HIT SINGLE

What kind of system is this?

No longer music, strictly business

Who cares how much talent you possess?

Just sell CDs and look your best.

Now it’s all about the money, it’s all about the fashion

What happened to the music? What happened to the passion?

My faith in “the biz” slowly fades away

Before it’s gone, I’d like to say:

 

Music’s just not music anymore

Have we forgotten what it’s for?

It’s not for a paycheck. Whoa. Oh. Oh.

And the trouble is I fear

My hands are stuck over my ears,

unless they’re going around my neck.

 

Music trends come and go

But what’s truly gone is music’s soul

It’s heart is broken and glamorized

And I’m afraid to open my ears or my eyes

Less time spent in recording booths (let it go)

More time spent in photo shoots (let it go)

There is no drive, there is no dream

It’s all one big marketing scheme.

 

It’s all we have

And it’s all we breathe

But you’re here to exploit

And all you stand for is greed

If you’re all about cash, I won’t live your dream.

 

 

PISS ON PITY
Another lie, another fake, another day in this place

It comes down to you

This was all on your back – forget time, forget tact.

All I wanted to hear was the truth.

Yeah, I’m so unaware, I’ll sit and act like I care

While I listen to the small talk wearing thin.

“Hey man, what’s up?”-well, I hate to interrupt

but it’s getting so hard to pretend.

 

What about me?

Now that you’ve turned your back.

What about me?

Should I forgive and forget, become a part of this act?

 

Remember when the word trust used to mean something?

Stand up on your own now, cut the fucking strings

and all the bullshit clichés I saw through anyway

Keep talking in circles so we always know what to say.

Put the lies on the shelf, I don’t need anything else

I thought that we were friends but you only thought of yourself

 

What about me?

Now that I know this charade

What about me?

Don’t turn around, just keep running away.

 

Throw myself from this carousel

I’d rather break some bones than keep spinning around

I’d grab for that ring but it’s so useless now

And I thank god for friends like you as my head hits the ground.

 

 

GOD SAVE THE SCENE

Could this get any worse?

More division shoved through this like a stake

We’ve got every genre’s worth of generic fakes

all screaming for blood over a businessman’s lies.

Why would I martyr myself for a scene that’s already died?

 

A show is where you go to look tough and smoke cigarettes,

kick some kids in the head and talk shit with your friends.

The ideology’s now mob mentality.

It’s time to step up and take down the real enemy.

 

So set the stage and draw the lines

You’re either with them or against them.

You wanna make it here, you better choose a side

or they’ll bring you down.

Step up or become a casualty

Take a stand a show at a time

We can only hope- god save the scene

 

What happened to the bands

and the kids, the sense of unity?

Before music became another commodity

to be bought up and sold, sucked clean of its soul

They fill your minds up with lies while you fill their pockets with gold.

 

 

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

(lyrics by Al Fargione and Jason Bonafide)

I never had it tough, disconnected from the world outside

until I took a look around, realized people are dying.

I feel all this hatred and I see what it breeds:

A moral system based on violence, intolerance and greed.

So don’t back away, let your voice be heard

Learn how we butcher one another the way we butcher the herd.

But still we blame our televisions- are we desensitized

or just so afraid of what we’ll see we can’t open our eyes?

 

Shotgun bang, another dead body in the street

The beginning hopeful, the ending bittersweet.

Another lesson in hypocrisy, but tell me what have you learned?

His friends are crying, a family years

for something more than the condolences that they’ll receive

“It’s another bad batch, another mistake”- Who’d believe

we’d fall so far and end up this way

We live for tomorrow but we’re dying today.

 

Another day in paradise

With nothing to show

Life’s too short

by now you’d think we’d know.

 

Shotgun bang, race riots out in the street

A baby’s gone, a mother’s on her feet

He was a father, a husband, a friend and a son.

Lived by the knife, died by the gun

Hate drove him crazy, distrust made him mad

Everyday prayed for the best, hope’s all he ever had.

Surrounded by people, still no one heard him scream

As this vision of peace becomes one more shattered dream

 

What have we learned?

 

 

DEAD SEXY

What kind of god would just stand by, watching, letting this dream die?

I just want something to believe.

And every time I look outside I see the pain no lies can hide

I just want to reset my memory.

Just start again.

 

Before I saw through all the truths that I once thought I knew

When I could take comfort in this honest fantasy

Before my sheltered walls came crashing down

And cracks in the floor became cold ground

When I was too scared to stand up on my own two feet.

 

I breathe in deceit

And I’m still waiting for the day I can exhale this pain

While I’m choking on the wrongs I’ve tried to erase

Forget the truth.

It’s much easier to blame, live in ignorance and play the game

It’s like human nature is laughing in my face.

 

(sweeeeeet guitar solo courtesy of Dr. Justin Cross)

 

Worship hollow idols, put yourself first

But when our buildings fall, what’s your money worth?

Can we bury this greed under the broken glass?

If compassion is a sign of weakness, tell me- who will be left to fix this mess?

I guess I’m still waiting for a miracle.

 

Maybe I shouldn’t even bother

I’m all out of faith this time.

I won’t hold out, I won’t even dream about it anymore

I’ve crossed my last transparent line.

 

 

(SIX PACK FOR) ALGERNON

Once I had a name, I had ideals

I should have known they wouldn’t last me

Where are my ambitions now?

I’ve got nothing in mind and I’ve never been so happy

 

I’m everything I hoped I’d be

A nameless face on surveillance TV

How can I say there’s nothing wrong

When 24 hours never seemed so, seemed so long

 

Once I looked around, I never second-guessed

It’s not my place to argue

Welcome to the system, son

I earn my pay so someone else doesn’t have to

 

I’ve seen my future laid out and I know it’s not for me

Take my check, pay the rent, fall asleep and then repeat

How can I say there’s nothing wrong

When 24 hours never seemed so, seemed so long.

 

 

 

NOTES

We recorded “Fleeced” over two weekends in the spring of 2005 at Chris Fisher’s Easter Island Studios. Chris was in the process of converting his garage into a full-fledged studio at the time… so basically, we recorded this in a garage. Derek M. was still playing drums for us on this one, but the rest of the lineup is the same as it is now. Derek also designed the artwork, as well as most of our merch.

This is the THIRD recorded version of “Another Day in Paradise.” I don’t know why either.

Matt had been having a rough time coming up with a sax solo for “Dead Sexy” when our old friend randomly Justin Cross popped in. I left the studio for about an hour to get lunch or something, and came back to find out that Justin had plugged right into the board and recorded the hair-metal guitar solo that wound up on the EP. It took me weeks to learn and I still mess it up sometimes.

Jim and Caryn from the Pocketful of Change zine in Seattle decided to take a chance on us and press “Fleeced” as their first (and so far only) record label release. So we get to tell people we’re signed now.