The Patrolman

The genesis for The Patrolman actually goes back to about 2005. By this point, I had begun taking long solo road trips across the country and beginning a life-long romance with the Open Road, both as a literal object and a figurative idealization. Although I’d long been a fan of Bruce Springsteen’s mainstream material, when I was introduced to his oft-overlooked masterpiece NEBRASKA, the doors of my young mind were blown open. The album’s unflinching and harrowing tales of crime, failure, violence, loss, depression, and desperation mixed with the stripped-down, minimalist production were foreboding in 1982, 2005, and remain even more prescient and haunting in 2022. Obsessing over the album in my early-20s while in film school gave me a critical revelation about art in general. Rather than heaping more and more clay onto a sculpture (something a younger Springsteen was often ‘guilty’ of with bombastic production and instrumentation); here was a more introspective, disillusioned artist carving away at the non-essential to reveal the truth within. Sometimes Less is More. Now, there’s nothing to confirm this officially, but I’ve always perceived NEBRASKA as a concept album with recurring characters, overlapping timelines, and repeated phraseology. Back then, I conceived of and wrote a treatment for a long-form music video, knowing I could never make it. So, here we are. Blood on Blood is the culmination of a years-long quest to pay homage and (try to) tell a story in Bruce’s America, his scarred but optimistic world with a Darkness on the Edge of Town… but also one of Hope and Dreams. As a U.S. Navy Veteran, I have seen far too many of my brothers- and sisters-in-arms leave home with a wide-eyed dream of serving their country and protecting whatever version of America they see fit to defend - only to come home broken, alone, and unable to re-integrate - myself included. The culture of the military is infamous for suppressing emotionality, often with disastrous results. When instructed to “Suffer in Silence,” the path for psychological breakdown is paved. I see many similarities in law enforcement ‘macho’ culture. THE PATROLMAN is an exploration of the disassociation and alienation that can result from this culture, and ultimately, the path towards healing. Thank you for the opportunity. -JSV