb can influence the way music sounds to the ears, but how do you think it influences the creative process?
Dan Kelly: You know, the best thing about creative, it’s the reality of nothing, silence, emptiness, space. Creativeness only happens with the stroke of a pen with a free mind that just made the stroke, you know? So, it’s really about less is more. You can’t give so much inside whenever it should be outside, right? So, it’s like the painter himself can’t think so much until he makes a stroke and then he finally sees what he wants as he gets into it, so when you’re creating music you’re like, oh, here we are, we’re here. If I’ve had too many things to think about, the boys will see me and they’re like, “what’s going on,” and I’ll be like, “I don’t know, the house, the kids, something else.” “Aright well, let’s smoke a joint you know.” “You need a shot?” “Need me to rub your back?” Let’s figure how to calm this down (points at head) so you can put the stroke on. Get in the mood, you know. You got to get into the vibe. It’s the creative mindset and so it’s just chilling out, hearing the beat and the pulse and running with it.
Salt Baked City: What’s your go-to cannabis strain or type when performing?
Dan Kelly: My buddy from ‘Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds’ brings me over some ‘Whoa-Si-Whoa’ sometimes. It’s some OG stuff and I think he just probably just made-up that name ‘Whoa-Si-Whoa.’ It just smells like dirt. I know it’s weird to say something smells so good, and then say it smells like dirt. It smells so good though (laughing). It’s just a nice indica and just puts you down.
*Fact Check*
Whoa-Si-Whoa is a real cannabis strain. According to Leafly, it’s an award-winning and heavy-hitting indica bred by Cannarado Genetics. This sweet, earthy smelling strain is known for its deeply soothing, calming, and relaxing effects best suited for evening use, or while attending a Fortunate Youth concert.
Salt Baked City: What’s your favorite Fortunate Youth moment while touring in Utah and was there cannabis involved?
Dan Kelly: I remember playing the reggae festival in 2012. It rained that day. My daughter was six or seven years old at the time. To keep her close to me, I took her little stuffed teddy bear with me, and I put it on the edge of that stage. So, I’m barefoot, and I’m just giving it my all (on stage) (laughing out loud) and we’re having a good set. To close things down we played a song called, ‘Love Is the Most High’ In it I sing ‘see now I’m looking up while the rain is falling down’ and right then you could just feel the rain come through. It came down! The rain ended just as the song did and it was like God was your light guy that day (laughing).
Salt Baked City: Who’s your favorite musician to blaze with and when was the last time you had a sesh?
Dan Kelly: I got to say, lately we’ve been on tour with Slightly Stoopid and having a good sesh with Kyle (McDonald) and Miles (Doughty) is always a blast. Most of the time I play with them they give me an ounce of weed. I’ll feel a little guilty about taking it, but I’ve got a lot of boys on the bus (laughing). This past tour I think I got a bong and a bunch of weed. They’d get a bunch of weed, and we’d get a bunch of weed too. I guess we just walked into good times, I guess.
Salt Baked City: What’s coming next from Fortunate Youth?
Dan Kelly: We’ve got the Fall tour coming in October to November (2022), and then we’ll hit Mexico and Cancun with this Slightly Stoopid boys, and then we’ll hit next year. Probably start 2023 with some Guam and Hawaii, and then some Cali vibes on the first two months of the year. Then maybe we’ll take a little break before we hopefully hit into a summer tour with another fall tour. We like to do the summer tour with a cool band that’s way bigger than us, so we get some free catering (laughing).
