 Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Registered
Joined: 18/07/2011(UTC) Posts: 606   Location: Hove (NOT Brighton) Thanks: 244 times
Was thanked: 152 time(s) in 86 post(s)
|
This is my favourite song so far :)RolePlay by Anna#2/Living a Lie Song - Living a LieAlbum - HATA AKA!Artist - RECKLESS ABANDONGenre - Punk rockLength - 5:34Written by - P. PilgrimLiving a Lie is the second song from the debut EP HATA AKA! by punk rock band RECKLESS ABANDON. The song is an edgy yet lo-fi punk track that lends itself more to the traditional themes associated with the genre rather than those covered in the opening track of the record. The song is again written by front man and guitar player Pilgrim Pilgrim, in a song that he claims is very personal to himself and the notion of how he got to the place in life he currently finds himself in. It covers a range of different topics, but its largest themes come in the form of the idea of not being able to fit into a group as a teenager and the angst and anger that can come out of a person. It discusses the awkward inner battles that can come in this time period for the majority of young people and how they lash out, against their family and authority in general as a way to find solace. This is also the first time that Pilgrim's politics come through in his song writing, as he mentions getting involved in various instances of social unrest, themes and incidents that he claims peppered his teenage life. As well as this, the bouncy punk track also looks into the notion of socialism for the first time, as Pilgrim looks to talk down on capitalism and the over-usage of aspects of government in order to achieve a monetary profit. Other themes that are frequently highlighted throughout the track include the singer's well-documented use of hard drugs as he address his own introduction to the mind and body altering substances. Interestingly, Pilgrim also claims that this is the song that introduces the notion of what he calls "a dark passenger." At numerous times in the track, he mentions an inner battle he fought to suppress, and he has previously said that this is something he has only ever shared with one person. The personal nature of the song means that Pilgrim decided to sing alone rather than bringing in the powerful vocal of his estranged wife Envy as he normally does. The fact that his is the only vocal shows how much he cares about the song and makes it both an intense and very passionate experience for the band and the listeners alike. The song is a far more accessible one for RECKLESS ABANDON, and it is likely to earn them an all new legion of fans. It is energetic and passionate, in the way that punk rock has carved itself for the whole of its controversial history. It is also modern though, as the band bring the genre to a new base of listeners with their own twist on what punk rock sounds like, feeling that it is important to prove themselves as a credible act and more than just a standard punk band. The guitars are loud and rocking, the bass pounds and the drums are thumping, while the gruff growl of Pilgrim Pilgrim provides a real certainty and authenticity as well as an authority to all that he sings. The song is an epic foray into punk rock and really heralds the coming of the band. Quote:Pilgrim thinks - 'Alright, so this song was another 'first' for me, just like the other song we released the other day. This time, though, I'm gonna admit that this was the first time I've ever written something that affected me so much I just sat back at times and wept. This song addresses my past, how I got to where I am today, and why I'm so fucked up and angry. Originally, I wanted the song to be far more political and punk-led in theme than the first one, and I think I managed to achieve big style. This gives introductions to my own political ideals, in the same way that I discovered the back in the teenage years. I think it explains a lot. It takes me on an emotional journey each time I hear it, through feeling disengaged from the life of my family, to getting involved in unruly behaviour, learning about anarchy and socialism, and then even darker things like drug abuse and how that's affected me. I think a lot of people will be surprised at the contrast that exists in the theme and the music here. On one hand, you have this angry ass lyrical piece, where I lay it all on the line, but the music is quite mellow, and almost happy. Why? I don't look back. There are things I've done in life that I think were probably wrong, or stupid, or misinformed. But I have never regretted a single thing I've done. Once you start regretting, you stop living. You just gotta accept everything and move on, learn from it. That's why it sounds so happy. I suppose there's also a rebellious overtone of 'Hey look I did all of this wrong in my life but I don't care so fuck you!' (laughs). I've also talked of my dark passenger, the thoughts that used to make me feel so different and disengaged from the world as a whole. That's what makes this song so damn personal I think. At the moment, it means nothing to anyone other than me and one other. I'm hoping that some day it will all make sense though. It's something I've lived keeping under wraps for a number of years. It's a very personal and close to my heart secret that I still battle at times and banish to the back of my mind, but as I mention throughout the song, it's like battling something so strong and powerful within me, a voice always chipping away at my resolve and strengthening its own position in there. It is a very personal part of my career and a big stepping stone in my life, allowing myself to address it at last. In general, I just want to say I'm very proud of this song. It works on a couple of levels. On one hand it's like personal and private, but it's also the best 'fuck you' punk song I ever heard. It's about not fitting in, not conforming, and lashing out as a result.' Quote:Envy thinks - (audio recorded before her split from Pilgrim) - 'I know this is a very very difficult song for Pil to cover, and I worry so much about how this is going to affect him. He has never spoken in public about his teenage angst and the trouble it got him into, and we sat up late last night and spoke at length about this release. In the end it was decided that we would include it on the EP. As far as the actual music side of things goes, I think this is my favourite song we did. It has a sort of passion that can only be born of the truth that is so severely laced into it. The lyrics are magnificent, and I can tell Pil was inspired when he wrote this. He has really done a fantastic job. I love the sound of it as well, and even though it's the only song on the whole record I am not a part of, it is something I am still proud of. I know this is a track we will look back at for in years to come, and be very proud of it. This is going to become a Reckless Abandon favourite. I can feel it.'
Stream it now! Click here!The intro - The track begins with a slow and steady strumming of a clean guitar, quiet and clean in tone. It is a little sad in its sound and repeats over and over a few times. After a few seconds, the sound of a bell chiming echoes over the guitar and this brings in the start of the main riff, with the drums and bass joining the guitars playing the same riff almost, but a lot more upbeat and happy. This part of the intro almost has a bit of a swagger to its style, sounding rather cool and jumpy. As the riff continues, the lead guitar comes in as well, playing a little picked riff that is distorted and far more technical. It doesn't overpower the rest of the instruments, serving more as a punctuation mark at the end of the introduction and leading towards the next part of the track. When it stops, the lead guitar player hits a cool slide along the string before joining in with the main riff for a few seconds, giving it more depth and a far chunkier sound than previously. When this ends, the bell chimes once more to signal the beginning of the first verse, at which point the vocal also starts. The verses - For the verses of the song, the same riff carries throughout, with the drums simply sounding a little more subdued, and the guitars and bass taking on a more back seat role than they do in the intro to the track. Like in the last song, Pilgrim's voice is the true highlight of this song, with the bell at the end of the intro welcoming in his fantastically rasping voice. Once again it sounds commanding and powerful and takes control of the song from the very off. This song has much more of an aggressive tone vocally than the first on the EP, and this can be hear within the way Pilgrim almost attacks the words. The listener is able to hear how the memories that shaped the way his life is affect him as he goes from pain to anger and sadness throughout the verses at different points of the song. The brilliance of this track though comes in the fact that even though he is singing about times when he was and is vulnerable and impressionable, he still manages to sound commanding and powerful, symbolising the way the vocalist retains ultimate power over his own life. The verses are largely the same throughout the song, sticking to traditional rhyming pairings. The only discrepancy comes in the longer first and last line of each of the sections. These serve to act as bookmarks, almost as if saying 'here is a statement' a lot of reasons in between and then 'this is what caused it'. It is a very complex way to write, but one that Pilgrim pulls off fantastically, even if no one in the world of punk would have expected such a thing. This section of the track is lyrically the most adventurous, with Pilgrim almost telling a story throughout it. The chorus - Fans of the debut song may have expected to hear something of similar style in the chorus of this track, with Envy's strong and commanding vocals coming in to prove a sort of challenge to Pilgrim's power. However, this song is completely dominated by the one voice, and it is in this section that he comes to the fore particularly. Instead of harmonising with Envy, he does so over his own layered voice. The guitar chords become longer, lighter and higher and the drums slower. This part of the song is without doubt its focal point musically, if not lyrically. It has the sound of something that fans around the globe could well be singing back to the band in years to come, with a very singalong essence, even though it is definitively a punk rock track at heart. Despite being more melodic, this is perhaps also the angrier section of the song, and at some points, the growl of Pilgrim becomes more prominent as he talks about the rioting side of his life and discusses anarchy and the violence caused by his own confusion. The drums at these points become more prominent, with the loud percussion serving to give an onomatopoeic essence of the way he spent his teenage years fighting running battles and riots on the streets of Canada and the USA to try to quench his political thirst. It is without doubt the most exciting and memorable moment on the whole of the debut EP. The outro - Curiously, the section that might be referred to the outro in this song comes before the final chorus, making it more of a bridge than anything else. This is the quietest part of the song, and it is the part where Pilgrim directly references his family and speaks at them rather than singing about them. At this point, all of the instruments go quiet except for him and the constant steady strumming of his guitar. It allows him to sound even more sincere - if that is even possible - than he did earlier in the song, and lets the emotion sound pure, painful and raw in his voice. However, as he mentions pulling the bandana over his face and returning to a violent world, the other instruments come back in, quietly at first and building up til they hit the full volume among the more violent end to the bridge, during which time the voice of Pilgrim has its most wicked and cutting tone, reserved for essentially cursing out and lashing out at his family. The lines that end this section are short, hard hitting, violent and cutting, with piercingly loud drums and quick strummed and short guitar chords that allow the emotion to seep through. LyricsWhen I was just a boy, my mother would scold me day on day
Use your words, stop the swinging fists and tantrums, she'd say
Didn't know what made me so angry, all I knew was that I felt,
Starting my own inner battle without having a war to fight,
The darkest thought within my mind were like a vicious traitor,
Begging me to surrender, never wondered why I'd hate her,
What would I grow into, made everyone scared of what I'd instigate
Did they over know that my own worries were by fear of what I'd create,But I was living with a lie embedded deep in my mind
Throw another smoke bomb, incite a riot to refuse to find
The truth, the heart of everything, I just wanted to cry
To scream out and tell them all that I was living a lie
The pain will never allow me to forget, it won't subside,
Where did it come from, when will it go,
The desire will never escape my mind, permanently it resides
Where did it come from, no it will never go
If you only had a door, a window, a way into my deepest eye
You'd appreciate the madness when I'm living a lie.When I was old enough, I realised there was no way to control
To refuse to acknowledge the desire to battle it and find my own parole
Was there anyone on the receiving end to learn the dark reality
It was easier to throw up barriers and reject my own congeniality
Wash away the thoughts of ever letting anyone inside my compound
Throw chains around, snap the padlock closed and I'll never be found
Do I hang from my own noose, let my neck and book snap closed in unison
Or battle back and lash out against everyone to pretend its funBut I was living with a lie embedded deep in my mind
Throw another smoke bomb, incite a riot to refuse to find
The truth, the heart of everything, I just wanted to cry
To scream out and tell them all that I was living a lie
The pain will never allow me to forget, it won't subside,
Where did it come from, when will it go,
The desire will never escape my mind, permanently it resides
Where did it come from, no it will never go
If you only had a door, a window, a way into my deepest eye
You'd appreciate the madness when I'm living a lie.Found a sharp solace in the end of needle,
Sweet liquid replacing the poisoned blood and making me strong,
Giving me the chance to break away from the lie I lived for just one song
How do you exist when your very birth seems little more than error
When waking up naturally every morning fills your head with terror
The only defence was to block it all out, expose myself to unrest
Imagine the capitalist scum were the very one inside I came to detest
A battle with my own mind was also a fight against the state
A refusal to believe that destiny and I still had to set a date.I was a teenage tearaway, fighting for something I knew nothing about
But now I've graduated, I've moved on to become someone everyone could do without
No one takes time to learn what pain causes a person to feel so alone
And if they did I'd only scream, I'd throw a bottle and send them home
But was I anything more than a disappointment
As I pretended to battle over another non-social appointment
My destination was never planned, but my head had a preferred station
Nothing I can ever fix, except with a knife under cold hard operationBut I was living with a lie embedded deep in my mind
Throw another smoke bomb, incite a riot to refuse to find
The truth, the heart of everything, I just wanted to cry
To scream out and tell them all that I was living a lie
The pain will never allow me to forget, it won't subside,
Where did it come from, when will it go,
The desire will never escape my mind, permanently it resides
Where did it come from, no it will never go
If you only had a door, a window, a way into my deepest eye
You'd appreciate the madness when I'm living a lie.Mother, your son wants to tell you he's sorry
Sister, your sister wants to tell you not to worry
But you burnt all your bridges, snipped the rope that kept us together,
The ties that kept us close came to feel like an unwanted tether,
Where was my target, who would become the deer caught in my crosshair,
Taking the place of family, strap the establishment into the electric chair
I've fought back once more, pulled a bandana over my face to cover my identity
As I smashed another window, threw another flare, I could be any entity
But I fight for who I am
I'll never bend to the scam
The lie that haunts my waking ours
The nagging thought that flexes her powers
I'm forced to lash out to prove that I know my place
To deny that these dark thoughts will bring me forth tied up in laceBut I was living with a lie embedded deep in my mind
Throw another smoke bomb, incite a riot to refuse to find
The truth, the heart of everything, I just wanted to cry
To scream out and tell them all that I was living a lie
The pain will never allow me to forget, it won't subside,
Where did it come from, when will it go,
The desire will never escape my mind, permanently it resides
Where did it come from, no it will never go
If you only had a door, a window, a way into my deepest eye
You'd appreciate the madness when I'm living a lie.Sounds a little bit like:
|
