STÜKENBERG

Double Plus Panic

STÜKENBERG

David “Stükenberg’s” given surname is as unusual, bold, and quirky as his music. Through necessity over his 15-year career as a musician, he has evolved into a producer, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, score composer, guitar builder (https://www.guitarworld.com/blogs/hands-david-stukenberg-builds-his-dream-electric-guitar-scratch) and grammy-nominated songwriter. Despite his accolades, he describes himself as a blue collar musician, dismissing the many hats he’s come to wear as: “what I needed to keep my curiosity alive and teach me how to create the sounds in my head. I’m grateful for what I’ve had to learn to survive. I think that a lot of people begin their careers as architects and miss the nuances of first working in basic construction.”

As an artist, Stükenberg tends to tackle a broad spectrum of styles and topics. The result is imagery, that is provocative and poignantly prophetic — a clever melding of both beauty and truth. Lyrics quietly penned five years ago ring ominously true in the chaos that is 2020. “If they rigged the next election, invent a new disease, and only vaccinate the ones that don’t oppose" is the opening line to "Keep Us Close,” a single from the release of his latest album, “Double Plus Panic,” released November 6, 2020.

Stükenberg’s latest work deviates from convention (while ironically commenting on mindless conformity) in a way that he describes as “liberating and unsettling,” both in style and in substance — he calls the album set to release this November “the musical equivalent of a political cartoon.” With a message perfectly tailored to today’s climate, it’s opening track, “Blind Unity,” is a call to arms to rally for equanimity, not partisanism. It’s an insightful look at the mass mistreatment of one another in the name of a cause or candidate.

“It’s easier to be fed, follow, and polarize than it is to dig and deliberate,” is Stükenberg’s perspective. The timely truths in “DOUBLE PLUS PANIC” suggest an unpopular alternative: having the humility to engage in conversations instead of heated debates, resulting not only in education, but in forward movement and — ultimately — peace.

Stükenberg currently resides outside of Houston, TX with his wife, son, and dog/engineer Rupert.

1.Blind unity

Maybe Mexico maybe Canada

before it all goes back to the way it was

before I checked out

let the network news pick the candidate

crucify your friends on the Internet, on the Internet

Oh

Would you love me tender if I’m not on board

would we still be friends like we were before

this madness set in

Would you delete my number if I disagreed

what if I spoke up would you turn on me

would you turn on me

I hear the thunderous roar of applause surrounding me

blind and oblivious all together in unity

Where did you source your truth I think I overheard

the world is always run by interpreters who spot the devils

Great God Almighty if we heard your voice

would anyone know what it sounded like

What it sounded like

I hear the thunderous roar of applause surrounding me

blind and oblivious all together in unity

although the sound is growing deafening

I’m surrounded on every side

held together by our ignorance

we can’t help but unite

Da da da

They won’t need our guns if they’ve got our minds

and it won’t matter what’s legalized

what’s legalized

2. Consensual Violence

Oprah - Andy said we would be famous for 15 minutes.

Marlin Brando - He did not however speakof what we are to do

Obama - With the remaining minutes of our perpetually lengthening life spans?

Alan Wickman - Edward said the pen is mightier than the sword.

Patrick Stewart - David said the tongue is sharper than a sword.

Michael Jackson -Jesus said those who live by the sword die by the sword.

Trump - He said nothing aboutinstabook TwitterFace

Hillary Clinton - This violence is consensual

Bill Clinton - This violence is consensual

G.W. Bush - this violence is for someone’s good,

Obama - I’m Pretty sure.

Trump - It’s my country and I want it now!

Obama - It’s my country and I want it now!

Hillary Clinton - It’s my country and I want it now!

Bill(Ary) Clinton - It’s my country and I want it now!

3.Hurt you

And what you don’t know is gonna hurt you, it’s going to damage and disturb you

Leave you and high and dry desert you

it’s going to catch you at the moment when you least expect it

not even a trace will be detected now

you best subscribe and tune in

To second 2nd fox: seven, verse CNN

I read another article about the end of everything

of everything

And what you don’t know is gonna hurt you, it’s going to damage and disturb you

Leave you and high and dry desert you

And what you can’t see is gonna find you

It’s going to sneak up right behind you

it’s going to bury you and hide you in the ground

If I believed everything that I read in the news

I’d be huddled in a bunker wearing combat boots

just waiting for someone to tell me it’s safe

Then I’d be free for a second and I step outside

think of ice caps melting and be reminded that everything

is somehow threatening

And what you don’t know is gonna hurt you, it’s going to damage and disturb you

Leave you and high and dry desert you

And what you can’t see is gonna find you

It’s going to sneak up right behind you

it’s going to bury you and hide you in the ground

And what you’re scared of it’s going to change you

gonna distort and rearrange you

it’s gonna capture you and Cage you

Then what you forfeit won’t be noticed

your field of vision quickly closes

until the light breaks through and exposes

what you gave

4. Kids of tomorrow

will the kids of tomorrow

be mortified

to find

their every action

their very gesture

has in fact

been

recorded

documented

and analyzed

or rather instead,

will they awake to have their binary little hearts broken by the new knowledge that;

no one

saw

at all

5. Look at me stop

Look at me look at me look at me stop

Popularity I want the world to stop and stare at me

Privacy I want to hide what’s inside of me

I remember a time when a stalker had to try

When the government was gonna spy on us and look in our minds

Give me your ghosts in the attic a fully automatic

Reigning your democracy I need a place to be hidden

Showcased and forbidden For all the world to see

Merchandise I want a window to a satellite

So close your eyes, I want my secrets to be televised

I wonder which will win, The narcissism or the fear

Will you let the panic guide you Or will the self obsession steer

Give me your ghosts in the attic a fully automatic

Reigning your democracy I need a place to be hidden

Showcased and forbidden For all the world to see

Megalomaniacs Maniacs, Maniacs Selfies for the NSA

I’ve got a port in my pocket I’m safe when I lock it

A secret when I put it away

When I was younger,

They said the cable box

would read thoughts

No we pay money

To ensure that it does

Give me your ghosts in the attic a fully automatic

Reigning your democracy I need a place to be hidden

Showcased and forbidden For all the world to see

6.Warmth of the sun

Looks like the chaos has finally settled in

Every castle in the kingdom

Has been condemned

The lords and princes the kings and queens and even all the lesser human beings are now but reluctant compost for a blossoming flower

Unconscious of its loss

Unaware of its own beauty

With no remorse for what it cost

As it grows from the rubble and the fertile soil of

Rotting flesh

All the world is new and this is what is left

In the warmth of the sun has no regard for anyone

As fragile as the chlorophyll that gave you oxygen

You would be surprised to find out how quickly what we do can be undone

Beneath the rubble I suppose we assumed

We would find ourselves again

Even our molecules superior

By nature destined to re evolve

But as it turns out we were never particularly important to begin with

And so we shall remain under the rubble serving organic matter as it once served us

And the warmth of the sun

has no regard for

anyone

7. Keep us close

If they rigged the next election

invent a new disease

and only vaccinate the ones who don’t oppose

if every place we could escape to

has been destroyed or repossessed

if the bad guys win and it never gets exposed

Keep us close

If we have to start this over

delete and reinstall

abandon all that I’ve been taught or told

If the sound of war and rumor

even haunts us in our dreams

if every door we come to has been closed

Keep us close

If we never saw it coming

if the worst is yet to come

if this is nothing like the life you would’ve chose

will you walk with me my dearest

leave behind us every grid

ride out the tide of every ebon flow

Keep us close

8. Key to survival

And the key to our survival

Is to have nothing that they want

Nothing that they want

9. before they edit the rest of the internet,

And power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth

And that they should kill one another

And that they should kill one another

And that they should kill one another

A measure of wheat for a penny

And three measures of barley for a penny

And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine

Babylon the great is fallen

Babylon the great is fallen

Babylon the great is fallen

Babylon the great is fallen

And is become the habitation of devils

And the hold of every evil spirit

And the cage of every unclean and hateful bird

For all nations

For all nations

For all nations

For all nations

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication

and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,

and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich

through the abundance of her delicacies.