Left, Right
This is from a completed demo by Kirby. The siren and the intro was added after the initial recording of the main song. A heavy octave riff and break, with a very punky verse section. It actually starts with a repeated chorus and the verse comes in where you would expect the chorus to be. This is currently our live opener, with a different intro.

Left right, tow the line
Up down, ask how high
Charge now, sign on the line
Buy now, there’s no time
 

Foolish little people not a care in the world
Blinkered and cushioned with nothing to hold
Buy into the programme you’ve been force fed
They give unto you a fix of your daily bread
 
Block out the meaning of all that you hear
Numb in the notion you’ve nothing to fear
If you’ve nothing to hide what harm can it do
Tell yourself that as they’re coming for you
 
I must go and get the latest new thing
My life has no meaning unless the tills ring
I must have it all or my life is not worth it
You have bought into all of the bullshit




The lyrics are pretty self explanatory I think. Left, right tow the line, not in a political left/right way, but the control on our lives is almost militaristic. Neo-Liberal capitalism is winning and we the 99% are loosing. Control and surveillance, is the norm. Consumerism is bleeding us dry.
 
No Sleep
Sned wrote the lyrics and turned up at rehearsal and threw down the gauntlet to Kirby, to come up with a riff to fit in between the sung lines. The riff and the chorus came fairly quickly and before the end of that rehearsal the song was more or less complete. Plenty of scope for a guitar wig out :-)

Wake cold up in the middle of the night
Something wrong nothing’s going right
Get no sleep as I toss and turn
I’ve got too much energy to burn
 
Trying hard to work it out in my head
If you can't do living you must be dead
All the time the thoughts in my head
If you can't do living you must be dead
 
So I slip out of bed put my feet on the floor
Try to be quiet as I head out the door
Move on down to the kitchen room
Have a drink sleep ain't coming soon
 
Have my drink I don't make a sound
Trying to find some common ground
Taking my time to think it through
Can’t find answers you want me too
 
Get off my chair and stand on the floor
Go back upstairs to my bedroom door
Push the handle and I hear it creak
Still haven’t found the answers I seek
 
Back in bed I close my eyes
Still thinking about all the lies
Taking my time to get off to sleep
Before falling over into the deep



 
Zero Hours
This is from a completed demo by Kirby. A good old blues boogie, nothing more to say really.

Undeserving poor take heed
You caused a crisis in the land
We know there are no jobs
But really we have to make a stand
You can’t work, so we will make you
It makes us appear to care
About the middle class ideals
It’s them we really need to scare
 
Slackers lying in bed beware
The poor house is around the corner
You’ll work for free or zero hours
Because we’ve got all the power
 
If you’ve no food go to the bank
No, not the one with all the cash
We don’t care if you can’t eat
How could you have been so rash
To loose your job just because of more pay
It was too much for the company
Now you’ll have to work for nothing
Just to justify all your money



The lyrics are about the alienation of the poor, the disabled and the unemployed. Who are being blamed for the Capitalist crisis and are being portrayed as workshy. We have suddenly reverted to Victorian values of the undeserving and deserving poor.

The Working class and the poor are now paying the price for the crisis in Capitalism. A crisis of Capital has been turned on its head and is now a crisis of wages and welfare.
The Wall
The tune on this one is from Sned. The only bit that really changed in rehearsal was the solo section. A nice mellow wee arpeggio riff for the verse, with a heavier chorus.

Can’t you see the writing on the wall
Now you’re ready to take the fall
It was put there long before you were born
Twisted and ugly and written in scorn
 
It’s written in the blood you will bleed
It set you up for the life you will lead
No escape from the future set out in the stone
You’re cannon fodder or factory drone
 
It makes no difference what you try and do
They’re never ever going to let go of you
There’s no way out of their stupid race
You’re stuck inside this dead end place
 
They’ve got to keep you sitting here
They fill your mind with dread and fear
Can’t have you questioning what they do
They have to keep total control of you


The lyrics are about the futility of the working classes limited choices, "cannon fodder or factory floor", regardless of the working environment. Do we actually have choices or are they all made for us?
The Mirror Inside
This is from a completed demo by Kirby. This is a bluesy number with a fair bit of riffing and twin guitar thrown in to the mix. We tried it a varying tempos and eventually settled on this.

Searching for kindness
In an uncaring world
Searching for passion
In a story once told
Tomorrows future
Is fading away
Nothing is left
There’s only today
 
The sadness and anger will never mend
Can’t change the feeling it’s all going to end
Dark clouds are present and will always stay
Born into a climate of constant decay
 
A house full of pain
In a city of hate
Fall in to the trap
That’s lying in wait
Shatter the glass
Of the mirror inside
That reflects the fact
There’s nowhere to hide
 
Downtrodden and beaten
With nothing to gain
Sadness and grief
Forged from the pain
Gasping for air
As the chains drag you down
Hurled into oblivion
Without making a sound



Oh deary me?
Nothing Goes Forward
This is from a completed demo by Kirby. Originally it was going to be an instrumental, but when the Final Straw began to ever expand, I decided to write some lyrics for it. It pays a wee homage to Thin Lizzy in there, as we are often compared to them, sound wise.
 

Beaten and broken in the ways of the past 

No-one and nothing good can ever last 

Attacks from all sides dressed up as progress 

Knowing full well that nothing means less 


Nothing goes forward, how can this still be 

Have no resistance, as it all falls on me 

The cost of it all is crushing the life 

Brings on the need, to fall on the knife 

 

The spider who weaves, the web of deceit 

Tasting the bitter sting drenched in defeat 

No purpose left only points in the past 

Knowing full well, that nothing good lasts 

 

Progress designed for the end of all sense 

Hidden in clothes for those on the fence 

Blinded by promises of good things to come 

Fully designed to keep us all numb 

 

The Final Straw
This one has been evolving for months with various riffs and progressions from both Kirby and Sned mashing together. Keyboards added at the intro to add some atmospherics.

The middle portion was thrashed out in rehearsals and recorded months ago. The into section was recorded by Kirby and then Budgie added the drums, initially the drums were programmed on Sonar.

The end section was recorded a couple of months after the first two and has been evolving into what it is now. Is this a folly, possibly, but it was something that needed to be done.


Running away, from the grey and the black
Hurrying on, as there’s no turning back
Helped onto the highway, of no return
Tearing my soul, as it starts to burn
 
Day turns to night and the sky is all cloud
Enveloping me, it feels like a shroud
Whispers from nowhere, can clearly be heard
Or is it imaginings, inside my head
 
Stunned by the silence of long ago
Past indiscretions beginning to show
Pain in the memories brought on by sleep
Fear is the fire that burns so deep
 
Pushing the limits, of what can be done
Learning to walk, but I’m trying to run
Need to find something, that’s not well defined
No time to loose, as I’m loosing my mind
 
The final straw breaks,it breaks my back
I'm shouting at shadows and they're answering back
Down in the depths, of darkness and pain
All of my being, is drowned in the rain
 
Who did the lie sting
What did the truth bring
Where are the last stones
Dropped onto my bones
Who called the last post
What will I miss most
Where will the end come
Beat out the last drum
 
Dragging the chains made
By all that was said
Dragged into blackness
Ending of all stress



The lyrics are alienation, depression, misery, pain, futility................................