Where do I start? Some of these songs have been with me a long time. One of the frustrations I've had through the years was not being able to get my songs recorded properly. When I started, recording meant playing into a cheap portable cassette machine with one microphone. It was okay for just getting an idea onto tape, but that's about all. Then we moved up to two microphones - 2 cheap microphones; had to balance all the instruments at the time of recording, no chance to fix it all in a mixdown. Then I got a cassette 4 track machine, and that was really good for a lot of the songs, especially if I had another good musician to work with. Denny Hart and myself recorded a lot of songs, just the two of us, recording 2 parts at a time. Eventually, though, we took that technology as far as we could, and it felt limiting. In 2005, I bought my first digital recorder, and out of that came my "Radio Frequency" cd.
With "Eyetunes", I got to do better versions of songs I'd done years before with my old band Persay, or on my own. In most cases, it was simply an opportunity to do a better performance, but in some cases I rewrote lyrics, too - I think I improved them. I listen to the old versions and I hear sloppy drumming, sloppy bass playing, poorly sung vocals. The basic ideas were there, but they were not presented very well. I'm not blaming anyone else for that - my performance could be just as bad as anyone else's! This time around, I am satisfied with the results. That includes my brother Jeff Fowler doing solid bass work on many songs, and Dave Park enhancing the songs with his brilliant guitar playing. I can't do it all on my own!
EYE OPENING - to set the tone for the songs that follow.
I'M TIRED OF LISTENING - I was watching/listening to Ray Davies' album/video "Return to Waterloo". I think i was inspired by a song near the end of side two, "Expectations", although my song sounds nothing like that one, except maybe the rhythm of it. I guess it was a combination of the rhythm and the lyrics. There comes a time when you start to question the things you are told while you are growing up. There are plenty of people eager to give you all the answers, even if they don't understand the questions. Teachers, preachers, parents, they'll all certain they know the right way for you to go. Then you get a little older, and find out most of the things they told you were wrong. All that false hope disappears when you are out on your own, and realize you are lost.
ALL AROUND US - On this one, I was thinking more of Dave Davies, the "Chosen People" album. There are some records I have played over and over, year after year; songs that make you think, songs that help you feel. Also songs that make you wanna get up and grab a guitar and turn up the amp! It starts off heavy, just a great power chord riff, then shifts to a minor key, I like the contrast. Railing against the insanity of this mixed up muddled up world in which we live in, and at the same time, looking for something better, some meaning, some purpose, crying out to God for help.
ROT IN 7734 - this song was inspired by the lunatic rants of a guy at a website called http://www.jesus-is-savior.com. He hates everybody. I grew up around people like that - they believe the way to get you to come to Jesus is to scare the crap out of you! So you walk around your whole life filled with fear, because you can never be as good as they tell you to be - I know I am far from perfect, I slip and stumble everyday. I only know of one perfect Man to walk the face of this earth. We should be trying to draw people closer to Him instead of scaring them away. I imagine Him comforting all those who have suffered in this life, when their time comes, healing the wounded, giving shelter to those who never had a real home. I guess that's the hippie, mushy, lovey dovey Jesus, not the gun toting truck driving Jesus some people want you to believe in, a Jesus who tells the poor "don't expect me to take care of you, pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps!" The irony of this song is it being a heavy metal song sung by a guy who believes rock and roll music is satanic, but it just fit his threatening message. I don't even remember how I came up with the music, it was just something that came out after looking at that sick person's website.
Now the flip side of this is, I don't go in for the whole "Sympathy for the Devil" "Highway to Hell" side of rock and roll music. I would hate for anyone to think this song is one of those "oh, the devil is so wonderful, let's all celebrate a life of debauchery and evil". I know that doesn't put me in the mainstream of rock and roll these days. Whatever.
TV PREACHERS - Dave Park wrote this bluesy song about those holier-than-thou televangelists. Their motto is "do as I say, not do as I do". You know, the guys sitting there in their million dollar mansions begging for your last dime, the ones in the fancy limo's and expensive suits proclaiming that we must follow them.
Every couple years or so, Dave would suddenly be absorbed 100% in a new style of music. Folk music, Christian rock, prog rock, punk,reggae, he'd buy as many records as possible in that genre, and that's all he'd talk about until the next thing came along. This was a good song for us cause it had a basic rhythm that everyone could follow, I really enjoyed producing this song, adding the swamp guitar and the percussion.
ANOTHER WORLD - Again, i don't know where this riff came from; just something I started playing one time on the guitar, with the distortion up high, a heavy riff rhythm thing. The lyrics are another story! If you think I only have it in for the religious leaders of our world, well, here's the other side: we, the human race, are so impressed by our own brilliance, our scientific knowledge, our toys of technology, by our vast accumulations of wealth and power, that we lose site of any higher reality. It's very hard to sense the presence of God in a world full of greed, hatred and war. Sometimes I just look up at the heavens and cry out "if you're really there, why don't you reveal yourself to us?" I can understand why some people become atheists. The people that supposedly represent God on this planet so often make fools of themselves. We really need to try to tune in to that presence. And you don't have to be in a church or temple to do that. I find the times I am most in tune with that Power are when I am out in nature - surrounded by nothing except God's creation, the trees, the rivers, the mountains.
MAKING DREAMS REALITY - Another song of contrasts, heavy, pretty, angry, happy...well, that is life, isn't it? finally, some hope! Again, it was probably a Kinks/Dave Davies influence, but I can't point to one song and say "that's it". We played this live for a couple years before we recorded it, so it was pretty easy to get the basic stuff down. There have been a lot of times when I knew exactly what I wanted the bass guitar to do, but on this song, I really didn't know, was glad Jeff Fowler came up with a part that worked.
THIS IS THE LOVE - I can't sit down and say "today I am going to write ____ kind of song". Either it's there or it's not. I was very fortunate one time in my life to find the kind of love we all dream about, romantic love - someone you can talk to about anything, someone you relate to, someone you think about all the time, someone you just love being with; someone you just love the company of so much, it doesn't matter if you're doing much of anything. You can be happy just sitting at home, listening to music - or in my case, singing to that person. That kind of love can be intoxicating - and maybe that's why it didn't last. There's an old song that says "love is like oxygen, you get too much you get too high, not enough and you're gonna die". That is the truth. Maybe I had too much and got too high, but it sure was better than the other way. In memory of Stubby Junior. For Felix and Serena.
CONCRETE WILDERNESS - Life today is so full of madness, just non-stop fast paced running around, have to be here to do this, over there to do that, does anyone ever stop to catch their breath? When I want to relax, I like to drive out to where Grandpa Sterling used to live, out near Mt. Rainier. When I was just a small boy ("You were never a boy!" "Okay, I was a small man"), he had some property at Bonney Lake - out in the woods, just off a country highway. Very quiet, peaceful, we'd walk down the road to Werley's Grocery to get an ice cold bottle of Coke out of the cooler. Now that same area is an overdevelopment nightmare - giant hardware and grocery stores that cover entire city blocks; fast food and slow traffic all through town. The beautiful, tall fir trees are mostly gone, the little country store is gone, everything I loved about that area is gone. If I drive out farther towards the mountain, I can finally get away from the noise pollution of the rat race choir, quiet little towns like Burnett, Wilkeson and Carbonado, but I have to go through some much urban sprawl to get there! I understand why this has happened - we live in a capitalist society, and capitalism needs constant growth to sustain itself. Someday it will die. Markets are finite, resources are finite, heck, the PLANET is finite! As I've said before, we don't need a vengeful god to blow up the earth and kill all of us, we're doing a pretty good job of that ourselves.
VACANCY - The original recording of this had Dave Park playing harmonica, but what came out wasn't what I was looking for, because I didn't know about a thing called cross-harp. That's where the song is in one key, but the harmonica is in another; that's what blues harp guys do. That's what all those harmonica players in the British Invasion bands were doing. Just listen to an old Yardbirds record, or a Kinks record. That was the main thing I wanted to change, but as I looked at my original lyrics, I thought they came across as too judgemental, like I was telling the person off and "I've got my act together". Maybe it was youthful arrogance. I hope the re-written lyrics are kinder; it is difficult when a relationship breaks down, if you were able at one time to communicate, to talk about anything, why does that change? I think it's the heart. "I'm going to harden my heart to that person, not allow then to get close to me again, not take a chance of them hurting me". When that happens, everything changes.
WALL OF SILENCE - I had put new strings on my guitar, was retuning, and just started playing ...i don't know what the tuning was, but I started playing this riff, and decided to put it on tape. Later on, when i was properly tuned, I had to figure out what i had played! That's why it's in kind of strange key. As far as the lyrics, well, they could have been about anybody, i can't count how many times I've had a misunderstanding with someone, and they seem to be telling everyone but me what is bothering them. "Well, if you don't know, i'm not going to tell you!" I guess I am too emotional, take everything personally.
INTERLUDE - a pause
TOO MUCH HATRED - If this ain't rock 'n' roll, I don't know what is! I'm not ashamed to say most of my songs, probably all of them, are influenced by something. When you want to rock, I can't think of anything better than Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Kinks stuff.
JUST A MEMORY - those memories have a way of staying around and haunting me. I made a lot of mistakes when I was a younger guy, and I guess it is my punishment to live with those memories the rest of my life. I wish I could go back in time and correct my errors, but I can't. The worst feeling in the world is knowing you hurt someone you love, someone that treated you with respect, love and kindness. They say that time heals all wounds - it doesn't. Some just stay as a reminder of a life you once had, a life that you can never have again. My dad used to say "life is not fair", and he was right. I had the love of someone very special, but that is gone forever. All I have left is my music, and I hope it is music that helps and heals. I make my connection when I am singing to an audience. I guess it's what I was meant to do. Not for fame or glory, I will never be famous, I will never be wealthy, I just do what I do and hope there will be as few people that appreciate it.