Somewhere in the Skies - Mike Damante: Punk Rock and UFOs

Episode Date: July 10, 2017

On episode 13 of SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES, Ryan confesses his closeted passion for punk music, and is then joined by journalist, Mike Damante, to talk about his book, Punk Rock and UFOs: Cryptozoology Meets Anarchy. What exactly does punk music have in common with the UFO topic? And how has Damante infused this into his own research into the topic? His theories on UFOs are complex and extremely intriguing, and we dive deep into them on this week's show. We also talk about his latest endeavor with his new website, PunkRockandUFOs.com Guest Bio: Damante is the author of the book, Punk Rock and UFOs: Cryptozoology Meets Anarchy. He is also an established journalist, having worked for the Houston Chronicle as a copy editor, writer, reporter and web producer. He currently produces their "MIKED" music blog and has interviewed bands and musicians like Bad Religion, blink-182, Taking Back Sunday, Tom DeLonge, Tegan and Sara, Aerosmith, B.o.B and countless others. He currently teaches Journalism and English in Houston, TX. All his work can be found at his website: PunkRockandUFOs.com   Guest & Topic Suggestions: [e-mail] Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Facebook Group: Click Here Order "Somewhere in the Skies" book Here Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi guys, Ryan Sprague here. Before we get to this week's episode, I want to take a quick moment to thank some people for donating to the Somewhere in the Skies podcast. To Joseph, Joanne, and Michael, I can't thank you enough for not only listening, but donating your hard-earned money to making the show happen. While Somewhere in the Skies is free to listen to you guys, it is not free to create. The website, audio file hosting, and the recording and editing equipment all cost money out of pocket. so any donations, big or small, are appreciated more than you can imagine. These donations keep the show going and assure only the best content is brought to you each and every Monday. With these donations, I can also make the show better in quality and quantity.

This is a huge passion project of mine, and it means the world to me to have you on board. So if you're at all interested in donating, head on over to www. Somewhere in the skies.com and click on the donate tab in the menu. or you can donate directly through PayPal to Sprague 51 at Hotmail.com. If you wish to donate in any other way, contact me through the website or Facebook. Thank you for your continued support. And now let's get to the show. This is somewhere in the skies with Ryan Sprague.

All you need is one guy or girl to stand up and say, fuck this. And everyone goes, voice of a generation, thank you. I've been thinking that. I never had the guts to stand up and say it. You only need 5% or less to like embrace ideas and change it. You know, change the way people think all over again. It becomes a lineage. These people find each other and this timeline grows.

It is confession time. I'm somewhere in the skies. I've always been a closeted punk rock music kid at heart. Growing up as a straight white Christian male in a rather suburban location in Syracuse, New York, I desperately searched for outlets to challenge convention, you know, question authority. And bands like the sex pistols, the cramps, the buzzcocks, the remotes, they caught my attention probably at too early of an age. But this then collided into more recent bands like Fugazi, Bad Religion, Black Flag.

I'd found a subgenre of music that spoke volumes about issues that many shied away from, both on a micro and macro level. Also, below the surface was my innate curiosity and underground study of UFOs. I did this in the shadows, fearing ridicule and judgment. But if there was anything, punk rock taught me, it was that you never should be afraid of speaking out against authority and forced beliefs. I embraced my unconventional interests and then shouted them from the rooftops to anyone who'd listen. And that was my punk rock uphology. And when I found today's guest, I knew I'd found a kindred spirit in both my musical and euphological tastes.

Mike DeMonte is the author of punk rock and UFOs. Cryptozoology meets Anarchy. He's worked for the Houston Chronicle as a copy editor, writer, reporter, and web producer. He currently produces their mic'd music blog and is interviewed bands and musicians like Bad Religion, Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday, Teagan and Sarah, and even Aerosmith. He currently teaches journalism and English in Houston, Texas. Today, we talk about Mike's book and his many theories and what we may be dealing with in terms of the UFO question.

So, without further ado, here's our conversation with Mike Tamate. All right, I have been looking forward to this interview for a while now, and today we are going to be talking about two topics that are near and dear to my heart, and I know they are for him as well, because he, has a bookout and an awesome new website, and that is punk rocking UFOs. And he is Mike DeMonte. Thanks so much for joining me on somewhere in the skies today, brother. Oh, thank you for having me.

I'm really stoked to be on, and it's honor to be on. I've been following your work for the past year, and I really, this is something I've been looking forward to you for a while. So thank you for finally having me on. I'm excited. Oh, cool. Well, yes, the feelings are very mutual. Well, Mike, for the listeners who may not be familiar with your work, can you give

us a little background on how your whole involvement in the UFO topic really started, the inception of your craziness? So when I was a kid, my mom used to get me, there was these time life books, and every month they would have a new series and be a subscription service. And each month would be something like the UFO phenomenon or mysterious places or unknown creatures. It was all about the unknown each month. And as a kid, I was just fascinated by it.

I was fascinated by the concept of UFOs, the unknown, the unexplained, the fact that, you know, there's some things out there and there's search for the truth. And then I was always interested in that. Fast forward to, you know, my college years when I was involved in journalism, you know, journalism, you know, you seek the truth. And, you know, I worked in the journalism industry for, you know, I worked for a major newspaper for seven years as a writer, reporter, copy editor, web producer. I pretty much did everything there for a while. So I have a deep background in journalism. So those two things kind of went hand in hand. But my foray into actually, you know, being, you know, slowly putting, you know, getting my toe in the door within the industry, you know, just that actually just only happened about a year ago.

I've always been into this stuff, always. But when I decided to write the book, things kind of took off from there. And yeah, I mean, this past year just I've really, like I said, I've slowly been involved into the UFO scene, I guess, this year. I've always been interested in this topic at a very, very young age. I never really stopped being interested. It's just really, once I started writing the book, everything just kind of snowballed since then. Yeah, it's definitely been a whirlwind. Your name is out there now in the UFO community and beyond.

It's awesome. It's so refreshing to see people my age out there looking into this stuff, brother. So I'm so happy to have you. Well, let's talk about the book. The title is what really captures the imagination. punk rock and UFO's crypto zoology meets anarchy all right you got to tell us a bit about why these two topics means so much to you and what what do they have in common that's a great question that's a question I get all the time and uh it's funny because you know when I came up with the title it just

kind of had this immediate kind of something catchy about it there's just something that kind of worked even though on the surface you may think wait why how does this work but for some reason the title has been a really big selling point uh for the the book and for interest in it. And I always tell people, when I'm talking about punk rock and UFOs, when I say punk rock, I'm not necessarily talking about punk rock music. I'm talking about the mindset between punk rock, the rebellious nature. And I always, you know, I always tell people, you know, there's a lot of, a lot of things discussed in the book that talks about a rebellious nature as a, you know, as humans, right? What we choose to rebel against, that process of belief?

You know, what beliefs will we rebel against? Which ones do we accept? So that's kind of where the punk rock aspects comes in as well. Also, cryptozoologic. you know, it's an underdog science. Anyone who grew up listening to punk rock music or the punk rock scene, you know, you always had the underdog mentality. So, you know, cryptozoology as an underdog science kind of went hand in hand to the theme. So when everyone always asked me what my book is about,

the short answer I give them, it's about cryptozoology as an underdog science. That's awesome. I can't think of a better way to put it. We all always root for the underdog. And anyone who grew up listening to punk music, I was definitely one of those suburban kids who try desperately, you know, to stand out.

You do feel that often, and you feel that often in the UFO field and cryptozoological field as well. So I think a lot of people can relate to that, like, I'm so glad you went with that. Well, one of the first things that stood out about the book was the cover art. You've got this, like, this funky-looking UFO shooting a beam that breaks through a roof of a floating house and it's sucking up like a shit ton of people.

It's super eye-catching. you got to tell us about this. Who did this? And what was the impetus behind it? All right. So the artwork is by Alex Satina. He is a tattoo artist in Houston where I reside. It's been a friend of mine for years.

And I've seen his tattoo artwork before. And it just made sense to me. I was like, look, he has really cool. Because he's into this stuff too. So if you look at some of the other artwork in the book, like on the back cover, there's a skull, the UFO skull. And inside the skull, there's this really cool design of a UFO. at a campsite.

And I just thought his artwork was so rad. Really creative. And you can tell, you know, there's another in the book. There's a hand shaking hands with almost like a reptilian. In the background, there's a pyramid with like UFO over it. Like, he has really cool concepts. So I thought tattoo art would be perfect to go with the concept of the book, to go with the aesthetic of the book and everything.

So I met him up one night. And I pitched him like, hey, can I use your art in the book? And he was down. I didn't have to commission anything. and a lot of the art was already done. So what you're seeing actually on the cover is an actual tattoo that was done on a person, and that was lifted, the artist lifted it from the skin

and kind of transposed it into the photograph you see on the cover. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's pretty awesome. Well, let's get into the book a little bit. In the first chapter, you know, going off of the cryptozoological aspect, you talk about Bigfoot, which we don't hear about often in UFO books,

but it is definitely something. I find of interest and I know some of the listeners were. Mike, what's your argument that Bigfoot is real, even amongst hoaxes? You know, we've seen all these fake videos and photos of UFOs, but this happens in the Bigfoot community as well. But I know that you have personal experience with having a debate on Bigfoot. Could you sort of run us through that story? Yeah, so the reason why I included this in the book is, you know, the chapter is called the Great Bigfoot debate. And it was just kind of an example of how, you know, cryptosurology is sometimes looked down upon.

And when I was working at the Eastern Chronicle at the time, this is when I was web producing. This is probably my last year there. And Eric Berger's his name. He was the science and weather writer. And I always really liked him. I really didn't really deal with him much. But I always respected him because he was a really good journalist. He was really good at his job.

And I think one day he tweeted something about how one in three Americans believe in Bigfoot or something. And then he kind of made like some snide joke. So we started to go back and forth on Twitter. And one of the bosses, one of the higher-ups caught wind to that. And I was like, oh, crap, I'm in trouble. You know, if we're going at it with this guy, you know, who's higher up in the food chain than me. But actually what they wanted to do is they wanted to actually have us debate on,

it was, I think, Google Hangout, which was relatively new at the time. And we should have actually just taped it and put it on YouTube because basically the whole thing was just kind of, it would cut in and out. and the whole production aspect of it was just kind of a mess. But the actual debate itself was pretty fun. There are some things he was uncomfortable with me bringing up ahead of time like religion because he didn't want to offend readership. But, you know, my main argument was we're constantly discovering new species all the time.

I think a year prior to when we had this debate, they discovered the largest cave in the world in Brazil, which has been hiding there this whole time. So if there's something that large, I could be undiscovered. and there's new species being discovered all the time. Why not Bigfoot? In spite of all the hoaxes, you know, I mean, if you go back to, I mean, these stories, you know, very much like UFOs, I mean, these stories have been going back for, you know,

these sightings is going back for centuries. Is it folklore or is it Americana? Is it truth? You know, either way, you know, these stories have been passed on for generations and generations and people have been seeing Bigfoot, just like they've been seeing UFOs for generations and generations as well. So that's my argument for the existence of them. the big foot. Very interesting. And I know someone like Jacques Valle would definitely agree with you there.

One of the preeminent people in our field, definitely a hero, and also still coming up with new ideas as culture progresses and as the phenomenon seems to as well. So that's great. You have a chapter in the book, my title, UFO Army, which is an awesome title, by the way. You bring up, okay, I'm no geologist, I'm no scientist, chemist, whatever this happens to be, but Bedelium, could you tell us a little bit about this and what it has to do with the alien question? Well, when I was writing the book, you know, there's, it kind of, you know, I had my topics that I was going to tackle. And there's that, that chapter just kind of stands out because it's kind of random. But I do think, you know, I was really fascinating with the idea that, you know, there's a lot of theories that aliens, you know, visiting our planet for Earth's natural resources.

For some reason, balladium really stood out to me just because, you know, basically what is, it's a water-soluble gum, and it's kind of found in medicines commonly found in Africa. It's also referenced in the Bible, too, which is really interesting to me as a precious stone or crystal. Now that goes, so that kind of sparked a little interest to me, precious stone or crystal. You know, we talk about the crystal skulls that are found, and many people have described some UFOs looking crystal-like. And, you know, crystal skulls were also considered a symbol of regeneration to the Aztecs. So to me, that was absolutely fascinating. So I think the really interesting thing about this stuff when you're interested in it is trying to piece stuff together, whether it fits or not, is just kind of the journey, the adventure to try to piece stuff together, seeing what fits and what works and what's not. And a lot of it's just theory, right?

But it's absolutely fascinating how we can tie so much stuff into theories about our existence, our beginnings, and UFOs and visitations. Absolutely. And I mean, the whole idea of theory is something I found prevalent in every chapter. your book. You're not just recounting old cases. You're not giving someone else's, you know, statement on what it was. You're theorizing new possibilities for what these UFOs could be. And I think that's what really stuck out in the book for me and made me really think. I mean, there's some things we'll talk about in a moment that kind of blew my mind in your book. But I want to, I want to trace back to your career as a journalist. But you bring up an amazing quote

in chapter four of your book. This has stuck with me. I've kind of stolen it from you, so I apologize. And this was from a Dead Kennedys member. Can you tell us what this quote is and how it relates to UFOs? Well, it's don't hate the media, become the media. And that was by Joe Biaoffer from the Dead Kennedys. And at the time, when I was in college, I remember, you know, I was heavily in a journalism classes. I was also working at the Eastern Chronicle while in college. I was writing all the time. I was, you know, very into the early mindset of punk rock, you know, the rebellious nature of it. But it was more of a rebellion, you know, I kind of mentioned this in the book, too.

Even as a young kid, I was very rebellious. Not in the sense where I was, I misbehaved, but I was always rebellious in the way I thought, right? I, you know, I rebelled against, you know, different thought systems and beliefs, rather, you know, behaviorally. So when I was in college and, you know, listen to all these bands and stuff, it kind of, that quote really, you know, stuck with me because a lot of people aren't media literate. I just remember, you know, I had this one professor, he was super,

woke like back then um i remember he even like he even kind of gave me crap for working at the chronicle like i was a sellout and i'm like dude i'm in college like this is a big deal with me to have this job all in college like this is make me less like less progressive to you that i'm working for the quote unquote mainstream media like come on but uh i was so i was kind of that kind of stuck out but no i mean that quote's true you know there's a lot of myths about the media and how it works and a lot of people aren't media literate and i wanted to kind of talk about in the book specifically how stories in general, not just UFO stories, stories in general how they're placed and how they're covered.

You know, a lot of people always look at broadcast media. And broadcast media, it's a red-ins-driven industry. So, you know, that's why you kind of see, you know, CNN pretty much the same story being played up all day, right? Or the story of the day is getting all the attention. And with UFO stories, you know, they're good for, you know, a day. You really don't see much follow-ups, which has always been my,

kind of beef with how UFOs are covered in the mainstream media. You know, you get the initial story. You know, you get the photo, the eyewitness testimony, the video, and then nothing after that, which has always been frustrating. But lately, I feel like we've been seeing a lot more stories in mainstream media. I would say the past year or so. Since I wrote the book, I feel like, I mean, my book has nothing to do with that. But I feel like...

Don't cut yourself short. No, it almost proves my argument wrong. In a way that, you know, that these, you know, we're seeing more of these stories now. But, you know, once again, it's how they're covered, you know, if, you know, if you live in, you know, for example, you live in Queens, right? If, you know, there's UF. O'S. siding in Queens, is that going to be the top story of the day on the news? No, I'll probably get about three minutes on your local television coverage, you know, but it's not going to be the top story of the day, even though, in my opinion, you know, something like that should be considered one of the top stories of the day. Good point. Yeah. And like you said, it, there'll be no. follow-up, what was that UFO? You never hear about it. You're right. It's broadcast journalism. It's

sensationalism. It's the fluff between commercials or the product. So, yeah, I can't agree with you more. Well, in terms of these theories, I want to get back to that, Mike, because you bring some pretty ambitious things forward. One of them was from Rick Strassman and DMT and how they might be connected to UFOs or possibly even the abduction phenomenon. Can you, walk us through what Mr. Strassman has theorized? Well, I'll just go through kind of that general idea. So basically, everyone who, not everyone, but most people who have either a near-death experience have the same type of experience, same type of phenomenon, whether it's a, you know, they see a light, they hear a voice. Some of them actually even hear or see aliens. They describe

it as an alien or an angelic experience. And DMT is actually a synthetic drug. And, where you can actually recreate that experience, which would be crazy to try. But I wouldn't do it. But to me, that was really fascinating because, you know, if you listen to what these people who have these near-death experiences, some of the things that they go through

is very similar to what people who've been abducted described, too. So although that was really fascinating, the fact that, you know, they hear voices. A lot of times, you know, they have the sense that these voices are someone from their past, someone that they've known. You know, they see a light.

there's this feeling of almost, you know, not being, you know, in full control. And, you know, these are all very, you know, similarities to many abduction cases as well. It almost seems like you're in the same suspended type of reality, you know? Yeah. Well, in terms of reality, you also bring up the work of Dr. Robert Lanzah. And this has to do with consciousness. And this is something that I've been looking at a lot lately. Some other UFO researchers have looking at other than the nuts and bolts euphology.

that we're all used to. Could you explain this theory that Mr. Lanzas brought forward in terms of consciousness and UFOs? Yeah, well, the UFO part, I tied the UFO part into that, just because I have this crazy theory. But Robert Lanzer, he basically says that our souls have consciousness. So basically it's, you know, our souls in the biblical sense, it's not in the biblical sense, but basically our souls are an energy force or a life force that holds our consciousness in them. So when we die, our memories go with us. by our souls, you know, all our consciousness and our memories and everything doesn't die.

That lives on. Our physical body dies. So that's kind of what he said. So from there I was thinking, and I came up with this theory, you know, what if our souls and our consciousness, what if when we die, that is how we can get to heaven? And by heaven, I don't mean in the biblical sense. What if heaven is a place that we cannot, in our current life form, we cannot visit, whether it's another part of the universe or another dimension. but what if that's how we go there, right? Our cognition, our memories,

what that's what goes to heaven. And that's kind of my theory. And that kind of ties back into another strange theory I have about UFOs in general about, because a lot of people talk about abductions and they always consider it as an angelic experience. And I just threw this out there. And it's not something I fully believe,

but what if, you know, because, I mean, UFOs have been there, they've been almost like they're watching over us, right? So what if in some weird way, they're kind of like guardian angels, you know, or when I say the word angels, everyone was going to think in the biblical sense, but what if they were something kind of like that, you know, or what if that's what happens to our life form, you know, eventually once we get to, you know, these other universes when they're conscious, maybe, I mean, I know this all sounds crazy, but it's just something that I think's kind of fascinating. Like, the book is very theory driven, and that just kind of happened through my research. The more I write up on certain stuff, I just started hypothesize my own theories about it just by tying together some things I previously read. And I think that's kind of the fascinating. part of being interested in this stuff. You know, you're taking puzzle pieces and you're putting it

together and you're coming up with these theories and some of them are absolutely impossible to test like this one. There's absolutely no way we could test this. But I still thought it was something I really wanted to include in the book because I thought it was a very interesting take I had on it. Whether I truly believe it or not, I don't think that's the question. I think it's just kind of interesting to throw out there. That would if. Absolutely. And I mean, another one of those theories that you bring up in the book is that of wormholes. And we do hear about a lot of this in terms of some of the more mainstream scientists

looking at how UFOs could travel here, you know, such vast distances. And one of the things you brought up was, this is pretty cool, because I'm actually working on a presentation right now about the Bermuda Triangle and triangles throughout the world and these vortices and these possible time warps and wormholes is one of those.

And you, I know for a fact, have been to the Bermuda Triangle, and you also brought up the case about Bruce Gernan Jr. And this was fascinating. This was a man who actually went through the triangle and survived. Could you tell us a little about this? So I remember that was one of the first things as a kid I read. It was the whole book, I think, on Mysterious Places. And it talked about the Bermuda Triangle in his case specifically. I remember they had a really cool artwork to go with it. So as a kid, I was just really, you know, fascinated and drawn to it. And so basically he was, you know, one of the only people to go through it.

And what was really fascinating is how he was able to make all this time. Because I think when he got out of the wormhole, he was in Miami Beach. Yeah. I remember by Florida. And the time that passed, there would be no possible way to make it from the ring of a triangle to the Miami Beach location in something like three minutes. So that defies, you know, all logic and science, which is really fascinating. What he saw when he went through, you know, just the kind of like how he described what it looked like with the lines. the lines and he even, I think he even saw a cylinder-shaped object, which everyone who follows

UFOs know that, you know, one of the most common UFOs is a cylinder-shaped one. So yeah, I definitely believe that, you know, these wormholes, there's specific spots on Earth that could be a key to, you know, traveling to these other galaxies and dimensions and these universes that we aren't technologically or maybe even spiritually advanced yet to go to. I think our approach when it comes to the technology and, you know, from alien ships, I think we're just, I think we're doing it wrong. You know, I think we have to throw away everything we know conventionally about flight

and space travel. Just from, you know, what I've known about, from our research about, you know, reverse engineered and UFOs and what people believe about that, you know, a lot of people believe they run on something called free energy, which is an idea and a concept that the Nazis tried to, when they were trying to reverse engineer UFOs of their own, that was something that they were trying to find as well. So I think, you know, when it comes to space travel and I just think we're still light years behind to even get there at this point. But back to, you know, wormholes and the idea of, you know, traveling through different universes in the Bermuda Triangle. I think the Bribu Triangle is definitely,

you know, one of those anomalies. When I was a kid, we took a family cruise to Bermuda. And I remember, you know, you pass through, you go around the triangle, obviously. But, you know, they make it, known on the boat that hey you know this is the time we're going to be passing through it you know they wore in a fog and i remember i went out there because i was crazy i guess i wanted to see it of course yeah and i was probably the only one on the deck i just remember standing there and i just remember it was just fog you couldn't see a thing and it was just really eerie feeling um like you're not supposed to be there you know like there's just a sense of danger but excitement at the same time you know and it was a feeling i never really had before in my life

at a young age, like that's something that always stood by me. So, yeah, it was definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences just kind of being so close to it, you know? Yeah, just feeling the energy. And it was odd, but it was definitely memorable. I can only imagine, man. I mean, I cannot put myself in your shoes, but I know a lot of witnesses to UFOs have said the same thing.

You know, I felt like I was not supposed to be there at the time. Others claimed that, yes, it was meant to be. I was meant to see this. But we do hear often with more of these more close encounter cases that this seemed like it was planned or that this was all some sort of performance piece by some greater power or intelligence and that they were seeing how you would react and how your emotions would run a gamut. It's fascinating. And you have to wonder if this has anything to do with their Bermuda Triangle as well. So I commend you for even going out on the deck of that boat, man. more than I could have done.

Maybe I was trying to get away from my family. Maybe they're driving me crazy or something. That is the ultimate decision. As a kid, there's only so much you can do. So for me, that was my, this is the one thing I want to do. I want to, you know, experience a Bermuda Triangle. Hopefully I don't get sucked into it. Yeah, man.

I mean, I remember when I was a kid and my parents pissed me off. I went and camped out in the backyard, but you went out into the Bermuda Triangle. Well, other than. let's say time traveling guardian angels with all your research do you have any personal thoughts on what UFOs are you know we've we've theorized we've come up with different ideas of what they could be what do you as Mike Demonte what do you think UFOs are is it a mixture of just a bunch of stuff is it coming from one source what do you personally feel i'm going to put you on the spot here that's a really good question um I believe that they've always been

here. I believe UFOs are what they are. I think they are extraterrestrial. I think there's galaxies and there's universes that, you know, that we know we haven't been able to get there yet. You know, we're white years away from even discovering there. And, you know, it's pretty arrogant, I think, for us to think we're the only ones out there, you know, let alone intelligent life. And, you know, in the book I talk about the Fermi paradox and how it's kind of blow to our ego that we're not only the, that we're not the king of the jungle, right, in terms of the universe, you know, and one of the things that Fermi Paradox talks about is, you know, what if these other civilizations are hostile? You know, we're always trying to, you know,

send out signals and try to get contact, but what if some of these civilizations we don't want to be calling, you know, almost Hollywood, almost like Hollywood, right, like you've seen a movie, but I think there's, you know, there's something to say there. I think that's a very, like The Fermi Paradox is a very underrated aspect in terms of, I think, in discussion of UFOs. And that's one of the things that kind of stood out to me. But no, I always believe that it's extraterrestrial in nature. They've always been here. You go back to the beginning of time, you know, just from, you know, various cultures and societies have experienced and reported on the same phenomenon.

It appears in every religion, some type of reference, just through the ancient, the early civilizations, you know, through the Samarians on. And I always think that's very fascinating It's to start with early civilizations The fact that these early civilizations are referencing Fallen people from the sky You know, I think that's very telling Yeah And for people to kind of overlook that

It's just kind of mind-boggling And I know it's a blow to a lot of people's religions But it's like basically every religion Basically believes around the same thing The stories are similar You know, the names are different Some of the times are different But there's a lot of similarities

And I just think You know, it shouldn't be a blow to our ego as humans that if aliens were around the whole time, you know, they influence so much of our culture. You know, if that's something that the government's hiding, I think that's ridiculous to hide. You know, we know they've been keeping stuff from us, you know, for years. And I think it's really cool when you hear people who are once involved in government like Paul Elie, who was a former Canadian defense, part of the Canadian defense team, they come out and straight up admit it. Yes, they exist. Yes, governments know. Yes, government's been in contact.

I think that's amazing. And that's another thing, too. Like, that should be a huge story. You know, that shouldn't be a story that's just kind of out there. That should be top story. You know, that should be front page news. That's my beliefs. I believe that they've always been here.

And I subscribe to some of the ancient astronaut and some of the teachings from a Zachariah's station. I definitely subscribe to some of those beliefs. Not all of them because a lot of them are kind of out there. But I definitely think, you know, they've been here since the beginning of time. and they've influenced our culture or mythology. You know, it's really fascinating that, you know, religion and even Greek mythology and other mythologies, you know, that there can actually be truth to it. You know, I'm a big fan of, like, comic books and superheroes.

And a lot of people say, like, superheroes and comic books are our modern day mythology. But when you go back and actually, you know, read mythology and then you read texts from various religions and it's like, wow, they actually kind of go hand in hand. And then you tie them into historical accounts as well. these stories aren't, you know, they're not mutually exclusive to each other. You know, there's a lot of overlap in them, and I think that's really fascinating. Absolutely, yeah. And I mean, there's so much to draw from as well in terms of comics and then going back from that and back from that.

It is. It's a snowball effect. It's throughout culture. It's throughout belief systems. And it's throughout government, too. And I want to talk about that a little bit, Mike. In terms of disclosure, you brought up Paul Hellier. We've had many whistleblowers who've come forward and said,

Yes, we have life forms or we have found technology from ETI and we've reverse engineered it. But we don't have that grand disclosure that some people in the UFO community strive for. Yay or nay on disclosure. What are your thoughts on this? Well, I mean, there's always the idea that there's disinformation campaigns, right? That Project Blue Book is the disinformation campaign and, you know, how the CIA and the government puts out false stories out there. I mean, there's always that belief. I think there should be a skepticism when it comes to what the government tells us and doesn't tell us.

But at the same time, you know, it's the point where it's what we choose to believe, right, process of belief. The government could disclose all this stuff, right, Project Blue Book, but it has to be us as a society to care about it. I think deeply they know that the majority of society does not care enough. You know, they can release all these sketches and photos and stories, right, that have been reported. They can release those all they want. but if the general population and populace doesn't care, you know, who's at appeasing? Who's going to look at it? People like us and then skeptists will look at it as well, but as long as the mainstream doesn't care.

I mean, as a society, you know, we're just kind of pacified by, you know, pop culture, our interests, fluff, war, politics. We have so much other things that are kind of at the forefront of what we give attention to. So I think the government could disclose all they want until you have a televised press conference for the world leaders admitting it, then I think, you know, the mainstream public will take notice. But, you know, just, you know, if the government discloses, you know, a few things here and there, it's not a big story, which is a shame. Well, and like you said, even if the president or the world leaders all came together and said, yes, there is E.T. Life out there. It's visited us. Life goes on. We'll go back to our jobs. We'll keep

talking about war. We'll keep, you know, arguing over Facebook and Twitter. It's just, it's the way It's the way of the world now, especially with the Internet. So you do have to wonder if that disclosure ever happened. What will it be? What is that hypothetical reaction to it throughout the economy, religion, the overall psychology of, you know, history books, everything. Yeah, I think there's a general fear, you know, from the governments and that if this stuff gets out there, you know, life as we know is going to cease to end or, you know, people are going to, you know, our history books and religions are all going to be, have to be rewritten. but I don't think, you know, it's not going to be anarchy in the streets. You know what I mean?

Like, if anything, these are things we deserve to know as a human race. There's no reason why this stuff should be hidden. And I mean, you know, I hate to, you know, but the truth is out there. You know, people have their own theories and there's, there's a lot of evidence to back up different people's beliefs about our DNA and, you know, kind of where we originated from. So all that stuff is out there. So if the government came out and finally admitted it, I don't think it would be a giant, you know, blow to the human psyche. I think that's something that they're irrationally worried about. Moving away from the book a little, Mike, let's move to your website and your blog,

punk rocking UFOs.com. Now, is this a continuation of the book? This is a rather new site. How do you see this site and what it's going to contribute to the whole UFO discussion? Well, it's, I wanted to continue writing about the subject in terms of doing things that were all outside the box. So I think the idea of Punk Rock Neofose the book was a little outside of the box as well. So the website, I wanted to take something that mixes cryptozoology and culture.

And I wanted to have some serious articles and discussions on there as well, but also do more featurey things. You know, like one of the first people I featured was you because I always thought you were somebody who was very likable and approachable. And I was a huge fan of your book and everything you're doing. And I thought you were an easy target to go to first, right? because I wanted to kind of, you know, appeal to a younger audience kind of as well. So I always kind of, when people ask me about the website, I kind of joke. It's like, well, think like Maxim, but like for cryptozoology, but without all the Scanway-clad women.

There you go. Yep. But you know, just something a little bit more feature. Like, for example, I interviewed Myel Ackerman from the descendants in October, and I asked them about UFOs and I saved that question. So when I launched the site, you know, I was able to do stuff like that, you know, have different people's takes on. Yeah, and I want to interview people involved within the scene who have something interesting or new perspective or are interested in stuff outside of UFOs that we can all kind of bring together.

For example, I interviewed Jason, Jason McCullen, who you know, you're good friends with. And I know he's a big beer connoisseur. So I really wanted to get his take on UFO beers as well. So besides talking to him about, you know, about UFOs and his beliefs and his new podcast, I wanted to get his take on, you know, what's the best? Because there's so many themed UFO beers out there. I wanted to get his take on that. So that's kind of the goal of the site is to report on things that I think are interesting and newsworthy. I also try to bring in more people to the subject as well and just kind of get to know the people involved in it as well.

You know, their interest, you know, merge their interest outside of UFOs as well onto it. Right, right. And, you know, well, my girlfriend and I, we have two heroes, Mike, in life. and that happened to also have been on a TV show together. That's Destination Truth. My hero is Josh Gates and hers is Aaron Ryder. And you recently had the opportunity to interview Ryder on your blog. How is that?

How is it to interview someone like of that stature so visible within the UFO realm and beyond? And what did you two discuss on the blog? That was awesome because it was the first like big name. You know, the fact that she's been on TV and she's kind of, you know, respected in the field. She's been on multiple shows. She's a producer. So, and, you know, for me, you know, usually in journalism, whenever I interview bands or athletes and you kind of go through people's,

they have publicists and, you know, companies you go through. But, you know, I'm just kind of doing this old school style. I just been reaching out to these people personally. And it's just, I just reached out to her and she was down. And I was really humbled when she told me she read my site and she really liked it. She really liked my voice. And she really wants her in my book.

And I was really like, wow. I was really surprised by that. You know, it's funny. Like, you know, I put out the book, not trying to make a bunch of money. Just actually have the book get out there. And it's just funny to have people reach out to me. I've had two producers reach out to me before regarding two potential TV shows that nothing ever came through.

Both of them kind of fell through. Yeah, they often do. Yeah. Just the power of having, you know, a book out there in the interest. So getting somebody, Aaron Ryder, on board really early. I mean, that was one of the first big stories. Yeah. It was awesome.

And I just wrote, I mean, we talked about multiple things. Like one of them, you know, outside of UFOs, she recently attended Coachella. And she actually pretty wrote, she pretty much wrote like a mini review for experience there. Because we did the interview via email because she was super busy. And, I mean, she wrote me novels. Like, she gave me so much good stuff to work with. And it was just really fascinating just to kind of see how, you know, I kind of want to go behind the scenes, like how she preps for an expedition just because they're so physically taxing. And I know she's in great shape.

She's, you know, really involved in fitness. But, you know, there's more two than that. Because, you know, you can work out all you want, but when it comes to certain physical activities, there's other things you have to do to prepare. Like, for example, you know, I play hockey. And, you know, I could be in the greatest shape in the world, but when you play hockey, it's a different shape, you know. You do as much cardio as possible, you know, you work all these muscles. You never work, and then you're dead. Oh, good point.

So I kind of want to, you know, I got her perspective of, you know, what she does to prepare for an expedition, you know, mentally and physically. What are something she brings to eat, you know, you know, it was questions like that, you know, in addition to, you know, the, you know, you know, the bigger questions about zoology as a whole and how its approach and how it's looked at nowadays and her experiences as well. So I try to bring those questions to the table to kind of go behind the scenes too. That's really cool, man. Yeah, you're filling in the gaps of like what goes into these sorts of things, like investigations and whatnot. You can go out and look for UFOs in the sky, but like if you're not bringing any equipment out there with you, like it's going to be pretty hard. You're going to see the moon, some stars, maybe Venus. That's about it. But like, like you said,

You have to prepare for these types of things. It's not just what you see on TV, like someone going out and just climbing a mountain to get somewhere to look for something. You have to be trained in that. You have to be trained to scuba dive. Like there's so much that goes to it. And the fact that you got so down to like what she brings out to eat, that that's awesome. Yeah, that was probably one of my funest interviews I've done just because her answers were great. It was so in depth.

It really kind of for anyone it's interested in doing expedition. their own. I think it's a great read to kind of see what really goes on. And I definitely had a got newfound respect for her as well just because of how, um, how down to earth she was and how cool she was. Well, here's another big name. It's the elephant in the room. I know you've interviewed him. So we got to bring it up, my man. I was a huge blink fan. Uh, more newfound glory. Actually, I grew up on them. But blink is great too. Uh, you've been covering the work of former blink front man Tom DeLong for a while. And I want to hear your, you've interviewed him too. I want to hear your thoughts on this told Tom DeLong issue where you think it's heading, we're promised something from him soon.

Early this year, I set out to do something pretty challenging. I wanted to shift perception on an extraordinary topic that had already over 70 years of research, opinion, and frankly quite effective disinformation. I had the rare opportunity to present my ideas to an executive with the Department of Defense who worked in special access programs in an area called Watertown, also known as Area 51. That meeting led to multiple clandestine encounters across the United States, from desert airports to vacant buildings deep within Washington, D.C. From these exchanges, I learned three things. One, there are certain things that should never have been secret.

Two, there are secrets that were justifiable at the time, but should now be disclosed. And three, there are things that are so terrifying and unimaginable that certain interests believe that they should never, ever be made public. After this, you might even agree. Well, I've interviewed him multiple times. I've met him before. I've interviewed him. I'm kicking myself this. I never asked him about this topic.

It was always music related because at the time it was when, you know, Blink was doing their reunion tour. Blink had a new album out. Another time was backstage and Angels and Airwave show. So, and at the time, he wasn't active. I mean, he was always into this stuff, but he wasn't, you know, writing any books on it. So those questions never came up, which I'm really kicking myself for it. Because I tried to get close from him last year, and it was really hard. He's a hard guy to get in touch with nowadays.

Just because the people who are handling them, you know, they handle them. They're very selective nowadays. It goes beyond being in a band anymore. I think there's more to it now. But no, I've been following his career for, you know, a long time. I'm a huge fan of his. And I've been following, I've been reading The Secret Machines books. And when the first one came out, I was disappointed that it was fiction.

But the first one was fiction, even though it was based on real historical events. And if you read the book, you can actually tell which events they are, that they're kind of, weaving in there. Right. The second book is the nonfiction book that's written by Peter LeVenda. You can tell Peter LeVenda

does a lot of the heavy lifting. You can tell which parts are written by Tom and which parts are written by Peter. You can actually tell like specific chapters who writes who. And the book, the first book,

gods, it's a really good, they take a very good look at the ancient alien theory and the stitching theory, but from a more investigative perspective. I'm not saying they're skeptical about it. I think there's,

they take a, like, said, it's more of an investigative journalist's approach to it. It's a very, it's a very fresh look at it. As far as anything, you know, because Tom's promised a lot. You know, he's gone on radio stations, I mean radio shows like coast to coast and he's promised a lot of things and, you know, he's met with high-level officials, you know, he says. And we haven't really seen any of that come out in any of the books yet. There's one thing that sticks out in the book, God's, is the only thing that really sticks out in terms of what Tom has learned from talking to these officials is one of the things they said to them

is go back to Greek mythology and dig deeper. Now I was told to him by a government official. And I think that's very fascinating because a lot of people have seen writings on UFOs that have been written and almost look like, you know,

the Greek alphabet. So I think that's a really fit. That stood out for me in the book. I mean, the rest of the book's great. It's a great read. Like I said, LeVenda, with Tom, I think they do a really good job of exploring cultures.

You know, the whole book's really about the cargo cult idea, right? Where people aren't familiar with it, you know, say if you live on an island and you never seen a plane before and a plane comes down, right? You don't know what a plane is. So you're going to, you know, you're going to associate that with, you know, it's a flying giant bird. It's a lizard. It's an angel. You know, whatever religion and culture are going to associate that way.

So the book does a really good job of kind of digging into that kind of cargo cult theory as well. But no, as far as, you know, Tom has his big announcement coming up soon. Who knows what it's going to be about? It's been being delayed. he's known before to delay multiple projects. He's a busy guy. Yeah, no, he tackled, he's crazy in the sense where he tackles so much at the same time. And no disrespect for the people that are working with them, but I feel like his team isn't big enough to kind of handle, you know, it's a small operation to kind of handle everything he has going on.

And that's not a slight at them. That's just, you know, it's a lot. It's a lot going on. Apparently, you know, they shot documentary. There's a eventual documentary coming out. And that's what I'm really stoked to see where he's actually interviewing these people on camera. So that's what I'm really looking forward to seeing. I defended Tom a lot just because a lot of people are trying to call him like a profiteer

saying he's trying to profit off euphology. And I don't believe that for a second. I mean, he doesn't make much money off. You know, people like, oh, well, you know, he's trying to sell t-shirts. And I'm like, first of all, if you know how anything, how books and t-shirt royalties work, you don't make much money off him. No. Yeah. And, I mean, Tom's set for life in terms of money.

You know, he could go on, you could get back with Blanco on one tour. and make a million dollars. So he's not doing it for the money. I really think it's harsh in the right place. Whether he comes through or not, you know, I think that's the question. But the fact that you can't fault him for trying. And I think he's trying to bring, he brings up this idea that, you know, it's that they're trying to get this stuff out there through works of, you know, movies and fiction and nonfiction

to raise awareness. And I could kind of see that. I just wish it was all nonfiction. But I kind of guess where, but if you look at it, think about it just through time, And, you know, Hollywood, you know, so much, you know, there's been UFO movies for years that Hollywood has done. And in a way that's kind of spread awareness as well, whether it's, you know, even though these are fiction pieces, you know. So I kind of get it, you know, the whole, oh, well, you know, we're doing this as spread awareness. I get that.

I'm sure looking forward to the next two secret machines books, the nonfiction ones. Those are the ones I'm looking for. Correct. Yeah. Same here. And the documentary. And we know, you know, he's teased. photos that, and we know from the WikiLeaks as well, that he did interview Podesta on this.

So that'll be really interesting. So I think he definitely has credibility that people don't give him. You know, people are like, well, she, he shouldn't have won UFO researcher of the year. I'm like, look, that's, that's arbitrary. You know, that's just a reward, you know, at the same, you know, he should be, I think, if anything, people should be happy that, you know, he's using his celebrity and his resources, his financial resources to try to get some truth out there. I just said whether he comes through or not, but I think, you know, you can't blame him for trying.

Exactly. You know, I think we're lucky to have someone of his prominence looking into the topic. And it's clear from when he does interviews or when he talks about it that he has done more than enough homework to earn those individuals who have disclosed some possible truths to him. Now, you know, the whole idea that he might be some sort of, you know, Patsy, excuse me, in terms of that. We've yet to see. I hope that's not the case, but he is more deserving than most to do this sort of project. So I agree with you. The dude doesn't need the money.

There's no reason for him to profit from any of this. And if anything, as we both know, this can be a big slash on your reputation, this whole topic. And we've seen it already in mainstream media, how they cover Tom DeWong and UFOs, you know, calling him a nut and this and that. But it's clear he doesn't give a shit. You know, he loves his topic, he finds it fascinated, and he's going to do what he can to get to the highest levels that he can as well. I mean, the simple fact that he walked away from, you know, when the largest bands in the world to do this, should speak volumes about his, you know, he's in, you know, he's in this. You know, this is, it's just, like I said, should speak volumes about his integrity in terms of the subject to walk away from Blink and all the, all the money and all the, you know, accolades that go with being in a band that big.

Agreed, my man. All right, well, we'll leave it at that. I know it's a hot issue. We'll see what he brings forward. But in terms of uphology, that word, which is not a real, a real word, we have to make that, you know, clear to everyone. My good friend, Peter Robbins always says to be a euphologist, spin around three times, touch your nose, and you're done. You're a euphologist. What do you think, brother? What is euology? Is it a thing? Or what should it be? I'm probably. putting you on the spot again. That's a tough one. I think that's kind of something where I always like to say cryptozoology. I don't use the word UFOology often just because it never really resonated with me, like cryptozoology does. Cryptozoology to me is a little bit more science-based. There's actually people with cryptozoology degrees.

But I think the fact that the thing I like about the idea of a UFOologist is kind of anyone can do it, which kind of goes back to punk rock, right? anyone could play punk rock music. You don't have to be the best musician. And to be a orthologist, you don't have to be, you know, the smartest guy. You don't have to be the smartest guy. You don't have to be a scientist. I think you just have to be, you have to have an interest in this topic and a passion for it. And the, you know, the power to, you know, have the integrity just to stand up for your beliefs. And especially, you know, with a topic like this, where it's not, you know, widely mainstreamed and, you know, it's not fully accepted. I can't think of a better way

to sort of put it all together in terms of like what you're doing man that was a perfect wrap up but before we wrap up i wanted to talk a little bit about you have a playlist in the back of your book of some songs that inspire you or had something to do with UFOs and aliens could you give us a few of those songs and what they they sort of represent to you sure um well it's funny so i included the playlist and also in the back i included like a glossary of um you know just kind of uh little terms for people who may not be familiar with cryptology or UFOs. So when I was coming up with the book, I really thought it would be kind of a cool type of coffee table book

you would get at Urban Outfitters. And that's what I kind of pitched to the publisher. Hey, let's get at Urban Outfitters. Like, I think it would be kind of like a cool type of, you know, I think it would kind of work with that type of vibe. And, you know, that's why I included like the playlist, the glossary. And, yeah, some of the songs in there. I mean, some of the obvious, you know,

Blake Many 2, aliens exist. There's some more obscure songs, like The Wormhole Express by an artist, and Carrie Jeb. He's an indie artist from, I think he's from Wyoming. He's a friend of mine as well, and he's really into this stuff too. And he writes songs about this topic as well. He's a song called A New Home. That's basically it's about a UFO exploring new territory. It's really cool. There's some hip-hop songs in there too. Like, Nas, we're not alone. I mean, a lot of people don't really know that that's what the song's about. So that's another one people should check out.

Back a nine-nine, a spacecraft in the skyline, an L.A. in daytime, axe, horse, and farm line. Evidence remains in debate. Documents of our own Air Force base. Additional terrestrial information. Other planets were life population, my observation. Scientists study pictures of a flying disc. Right on Earth anthropologists. A bono-in-ships visitors.

Probably live it us. They can mimic us. It's sort of what we're seeing in the cinema. There's misfits. I turn into a Martian. You have said the Ramones and Scroaching Weasel, too. a lot of early pop punk and punk rock bands as well. So yeah, those are some of the songs on there. That's awesome. Yeah, I immediately downloaded all of them after I finished reading your book.

It's great. It's great to know that there's so many musicians out there who've either had UFO sightings and that inspired their work or vice versa. We know people like Rihanna, even, as a child, went out and skywatched every night looking for UFOs. So it really runs the gamut in terms of music and this topic. And I think it's a lovely relationship and we're only going to get more of it as the possibility of alien life becomes more of a reality, I think. Well, Mike, where can we find the book? The website, give it all to us, man, because I'm eating this stuff up. I look forward to everything you're cranking out. And I know the listeners will too. So where can we find you? Thank you. All right. So punk rock and UFOs.com. There's a link to order the book on the website. You can also

get on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com as well. You get on iTunes and Kindle. You can find me on Twitter at Mike DeMante, M-I-K-E, D-A-M-T-E. What's next for the website? I kind of want to do more of the same. Like, for example, the lay story I put out today was from a band called, they're called Roswell Kid. And the spelling is different, but I had to interview them.

And the name does come from Roswell, New Mexico, because as a kid, one of the guys in the band was heavy into this stuff as well. So I kind of get his take on, you know, Roswell and the new theory about it. And I just published that today. Yeah, I'm going to interview more people in the field. I'm going to talk to Eric Luke's, I think, next week for a feature as well. Great. Because she's on that show.

A UFO's the Lost Evidence, which I think is really, I can't believe I've been sleeping on the show. I think it's only been out for about a year maybe. I think so, yeah. Yeah, but what a great show, yeah. Yeah, it's so good. And I kind of want to talk to her about that. I have some other ideas, too, that I'm kind of kicking around as well in terms of for the website. I know people I want to interview.

I interviewed Greg Grafton from Bad Religion last year, and I have his take on UFOs. The universe is vast, and obviously there's, you know, I'm not an expert on this at all. But just by probability alone, it seems there must be, I know that that's level one reasoning, but it seems there must be other planets like us that are amenable to life of some sort.

Whether it's intelligent or not is another question. I don't believe humans are the only, you know, humans are not an inevitable product of evolution. So that means it's less on the probability scale that there are other human-like organisms on there. And he has a really interesting take on it. Eventually, I want to talk to Tom Belange again. That'd be great if I could eventually set that up someday. I've also, you know, the gears are starting to kick in to start to write another punk rock and UFO's book. I kind of want to take the ideas I have in the first one and kind of expand on them just because

the first book is very theory-based and I kind of want to have another book that's that kind of beefs up some of those arguments in terms of having a little more research behind it about how we you know how we process things in our minds and how we internalize things so that the gears are kind of rolling in my head to you know possibly write another punk rock and the foes book. I have some other books that I've been kind of sleeping on that are almost finished. I have a fiction book about Bigfoot which is Almost done. But it's based on kind of, you know, real cryptozoology and real sightings as well.

It's kind of based around that. And that's just something that I'm just two chapters away from finishing. I pretty much wrote the majority of it during my spring break because I teach full-time. So during my spring break, I wrote pretty much that whole book. So those are some things I have on the horizon. I just have to finish them and find homes for them. Yeah. Yeah, that's always the tough part.

But you are working harder than most people out there, man, on this topic. So I have no doubt. If you haven't already, you're going to explode in this field. And it's an honor to finally have gotten you on here. I love the book. I can't wait to see what comes next. And I can't thank you enough for coming on today. No, thank you so much.

Like I said, it's an absolute honor. You're one of the guys I look up to in terms of this field, just because I'm relatively new to it in the sense, even though I've always been interested in it. But I still feel like I'm relatively new to the quote-unquote scene. And you're definitely one of the guys that I looked up to you from the start. and to be on, be showcasing your show is really rad. And thank you.

I really appreciate it. Oh, thanks, man. We shall fall and rise together, for sure. All right, take care, Mike. Thank you. All right, that is it for this week's episode, guys. Please check out Mike's work at punk rockin' UFOs.com. You could find his book there and all his recent blog posts as well.

If you haven't already, please rate and review somewhere in the skies on iTunes. It helps us gain more. listeners and it's more important than you know. So thank you for your support. We're on Twitter at SomewhereSkies, and if you have any guest or topic suggestions, please email me at Sprague at Somewhereinthe skies.com. I'll see you next Monday. And remember, keep your feet on the ground, but never stop searching somewhere in the skies. This has been a third kind production. To learn more, visit thirdkind productions.com.