399: Skulk and The Many Incessant Lives and Subsequent Deaths Deserved of Skulk the Hulking

Skulk! Comedian! Musician! Story-teller! Friend! Delight! More!

Skulk and I have a great chat about this project and more!

THE MANY INCESSANT LIVES & SUBSEQUENT DEATHS DESERVED OF SKULK, The HULKING is a fictional video podcast built on music, performance, storytelling, and Ai visuals.

Following the War to End All Wars and having depleted most of our resources, all people - by choice or by force - move to The City That's Always Falling Apart to try and stave off extinction. Giant forces inhabiting this final city both personify our desires and attempt to sway our fates, but an oafish beast known as Skulk tries to save us all. At times dark, goofy, aggressive, honest, and full of hope, The Many Incessant Lives and Subsequent Deaths Deserved of Skulk, The Hulking explores the decisions we make as a people - an allegory for our globalized world, the weaponization of capitalism, and the age-old ‘problem’ of the human condition.

Skulk, The Hulking is an ogre-like dolt trying to help a world that has fallen apart, yet he seems only to find unique paths to an early demise, while an Earth - knowing unfortunately that he’s the planet’s last hope - keeps bringing him back to life. He is a giant force that represents us all, trying to figure things out, wading through the muckiest parts of life, fighting the forces that none of us have the energy to fight against, making the choices none of us wants to make, failing miserably, like all of us probably would. No one even wants him to do it but man, his hope just can’t be killed…or maybe he’s just an idiot.

In this story, things are rarely all-bad or all-good. The audience is asked whether they approve of the reasons they do what they do and if the ends justify the means. 

Characters in the podcast originally appeared in Skulk (the band’s) live shows and music videos. Lady Baghead and the Followers of Baghead were originally depictions of Rene Magritte’s surrealist painting “The Lovers”. Hammerhands, a wrecking ball of hate with hammers for hands was played in Skulk music videos by Henry Zebrowski (Last Podcast on the Left, Wolf of Wall Street). And Camelman - originally a prancing merrymaker in a camel mask who pulled popsicles from his whitey tighties and handed them to the concert crowd - has evolved into the gangly overlord of our tantilizing addictions.

With visuals created using MidJourney, the ‘near misses’ of Ai creation become a style. When creating with Ai, it is nearly impossible to recreate the same exact character with subsequent prompts. Yet since Skulk is constantly dying and being re-born out of whatever material the earth can find at the time, these glitches are given context and woven into the tale. The differing looks of the central characters becomes commentary on how we all appear differently based on the observers’ biases, and of course all Ai is ‘nurtured’ by our culture’s biases. Each podcast episode ends with Ai-altered music videos from Skulk (the band).

Says Skulk (the artist) “I believe people fight against Generative Ai for the wrong reasons. It is a tool. How, not if it is used is the question. I believe what people actually want is regulation of Ai.  It is when it can be used for harm that it gets sketchy.”

The goal is to help the audience question, with a mind further-opended, why those in power, their enemies, and they themselves do and believe the things they do and believe. 

MORE ABOUT SKULK:

Skulk, The Hulking (Steve Pasieka) is a multifaceted artist whose creative journey spans music, comedy, and technology. Part of Chicago's improv scene in the early 2000s, he eventually co-founded the improv group pH. His commitment to his craft led him to train at renowned institutions iO and The Annoyance, eventually joining the iO house team, The Chorus, and earning coaching by improv legend Noah Gregoropoulos.

After moving to New York, Skulk transitioned to music, founding Skulk, The Hulking - fusing theatrical performance, socio-political lyrics and dark electronic beats. Opening for iconic musicians like Capadonna of Wu-Tang Clan and C-Knowledge of Digable Planets, the project grew to a full band releasing three albums.

Recently, Skulk has become a skilled user of AI tools, creating images through MidJourney, animating visuals with MotionLeap, and exploring the artistic potential of generative AI. He believes that AI, like any tool, is only as good as the meaning and care you put into it, which he explores in his most recent project.

The Many Incessant Lives and Subsequent Deaths Deserved of Skulk, The Hulking brings together many facets of Skulk’s past work in a fictional video podcast built on music, performance, Ai and storytelling.


AND THIS IS ONLY THE FIRST HALF OF OUR CHAT!

For part two, subscribe via Apple Podcasts OR simply click on over here to Patreon.