Salience

After 15 years, I had my life ripped from under me

How could it be? I couldn't see, I planned so fucking carefully

Depression set in, I let it win, but it was temporary

My mesolimbic pathway overflows with dopamine

I was driven! Unstoppable!  I was fucking obsessed!

To climb my way back up, I'd be fucking relentless!

So, started at the bottom, pushed myself past my limits.

Ignored the pain from over strain, gave it all I could give it.

Years passed, life changed and now I find I'm here again

The rat race, a job I hate, my time is not my own again

I've been here before, yet repeat my mistakes?

Did I expect a different outcome? A life I could take?

Insanity.  Expecting different results

I need to break out of my prison of faults.

I'm my own man, now it's time that I live it

I need to take risks and give it all I can give it

You'd think that I'd know by now

That I succeed out of habit

To create a new life for myself

I need to just reach out and grab it

This is the only way that I can repair my fate

I will overcome the expectations of this world

Nice house, two cars, debt, white picket fence

Credit cards, more bills, living just to pay the rent

Friday night, go out, spend more than I take home

When life get tough, the government will pay my loan

That isn't me, I'm not a clone, I can't sit still

I need to live on the move, I also pay my fucking bills

No help, no hands out, leave that for the weak

No suburban mediocrity, leave that for the sheep

I've done it once, and I'll do it again

Break out of this routine and be my own fucking man

If there's one thing I know, it's life isn't fair

And no matter where it takes, you, it'll never be there

I've always done things my own way

That's how I'll always be

It's not that I'm stubborn

It's that man was meant to be free

I will overcome the expectations of this world

*recording notes - Music recorded in Pro-Tools.  Schecter Damian used to record guitar, Sansamp in Pro-Tools used for distortion.  EB-0 used for bass.  Zoom 234 used to direct line recorded.  Vocals recorded in Ardour using Heil PR-20 in my car in the upper parking lot of Snoqualmie Falls.

Their Web of Lies

Their web of lies

The lies they keep on telling you

Spinning truth

Drowning in prop they keep selling you

Robbing you

Of the hours of your one and only life

Breeding contempt, distrust

Fomenting strife

And what's the price?

The cost of shrugging blame

The cost of the avoiding shame

The cost of their slavers game

The road to hell is paved with good intent

But if you refuse to step up

We'll all default on the rent

We may all be in this together

But you use me like a check so you can spend forever

You don't ask me for permission

You just assume and forcefully take

And when I fight to keep something for myself,

you claim I'm evil for keeping what I make

You want your living off the labors of others

Condescend to us about how we're all brothers

A brother wouldn't hold a gun to my head for wealth

No destroy my property or sacrifice my health

You can't force compliance and pretend it's success

That's how dictators think, a bully at best

You can't drown our children while claiming its fine

Now they're smothered in debt and running out of time

The clock is ticking, the end is near

The world enslaved in poverty and fear

They us blame to divide us, while they cower and hide

And we're destroying ourselves in their web of lies

*recording notes - Music recorded in Pro-Tools.  Guitar was a Schecter Damian 7-string.  Sansamp in Pro-Tools for the distortion.  Zoom 234 for drums, direct line recorded.  EB-0 for bass.  Recorded vocals in Ardour using a Heil PR-20 in my car, on the overlook up the road from Dirt Fish Rally School.

Head Down

When life throws you to the ground

Keep your head down and you'll get through it

When your luck is fading and your chips are down

Keep your head down and you'l get through it

When you're tired of waiting and no answers are found

Keep your head down and you'll get through it

When constant rejection is the only sound

Keep your head down and you'll get through it

'Life's a bitch and then you die'

The clarion call of the over-trivialized

Cynics and hipsters that forever frown

And if you let them, they will drag you down

They live to be miserable, belittle and mock

But in their rantings, don't take much stock

They want the drama cause they love to act

Emotion's more important than logic or fact

Let them make their bad choices and let it

Go, go, go, go

They're always be in need of a helping hand just

Go, go, go, go

Or they'll pull you down with them like a drowning man don't

Go, go, go, go

They need to find their own two legs and stand so

Go, go, go, go

When life throws you to the ground

Keep your head down and you'll get through it

When your luck is fading and your chips are down

Keep your head down and you'l get through it

When you're tired of waiting and no answers are found

Keep your head down and you'll get through it

When constant rejection is the only sound

Keep your head down and you'll get through it

 

Let them make their bad choices and let it

Go, go, go, go

They're always be in need of a helping hand just

Go, go, go, go

Or they'll pull you down with them like a drowning man don't

Go, go, go, go

They need to find their own two legs and stand so

Go, go, go, go

*recording notes - Music recorded in Pro-Tools.  Guitar was a Schecter Damian 7-string.  Sansamp in Pro-Tools for the distortion.  Zoom 234 for drums, direct line recorded.  EB-0 for bass.  Recorded vocals in Ardour using a Heil PR-20 in my car, on the overlook up the road from Dirt Fish Rally School.

Breathe

When each day feels like it's worse than the one before

When you're running on empty and everyone wants to take more, more, more

Can we just take a minute to breathe?

To beat them, you have to put your nose to the grindstone and repeat

I'm not giving up

Not giving up

Giving up my dreams

It doesn't matter

What they say

They're just fragile

and so afraid

It makes them lash out

It makes them cruel

But in the end

They're just your tool

When you feel like your life is no longer your own

When every hour of every day is spent for others, even when you're home

Can we just take a minute to breathe?

Learn to take time out for yourself and repeat

I'm not giving up

Not giving up

Giving up my dreams

When pressure builds in your temples it feels like time has slowed

When you feel like one wrong word from someone and you're going to explode

Can we just take a minute to breathe?

Don't waste your time on them, just remember to repeat

I'm not giving up

Not giving up

Giving up my dreams

It doesn't matter

What they say

They're just fragile

and so afraid

It makes them lash out

It makes them cruel

But in the end

They're just your tool

*recording notes - Music recorded in M-Audio version of Pro-Tools.  Drums mapped individually from Zoom 234, drum bank 4, one hit at a time, then the drum beat was created inside Pro-Tools.  Bass was direct line recorded with an EB-0.  Guitar was a Dillon acoustic/electric guitar, using Sansamp distortion in Pro-Tools.  Vocals were recorded in the upper parking lot of Snoqualmie Falls, in my 2009 Ford Focus, using a Heil PR-90 in Ardour through an M-Audio Fast Track.