About element66
A message from & about element66
“Recording and releasing this music while being incarcerated has been a surreal experience, to say the least. All of this positive fan support lets us know that element66 is truly making a difference in peoples lives and that makes it even more rewarding as an artist,” said Kenneth Fisher in a 2013 interview with Fur Roach Music. Chad Hamlin went on to add, “Kenny and I are so thankful to be given this opportunity. It is such a privilege to be able to reach out to society with our music. Yes, we’ve made horrible mistakes, and yes, we are paying for those mistakes by being locked away but writing and recording music has been very therapeutic in our recoveries. This project has been a great way for us to work through our problems and to also help our friends and family heal and find forgiveness for this entire ordeal that we have put them through. Our families have stuck by us and have been extremely supportive during this nightmare of a prison sentence.”
Absorbing the essence of music created from behind drab 30-foot prison walls and guard towers, might just give the listener a new perspective on the experience of solitude. In the quest for rehabilitation Chad and Kenny created element66. In doing so they have tapped into creativity that is not only musically unique and expressive, but it also poses extremely deep psychological questions that no one would have ever guessed had been generated by 2 guys locked away inside a prison.
Thanks to the progressively forward thinking of the administration where Kenny and Chad are incarcerated, they are allowed to record and produce music using their own recording equipment and music gear.
The prison system has not, and will not, be responsible for any of the financial burdens accrued during the production of the element66 projects. All costs for equipment and publishing fees are the full responsibility of Chad and Kenny.
All proceeds from sales will help element66 continue recording and releasing new music in the future.
A few words from Chad Hamlin
First, we owe an enormous thanks to the Administrative Staff here at the prison for allowing us this opportunity to create such a colossal undertaking. We are so thankful that the Staff here have the progressive mindset and understanding that prison is much more than just the warehousing of Humans. The true concept of incarceration should revolve around rehabilitation, recovery, healing, and forgiveness.
We created element66 as an outlet to express our selves as artists, while simultaneously providing a method to help cope and deal with the emotional turmoil of the actions that lead us to our lives in prison. As the project developed, it blossomed into something people could relate too. We are utterly amazed by the number of people that have taken notice, but more importantly, the impact it’s having on them. This project is a perfect example of how staying productive while incarcerated creates positive energy that translates not just to our fellow prisoners, and prison staff, but also the affect it is having on everyone everywhere.
Our sincerest thanks go out to our team at Fur Roach Music. Your faith and confidence in us hold this project together from the other side of the prison walls. We know that the non-stop work you do keeps the element66 ship sailing smoothly. None of this would be possible without the devotion and dedication that you have continued to maintain throughout this project. Your support and encouraging words throughout the years have kept us optimistic for a brighter future. Your guidance has led us from recording music in our prison cells to unleashing our art upon the world. It takes a special kind of person to help keep this dream alive while dealing with prison politics. We will always be grateful for your vision and everlasting patience.
Most importantly we give our thanks to our loving families that have stood by our sides through thick and thin. We love you for never giving up on us – even when it seemed we were completely lost causes.
Kenny and I have made mistakes, just like most people. Unfortunately, our mistakes were the kind that resulted in us being locked away. We each deeply regret the poor choices that lead us to this life in prison, and the pain we caused others is a burden that weighs heavily on our souls. Some days it’s hard enough getting out of bed, let alone looking at the reflection staring back from the mirror. With the creation of each new song, we are taking steps to a healthier tomorrow and a place that holds forgiveness for the horrible transgressions of our pasts.
Thanks to all the fans for their enduring support. It is so amazing that even though we cannot get out to play live shows, the element66 fans continue to stand by us and encourage the growth of this musical endeavor. We truly wish we could explore the world while performing our music, unfortunately traveling is not part of our musical journey in the foreseeable future. If the stars stay in alignment, we will continue recording and releasing new music. The comfort we find in knowing that what we are creating is appreciated and loved by so many people around the world helps us keep the spark alive. THANK YOU!
Like a moth from the chrysalis, we shall one day be set free from this cocoon to rejoin Humanity and experience the world along side you.
Enjoy The Ride
Chad Hamlin
element66
Thoughts from Chad and Kenneth
Chad Hamlin, element66
The rediscovery of music, this time behind prison walls, has been a therapeutic blessing. When my fingers are moving across the fret board, or I’m mixing the bizarre unique alien synth sounds that I love so much, my mind is unshackled and has a venue to explore my innermost thoughts and past. Some of my greatest epiphany–insights have come while making music. Among the insights has come the concrete reality that I can’t go back in time and fix what has been done. As the saying goes, “there are no do-overs.”
What I can do, I’ve realized, is move forward giving charitably of myself with an understanding that my debt to society is more than a prison sentence. In my view it is a never-ending service to try and share my experiences so that others don’t make the mistakes I did.
Kenneth Fisher, element66
When recording a song you end up listening to the vocals over and over and over again. This process is just like doing self-affirmations in the mirror. The repetition will shape neural pathways. And as long as the repetition has positive and proactive value, then the end result will be positive and proactive. Bettering the self while trying to make amends. This has become my purpose. I give freely of myself in hopes that this will resonate through the history we are about to make. I hope that through this process of enlightenment and redemption I can help others along the way. Help repair some of the broken parts of our world, if at least a little.
I’ve found a kindred soul in Chad. Before we met, everyone who knew us kept telling the other “You two have to meet.” Finally we did. We have been working smooth as element66 ever since. We are a well-oiled machine, creating and recording new music. We have become the best of friends in our music journey. I do this for those who are closest to me. And those who got left behind. I do this for those I love and those that I have hurt. I do this to say I love you. I do this to say I’m sorry. I do this to be better.
The element66 interview
1. Where did you Grow Up?
Chad: I found myself between two Worlds, Texas and Oregon. I inhabited Texas in my earlier days in a place called Paris. Although most of my earthly existence has been spent in Oregon. I lived in Roseburg and Eugene Oregon growing up, but these days I’m residing in Salem Oregon.
Kenny: I’m not sure that I have yet. At least not all the way. My inner child still influences the majority of my decisions.
But if you are asking of the physical proximity of my cells and their nature relative to geography as biology follows entropy, then the answer is a miss mash of locations along the western side of the United States.
2. What made you realize that music was your path?
Chad: It was all in the Grand Design of life that this path be laid before me. I found myself surrounded by musicians while living in Texas and it just became a part of the natural order of my life. I believe that the choices I make today have already been written in the pages of tomorrow. For deeper insight to this concept, check out the song titled Eckhart Tolle, and you may find that there are no random events.
Kenny: There was always music around me growing up. My uncles were in bands, my mother sang on our church’s worship team. There was always a guitar or a piano in our house. But it wasn’t until later, sitting in prison at age 20, that I realized that the only way to completely change the structure of my thinking, and forsake the criminal life for good, was to commit myself to a higher purpose. Music was that purpose. I have since pursued it with a single minded devotion. It is all there is, and all that will ever be. I have found a way to quantify the structure of my soul, by stacking states of electrons, I can create a new reality, and by means of sound compression waves, I can translate that reality directly into your head. Forever making a piece of my soul your reality.
3. How would you describe the music that you typically create?
Chad: It all begins with a pulsating thought that gets translated musically and captured in it’s purest essence. Rippling in the subconscious, an idea may pass by, it’s only up to us to decide to reach out and grab the concept. The trick is to hold on to it before it floats away.
Kenny: The music to me is secondary to what is being said. I’ve spent so much time in my life focusing on negative hateful things. I do not want that any more. Now is the time to resolve all the bad parts. To refocus the message that we are sending into the future. The words in our songs are messages in bottles floating through the seas of the cosmos.
Being that we have a Right to freedom of speech, does that not mean that we also have a responsibility to what we say? The future is influenced by the ideas we put forth, our music is the expression of those ideas.
4. Who are your biggest musical influences?
Chad: Growing up with the creative juices of Les Claypool swimming in my cranium was what shaped some of the bass concepts of thinking outside the box. Also studying Classical Music gave me the inspiration to create songs like Fur Elise…The Cartoon. We’ve decided that incorporating a twist of Classical Music into each album will bring new life into the genius of yesterday for listeners of tomorrow.
Kenny: The natural world. The buzz of atoms, and the celestial symphony of sub-atomic particles. The regrets of the past and the potential resonance of the future.
The music that exists only in the heart, and the mathematical symmetry of all things. The ravenous black hole inside each one of us, infinity eating matter, just to spit out the brightest light in the known Universe. We are all just the smallest part in the music of life, creation, and destruction.
It is the natural cycle that influences me the most. The inevitability of doom, and the human need to move forth and populate other worlds.
5. What makes your music unique?
Chad: Twisting thoughts into resonating sounds is like having a conversation with musical vibrations. This concept is the driving force behind element66. I feel that I am very open to the Universe and delivering these musical ideas from that openness is what keeps the music exciting and creative.
Kenny: Given an infinite Universe, my music may not be that unique.
Within this structure there is an almost infinite number of other me(s), doing exactly what I am doing. The factor of unique is here, now. This specific moment, and your interpretation of it.
6. Has there been one particular moment in your musical career that you’re most proud of.
Chad: As of now I’m just satisfied knowing that I’m getting a chance to put a voice to the colors of my musical pallet. Expressing myself beyond these giant walls into the world of freedom is a very rewarding sensation. Recording songs from a studio in the dungeons of an old prison is strange, but at the same time it is amazingly beautiful. I’m so thankful that the administration officials support forward thinking in rehabilitation, and are allowing us to produce something positive from a negative place. If you are one of the many people that have been involved in helping element66 in its growth, then what I’m most proud of in my musical career is the love and support you have shown.
Kenny: Early on when I was just starting out, my daughter and her mother would play my music every night as they were going to sleep. They would do this when I was gone as a way to have me closer to them. Then when Genna was pregnant she would play my music against her belly for my son. They were my biggest fans.
Now after everything that has happened, those moments fill my heart with the greatest pride of my life.
I love you Simone’ and Kenny, I’m thinking of you always. I hope you are still listening.
7. What’s next for you?
Chad: To find peace and acceptance with the Human Race, and mainly I truly hope that forgiveness can be established for the actions of my past. All I want is to create a loving world for our children. Of course using my gift as an artist is my main contribution to opening the eyes of our species. A brighter future for us as a whole should be the ultimate goal for us all. I will continue pumping out amazing music for the beings of the Universe to enjoy and my hope is that they will find inspiration in what we are trying to convey.
Kenny: I will always continue to create music, and I will always continue to learn as long as the powers that be allow this wonderful opportunity. Understand that all of this that has been done so far has been done from a cell in a prison. I am grateful to the administration and their progressive thinking. Keep watch for more music to come.