BRANDON ANDERTON: Some would see
it as an exercise in futility.
It's invariably
going to wash away.
But if it gets people
to stop and think,
my time is well spent
right then and there.
LAURA LING: You were a
professional motorcycle road
racer.
What did you love about
motorcycle racing?
BRANDON ANDERTON: I've always
been an adrenaline junkie.
So it's just the most
extreme circumstances
that you can think of.
Being out in the elements,
being on a motorcycle,
and then being able to
carry the speed that you
can through corners
and stuff, it's
a perspective, an experience
you can't really synthesize
through any other means.
LAURA LING: Have you experienced
many crashes and injuries?
LAURA LING: Oh yeah.
Yeah, I've broken my
legs three times a piece,
my arms twice, ribs,
probably about six ribs.
Disintegrated my tib,
fib, and my femur.
Broke my pelvis in half,
and my lower two ribs,
and my scapula on my left side.
LAURA LING: Racing was your
passion, and all of a sudden,
you weren't able
to do that anymore.
How did you deal with
that emotionally?
BRANDON ANDERTON:
I was relegated
to living in a wheelchair
for about a year and a half
inside my condo,
essentially a shut in.
So I had a lot of time to
work out and practice moving
and regain my ability to walk.
LAURA LING: Can you talk
to me about the ritual that
has helped you through this?
BRANDON ANDERTON: Yeah.
I found art.
And it's not something
I grew up with doing.
And I got the idea
one of the times
that I was out
there on the beach
to just start scrawling
stuff in the sand,
and I wouldn't have to worry
about anybody else's judgment,
because I was there by
myself and the waves were
going to take it anyway.
So the process for
me is, basically,
being with a thought,
an emotion, or a story.
Usually on the drive over,
something will come to me.
And then a shape will
manifest from that,
and it all starts from there.
LAURA LING: Can you tell me
what goes through your mind
when you're creating this art?
BRANDON ANDERTON: Sometimes
there's-- I'll have a bit
of a pity party.
You know, why me?
You know, why has
this happened to me?
Other times, I just
think about what
life is, what consciousness
is, why we're all here.
LAURA LING: It sounds
very therapeutic.
BRANDON ANDERTON: Extremely.
It's fundamentally changed
who I am as a person.
I was in a really bad place, but
just the creation of the art,
in and of itself, and that
feeling of gratification
and thankfulness
and satisfaction,
is something that
I haven't obtained
from anything else in my life.
LAURA LING: Do you wait for the
tide to take the artwork away?
BRANDON ANDERTON:
Sometimes I do.
It's just an affirmation of
no matter what we do here
on this world,
nature's still going
to come back and
reclaim everything.
It's a total catharsis
for me in that regard.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
LAURA LING: And you can also
watch this episode of Rituals.
MIKE SHINODA: And
there are other times
when I'm hyper-agitated.
In my head, it's like a cyclone
of noise, and it's loud.
