Honest Question on Artwork

Dirty Mosquito

I have an honest question to anyone who can give me an honest answer. I am simply asking a question, I realize my question might be controversial and I might get some crap for it, but I want to know. I mean no disrespect to anyone or the band, but I am curious.

My question is, what is the deal with the blatant Illumanati references on the new 2016 White Tour shirt, the artwork on the album etc etc? PJ is my favorite band since day one, I always thought of them as the complete antithesis of what those group of people stand for and believe in. Someone please tell me my favorite band on the planet has not sold out to the man like every other popular artist flashing the same signs these days on their albums and videos and performances.

Whether you believe in this stuff or not, is irrelevant. It obviously means something as these symbols are being flashed by everyone under the sun and everywhere in sight. I know what I believe, but I want to know what does the band mean by showing this? Does anyone know? Just curious.

2-feign-reluctance

I know they did some great interviews with Judd Apatow re: Lightning Bolt. However the art wasn't discussed if memory serves.

Daron Oshay

I wonder if Boom hosts Eyes Wide Shut type sex parties

drakeheuer14

Yeah ever since lightning bolt the same popular images in music today (triangles, snakes, the one eye stuff, etc) was all stepped up. A little strange, but I dont read into it much. I cant wait for them to move past it onto new themes

Dirty Mosquito

Daron, funny, I am being real though.

Drake- I hear you. It's not really new though, it's all over no code too, but I didn't see things like I do now at 16.

pledgeagrievance

Daron Oshay said:

I wonder if Boom hosts Eyes Wide Shut type sex parties

Hahahha. Is it weird that Boom throws those sex parties or that you think about Boom throwing those sex parties?

Dirty Mosquito

I highly doubt it friend. But in all seriousness, this is interesting, and I wanted to know why they show so much of this.

Mike D88

It's tongue-in-cheek, and you're trying to read into more than what's there.

bradklausen

Dirty Mosquito said:

I have an honest question to anyone who can give me an honest answer. I am simply asking a question, I realize my question might be controversial and I might get some crap for it, but I want to know. I mean no disrespect to anyone or the band, but I am curious.

My question is, what is the deal with the blatant Illumanati references on the new 2016 White Tour shirt, the artwork on the album etc etc? PJ is my favorite band since day one, I always thought of them as the complete antithesis of what those group of people stand for and believe in. Someone please tell me my favorite band on the planet has not sold out to the man like every other popular artist flashing the same signs these days on their albums and videos and performances.

Whether you believe in this stuff or not, is irrelevant. It obviously means something as these symbols are being flashed by everyone under the sun and everywhere in sight. I know what I believe, but I want to know what does the band mean by showing this? Does anyone know? Just curious.

I can't speak for any merchandise after 2008, but I can tell you that in 9 years as in-house graphic designer, and then a continued 8 years after that just doing posters, I have never been asked by the band or anyone involved in the band to include certain symbols in any of the artwork. I have included single eyes, owls, snakes and other esoteric symbols into a lot of artwork I've created, but never once was it because a band or record label or anyone asked me too. It has always been my choice to include these symbols in art I've made for many different bands. So in 17 years creating artwork for PJ and 12 years creating artwork for different bands, I've never once been asked or told to include certain symbols in any artwork. That's just my own personal experience, I can't speak for other artists, but that should tell you something.

While you are correct, these symbols are being used more and more, there is a great misunderstanding about the origins of these symbols and what they mean. You must think of it the same way you'd think of a knife. A knife can be used to prep and cook a meal for someone, to nourish and feed someone. Or it can be used to kill someone. Is the knife evil? No, the knife is amoral, it cares not how you use it. The person using the knife is good or evil.

Knowledge is the same way. It doesn't care how it is used, it's merely just information. You can use knowledge of mathematics to cause great prosperity for mankind or you can use it to build atom bombs. Math is not good or evil, the people using it are.

Symbolism is the same. There are no evil symbols, because symbols are amoral and don't care how they are used. They are merely information. Symbolism is a language. In language there are no good or evil words, there are just words. The good and evil comes into play when the person using the words decides how they want to use the language. "Why do you think they call it SPELLing?" We use the symbols of language (words) to cast spells all the time. This forum, and the entire internet with it's comments sections, is one great big forum of people casting spells. You can cast a spell of positivity on this or any forum, by arranging the symbols we call letters into a sentence or paragraph expressing positivity towards another person. Or you can cast a spell of negativity and write somethings really mean and nasty. Do you want to make someone feel good with your words, or do you want to make them feel bad? We cast spells everyday, just type type typing spells all over the internet.

In order to hide and obfuscate information, symbols can be altered or used improperly. The prime example is always the swastika. I believe the earliest known swastika is something like 12,000 years old. Created and used millennia before anyone had ever heard of a nazi. Yet our modern society only sees evil and hatred and intolerance when we see this ancient symbol that had nothing to do with the nazi and their beliefs. The true meaning of the swastika was hijacked by the nazis and they forever altered the meaning of that symbol.

These "illuminati" symbols are exactly the same. Hijacked symbols given new meanings to hide or obfuscate their original meaning. First off the term illuminati refers to illumination. Illumination is by no means evil, in fact quite the opposite. Illumination refers to enlightenment. In society we even use the cute colloquialism of a light bulb appearing over one's head when they have an idea. They've been illuminated with wisdom. We refer to smart people as bright. Light is a symbol of knowledge, or seeing. Darkness is ignorance and lack of information.

The evil pricks who run our world, are not illuminated. In order for one to become illuminated or enlightened, one must achieve one of the most difficult tasks a human can attempt to do: the disillusion of the ego. The evil pricks who run the world, are egomaniacs, they are at the opposite end of the spectrum of dissolving their egos. So when they and we refer to them as the "illuminati" it is 100% an incorrect usage and application of the true meaning of that word. They are not illuminated and we should stop referring to them as such.

The symbols that get used, single eyes, owls, snakes... people assume these are negative evil symbols. They are not. They are symbols that convey tremendous wisdom and truth. And the evil pricks who run the world, don't want any of us to know or utilize that wisdom and truth so they hijack the meaning of the symbols, just like they did with the swastika, the cross, the star of david, the crescent moon and other important symbols. They then perpetuate these hijacked meanings to make sure the true meaning and power of the symbols is forever hidden and hopefully lost. And then we as a society continue to promote these incorrect hijacked meanings. The same way we "give" the nazis the swastika and say it is "their" symbol. It was not their symbol, they stole it from people who created in ages ago. Same with these "illuminati" symbols... we surrender them to the evil pricks and say "these are THEIR symbols, they created them"...when they just stole them.

In the entertainment world, we see the continued use of these symbols in negative ways. It's what I call scarecrow symbolism. Darkness and evil is associated with these symbols, so as to scare off the masses from ever learning the truth and wisdom they contain. It's the boogie man in the closet tactic to scare children..."I wouldn't look in that closet if I were you, there's a horrible monster in there"...easy way to keep kids out of looking in the closet.

Associating powerful symbols of truth and wisdom with darkness and evil is the best example of Orwellian doublespeak. Where war is peace and freedom is slavery. The pricks who run the world have turned light and truth into darkness and evil, so as to make sure the masses stay in the dark.

I see more and more artists using these symbols... sometimes you can tell the artist understands the true meaning of the symbols, and other times you can tell they are using the modern day hijacked negative meaning of the symbols... and sometimes you can tell artists don't know why they are using the symbols. But they are being used more and more.

There's a percentage of the population who believe literally everything and everyone in hollywood / entertainment is part of the "illuminati".
And that's just ridiculous. From my own experience working for different big bands and growing up in LA/Hollywood, I can tell you that the majority of people I have encountered in the entertainment field have very little knowledge or understanding of most of the things they get accused of being a part of. And again, to prove the point, in 17 years of creating artwork in the entertainment world, I have never once been asked to include any symbols in any project I've ever been asked to work on. And when I do include esoteric symbols into artwork I make because I am choosing to do so, no one ever says anything about them or even necessarily notices they're in there.

So that should tell you something about this misconception that all of the entertainment world is part of the illuminati. From my experience, most of the people I have met in the entertainment world, are not very well versed or knowledgeable about esoteric symbolism or esoteric history. There are those I've seen, certain directors or authors, who are very knowledgeable about this area of study, but the majority of the people in the entertainment world are not paying attention or at all interested in these things the way people presume they are.

bradklausen

sorry, typos.... dissolution of ego... not disillusion of ego...

Force Of Nature

great response Brad

on2legs

That's some knowledge dropped right there by BK! awesome response.

Hobbes

Brad, you must have been reading my mind. Earlier, I had searched out your thoughts in other threads on symbolism. (i.e. supposed Free Mason imagery in the S. American merchandise in '15 and the frequent use of the owl.) I was going to quote you here, but did not want to misrepresent you or your words. Glad you chimed in.

Dirty Mosquito

Brad-

Thank you for your response. I do agree with you that symbols have been hijacked. Absolutely. I am not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I seek the truth in all forms, and knowledge is power. I don't personally believe that everyone in hollywood/entertainment is evil or anything like that, but I just find it odd that this symbolism is so popular, when so much unfortunate negativity is placed around this. For instance, in school, my favorite part of history was studying ancient Egypt. I found it fascinating. A pyramid is an amazing creation and I don't believe it is wrong in any way, yet it's being used in a lot of circles in negative light. The media and the assholes that be want us to be afraid and gain power through fear. I for one am not afraid, and don't buy into most of the BS we are being fed through television.

That said, I just found it odd that the band had some of this symbolism going on at the time of global turmoil and when this kind of stuff is being talked about a lot. Perhaps, that's their way of saying FU to all of it in some sort of punk rock way.

Thanks.

deadendp

Brad, Thank you for such a thorough answer. Thanks for taking the time to step in and answer this question.

drakeheuer14

Give me some turtles or something instead of all the owls and such. More than anything I just want the images to be original and not constantly recycled.

As for the meaning of it all and the truth about the illuminati, who knows, there a lot of convincing connections to powerful people and the rich/famous and have been recognized by a few in the music industry (tupac comes to mind with his 'killuminati' specifically).

Great response to it by BK though. I always wondered if the band had any say/requests.

bradklausen

Dirty Mosquito said:

Brad-

Thank you for your response. I do agree with you that symbols have been hijacked. Absolutely. I am not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I seek the truth in all forms, and knowledge is power. I don't personally believe that everyone in hollywood/entertainment is evil or anything like that, but I just find it odd that this symbolism is so popular, when so much unfortunate negativity is placed around this. For instance, in school, my favorite part of history was studying ancient Egypt. I found it fascinating. A pyramid is an amazing creation and I don't believe it is wrong in any way, yet it's being used in a lot of circles in negative light. The media and the assholes that be want us to be afraid and gain power through fear. I for one am not afraid, and don't buy into most of the BS we are being fed through television.

That said, I just found it odd that the band had some of this symbolism going on at the time of global turmoil and when this kind of stuff is being talked about a lot. Perhaps, that's their way of saying FU to all of it in some sort of punk rock way.

Thanks.

I too am a big fan of ancient Egypt. In fact it is through studying ancient Egypt that I have come to a great understanding about many things. The thing we have to understand about the pyramid and the all seeing eye, is that it is a symbol of enlightenment. And it has been a symbol of enlightenment long before George Orwell ever came up with this popular idea of the all seeing eye of big brother. The all seeing eye in the pyramid was used on the reverse side of the seal of the US in 1782 and wasn't used on the dollar until 1935. Orwell didn't publish 1984 until 1949. So the symbol of the all seeing eye in the pyramid was used 167 years before Orwell had ever come up with this idea of the spying eye of big brother and long before the technology to do so ever existed.

And the pyramid is being used in a negative light because we do live in a pyramid based society where the top 1% have everything and the rest of us underneath have to support them. The current world model of power is a pyramid scheme. But power is almost always a pyramid scheme, with the few at the top in power. And we live in a society where everything we do is being monitored and all our activity is being tracked, so the modern take on the symbol of the pyramid with the all seeing eye as the all spying eye of the pricks who run the world fits... but it's not the meaning of that symbol. In 1782, there was no NSA, there was no big brother monitoring every communication of every person.

the "all seeing" eye is a symbol for knowledge. If you are knowledgeable, you see. When people understand something we say "oh I see what you are saying". So seeing is about understanding, about knowing, about cognizing. An all seeing eye is one that knows everything. Hence why it's called "the eye of providence" or the "eye of god". It sees all. It knows all. As humans, we all have access to this "all knowing"... we get little glimpses of it... we call it epiphanies. Human history is replete with stories of discoveries, of someone having an epiphany, where all the sudden they just know something they didn't know before, and these epiphanies change human history. So the all seeing eye is a symbol for knowledge. Even the word occult, the base of that word is o-c-u-l... ocular...sight, seeing. It's not about evil or satan or witchcraft, it's about knowledge and seeing.

And as far as the artwork on LB goes, I don't see any of that artwork having anything to do with anything "illuminati" related. I've seen youtube videos by people claiming the album artwork is using illuminati symbols, but as a student of symbolism and all things esoteric and as a conspiracy theorist, I think the claims people make about the LB artwork is quite a stretch.

shetellsherself

What a fascinating thread to read while sitting in the airport leaving a city where PJ will be playing tomorrow. I needed the mental stimulation. Thx bradklausen for your input here. You've been part of an unforgettable weekend for me in 2 ways (scored your awesome print yesterday too). Cheers!

Dirty Mosquito

Thanks Brad. Band was amazing last night. Look forward to night two.