FaceTiming with Mom, GBMystical on Saving the Earth Through Music
Interview by Kathryn Stam & Terrin Stam Munawet
GBMystical is the solo project of Terrin Stam Munawet, a songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Utica, NY who is currently based in Chicago. On his most recent single "Little Dolphin" taken from his forthcoming EP Planet GB, Terrin comments on the destruction of ocean life through his lighthearted and quirky song-writing. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Terrin hopped on a FaceTime with his mother, Kathyrn Stam, to discuss the changing planet and how their intense love for nature has influenced their lives.
Kathryn Stam: How are you?
Terrin Stam Munawet: I'm doing alright. I've been a little fatigued the last couple of days. Feeling good over all… Trying to stay positive, and trying to stay distracted
Kathryn: *laughs*
Terrin: Yeah, I've been sleeping in a lot more than normal.
Kathryn: *laughs harder*
Terrin: How about yourself?
Kathryn: I'm pretty much the same. I would sleep in except I've had a lot of Zoom sessions. I have Zoom fatigue, and I guess just in general a sense of bewilderment. I don't know if anxiety is the right word… I would say uncertainty, but I'm also really grateful that everyone around me is healthy. What can I do for you sweetie?
Terrin: I think we're just trying to talk about our lives & music as they relate to the environment.
Kathryn: My early life involved having a twin brother, a brother who was two years older than me, and a mom who just did not want to stay in the house. We lived in Chicago at the time. It was cold and windy, but every single day she would bundle us up and we would go outside. Summers and holidays were spent at our family's farm in Wisconsin. Each of us had a tree… There were these three big beautiful willow trees out in the yard, a barn with animals, and neighborhood farmers. It was closer to the earth and to the cycles of production than any of the other things I had experienced. We would find bats in the house and take in stray cats, and we would run into horses and cows outside. That gave me a fondness for it all.
On top of all that I also went to summer camp in Michigan for five years. We would take trips through camp, and when we went to Vermont and New Hampshire I fell in love with hiking & spending time in the mountains. I loved everything about it. That's why I went to college to study environmental studies. My love for the mountains also led me to study abroad and go to Nepal. It just sort of went from there. I even spent one summer as a caretaker at a lodge on the Long Trail in Vermont. I was staying in this screened-in lean-to, and spent a lot of time either by myself or with other people who were hiking the trail. Lots of getting to know lonely strangers & maintaining trails.
Terrin: We didn't grow up on a farm or anything, but I feel like you took me outside a lot when I was having a hard time or had a lot of energy. Going outside was always the solution for being cooped up, and I guess it's funny that everyone is stuck at home now.
Kathryn: I found that if you went outside for an hour or two every day you would just be happier and more balanced. At first you may not have wanted to, but then you would find so many things to look at: mushrooms, acorns, animals… you spotted birds really quickly and easily as well. You always gravitated to animals. Your first word besides mama was "mæw" which is Thai for cat. I remember there was a stray cat outside our house who used to come visit and you would get so excited. Your legs would jump up and down, and then you would try to reach out to touch him.
Terrin: This was when I was what, a one year old?
Kathryn: You were a year old, but you were so enthralled by seeing these little creatures.
Terrin: Yea, I still feel that way about animals I guess…
Kathryn: *laughs*
Terrin: So, it looks like you listened to the song and watched the video on Facebook?
Kathryn: I did! Congratulations.
Terrin: I guess— did you enjoy the message in there?
Kathryn: I did enjoy the message very much.
Terrin: I saw you post my Youtube on your Facebook for your friends to subscribe and a couple of them already have, so thanks for the boost.
Kathryn: You're welcome. I always love your music. I think it's really playful and funny. I think what struck me when I was watching the video was that your message is really serious. I mean, there's no joke about it, but the way that you're coming across is so quirky… And I think that would be the way to describe you to people in general. You never quite know what to expect. I think the one that makes me laugh the hardest, I'll never get tired of it, is the one with the cat with two tails.
Terrin: I'll try to link that if I can find it haha.
Kathryn: All of your videos remind me of how you and your friends would mess around, whether it was outside making videos with a camera or inside making videos on the computer and playing instruments. There's just something about you where if you're not cracking up at something, then there's something wrong. It's not everyday and every hour, but it's a huge part of your life. That's why your friends are the way that they are.
Terrin: I do like to hang with jokesters and witty folks. My friends write screenplays and are trying to be directors, ya know…. I also hang with a lot of musicians at house shows. I feel like everyone has a shared sense of humor about the current state of things. People tend to have a woke political stance if you're in those crowds, and I feel like if you're aware of everything that's going on, you need to be able to share a laugh.
Kathryn: Yes, exactly.
Terrin: That's why I try to make pretty light hearted and upbeat stuff. I don't think I write very many sad songs, but I still write songs about sad stuff in my life or things that have happened, grief I may harbor, whatever.
Kathryn: Especially in “Little Dolphin”, with the tune, the tempo, and the video… You can't be sad watching that! It's hilarious. You're dancing and goofy, and there's like four of you on screen at a time. I think that's what strikes me about it. That's been a little more recent in your work, like the last two or three years. In the past it was more focused on the technical side of things. You'd make this electronic music that's sophisticated and interesting but didn't have as much accessibility.
Terrin: Thank you. I wanted to touch on the fact that you went to school for environmental stuff, and then decided to take another path. I feel like I almost did the same thing when I was deciding to pursue music. I struggle in my head with how impactful it can be in an environmental or socially beneficial way as opposed to going full-in on environmental studies. When you told me about your life, and you mentioned traveling to Thailand after college, you mentioned that spending time with the people there caused you to rethink your trajectory. Do you want to expand on that pivot in your life?
Kathryn in Nepal during her time there circa 1984
Kathryn: When I went into the peace corps, my job was "Community Forestry Volunteer." It wasn't very long at all before I found out from the people that I was working with that they did not need a community forestry volunteer. They said that they knew how to plant and preserve trees, but that they were mainly concerned with not sacrificing the yield of crops for the year. I then spent a lot of time learning and the people I was around their belief systems, and the traditions they upheld. As a twenty-one year old, it was far more compelling to me than spending time trying to understand their farming system and find a solution for it.
That said, I never let go of what I learned from studying environmental science and some of it is coming back to haunt me now. I was studying it from 1984-1988. Our professors all predicted exactly what we're living through right now. Wildfires, floods, pandemics, and earthquakes are much more dangerous to people now because we have encroached on animal habitats and other places that we just don't belong. It stuck with me that we've known this all along and haven't done anything…. I don't want to take away from people's efforts because there's so many things that we have been able to preserve, but in a global sense, here we are.
Terrin: There's things people two generations ago could have done about a lot of this stuff, but I don't blame the people who knew about it and were trying to warn people. It's not like they weren't trying hard enough, there was always just too much greed at play. I guess I have been pretty conscious of it, and I compartmentalize a lot of that stuff because how else are you going to get on with your day?
Kathryn: I think it's especially hard over the last three years. The hope for the future kind of crashed and burned around the time of the last election. Some of us haven't been able to compartmentalize very well, and we wake up every day saying "we'd never dream in a million years that we'd be in this situation." Then we get on with it. We're going against everything we've ever learned, which is the more aware we are of the news, the more we can do about it. Now we're saying, don't watch too much of the news, you'll get so depressed you won't be able to get out of your bed.
Terrin: Or, make sure you know where you're getting your news from because half of it might not even be real, and you don't know who's publishing a lot of these articles and things get shared around a lot. It is a little scary for sure.
Kathryn: It is scary, but in all these beautiful things like the zoos letting the animals go around and see what it looks like from the human perspective. I just find those incredible. Especially at the Cincinnati Zoo, where the tigers were up in the places where the humans usually walk, and the penguins are checking out the fish.
Terrin: I saw a story about a pair of pandas that are mating finally because nobody's watching.
Kathryn: *Laughs * Either that or they're bored.
Terrin: I guess it should also be mentioned that I really loved going to the zoo a lot growing up in Syracuse…
Kathryn: The Rosemond Gifford Zoo.
Terrin: I think about that now because there's another song I put out called "Zoo Sign" that's about going to the zoo and about the sort of conflicted feeling I get when I go to a zoo, and all the animals are captive, but I'm still learning about them and their environment. You hope that you're doing something good for conservation or at least awareness by being there, but you still can't help but feel bad for THAT penguin ya know, THAT tiger that's stuck there.
Kathryn: And also, we've gone to aquariums everywhere. Especially when you were younger. I'd take you to the children's museum, and then try to find some kind of aquarium or zoo. You weren't really happy just hanging around, doing nothing, or playing board games. You loved to go see what was happening and learn things. I actually loved going to museums and zoos and other places with you because you read all of the labels.
Terrin: I wanted all the facts! And then I would go home and repeat them to you.
Kathryn: I would never want to play a Trivial Pursuit with you, because I would lose.
Terrin: Just in the animal facts department… Thanks so much for this convo Mom.
Kathryn: Of course. I love your music. Keep up the good work honey, and I look forward to seeing you live… OK love you. Talk to you later.
Keep up with Terrin.