We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Salem Strikes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Salem, appreciate you joining us today. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?
Like a lot of trans people, I’ve always felt like I was different but never really knew why. It took me 5 years to come out fully to myself, and when I started having a bit more pride in myself (because no one else did) I eventually got kicked out of my childhood church community for wearing vans with rainbow stripes on them. I began a spiritual journey that led to my current witchcraft practice. A few years later I was kicked out of my parents home and slept on friends living room floors, garages and couches because of my family’s inability to respect my identity leading to a toxic home environment. Eventually I was forced back home, but not before I found myself in another even more toxic relationship with an addict and a crazy transphobic family. It was the biggest love of my life so far, but again due to my identity as a gay man…I was pushed away. People talk, behind closed doors and never to my face…so I’ve learned to not whisper my music but to STRIKE with my words and make my voice heard. I refuse to leave this world unseen for who I really am. I am not just my identity. I am not something to be feared. I am human and I have stories to tell! Being misunderstood by others gave me a greater understanding of myself.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Salem Strikes, I am a creative, writer and musical artist for my two most noteworthy projects so far: Freaks Edge and Twitch Kid Universe.
I have always had a vivid imagination and a musical person. I’m a self taught musician and producer and I’ve been making video content and producing music for 5+ years.
I’m most proud of my current project known as Freaks Edge, a collaboration between myself and Devin Sunshine.Devin is someone I met along my music journey in Downtown Santa Ana at an open mic known as the Coollab Project! Over time we’ve grown close as friends as well as music makers, and we both sparked into this amazing duo Freaks Edge!
Together we make music that celebrates the outcasts, aka the “freaks” or misunderstood generation. We hope to cultivate a community based on self love, embracing uniqueness, and creating safe spaces. Our EP “Freaks Edge” is now available with 5 incredible tracks that are perfect for the upcoming spooky month of October (but of course, spooky is a year round vibe for me!)
This project has helped me step out into my own artistry and personal endeavors.
Twitch Kid Universe is my previous project, a combination of audio drama and musical works that tell the story of an alien from the future, sent to Earth to save us from an apocalyptic future.
I also run an apparel brand known as SSTRIKEWORLD, where I work with artists, entrepreneurs and charitable organizations to raise awareness and funds for future projects. All designs are limited to one month runs, so once the run is over, the designs are gone. I do this to help build excitement and create an exclusive hype! It’s also a cool way to support the artists and people I meet personally and want to support.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My creative journey is very much defined by my experiences as an LGBTQIA person. Being transgender has shown me a beautiful side of myself, as well as the darkest parts of humanity. Queer people are faced with death, discrimination, and injustice on a much bigger scale. For those reasons it can be easy to lose faith in the goodness of the world, but through my music I always choose to speak my truth, shed light onto the darkness, and bring hope to people like me who often feel like life is hopeless.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I’ve been through a lot of heartbreak. The past two years I went through a traumatic relationship where I lived in an abusive household where I endured verbal abuse, transphobia and homophobia on a daily basis. The only thing that kept me going was my now ex partner and his son, but due to mental illness he was easily manipulated by his own family into believing that I was dangerous or harmful because of my gender identity. This led to a lot of emotional turmoil for me that finally ended with our relationship after 2 years.
I ended up going through top surgery alone, with family that tried to convince me to do anything except this life saving surgery.
Through all of this though, I was able to come back stronger, and find friendships that truly have kept me grounded. I would not be the man I am today without the music scene, and I certainly have grown and learned even from my most tragic heartbreaks.
I was able to channel a lot of my experiences from the heartbreaks into healing music for myself, which I hope to release in 2023 with my album, Phoenix.
Contact Info:
- Website: freaksedge.com
- Instagram: @salemstrikes
- Twitter: @itssalemstrikes
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCFgaa3_3miozMMV0nxsQ4_Q