Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

Disciple – Draw The Line

Classic Song To Be Discovered
Disciple – Draw The Line

This is a song that I could have written. It more or less reflects on a certain point in my life.

It’s actually written by Kevin Young (Disciple), Seth Mosley (Me In Motion) and Ben Glover (Christian version of Desmond Child) and it appeared on the 2012 album, O God Save Us All by Disciple.

Another crash, another fall, another failure
Another choice I don’t want to remember
Been here too many times
Every day is another fight

This is what I wasn’t prepared for. That the choices I made, can either turn out great, or end up in pain and tears. It’s hard to look back at certain choices and the events that followed afterwards and realise that the blame rests with me. I have made a lot of mistakes and as painful as it is to own them, there was no way I could move forward. There was no one left to blame except me.

I’m at war with the person I could be
Give me a chance and I’ll mess up a good thing

How true? I know what I should do, I know who I should be, however I try to be someone I am not. I have a good thing, in children that love me, a wife that loves me, so why do I make choices that hurts them and me. As I got older, I realised all of this and I was lucky that all the good things in my life stuck around. They could have easily walked away and I would have been left with nothing.

This is where I draw the line
This is where the old me dies
Light a match, let it burn, kiss it goodbye
Give it up, what I was, this is where I draw the line

This is it. That point in time, when I pulled up the handbrake, walked out of the car and left the old me behind. I realised that I had slipped so far from what I have known and I needed to do whatever it takes to get back to those good things in my life.

Another battle I lost fighting solo
How many times must I learn what I already know
Can’t do this on my own
Wasn’t meant to fight alone

I always believed that my problems are my problems and that I needed to solve them on my own. It must be a male thing. People are always there, however I always ignored their views. I was always right and no one else could tell me any different. It took me a long time to realise that I don’t have to do this all on my own. People want to listen, people want to help, I just had to let them. Again, the choice was down to me.

So I’m lifting my hands in surrender
Take my thoughts and my flaws and make me better

I am human. I have made mistakes. I needed to learn from my flaws and make myself a better person. I needed to take my thoughts of revenge, injustice and hate and use those feelings to make me a better person.

Revenge for the betrayal and backstabbing would not give me satisfaction. Revenge for the corporate funded injustice would not give me satisfaction. There was no need to hold on to those feelings. Time has a funning way of making things work out. Some call it Karma, I call it ‘living by the choices we make.’

Let’s put it this way, from when I walked away from that part of life back in September 2010, I have gone from strength to strength. The other people that where in my life at that time, have dragged themselves even further below. They burned the musical house that I created to the ground, they burned whatever relationships they had to the ground by constantly running away from responsibility, fabricating stories and blaming others when it all goes bad.

I am happy to say that I am living by the choices I made.

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Copyright, Music, My Stories

Dave Mustaine – What Do Ya Mean? I Don’t Write Good Lyrics

Megadeth has a new album coming out, called Supercollider due to be released on June 4, 2013. It will album number 14. That got me thinking about the lyrics that Dave Mustaine has written for Megadeth, throughout their 30 year existence.

Holy Wars – 1990, from Rust In Peace

Brother will kill brother
Spilling blood across the land
Killing for religion
Something I don’t understand

Fools like me, who cross the sea
And come to foreign lands
Ask the sheep, for their beliefs
Do you kill on God’s command?

How prophetic is this song? It was written in 1990, and at the time it was in reference to the IRA and the Northern Ireland issue. If you hear the lyrics for the first time today, you would make the connection to something different. The song is intense. If anyone asked me to play them three songs that would sum up the Thrash movement, Holy Wars would be first, Master of Puppets from Metallica would be second and Seasons In The Abyss from Slayer would be third.

Symphony Of Destruction – 1992, from Countdown To Extinction

You take a mortal man,
And put him in control
Watch him become a god
Watch peoples heads a’roll

I have known people who have been put in position’s where they have a certain amount of power and control. They start out with good intentions. In time, they begin to change, they develop the god complex and people either start to turn away from them, or for they ones that stay, they end up getting burned.

Kick The Chair – 2004, from The System Has Failed

Justice means nothing today
Now that the courts are for sale
Pick a crime from the menu, pick a sentence and defend you
And pick up the down payment called bail
The system’s for sale!

Mustaine covers the topics of justice, corruption and freedoms a fair bit. Kick the Chair is from The System Has Failed album. The album title alone tells the listener what they are in for. These days, Justice is given to the ones who pay the most. We have the Entertainment and Publishing Industries using Copyright as a form of censorship. Just recently a Latvian school teacher was arrested and interrogated, for creating a website that provided access to school children to certain books. What is more important, Copyright or Education. Back in my day, the teachers used to photo copy the text books and give them out to the students.

Bite The Hand – 2009, from Endgame

They ball-gagged Lady Justice
And blindfolded her so she can’t see
The erosion of the people’s trust
Of what will come to be an FDIC Assisted Suicide

The depression of a depression
Worldwide suicide for the economy
Caused by the dialectic chaos when the
Mob on Wall Street took “We the People” for a ride

A song written after the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). As each day went by, more information came out as to why the GFC happened. It all pointed to greed, corruption and conflicts of interest between the revolving door of Government officials and Lobby Groups.

A Secret Place – 1997, from Cryptic Writings

There’s a secret place I like to go
Everyone is there but their face don’t show
If you get inside you can’t get out
There’s no coming back, I hear them shout

Didn’t we all have that secret place growing up. That secret place in our heads. Leave it up to Mustaine to make it sound sinister.

Skin Of My Teeth – 1992, from Countdown To Extinction

I won’t feel the hurt
I’m not trash any longer
That that doesn’t kill me
Only makes me stronger
I need a ride to the morgue
That’s what 911 is for
So, tag my toe and don’t forget
Ooh to close the drawer

The opener from the excellent Countdown To Extinction has some of the best Mustaine lyrics ever committed to paper. The last verse is a classic. It’s a well-known fact that Mustaine has battled addiction, and as he says what doesn’t kill him can only make him stronger.

Peace Sells – 1986, from Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying

What do you mean, “I don’t believe in God”?
I talk to him every day
What do you mean, “I don’t support your system”?
I go to court when I have to
What do you mean, “I can’t get to work on time”?
I got nothing better to do
And, what do you mean, “I don’t pay my bills”?
Why do you think I’m broke? Huh?

Even though Peace Sells came out in 1986, I heard the album in 1988, just before So Far, So Good, So What came out. Growing up, listening to metal and rock music, put you into this social class of troublemakers, drug takers and devil worshippers. So when I heard Peace Sells, the words said what I and many others wanted to say.

“What do you mean” became the war cry. To me, it summed up, the metal community. Yeah we could get wild, we could get high and we could get rowdy, however in the end, we still paid our dues to the system. We still worked, we still paid our bills/taxes and most importantly we still contribute to the system.

Foreclosure Of A Dream – 1992, from Countdown To Extinction

Barren land that once filled a need
Are worthless now, dead without a deed
Slipping away from an iron grip
Nature’s scales are forced to tip
The heartland cries, loss of all pride
To leave ain’t believing, so try and be tried
Insufficient funds, insanity and suicide

This song was released in 1992 and like Holy Wars, how prophetic was it? It could have been re-released in 2008 or 2009 and it would have fitted in with that time. That is the power of music when it is done right. It is timeless.

The Right To Go Insane – 2009, from Endgame

I barely get to the graveyard shift on time
After pulling another grueling nine to five
I live from credit card to check
The paper money’swhirling by
And I hardly just, just barely, only just survive

I could relate to this song. Working like a slave just to give it all away to the taxman, the banks and the utility providers. Then doing it again and again and again and again.

We The People – 2011, from Th1rt3en

Violate your rights, no more equality
Surrender freedom, your Social Security
We, the people face unconstitutional lies
In greed we trust, in revolution we die

Our founding fathers are rolling in their graves
The land of liberty needs a regime change
Until you no longer know right from wrong
The constitution isn’t worth the paper it’s written on

Final say.

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

iPod Shuffle – Classic Songs To Be Discovered

When the iPod shuffle gets it right, it gets it right. Driving into work this morning, the shuffle made 6 random songs from different bands, sound like one fluent album sequence.

Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)
By WASP, from The Crimson Idol (1991)

I have no excuse for not attending the WASP concert, when they came to Australia. The Crimson Idol album was going to be played in its entirety. I remember walking out of the Iron Maiden shows (I went to both of those shows) on the Caught Somewhere Back In Time tour, and people where handing out flyers for the WASP shows. I took one, spoke about it with the people I was with and then did nothing. Maybe I was just burnt out from the Maiden shows and wasn’t interested in going or maybe I was broke. I don’t even remember the reasons. The people I was with, have heard of WASP but never heard The Crimson Idol. I was amazed.

Blackie covers the recording business in this song. Chainsaw Charlie is the “the president of showbiz” who is just looking for the next raw talent that he can exploit. Back in 1991, you never really got to hear stories about the labels and how they treated artists. The bottom line was that if an artist wanted to be heard, they needed a label behind them.

“Sign right here on the dotted line, it’s the one you’ve waited for all of your life”

That is how it was. Artists worked hard to get a record deal. In The Crimson Idol story Charlie (the record label honcho) is saying that to Jonathon (the wannabe Idol).

“We’ll sell ya wholesale, we’ll sell your soul
Strap on your six string and feed our machine”

It’s basically the hidden fine print in the deal. The labels owned the artist. They owned their image. They owned the music. They would do whatever it takes to make as much money from the artist as they could. As our access to information has become greater with the rise of the internet, we are now seeing more and more people talk about the creative accounting of the labels.

Def Leppard are doing forgeries of their own songs, in order to circumvent a blockade put up by their label due to a breakdown in the negotiations to the digital rights of the back catalogue.

Eminem took his label to court and won, over the way iTunes payments are treated compared to album physical sales.

Don Henley is going to Court against his old label, to reclaim the Copyrights to his songs due to a clause that the labels are trying to remove, that states after 35 years, the Copyrights of songs are transferred back to the original creator.

California Morning
By The Night Flight Orchestra, from Internal Affairs (2012)

I love this song. It’s got that Deuce feel from Kiss, which was a Rolling Stone bass riff played backwards, so you can say it has that Rolling Stones feel as well. I really like what The Night Flight Orchestra did with their 2012 release. Bringing back the seventies style of music into the NOW.

It’s that slide guitar at the end, that makes me feel like I am catching a wave on a hot summers day. It reminds of Fox On The Run by Sweet and Do Ya from Electric Light Orchestra. It comes in after the lyric line, “I left my heart in L.A.

Even the name The Night Flight Orchestra is a combination of a Led Zeppelin song called Night Flight and the Electric Light Orchestra band name.

The retro style vibe captured by modern recording technology fitted in perfectly as song number 2 behind Chainsaw Charlie from WASP.

We never said a word about it
We knew it wasn’t meant to be

Crazy Train
By Ozzy Osbourne, from Blizzard Of Ozz (1980) – Remastered Version

I’ve listened to preachers
I’ve listened to fools
I’ve watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules

Randy Rhoads wrote my bible. The Tribute tab book that I purchased was my bible. I learned every note, every lick and every riff. It’s impact was monumental to my guitar playing. It’s funny how history has been rewritten to show this as an Ozzy Osbourne solo album. However, the guys in the band at the time, always believed that it was a band called Blizzard of Ozz.

I grew up listening to people tell me what I need to do. Teachers, instructors, parents, friends or brothers, always leading me onto a path that they want me on. It was a push and shove society. That is why I fell into rock and metal music in general. They wrote the anthems that I could relate to. We’re Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock from Twisted Sister are two songs that come to mind immediately.

Then as time goes by I see all the drop kicks, the ones that everyone said would be unemployed, working for themselves. Some went into the entertainment business and began changing the world with the music/movies they create. And here I am, woodshedding 24/7 to become a guitar god on a music style that killed itself.

Caught In The Middle
By Stryper, from Against The Law (1990)

You’ve been working hard
Trying to make your life appealing

Two simple sentences. That is why we are slaves to the system. We believe that by working hard, we will get richer, we will get promoted and that we will have a better life. What a load of B.S.? My father worked his whole life at the steel mill, and he worked hard. The job was enough to pay the mortgage, pay the bills and keep the wheels turning in everyday life. So my father worked a second job, so that he can make his life appealing. Then when it came to retirement, he was forced into it, by his loving employer.

Cardiff
By Stone Sour, from Come What(ever) May (2006)

This fluid feels like pain
This stoic mood is all in vain
I reach into the dark
I tear the sun and me apart
How many years ago
How many deaths I can’t let go
My flesh is temporary, my God extraordinary

Corey Taylor had a past that involved alcoholism and drug overdoses. These lyrics are depressing as hell. In the end, we are all our own worst enemies. We put so much pressure on ourselves, it’s no wonder that we all break down and end up overdosing on something. How biblical is the last line, the flesh is temporary but our legacy will live on forever in the people that speak it.

Caustic Are The Ties That Bind
By Trivium, from In Waves (2011)

Can you help me find my way
I’ve been lost for so long
I don’t even know where it went wrong

When I first heard Caustic, I saw it as a cut down version of Shogun. It is a Trivium classic and a song that will be part of their set list for a long time to come. I woke up one morning, and I was in a place where I should never be. It was in a hospital room, with a busted eye and a shattered foot. Where did it all go wrong? Was I lost for that long, that I lost my way in life. It’s very easy to do, especially when you don’t believe that nothing is wrong. It’s a lesson learnt. What doesn’t kill me can only make me stronger.

How fitting that this song is like the album closer of this morning drive.

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

Jesse Leach – What Do Ya Mean I Don’t Write Good Lyrics

I am always asked the question, how can I like a band like Killswitch Engage and then like bands like Kiss, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen at the same time? The answer is easy, I like music. I don’t care how people look, I don’t care what niche they are playing too. If the music is good and the song is good, I am interested. When I tell them that Chuck Schuldiner from Death is a song writing influence I get blank stares, like who is Chuck?

So I have been cranking the new Killswitch Engage album, Disarm the Descent on the headphones recently. I normally hear albums when they come out, and then I put them into four folders, the YEAH folder, the POTENTIAL folder and the SO SO folder. Of course the fourth folder is the TRASH.

The YEAH folder basically has albums or songs where on first listen through, grabbed my attention all the way through. The POTENTIAL folder has albums that have between four to six good songs. The SO SO folder has albums that have 1 to 3 good songs. I normally go back to the YEAH folder and those albums end up on my iPod for constant rotation.

Going back to the story, the Killswitch Engage album ended up in the YEAH folder on first listen through and the new TesserAct album Altered State will join it soon when it comes out officially. If any fans haven’t heard these albums, you can hear them in their entirety on YouTube. The TesserAct album is streamed by their label Century Media. This is interesting, as Century Media once upon a time pulled their whole catalogue from Spotify and other streaming services due to the low fraction of a cent payment per stream. The Century Media catalogue is now back in the streaming game however it looks like they are getting an additional stream income, by streaming albums before their release.

As every Killswitch fan knows, this is Jesse Leach’s comeback into the Killswitch Engage family. In my view, his comeback was set in stone by the excellent Times of Grace project that involved Adam Dutkiewicz and Jesse Leach.

I saw Times of Grace at the University of Sydney Roundhouse in 2012. It was a Machine Head gig, with Times of Grace opening, Shadows Fall on second, Chimaira was on third and then Machine Head. This was a side-show for the bands, as all of them appeared on the Soundwave Music Festival.

The touring band was Adam Dutkiewicz on guitars, Jesse Leach on vocals along with Joel Stoetzel from Killswitch Engage on guitars, Matt Bachand from Shadows Fall on bass (even though he plays guitar with Shadows Fall) and Dan Gluszak from Envy On The Coast on drums.

I am getting side tracked again. This post is about Killswitch Engage. Verdict on the album, I prefer Times of Grace.

How does the new Killswitch stack up against other 2013 metal and rock releases; This release is in my top 10 of releases for the year so far.

It’s brutal, it’s heavy and it makes me want to break stuff. It’s sorrowful, its melodic and it carries a message of power and hope. As expected, it has the usual progressive elements that Killswitch Engage are renowned for. The melodic stuff is done top-notch and Jesse Leach is exactly where he should be. No offence to Howard Jones, he sang on three brilliant Killswitch albums, however to me, it was just a matter of time before Jesse was back in the fold.

One thing is clear, Jesse is a brilliant lyric writer, so here is a selection of brilliant lyrics written by Jesse Leach.

1. Strength In Numbers – from the Times of Grace self titled album.

Our roots must balance our branches

This line speaks a million words to me. Before we branch out in our lives (this can be anything from a personal or professional viewpoint), how strong are our roots. Can our roots balance what we want to do. It’s that old saying, the foundations need to be strong before anything else can be done.

2. Fall From Grace – from the Times of Grace self titled album.

Aspirations bled dry
Eyes that once beamed with hope now only stare in remorse
Even through this pain
I will feel again
Even through these tears
I will love again

It doesn’t matter how bad it is, and how much we suffer. We still have this feeling that things will get better, that we will love again, that we will better people from the experience. It is this hope distortion field that all humans have, regardless if they believe in God or in something else. Even The End of Eternity which is from the same album has a similar theme “We are blind, our future’s crushed and forgotten, Destroyed by guilt, But there is beauty, There is life, hold fast for this could be, the end of eternity.”

Again the same message, from all the destruction of our dreams and hopes, there is still a beauty to be found, and that beauty is life. That is what no one tells you at school. Spending our younger years thinking that we are immortal, and then spending our thirties and forties as slaves to the tax system, trying to find out on what side of the income inequality gap we are on. No wonder I am on blood pressure medications. In Due Time from the new Killswitch Engage album deals with similar themes. “All that we suffer through leads to determination, the trials we all go through gives us the strength to carry on, something within us burns, desire feeds the will to live, a reason to believe I will see redemption.”

All the hardship and suffering we face strengthen us. Anyone that tells you they haven’t experienced hardship or suffering are lying. Our will to live gives us the desire to rise up again and again and again. The message is the same, it doesn’t matter how bad life gets, we always find to see the beauty of the day.

3. Live In Love – from the Times of Grace self titled album.

Don’t mistake kindness and compassion for weakness,
It takes so much more strength to be selfless and live in love.

Again another statement that puts a thousand different meanings into my head. I have gone out of my way to help others and all I expected back was respect. I wonder why when you show someone kindness, in time they then believe that they have the right to walk over you. There is always one or two that ruin everything. Rise Inside from the Killswitch Engage, Alive or Just Breathing album conveys the same message, “The time has come to make a difference, Why have we forsaken love, The time has come to raise our voices, So rise up and fight with me.”

4. Numbered Days – from the Killswitch Engage, Alive of Just Breathing album.

This is the voice of the voiceless,
We have learned by making choices

That is the only way to grow. Make choices. Don’t be a follower, be a leader. Some choices will pay off and some will hurt. We all have a voice these days. The internet made sure of that. My Last Serenade – from the same album, also covers the same ground, with the lyrics, “Your destination is a choice within yourself, Will you rise or become a slave.”

So the next time you come across a person, complaining about their lot in life, remind them, that they are this destination, due to a choice they made once upon a time.

5. The Forgotten One – from the Times of Grace self titled album.

Lead me to the crossroad, I can find my way home
Devils on my back and angels in between
The scars and dreams that made me believe
Where’s the crime scene in remembrance to me
When our eyes meet do you know the man beneath
Walk the line between desperate and redeemed

The classic story of making a deal with the devil at the crossroads. How far will we go to make it? That is what the whole verse is about. We walk a fine line in life. We can be sinners and saints. The crime scene depends on which side of the line we fall. If we choose to betray the ones we love, so that we can get ahead, will we still see the real person inside of us, when it comes time to look into our eyes.

6. Something’s Got To Give – from the Seemless self titled album.

All your money and possessions,
They mean nothing in the span of time

Isn’t that so true. In the end we all die. We will either be buried or cremated. We live with a large income quality gap. When judgement day comes, death doesn’t discriminate. There is no death gap.

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

Vince Neil – Exposed

A few of my favorite albums from back in the day are having anniversaries this year.

Let’s start with the Vince Neil release, Exposed. As a massive Motley Crue fan, let’s say that I wasn’t impressed with the ousting of Vince Neil. For some reason, I always took Vince’s story as the source of truth.

Back in 1992, it was hard to get current information. So I hear that Vince was fired from Motley, and next I am seeing his Exposed album in Utopia in April 1993. Without question I purchased it, took it home and put it on the CD player. Before I pressed play, I took out the booklet and I see that Phil Soussan is credited with writing quite a few songs. This got me even more interested.

For those that don’t know, Phil Soussan was responsible for writing Shot In The Dark when he was in Ozzy’s band. Shot In The Dark appeared on the Ultimate Sin album, released in a time where Hard Rock and Metal was starting to hit its commercial peak. To give some back story to Shot In The Dark, Soussan had this song written years before he joined Ozzy’s band. It was inspired by the Pink Panther movies. Ozzy loved the lyrics, but wanted Soussan to make the song darker, while trying to keep with the original idea.

Then Jake E. Lee left the band. Soussan and his best friend Randy Castillo (RIP) who was also the drummer in Ozzy’s band, started to hold auditions to find a new guitarist, while Ozzy went out to promote the Tribute album. That is where a young Zachary Weilandt came into the picture based on a recommendation from Mark Weiss (this is the guy who photographs everything to do with rock n roll). That is how Zakk Wylde was born.

Phil Soussan was just another talented musician and songwriter that had to leave a band he wanted to be in because of business disagreements with Sharon Osbourne regarding future publishing arrangements. I am sure Jake E. Lee was also forced out in this way.

To get back on track, I am a fan of Phil Soussan. So I find out that many of the songs that he had written for Ozzy’s next album, ended up on Exposed.

I then find out that it was Soussan that was responsible for putting together the Vince Neil band. The original band line up was Vince Neil on vocals, Phil Soussan on bass, Adrian Vandenberg (from Whitesnake) on guitar, Vik Foxx (Enuff Z’Nuff) on drums and Robbie Crane on guitar.

Soussan and Neil also put the Warner Bros deal together along with Vince’s manager Bruce Bird who passed away in 1993.

Then it all went sour when Steve Stevens (Billy Idol and Atomic Playboys) was asked to replace Vandenberg. Stevens already had a personal issue with not having written the songs and it looks like Stevens held a grudge against Soussan for working with Billy Idol, who was Stevens former employer. So all hell broke loose after the death of Bruce Bird.

Soussan started to be on the outer, especially when Stevens wanted to play bass and eventually Soussan had no option but to leave again. Imagine his dismay, when his manager showed him a draft sleeve of the album where Stevens had tried to put his name as the songwriter and remove Phil Soussan’s credit from his own songs. Songs that Soussan wrote all the original demos and titles from back in the Ozzy days.

The matter was addressed and legally resolved, in favor of Soussan. So much drama and the album hasn’t even come out. Isn’t that just the nature of Rock N Roll.

Look in Her Eyes is the opener and it is listed as being written by Vince Neil, Steve Stevens and Phil Soussan. Other songs written by this combination are The Edge, Gettin’ Hard and Forever.

Look In Her Eyes is a classic. The intro riff has that Euro Metal vibe, the verse has that Dr Feelgood vibe and the Chorus is melodic and catchy as hell. You can hear that Phil wrote this song with Ozzy’s style in mind. Steven Stevens contribution to this song, was to make the lead break a centerpiece and it goes for well over a minute and a half.

An ocean of temptation
With every drop of wine
Shadows meeting face to face
The tentacles entwine
One look from the jezebel
Phony valentine
Now you see the wanderer
Frozen in the corridors of time

For some reason I love the way that second verse is written. Maybe it is the Medusa reference, done in such a rock n roll way. That is why the song has that big epic classic rock feel. Men are creatures of temptation, from the Garden of Eden to now.

The Edge is another uptempo riff fest of a song. From its flamenco intro, to its pedal point driven verses and its climbing arpeggio choruses. This song is a dead set classic. It reminds me of Red Hot from the Crue for some reason. It reminds of Deep Purple. It reminds me of Scorpions. The lead break is pure class, breaking down into the acoustic flamenco passages again, before building up again, with the orchestra strings in tow into a wah shred fest of a lead break.

There is no tomorrow i live my life today
Luck is my religion to the lady i will pray
I fail to see the black in every tinsel town
They can try and take my pride
But they can never take my crown

Listen to the phrasing of the vocal line. It’s done the same way Ozzy sings. It was meant for Ozzy. Of course Vince has a totally different voice, so it sounds unique. It’s totally different to what Vince did in Motley. Living your life on the edge of time, is what the song is saying.

Fine, Fine Wine is written by Vince Neil and Phil Soussan. This song would fit perfectly on Dr Feelgood. It is classic Motley Crue. The lyrics, the riffs, the sex and the sleaze. Vince is in his element here.

Baby’s long and tall man she’s got it all she’s alright
alright
Hips have got a sway shakin’ it my way it alright
alright
Full bodied curves with her legs she serves oh yeah
oh yeah
Lips that say it all turn and hear her call oh yeah
oh yeah
Ain’t no cheap and nasty liquor dripping down her vine
Taste of golden honey sweet as candy money
Bottle it up and make her mine

Give me a taste of your fine fine wine

The bass line just rolls the song along, keeping it low and dirty. Steven Stevens delivers another great solo on this song. Even though he was a dick to Soussan, he still played his arse off on this album.

Sister of Pain and You’re Invited (But Your Friend Can’t Come) was written by the Vince Neil, Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw combination. It is steeped in the blues hard rock vibe that Damn Yankees brought back to the charts. The same blues hard rock vibe made famous by Free, Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent and many others. Again both songs would not be out-of-place on a Motley Crue album.

Can’t Change Me is a Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw composition, very similar to Damn Yankees, the super group project they had with Ted Nugent.

Can’t Have Your Cake and Living Is A Luxury is written by Vince Neil and Steve Stevens. I don’t really rate these two songs.

Finally there was a Sweet cover in Set Me Free, that is written by Andrew Scott.

The album was produced by Ron Nevison. That is why it has that AOR feel, very radio friendly, arena rock feel and the performances are top-notch.

Ron was coming off multi platinum success with Heart, Survivor, Bad English, Europe and Ozzy’s The Ultimate Sin. Actually Ron played a part in getting Phil Soussan to depart, as he started to support Steve Stevens in the decision-making.

1993 was a year of big change in the music business. Vince Neil delivered an album that didn’t get the promotion it deserved. The only way I could have purchased the album was from Utopia Records, which was a hard rock/heavy metal record store. Utopia records is located in the Sydney CBD and back then they where on Clarence Street. I had to take a 90 minute train ride from my country town to the Sydney CBD.

The usual major stores back then didn’t even stock it. Makes it hard to compete if the fans can’t find it. It can be found today, by everyone.

Music, My Stories

Bon Jovi – Attack of The Showbiz Pre-Sales

It’s another day and another attack of the Bon Jovi pre-sales for the Because We Can 2013 Australian tour.

Even though I am critical of Bon Jovi at times, in the end I am still a fan, and i just purchased 4 platinum tickets totalling $1,076. I have seen Bon Jovi live previously (Bon Jovi was at their best on the Keep The Faith tour), and i wanted my two boys and my wife to share the experience as well. My other child will be almost 2 years old in December 2013, so he will have to wait for another time, if there is one.

Showbiz is selling the pre-sales today. Click on this link to buy.

GA is $159 per person

SILVER is $129 per person

GOLD is $199 per person

PLATINUM is $250 per person

DIAMOND is $315 per person

Some cities do not have some of the options available for the Pre Sales.

Let’s hope that Richie Sambora comes out as my family and I are Richie fans. I even saw Richie perform live at the Shellharbour Workers Club (otherwise known as Shellies) back in 1998. It was one of the best shows I have ever been too. That story is for another day.

Music, My Stories

Eyes Of A Stranger – Queensryche

Eyes of a Stranger is another Chris DeGarmo special, that he co-wrote with Geoff Tate. In the Operation Mindcrime story, it is an introspective on Nikki’s character. Throughout the story he was surrounded by death and depression. He was brainwashed into becoming a sleeper political assassin. He was triggered into action by the words Mindcrime. He was a drug addict and he was a lover. In Eyes Of A Stranger Nikki is looking into the mirror, and realizing that he doesn’t recognize the person he’s become. He is broken and alone, trying to find some form of redemption. The beauty of this song to me is that even though it is a song in a greater story, it also stands alone on a song on its own and it gets me thinking.

And I raise my head and stare
Into the eyes of a stranger
I’ve always known that the mirror never lies

There is a saying that there is no more honour left in life. Looking at the meaning of honour, I came up with the following words; personal integrity; allegiance to moral principles.

When we do something regrettable, like talk to people we don’t really care for, about a person that we know very well and care for behind their backs or betray someone so that we can get ahead in life or in the work place or take credit for someone else’s work, can we then look into our eyes and see the same person there.

I have experienced all of this. I was first the betrayed and then I was the betrayer, because I started to form the viewpoint that is how I need to play the game in order to survive in this world. I have broken a lot of my moral principles, that left me questioning my integrity and my self-worth. That is why the scene/chapter in Game of Thrones, when Eddard gets his head chopped off, is such a big moment in literary and visual circles, because everyone is led to believe that the honourable man would win and become King and everyone lives happily ever after.

Is this all that’s left
Of my life before me
Straight jacket memories, sedative highs
No happy ending like they’ve always promised
There’s got to be something left for me

They don’t teach you this kind of stuff at school. They don’t teach you that life has it’s twist and turns, ups and downs, wins and losses, success and failures and most importantly happiness and sadness. Even our school teachers are damaged, but they always turned up to school, smiles on their faces, ready to mould little children, while at home their marriages are crumbling and their kids are doing drugs.

From the outside looking in, people are led to believe that our lives are just wonderful. We surround ourselves with pictures of fun times, good times and full of laughter. We film ourselves doing things that we love. Where are the photographic memories of the bad times, the times that we cried, the times that we raged and broke stuff. We don’t record these memories on some form of media, we keep them inside, as mental scars.

How many times must I live this tragedy
How many more lies will they tell me
All I want is the same as everyone
Why am I here, and for how long

Isn’t that what we all want in life. Why are we here and for how long? We all want the same as everyone, and all those everyone’s want the same as us. There is never a perfect life. Whoever tells you so, is a liar. To use a cliché, life is a rollercoaster. It pushes and shoves you in many different directions. All of these thoughts and emotions, the song Eyes of A Stranger put there in me.

A to Z of Making It, Music, My Stories

Angus Young – Guitar World – March 1986 – Part 3

ANGUS YOUNG – RAW ENERGY IS ALL YOU NEED
Guitar World March 1986
By Joe Lalaina

(All parts in Italics and Quotes are from the March 1986 issue of Guitar World)

To this day. Angus continues to play in shorts, every show. However a lot of AC/DC fans say it s a worn-out routine,

“I guess it depends on which fans you talk to,” counters Angus. To me, it’s comfortable. If I took the stage and dressed like any other guitar player. I don’t think I would be able to be myself. The shorts are as much a part of me as my guitar.”

Lalaina is trying to get a reaction from Angus. I lived through the Eighties, and during this period, glam and hard rock was becoming king. All the bands had a similar look. AC/DC didn’t fit this look and a lot of the journalists tried to put AC/DC down. Even the sales of AC/DC albums started to tank during the Eighties. It wasn’t until 1990 when AC/DC released The Razor’s Edge that their career was resurrected. The response from Angus is typical of the attitude in AC/DC. They never cared for trends. To quote Frank Sinatra, the did it their way.

“When I first started playing in shorts, it was a challenge. People would say, Hey, this guy’s a clown—here comes Peepo or something. As a result, it made me work harder to prove to the people that I really did know how to play guitar. I just plugged it into the amp and played. I never used any of those wangy’ bars or stuff like that.”

These days, an artist would change who they are, just so they can please. No one wants to be hated. Instead of working harder to stay true to who they are like Angus, 99% of wannabe musicians would change.

In fact, Angus hates tremolo units.

” Those things never appealed to me,” he says. “If I want to get a similar kind of sound, I just de-tune the strings. Cliff Richard used to have this guy in his backing band, Hank Marvin, who used that thing on almost every note. He was like a Buddy Holly clone—he used to do these silly little steps. Guys like Hank set the music world back twenty years. I couldn’t believe guitarists like Beck looked at him as inspiration. Whenever I saw guys like Hank Marvin, I would always go in the complete reverse of what they were doing.”

That is what I am talking about. By 1986, everyone was doing tapping, whammy dive bombs, sweep picking and had racks of gear to rival NASA. Angus is totally against it, staying true to who he is, keeping it simple, keeping it real.

Angus says his biggest musical inspiration was his brother George Young, who together with Harry Vanda produced the first few AC/DC albums. Vanda and Young, you may recall, were the guitarists in the Easybeats, one of the most successful Australian pop bands of the late sixties.

That is what a lot of people seem to forget or don’t even know about. Angus and Malcolm Young had a successful older brother. Does anyone remember the working class anthem, Friday On My Mind?

“We learned a lot from George.” says Angus. “He was the first one who said to us, To be different, you must do everything your own way. When he first heard us, he was impressed with the fact that we could take someone’s song—an old standard like ‘Lucille’ or something and make it sound like a new song altogether. George just let us do what we wanted. He didn’t make us put nice melodies in. If anything, he made us toughen our music up.”

“Although George had more experience as a guitarist and a songwriter, he was also a good producer. A lot of people call themselves producers, but in fact they may be more of an engineer, since they know more about sound than about songs or arranging. George knew about everything. A lot of producers can’t even tell you if your guitar is out of tune.”

“George was great to work with in the studio.” adds Angus. “He always said that since we’re a rock and roll band, the less gimmickry, the better. The last album he did with us was our live album back in 78, If You Want Blood You’ve Got It. I remember George saying, “This is the last AC/DC album I’m gonna produce, since you guys already know enough about the type of sound and songs you want.”

I have a strong viewpoint on producers. A good, smart producer can really get the best out of a band, and to me, they are the real unsung heroes in the history of hard rock and heavy metal music. George Young, didn’t try to change AC/DC into another Easybeats. He made them play to their strengths. He assisted them in making their sound tougher, rawer, edgier and grittier.

After considering a few producers (whom Angus says he would rather not name), AC/DC settled for Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who produced the bands next three albums, Highway To Hell, Back In Black and For Those About To Rock We Salute You. Of these, Back In Black was the most successful, selling a whopping eight million copies.

“That album is our biggest selling album in America,” acknowledges Angus, “but our European fans preferred our early albums. A lot of the sounds on Back In Black are very much like the sounds you hear on the radio these days.”

Mutt Lange, another master producer. Of course he went on to massive things with Def Leppard, Bryan Adams and Shania Twain.

How many AC/DC fans knew that Lange, produced three AC/DC albums.

Of course, Back In Black has now moved over 30 million units worldwide since its release. Highway To Hell, the last Bon Scott album has now moved over 10 million units worldwide since its release and For Those About To Rock We Salute You, has now moved over 7 million units worldwide since its release.

It was another super producer, Bruce Fairbairn that helped re-establish AC/DC in the Nineties with the excellent Razors Edge and the classic Thunderstruck.

Could this be why AC/DC decided to produce their last two albums themselves?

“Not really,” says Angus. “We went from working with Mutt to producing ourselves simply because we wanted to. All the material was ready before we went into the studio albums we did with Matt. He left the music to us because he knew what we wanted. But the difference between us and any other band he’s worked with is that he likes to spend a lot of time in the studio, we don’t. I mean, he’s a good producer and he’s good at getting a great performance out of a band, but he spends too much time recording. We can’t stay in a studio for six months to a year on an album – that’s ridiculous.”

Is Angus happy with how Fly On The Wall turned out?

“We think we’ve done a good job and we achieved what we wanted. We just wanted to make a tough and exciting rock and roll record. And that’s what we made.”

Fly On The Wall had two stand out tracks and the rest was filler. That is why the Who Made Who soundtrack album that came next sold a lot. Even though it had a two new songs, it was sort of like a greatest hits album, featuring the best AC/DC songs from Back In Black, For Those About To Rock We Salute You and Fly On The Wall. It also had Ride On from the Bon Scott era.

It wasn’t until The Razors Edge album released in 1990 that AC/DC recaptured the public’s love affair with them. Since then they have never looked back. If any young artist is starting out, these articles form the key component to the A to Z of Making It. Stay true to who you are. If you do that, and you write great music, an audience will find you.

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Music, My Stories

Classic Songs To Be Discovered – Tesla, Machine Head, Thousand Foot Krutch, Trapt, Since October, Three Doors Down, Daughtry

It looks like my playlist shuffle is stuck in the song titles that begin with B. Here is the list of songs driving in to work today.

Breakin Free – Tesla
Be Somebody – Thousand Foot Krutch
Beautiful – Since October
Back Again – Daughtry
Believer – Three Doors Down
Black Rose – Trapt
Beautiful Mourning – Machine Head

Breakin Free is from the rock band Tesla and it is from their hardly heard 2008 album, Forever More. It is the Brave New World from Iron Maiden, meets Tool intro that hooks me, and the spiteful lyrics resonate with me. Even though the song deals with a relationship break up, it could mean any situation where a person that you trust and liked ends up making life a living hell.

I’m done with swallowing my pride
And the truth in the end denied
You know it makes me sick how you’re so quick to always criticize
You never find fault in yourself
You’re always blamin’ someone else

Breakin Free is written by the band, along with classic rock producer Terry Thomas. If anyone remembers the 1991 album from Foreigner (the one with Johnny Edwards on vocals), Terry co-wrote most of those songs as well, along with the Bad Company albums released between 1988 and 1992. That is why the song sounds classic but modern.

Be Somebody is from Thousand Foot Krutch. It’s from the fan funded The End is Where We Begin album, released in 2011.

We all wanna be somebody, we just need a taste of who we are
We all wanna be somebody, we’re willing to go but not that far

Isn’t that so true. We all want to be recognised for something. In order to get there, we end up changing who we are. We sell our souls for money and fame. We betray the most important person, ourselves. The lyrics bring it all home, we are willing to do what we need to do to be somebody, but we have boundaries as to who far we will go.

Beautiful is from Since October. It is from their debut 2006 album Gasping For Hope, that they released as an unsigned band relying completely on Myspace to push it and sell it. In the end it got them signed to Christian label Tooth and Nail, and so far they have released another two more albums after that.

It is the Duran Duran – Come Undone similarities that grab me. For some reason derivative works in pop and rock work, however in metal, if they are too similar they are decried.

You’re completely perfect but perfectly incomplete
You’re lacking only me but you acted like you didn’t want to know me

Unrequited love. The lyrics are nothing earth shattering, and very adolescent like, and that is what works with the song. Of course the guys in the band were in their early twenties when they wrote this song.

Back Again is from Daughtry. It is the bonus track or b-side to the No Surprise single, that comes from the Leave This Town album released in 2009. It is a classic rock song. It deserved to be on the album.

We’ve all been down this road before,
I give it all, you wanted more
I’ve only got myself to blame

That is the best part of the song. It is where Chris Daughtry really shines on the vocals. It is a song Chris wrote with Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace, well ex Three Days Grace now and produced by Howard Benson, who is the mainstream go to producer for metal and rock music these days.

Believer is from Three Doors Down. It is from the 2011, Time Of My Life album. It is very different to what Three Doors Down are renowned for and it works. The intro rocks, and the melodic lead kicks things off nicely.

I would have been in doubt
When this started out
That everything would turn out this way
First it was a phone call
Then it was another
From a mother who was ready to play

It’s written by the band, and at 2.57 it’s short and sweet, but hectic just the same. Of course the sound is very modern like, thanks to Howard Benson again. Sometimes, we need music to have a laugh with, and in this case, I get that from the lyrics, about a married lady who wants to play, only for her affair to be busted up by her husband.

Howard Benson’s story is interesting, going from being a keyboard player, to a producer, to the Vice President of Giant Records, to an A&R rep for Elektra and now Warners Music. This is proof that you don’t go to 0-Riches in an instant. It takes time and a lot of work.

Black Rose is from Trapt. It is from the 2008 album, Only through The Pain. It is a ballad with a killer chorus and a killer ending.

Black rose your thorns are cutting into me for the last time
Black rose I watched your petals wilt away I couldn’t bring you back to life
You were always where the sun could never go,
I never wanted you to have to be alone
But I couldn’t find a way to help you grow,
Black Rose

It’s written by vocalist Chris Brown and songwriter, Adam Malka. It’s produced by Garth Richardson from Chevelle/Atreyu fame. These lyrics found a connection within me, due to my struggles dealing with my cousins fall into mental illness. I had to cut loose, as if i stayed he would have dragged me along with him.

Beautiful Mourning is from Machine Head and it is from the best metal album of the two thousands, the mighty Blackening album released in 2007. The song has been said to be about Rob Flynn, tripping on acid and taking a razor to his wrists. It is the most depressing words every put to paper.

My redemption is knowing
This will be over
My aggression,
I fear I’ve lost control
Who is this man I said?
Mirror reflects a stranger
Fist shatters the despair
Awake the pain to anger

The music was written by Robb and Phil Demmel, with lyrics by Robb. This is real. Life isn’t all about the highs and the laughs even though we take photographs showing that is the case. Life has a darker side to everything. We are fragile, we can snap at any minute.

Enjoy.

Living with unfairness

It’s late and I’m laying in bed. I can’t sleep so I reach over to the iPhone.

How things have changed? We are connected all the time. As I’m checking
my emails I’m thinking about the game of football my kids played on the
Saturday and the refereeing from the other teams coach. It got me a bit
upset at how the referee was coaching his team while refereeing. I started to think about how unfair it was that my boys team had to go back to half way when his team had a goal kick and when we had a goal kick he would make his players stay 5 meters away. It’s not fair is it.

The kids had a draw but they won the game in my heart and everyone else’s that watched it.

Why?

They rolled with the punches and kept on rising to the occasion. A game of football is the same as life.

We win, we lose. We feel good, we feel bad. However in football when something is not fair, the team unites and rises above and beyond their
abilities. In life, that feeling of unfairness can either cripple you or make you work harder or work differently.

How many times have I heard a person say, it’s not fair. It probably wasn’t fair to one person but it was fair to the other.

Don’t complain about it. Don’t forget about it. Learn from it and move on.

Music is a classic example when it comes to unfairness. The whole
industry is built with the cards stacked against fairness. Artist used to say how unfair the contract was that they signed or how unfair the label treated them. Then the Internet came along and now it’s the labels shouting how unfair it is. The favourite PR line, “the Internet spreads piracy and it needs to be controlled.”

Instead of rolling with it, learning from it just to rise above it, they want to control it, obliterate it as they are too lazy to innovate on their own. Spoil it for billions to protect the profits of a few. Maybe these label heads and their politician friends in their lobby group need to come and watch a junior football game, see how unfair the real world actually is.

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