Shaolin Monk Motherfunk - (Nai Palm) Commentary

"Shaolin Monk Motherfunk," it was one of the first songs we ever wrote together as a band

As in, from scratch, it's quite often I'll bring a song in that exists just, like, with guitar and vocals

But Shaolin, I think, was the first one where we just kind of puzzle-pieced it together

Lyrically, there's a lot going on

The breakdown; it says, "In this heat don't doubt, I own the hour"

"Hour" as in, like, the time measurement but also "our" as in yours and mine

I do that a lot in my writing

"I own the hour, white ochre shower, howling as it falls to find the form of dust once more"

On my 21st birthday, I found myself at Uluru in the centre of Australia

I played a festival up there and we were travelling around and making our way back

And we didn't plan it, but we just happened to be there on my birthday

And it was overcast, and the sky was purple, and the sand is red and there's these

Like, really harsh silver trees with these golden orb spiders

And it was one of the most magical settings I've ever seen in my life

I came to an ochre pit and I saw a cave in Uluru, and you're not supposed to climb it, it's disrespectful to

And I came to this opening, and I saw this, like, perfect circled cave in Uluru and I scratched it into my finger

And then was rubbing ochre into it to heal it

It's so, dry and hot and you're in the sun

And if you rub ochre on your body it cools you down but also protects you from the sun

And so I was bleeding from my finger just from like

I don't know, there was something enjoyable about it

And I came to this pit and I buried my hands in it

And uh, just had a big grieve, you know, I was

21 and uhm, by chance found myself in this really powerful place in the desert

And I was singing and weeping from a really pure place

And it started raining, and the rain was running down Uluru

And it was like the sky was crying with me

And it's really rare that it rains out there 'cause it's really dry and it's the desert

But it just happened to be this, like, purple storm

You know, you hear of people's 21st where you like, go out and get wasted and go to karaoke and stuff

Which, you know, I've definitely had birthdays like that, but it was just a really beautiful coming-of-age ritual