My beloved Matt Skiba released a full length recording of demos on Asian Man Records this month. The pre-order package is pretty amazing and I was pumped when it arrived. You get a CD, two records (one red, one purple), a t-shirt, a button, and a poster.
(I’m having serious deja-vu. I swear I wrote about this album already…)
I’m going to go ahead and say that Demos is definitely for the devoted Alkaline Trio fan. It takes a serious fan to really appreciate Demos because they are just that….demos. They’re raw. But I’ll take whatever I can get from Mr. Skiba, in any way I can. I wish that some of these actually came to fruition because I can hear the full potential.
What’s nice is that in the liner notes, Matt explains the song a little bit. Some of the demos were in the running to be Alkaline Trio songs and just didn’t find their place, and some are just songs he threw together.
So if you’re a serious Alkaline Trio fan, this is a must have for your collection. If you’re not, then you probably won’t dig it.
P.S. I wrote this entry with a naked two year old squirming in my lap.
So, totally unrelated to music, my less than 2 year old laptop is at geek squad for the third time. The upside is, if they can’t fix it for good this time than they’ll decare it a lemon and they will replace it with a new one with the same specs.
The downside is, I have allowed my two year old to hammer on my old laptop while watching Dora and Max and Ruby episodes online so things don’t work well, at all. In fact, they barely work. The “c” key doesn’t work at all so I’m having to use a virtual keyboard, thus copying and pasting everything.
I reformatted last night but it didn’t fix the major issues, being that my internet browser opens by itself about 15 thousand times on it’s own. So I spend about 20 minutes a day trying to check email and that’s about it.
I assure you I have been making notes and I am fully prepard for the return of my fixed or new computer in about two weeks, and I’ ll be annoying the pants off of you with enteries, as soon as this happens. Don’t forget about me!
518 fever has undergone some maintenance and I haven’t been able to post obsessively. I apologize. I do have to to-do list for blogging complied for the near future but I will revert back to the first night that I realize the site was down and I wanted to announce that my beloved Gaslight Anthem was on Jay Leno one night not too long ago. Their tour is going well from what I have read, I am just bummed they aren’t coming anywhere closer than 3 hours to Albany. Bumout!
I always feel like bands I love sound like shit on live tv but they weren’t bad. Well never mind. NBC took it down. Jerkoffs.
More actual content soon.
***UPDATE: The Gaslight Anthem will be playing Northern Lights in Clifton Park on Sunday, September 26th. Fuck. Yes. I already have my ticket.
When you said you loved me, did you really love me or did the words just spill out like drool on my pillow. ‘Cause I was naked when you said those words, but I felt covered in your whispered worship. And as you passed out fast on my shoulder, I imagined a child waiting so sad and still for his mom to arrive. Did she leave you an orphan, in that big, brown leather chair? Said, “ Don’t you move a muscle, kid, I’ll be back in twenty years,” You were scared, you were lonely, but you must’ve been aware; life is a series of calluses, this is just another layer. So, build’em up, tough it out, yeah, that’s your skin – don’t let anyone under there.
When you said you needed me, did you really need me or was it just someone – oh, you’d take anything. Am I first on that list of yours, or am I second, or third? So, who’s that ahead of me, some harlot from Pittsburgh? Or Detroit, Santa Fe, or San Diego? I know you’re so alone, but how much affection does one guy really need?
Did you date a lot in high school? Were you always chasing girls? Couldn’t you find some young valentine to steal your heart for good? Were you content, or contemptible? Are your memories pleasant, or is it a string of endless flings of bitter resentment. Seems that what you want and what you need doesn’t mean a thing, we’re just here for the taking.
When you said you’d hurt me, did you think you hurt me? Are you really that cocky? Yeah, what a heartbreaker! Well, I’ve got my armor – yeah, I’ve been through some battles before – and I met your old girlfriend, she said, “Baby, don’t bother.” She told me you told her you’d hurt her….funny, how familiar. So, how much of this relationship was rehearsed?
Did you act out as a child? Were you always crying wolf? Attention-starved, you tried too hard just to get someone to look. Now you’re the wolf in second-hand clothing; I’m the sheep in a pleated skirt. It’s an awkward form of payback, but if it works for you – it works. It’s that I recognize your off-white lies, still, I lie beside you – and that’s what really hurts.
When you said you’d leave me…well, why haven’t you left me? What are we still doing here, so desperate for company? There’s a greyhound on Jackson Street, there’s an airport in Council Bluffs…hell, there’s a car in the driveway – fifty ways to get lost.
But as I hold you and listen to you sleeping, I’m starting to wonder if I really believe that you’ll ever really leave. Would you leave me an orphan, in that big, brown leather chair? The one you’ve lugged around from town to town for all these years. It’s the trophy of your childhood, like a shark’s tooth or gator skin boots – but this one holds you prisoner – it holds me prisoner too. What we need to set us free is to let go of each other – let go of everything.
When I said I loved you, it was because I loved you. When I said I needed you, well, I really need you. Yeah, I guess you hurt me, for once you’re a man of your word. Well, guess what – I’m leaving – I can’t be your prisoner.
There are tons of songs out there written about heroin use, but I want to focus on a specific kind of song here. I want to take a look at songs that at first glance, appear to be about love but are in fact about heroin use.
I scoured the internet to find conclusive evidence about these song meanings, but didn’t find much, aside from arguments over love v. heroin, and song titles on lists of songs about drug use. The few songs that I have in my personal library could go either way (aside from one), but given the band’s history (i.e. Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode) I’m willing to bet heroin prevails.
1. One Caress – Depeche Mode
With lyrics like, “oh, girl, lead me into your darkness. When this world is trying it’s hardest to leave me unimpressed, just one caress from you and I’m blessed” it’s hard to think of anything but. I realize this song is sung by Martin Gore who is the lead songwriter for the band, but he is known for writing songs specifically for Dave and about his experiences. The dark nature of the video only solidifies my hunch.
“Like a cat dragged in from the rain who goes straight back out to do it again, I’ll be back for more…. Like a moth on love’s bright light, I get burned each and every night, I’m dying to(o), the sun will shine, the bottom line, I follow you.”
I apologize for the lousy video, but it’s all that’s available that isn’t some random person singing it to their webcam in their bedroom.
3. Failure – Stuck on You
This is the only song in which there is proof that it is indeed about heroin use. Singer Ken Adams has made no secret of it in his lengthy musical career and much of his material is about his issues with drugs. To quote an Amazon reviewer of this record, it is indeed “criminally underrated.” Failure got swallowed up in the 90’s by the god awful grunge movement and not many people are familiar with them, and I’ll tell you what. You fuckin’ should be.
“I claimed I didn’t care for you, but your verse got trapped inside my head, over and over again, you played yourself to death in me. I thought I’d drop you easily, but that was not to be, you burrowed like a summer tic, so you invade my sleep and confuse my dreams, turn my nights to sleepless itch. Stuck on you ’til the end of time, too tired to fight your rhyme.”
and finally,
4. Placebo – My Sweet Prince
“Never thought I’d have to retire, never thought I’d have to abstain, never thought all this could backfire, close up the hole in my vein, me and my valuable friend can fix all the pain away, so before I end my day, remember my sweet prince, you are the one.”
If ya’ll are aware of some that I’m not, please tell me!
And hello friends! I’m in an annoyingly good mood, so I’ll keep this short as to cut down on any nausea that may come as a result.
This Saturday’s jam is The Emergency Room’s – This Light. The Emergency Room is one of Dan Andriano’s side projects, his main project being Alkaline Trio. This song is by far, my favorite ”Dan song”. It’s sweet, clearly for his wife and talks about the struggle that is being apart for lengthy tours. Check it out if you’re an Alkaline Trio fan, or a just fan of good music. If you like shitty music, you probably won’t like this.
“People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?”
High Fidelity is easily one of my favorite movies due to the insane parallels it draws to my own life. I AM the character Rob Gordon, I just have fewer records.
The quote posted above is not only great writing, but a question worth thinking about. I don’t know about you, but I am the type of sick person who cocoons myself in my misery and will spend time making playlists that probably don’t do me any good. I don’t listen to music TO feel better, it just happens to do so, but I also listen to it to steep in my own emotions. A sonic marinade, really.
I tend to get into my car and drive so that I can really listen to something. I imagine it’s equal to what Catholics equate to going to confession. I drove unknown roads all afternoon once, just so I could spend some quality time with Jets to Brazil’s “Perfecting Loneliness.” I realize I may be mentally ill. That’’s just borderline suicidal!
So, readers, let me ask you this? Do you listen to music that you think will make you feel better when you’re in a mood, or do you listen to music that reflects the mood itself? And what do you listen to?
I’m going to watch High Fidelity for the ten thousandth time now.
