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Love & Yourself: Karma Sheen run us through the importance of self love

If you’re not already familiar with Karma Sheen, you’ve been missing out. The band ooze out a hypnotic style of psychedelia that we guarantee you’ll quickly get hooked on.

Next week, they’ll be releasing their new EP… and we’re pretty damn excited. But before then, we caught up with the band for a run-down on the importance of self-love. Take it away Karma Sheen…

Before the release of their new EP next week, London band Karma Sheen walk us through the importance of self-acceptance and self-love.

Every single one of us goes through a time where we want to feel loved and where we would like to love someone. In the midst of all of that passion, that tight grip of life’s pressure, we forget about ourselves and the importance of realizing our passion from time to time.

I often sit and reflect on just how much has changed in the last four years; breakups, makeups, I lost my father to the 21st-century devil that is cancer. And if meditation was anything short of a lesson then at the very least, I could say that, of passion, love, life, death, art and music, everything ends with and everything begins with ourselves.

When I recall my childhood, back then to where I am now, I’ve really only ever learnt one thing over and over again: “To truly want to love, to truly want to accept, regardless of what you want to love, one must be accepting and have an open-mindedness; to allow love to pass within and through you.

From the very beginning, I found a calling to music, that sweet melody of nothingness filling the very outline of myself, becoming an everything-ness. It was a secret that was so deeply hidden that I could never come to terms with it myself.

Me?! and Musician?!… Come off it!

But I grew to love my passion… (eventually). I grew to want to pursue it, albeit reading a biography of Kurt Cobain as the catalyst. What struck me most about my passion is that somewhere in between pursuing a career and keeping this passionate flame alight, I forgot about myself. I forgot about who I was and ultimately I forgot how to love myself (Not that there is any formula attached!)

I realised that not long after, not loving myself meant not being able to breathe my passionate self into my passionate art. And most artists themselves will tell you, that’s a big NO-NO!
All my work after that was never satisfactory (As if it ever will be!)

I set quite high standards for myself, as do all artists. I’m nothing special. But I felt what I came into contact with, was the desire and hunger to better myself which in turn would benefit my art. I knew it. I felt it. I bled it.

Looking after yourself doesn’t necessarily mean hot bubble baths and not doing the dishes for one night and reading a book, eating cake before dinner and sitting around watching your favourite shows though. It’s the opposite actually. It’s work! It’s the effort it takes to get out of bed on a Sunday morning so that you can focus on your craft.

It’s saying NO to anything because you want to stay home. It’s skipping the night out with your friends to practice your craft. It’s irrevocably putting yourself first.

I guess as every artist knows the art of self-care is rooted in self-sacrifice, but most of all, selfishness. In order to love and to boldly love, you have to be selfish with the essence of who you are.

You cannot allow possessions, people, ideas, ideologies, ism’s and schisms to consume and rob you of what makes you unique. As an individual, part of a vastly growing community of special, unadulterated, unfiltered artists, being honest and transparent with yourself is the ultimate and most important display of love that we as humans are capable of sharing.

Karma Sheen’s new EP will be available on Wednesday, December 12th.