Once again we meet, dear Travelers. I hope & pray all fares well in your sector of the galaxy (whichever one you may be currently existing in.) Things are well in mine, thanks for asking. Well maybe I should clarify by saying “things could be worse.” That’s about as close to looking on the bright side as I can generally get. I’m debating disclosing some of the darker moments I’ve had in recent times, but have yet to make a definitive decision. I promise, by the end of this transmission you’ll know whether I did or didn’t 🙂
As usual I should start with music since that’s what the vast majority of anyone taking time to read this will be interested in. Let’s talk Celldweller – GOD MODE. If you’re just now receiving transmissions from me, allow me to explain what GOD MODE is – It’s my new album. Damn, that was easy. Ok so in more detail, I have been working on the title track for the album, which I kinda feel is gonna be a banger, even if my kids are the only ones who think so (spoiler alert: they already do and make me play the demo in the Cyber-Cruiser constantly.) I set up my Technics SL-1200 mkII because I knew I wanted to get some scratching in on this album. When I realized THIS was the track that needed scratching, I recorded & processed a whole slew of vocal phrases and short blurbs, pulled a ton of vocal lines, synths & guitars from my entire album catalog and put together content for my own custom scratch vinyl (which I’m having pressed right now.) I cannot wait to scratch this over the track, like I did in “Switchback”, “Symbiont” and a bunch of the stuff I did with Criss Angel all those years ago. I also have something specific in mind for a certain type of vocal collaboration for this track, but since I haven’t found the right fit yet and my deadline to finish the track is quickly approaching, I’m Switchback-ing to my original plan (pun obviously intended.) I’m going to put “GOD MODE” (the song) on the shelf for now and go back to working on “No Damage.” If you’re in the mood for ‘90s / early 2000s PS1 & Dreamcast style jungle mashed with vocals and metal, well you’re probably gonna be happy about this one. Lyrics are written, demo vocals have been cut for 6 months, so really the main thing I have left to do is actually cut the real vocals (my least fav part of the job) and wrap the track up.
I want to give you some updates on Scandroid but before I do, I’m going to sandwich something in here. Thank GOD it’s not an ad. We are all now existing in John Anderton’s (Tom Cruise) Minority Report-level advertising. It’s invasive, everywhere & all the time. I spend more time avoiding content and platforms that are advertising to me than consuming actual content. So yeah, NO ADS. But first, a word from our sponsor…. Kidding. (Advertising is getting clever though isn’t it, Mr. Yakamoto?) Where was I?? Oh, right! Before I got sidetracked by my disgust for the ad-pocalypse, I intended to say that I’ve been working consistently with my FiXT crew to move my focus further and further away from the generic corporate conglomerates like Spotify and YouTube and move more content closer and closer to YOU. If you’ve tuned into my last few transmissions you’ve gathered that I’m sick of the ephemeral, the fact that we own nothing but still pay for it every month, and the increasing bombardment of AI slop everywhere we turn. Can we literally believe anything we see or hear? Nope. I’ve had no less than THREE friends and family members over the last 2 weeks send me bands they thought I should check out – 100% AI. Total vapid, soulless garbage, yet the average person doesn’t know or even seem to care. But for those of you who DO care, I’m planning exclusive content you will have access to on platforms you are familiar with and maybe some you’re not. We’ve been really dialing in the where and how but ultimately I want you guys to be able to have content that you own. Nobody can shut it off, or take it away or lock you out of your account due to a billing error. There will be a lot of digital content (unreleased music, commentaries, special versions of albums in my discography, unreleased or long-forgotten artwork, both official and fan-made, etc.) There will also definitely be physical things too. I’ve had ideas for YEARS that I’ve wanted to see through but haven’t had the time or infrastructure.
Ok, ok!!! I’ll tell you one of the ideas since you’re asking so persistently: One idea started with cassettes, but I’ve evolved it to possibly include CDs and Minidiscs. I’ve toyed with the idea of creating a song of some sort – could be a modular performance or synth thing or maybe a metal track, don’t know that part yet, although all are probable. Then I personally dub them to cassette, or burn them to minidisc or CD, right here in my studio, hand label them, maybe sign them if anyone cares about that stuff and then sell off a limited number of them. I’d really also love to make custom art for them too. I mean I’m committing to nothing but simply giving anyone who cares insight into where my head is at. (Aside from said head being 300km above the Atirian atmosphere.) Also, since I mentioned it somewhere up above, I’m also considering doing a very limited run of the custom vinyl I put together for scratching over the “GOD MODE” track, just for the nerdy types like me that would want it even if they didn’t intend to use it for scratching. There’s lots being planned as you can tell from the little I’ve told you already, so stay tuned for deets on when and where this will start rolling out.
Scandroid, finally. I’m continuing work on the new album Lost Horizon. Those of you in the know are already aware that my single “Lost in the Stars” dropped a few weeks ago along with a lyric video of some edited footage of what was going to be a music video. To be honest, the music video was not up to my standards and I had to cut together the clips I thought were salvageable to make the lyric video but at least I was able to keep myself in there a little bit, terribly green-screened hair and all 🙂 Both the new Celldweller album and this new Scandroid album will contain a lot more than just the main album. Much like my “Factions” from End of an Empire, there will be a lot more music, some of which will contain Story Mode elements – characters and environments from the world and story revolving around the albums (You’ll hear some of it coming up for “GOD MODE”). These will be part of that Direct-to-Fan thing I was mentioning above and will initially only be available there because I want to allow us to have a secret club for a little while, where all the cool kids hang out while the rest of the world generates, consumes and spits out the flavor-of-the-second slop. I’m very cool with the idea of being anti-algorithm and I’m guessing many of you are too.
So, connected to Scandroid, but not to the new album, let’s talk about the Knock Off video game. My company Bit Bot has partnered with the amazingly talented Mecanimal Studios on a game they created called Knock Off. (Keep it a secret but if you search YouTube you’ll find an old trailer they made before we partnered with them and that will give you a rough idea of what the game is.) Bit Bot is helping take the game to new levels and it’s going to be amazing when it ships 🙂 I’m voicing the dad in the story, I’m voicing a few of the characters (Grimrot, being one of them) and my son Phoenix is voicing the main boy the story revolves around. So obviously this game is near and dear to my heart. But music, what about music!!!??? I’m glad you asked. The score will consist of music across many of my projects. The exciting part for me is that I’m also writing the theme song for the game. I had a really specific idea on how I wanted to approach my vocals on this one but realized today when I stepped up to the mic to cut them that it wasn’t the right direction. I pivoted and think the end result will be fun and def a bit different than anything else I’ve done, vocal-wise for sure. (Ok, I admit that my original idea was to go full Brian Johnson from AC/DC but I can’t sing nearly as good as he does in that style, but I found a happy medium.) The song is meant to be an 80s Rock/Synth/Metal anthem that in some ways is a “knock off” of some of the music of that era. I’m also pulling in a bunch of the team working on the game to do some gang chants with me, like I did when YOU joined me in “The Lucky One,” from all around the world. I think it will make more sense when we start dropping trailers. Stay tuned!
Some things coming up, just to put them on your radar – I mentioned a collab I did with Chromera called “Burn” which is dropping in late June through Position Music. The entire FiXT crew is also hard at work planning our 20th anniversary event for sometime in July. TWENTY FREAKIN’ YEARS! We’ve had our ups and certainly our downs but we’re still here and have some pretty exciting things to share for this 20-year celebration.
Since I assume most people have dropped off this far into the newsletter, I allocate the more personal stuff here. So yeah, here’s some personal stuff for those that remain. I’m a pretty private person. No… I’m a very private person. A major life philosophy has been that ‘my business is my business’ and quite frankly I don’t think it’s anyone else’s burden to shoulder my problems. To be clear, I chew poor James Rhodes’s ear off complaining about what isn’t working in the studio and about 100 other relatively minor things, but when it comes to the stuff I’m dealing with when I’m in a ditch – most people around me would walk right by and wouldn’t know. So, it’s no surprise that the few friends I have, everyone in my companies, most of my family and everyone else in the world doesn’t know this story. To be clear, I don’t presume to think my story is so important that everyone should comment or feel the heartbreak I do – we ALL have our burdens to bear, that’s sure enough. The only real reason I’ve decided to disclose this is because I know that sometimes it helps other people in the world get through their pain when they know they aren’t the only ones bearing it, even pain that isn’t necessarily of the same nature.
I’ve got 3 boys. They just turned 7 & 8 (yep, twins.) We have family prayer every night before bed and we often have them pray for our family, friends, and other people we know that need them. We prayed for a long time for 2 different fans that were brought to my attention that were battling cancer. Both Kyle and David have recently passed on to the next life and without us even telling them, all 3 boys continue to pray for their families, every night. So, in that spirit we told them of a little baby girl we knew of who needed prayer. Her name is Elara and she had a long journey ahead of her as she grew in her mommy’s tummy. Though they don’t really understand how all that works, they prayed for little Elara. We never told the boys that Elara was their sister and she was in their mommy’s tummy. My wife and I were exploding with anticipation for the day we would break that news to them, knowing that they’d freak out about having a baby sister. Exactly a week ago we had a checkup for my wife and Elara and as you may have suspected by now, we were dealt the heartbreaking news – she didn’t make it. We are still picking up the pieces, not even sure what’s next. Again, I tell this to you guys first because we’re best friends, (obviously) but even more to let anyone who is going through a tough time – whether in a similar way or a totally different one, that you aren’t alone. As painful as this has been and continues to be for us, we know God had a different plan for baby Elara. I’m sure when I jump the great divide, the first question I’ll ask is “why?” but we are comforted knowing she is safer than she could ever be on this earth, more alive than she could ever be on this earth and in the company of the rest of our family members who were already there waiting to greet her.
We are all human and regardless of our respective statuses on this earth, we are all subject to the often painful realities of being human. Like I’ve mentioned in other transmissions, to those of you having a tough time, I’m with you. Stay safe, focus on something good in spite of living in a not-so-good world and be sure I’ll be sending another transmission in a few weeks. Until then, I’ll drift off in my mind’s eye as I fly over the Great Rift of Jericho dreaming of that day when I finally get to meet Elara face to face. See you soon, little girl.
Video for ‘Lost In The Stars’
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FiXT is an independent, artist-owned record label serving a roster of diverse and forward-thinking artists from across the globe, founded in 2006 by Klayton (Celldweller) and James Rhodes.
FiXT’s catalog of music has garnered over 4 billion online streams reaching millions of listeners from over 175 countries each month.
FiXT’s 2026 roster includes artists such as: The Browning, Celldweller, Daedric, THE DEFECT, Scandroid, and ENMY.
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