6Bit - Right To Exist (Johan Ess Mix)

A brief story about "Right To Exist" by 6Bit Written after I had walked around Portland, Oregon, enough times to know what absolute fucking despair and hopelessness looked like. All I had to do was make eye contact with the people living on the sidewalks, people who didn't get a lot of eye contact anymore, or much of anything else. I gave them my money every time I had any and they needed it, even gave away a bunch of hats, scarves, and at least one hoodie, but it didn't make me feel any better. It didn't fix shit for anybody. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't grow up around this. The few homeless in my hometown stayed out of sight, and most people had no idea they existed. I had been homeless for a couple months after Hurricane Rita, but I was never houseless for one second because I had friends and family with beds and couches, primarily my beloved late grandparents. In Portland, I had nowhere to house anyone, and no advice or comfort to offer, so I made this song instead and based my live performances around its theme, dressing in tattered clothes, covered in a blanket (same one as the dancer in the song's pic), panhandling in the venue, then sneaking off to make a big and creepy entrance during the live intro. I had intended to shoot a gritty music video with some scrappy friends and local unhoused people, but, at some point, I started losing my own home. After moving around for a couple years, my spouse and I found ourselves completely homeless during COVID lockdown. After bouncing around from paid campsites to friends' apartments to motel rooms here and there, someone bought us a tiny car, and that is where we lived until April of 2024. To say the least, I didn't shoot the video or promote the song, but Johan Ess, who was involved with 6Bit before the pandemic and played guitar at every show, took this and other songs under their wing and breathed new life into them. Now that I've been housed for more than a year, it's time to get this and many other songs out and into the public. I still hope to do some good with this song, though, and will still be making a video for it when I can. If someone who went through the same thing hears it and feels a little better, that's more than enough. Other people's music kept me alive for those years. If someone who can related happens to hear the song and read these words, please let me know. "There has to be a right to exist." Butoh dancer in photograph: Hank Logan, taken from 6Bit's live performance at The Crimson Lotus Bar, St. Johns / Portland (long since closed). I will credit the photographer as soon as I find her name. Johan Ess: guitars, effects, mixing, production, engineering Nails of 6Bit: vocals, bass guitar, synths, beat sequencers, sampling, production, engineering, mixing Ramon Mills: additional engineering