In Tune with the Earth: An interview with Cloud Cult's Craig Minowa

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Is there a story behind the band's name?

Yeah, there's a sect of Hopi prophecy that translates into 'cloud cult.' These prophecies basically talk about the different progressions of humanity or humankind on the planet. In the prophecies they say we're at the end of the third era of humankind and that the fourth era is really living in harmony with the planet and with each other. But there's a lot of transition in the third era moving into the fourth era.

The interesting thing about those processes are how specific they are. The cave drawings date prior to the pioneers coming, but they actually have pictures of the first whites that came through. The first one that they have is this guy with a red hat, and the first explorer that went through that area was known for always wearing that red hat. They talk about how the settlers would move in, and they call the settlers Technology Man because they love their toys so much. They basically move in and every tribe in North America ends up signing different kinds of agreements and treaties with Technology Man. The Hopi people do not because there is nothing on their land that Technology Man wanted -- it was just arid, void. But one of the signs of moving from the third to the fourth era is where Technology Man comes into the Hopi land and finds fuel that powers the technology toys. That's when you know you're starting to move into the cusp period into the fourth era. Basically that's what's happened. We've been going in there to mine out uranium, even though we have no right to it whatsoever.

The overall Cloud Cult prophecies talk about, not how technology itself is bad, but about how there's obviously a balance with it. And they talk about how the people that survive the transition of the cusp period will be those who know how to work the land, who know how to feed themselves from the land.

Is there a story behind the name of the last album, Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus?

It's kind of a hokey story... I used to keep a dream journal and I would have this recurring character in there that was this hippopotamus. I always had those dreams when there was some kind of transition going on in my life, or at a point when I needed to be taught a lesson or hear some kind of advice. There would be this hippo, and I would be running behind it in the woods, and all the sudden we'd be going through this white tunnel. And the hippo never actually talked to me in the dreams, but I felt like there was some kind of message that it left me with.

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