LOVINS:My parents were always playing music. They were—well, you’d call them aging hippies, but they called themselves flowerchildren. I had a really happy childhood, and part of the reason was that there were always instruments around. Tambourines, guitars, bongos, triangles, you name it. We’d break into song getting ready for dinner.
INTERVIEWER:Sounds charming.
LOVINS:I was lucky, the way I grew up. But what really made me commit to music was a little more cerebral. I was one of those teenagers who became fascinated by philosophy. Existentialism, epistemology, ontology. I was seventeen and thought I was going to uncover all the answers to the universe, you know?
INTERVIEWER:I can’t say I relate. I was vaping and playingFortniteat seventeen.
LOVINS:I got really into Heidegger. He has a pretty fascinating life story. He was an underground academic hero in Germany who became a huge star. And then Hitler took over and Heidegger became part of the Nazi Party to keep his job. He denounced it later, but a lot of people still argue over whether to engage with his ideas. Even still, he’s probably one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. He argued that most philosophers before him who’d tried to define human beings, isolate what made usus—and we’re talking about the biggies, Descartes, Kant, etc.—forgot about time. Heidegger thought time was such a fundamental part of being human that it wasn’t just a condition of being, it wasthecondition. Specifically, being temporary, or finite, is what defines us. You could almost answer the question “What are human beings?” with “Human beings are finite time.” For him, ending—or death—is at the core of what it means to be us. You’re probably thinking to yourself,Kenny, that’s super interesting and all, but what does it have to do with music?
INTERVIEWER:I’m actually wondering how much weed you smoked before this interview.
LOVINS:None, man. This is just me.
INTERVIEWER:Please continue.
LOVINS:Well, unlike other forms of art, like paintings and books, music unfolds over time. Think about it. Paintings hang on a gallery wall and can hang there unchanged forever. Books sit on shelves, static and eternal. But every song has a start time and an end time. It’s dynamic—Heidegger would use the wordecstatic— and no matter how much emotion you pack into a song, how much sound and fury, love and longing and lament, it’s always going to end. It simply can’t last. To me, that makes music the form of art that best represents the human experience. Writing songs is performing, on a small scale, what it means to be a being that exists as a temporary eruption of thought and feeling. We’re fireworks, right? This beautiful glittering explosion that’s dying as soon as it starts living. Once I understood that, it felt like there was no more meaningful thing to do with my life than create beauty with an expiration date. Art like us.
INTERVIEWER:Damn, dude. Will you be my life coach?
LOVINS:Unfortunately, I’ve already got a long list of people to take care of.
INTERVIEWER:Speaking of . . . can you address the rumors about friction in the Future Saints? I’ve heard whispers that your sudden success has you guys on the rocks. Is that true?
LOVINS:I first met Hannah, Ripper, and Ginny when I was eighteen. Back then, Ripper had a mullet and Hannah worePacSun jellies and Ginny was a high school senior with a thing forSailor Moon. Point is, it was ten years ago. We’re growing up. We’re becoming different people, and that means we’re becoming different artists, moving in all these directions according to what’s happening in our individual lives. Of course there’s going to be friction. How could there not be? But I believe in our commitment to one another. We’re trying to meld visions and . . . well, I guess the word is endure.
INTERVIEWER:I’m sorry about the loss of Ginny.
LOVINS:Thank you.
INTERVIEWER:You said humans are finite time, here and then gone. Does that mean you don’t believe in an afterlife?
LOVINS:Not in the Christian sense. No pearly gates. Maybe in the Buddhist sense, where life and death exist on a continuum of energy. Honestly, I don’t know if there’s anything waiting for us after we die. But as I’ve gotten older and lost people I love, I’ve come to really hope there’s something. I hope the pragmatists and cynics are wrong. Just like I hope the Saints will stay together making music for as long as our collective expiration dates allow.
INTERVIEWER:So at heart, you’re an optimist.
LOVINS:God help me.
Chapter 41
Hannah
Friday, October 11, 2024
Ripper, can you move a little closer to Hannah? Don’t be shy, she’s not going to bite.” Sindri, the photographer on hire byVariety, laughs, the sound musical in her Icelandic accent. “Or maybe she will and you like that sort of thing. I don’t judge.”
Ripper and I eye each other. He presses his lips into a line as he inches closer.
“Try putting your arm around her,” Sindri calls, her face hidden behind her camera. “Like you’re friends.”
Ripper gingerly lifts his arm and hovers it an inch above my shoulders. I restrain the urge to roll my eyes.
“This is painful.” Ginny pokes a finger into my cheek. “Real smile, Hannah, you heard of those?”
Sindri drops her camera. “Apologies, what’s your name—Keith?”
“Kenny,” Kenny says, sticking his hands in his pockets.
“Kenny, why are you three feet away? I’d like you to be on the same magazine cover, if you don’t mind.” Sindri exchanges exasperated glances with her two lighting assistants, whostand behind giant circular reflectors. Behind them, clothing, makeup, and hair technicians get our next looks ready.
