Don't Piss Down My Back (and tell me it's raining)
From 2011 and developed from the main verse riff. We changed the intro/outro riff from a higher key to this one. Kind of going for a heavy blues feel that suited the words. The chorus went through a few changes until we settled on this version. We recorded an early demo in 2011 that is on our You Tube channel. The intro as it is now was added in 2012 for this recording and is now how we play it live. It has remained in our live set from the first time we played it until now. I went for a Bluesy feel with the lead guitar parts and the sort of call and respond with the vocals and guitar. 

Who do you think controls all the power

It’s the fat city Banker in his Ivory tower
Who is the one getting all of the gain
And which one of you has, to take all the pain

Chorus
It’s not the time to be holding back
Before they begin on the final attack
Don’t be ground down by their lies and deceit
It’s now the time to take to the street 

We all need to take this financial strain
Cause there’s no way out without any pain
Work for less money, pay your full amount
So their moneys safe in their offshore account

Do you really believe in the lies you are fed
Do you really believe in the lies you are fed

I know what you’re feeling, we’re in this together
We need to work hard through this stormy weather
It’s for your own good, says the man at the top
As the rich just get richer while the poor face the chop

The title is stolen from The Outlaw Joesy Wales. I have never forgotten this line since seeing the film many years ago. A swipe at the banking system and the Government for this whole financial fiasco they manufactured. This title sort of sums it all up for me. We're all in it together my arse. It all seems to be unravelling as we idily sit back and let all happen. Tax cuts for the rich, price hikes, benefit cuts and pay freezes for the the poor. The neo liberal dream is turning into a nightmare.


Anger is a Gift
Early 2011 for this one. This is an amalgamation of different riffs we were jamming at the time and they all seemed to come together into this one arrangement. We changed the arrangement from the original demo we had recorded and shortened the middle lead guitar section and going straight back into a verse. This let the song flow better.

Fight back quickly, or before you know

You’ll just be part of their, hidden show
Always watching, everything that you make
Watching to see who is, ready break

Anger is a gift, use it
Anger is a gift, use it
Anger is a gift, use it
Anger is a gift, choose it

Their prying eyes have their, sights set on you
Looking for cracks and, anything new
There’s a spy in the sky and a, worm in the net
Checking your answers so, don’t you forget

Caught in the trap that’s so, cleverly set
Protecting their interests, so don’t you forget
Their eyes trained on you at, every stop
So keep under cover and your, defences up

I am not advocating anger as violence but we need to get angry and use our voices to end this intrusion and erosion of our freedom.
It is a dig at the ever present intrusion into our private lives, through CCTV, the internet, TXT and phone call monitoring, the government is continually putting in place and against the apathy of all of us for letting it happen. Now our Government is passing a law to allow GCHQ to monitor and read all our E-mails, TXT and phone calls. This is supposed to be aimed at criminals and terrorists, but this is the thin end of the wedge. Strike fear into the population and get them to accept any restrictions on their freedom. The only other countries to monitor their own people like this are China and Iran. 



Breaking Free
Mid 2011 for this one and all came from a Blues jam at rehearsal. We then worked on the middle section and within 2 rehearsals had the arrangement finalised. Tried to achieve a very bluesy guitar sound for the vocal sections and solo. The songs are getting longer. There is a very good live version on our You Tube page from Whistle Binkies in Edinburgh. In and out of the live set depending on where we are playing and for how long.

Well I’m gonna move out, get a new life

There’s no one to stop me, or give any strife
Gonna make a new start, got everything ready
It’s all on the up and everything’s steady

Been down to the bottom
Now it’s time to break free
There’s nothing left here
That’s got hold of me


Feel it’s all changing, I’m on the right course
It’s moving inside me, I now see the source
A change has to come, before I can see
What is this difference, that’s got hold of me


Technicolour Valium
Mid 2011 for this one. It was almost a complete demo but the chorus didn't seem to work when we rehearsed it. During rehearsals we changed the chorus umpteen times until we fell on the one that worked. The lead break and outro lead were worked out for the recording. 

Brought to you in HD on a 50” screen

Endless bullshit that has to be seen
Puerile and senseless is this what now passes
As the new Opium for all of the masses 

Technicolour valium for the next generation
Twenty four seven on every station
HD dreams brought straight to your home
HD fears keep you scared and alone


What passes for news is condensed and contrived
Scaremonger tactics beamed to you from on high
Mindless broadcasting the next reality bite
Ensures you are numbed to remove any fight

What is the next fad to keep us in line
A reality whitewash to waste all our time
Take some more valium add to your package
Record and rewind block out any message

The lyrics are about the prevelance of TV and the crap it shows to numb the senses. It also is about the fact that the news is shaped to suit whatever the government wants at that particular time. Want a new law introduced, then scare the shit out of the public about terrorists etc. 


Strange Thing
The basic verse and chorus came as a direct result of the lyrics. Usually with solos it is jammed for weeks until I settle on an arrangement. With this one we developed the outro over a couple of weeks. All the lead guitar was worked out note by note and the outro just extended itself. Sned plays the first two solo breaks and the middle section. He does the counter, repetative, lick in the outro with me adding the other melodies. We stay true to this arrangement live as well. Songs are getting longer. This comes and goes from the set depending on how we feel.

I can tell you of the places I have been 

I can tell you of the people I have seen 
I can tell you where it all went wrong 
But I wont write a stupid love song 

These words that are so hard to come by 
Whenever I think of you and I
Do we want to live forever
In this strange thing we call together


I can tell you all the times I have failed 
I can tell you where life was derailed 
I can tell you about the need to be strong 
But I wont write a stupid love song 

I can’t tell what lies ahead 
What’s in the past is already dead 
A fleeting glimpse and it has gone 
And I never wrote a stupid love song. 

The lyrics were written by Sned and I changed a few lines and words to darken the song a wee bit. 



Can't Stop This Feeling
This was a really early song from 2009. This one used to open all our gigs at one time. It makes a comeback now and then when we have to do 2 sets. It came from a finalised demo and is the first time we used a lead type riff as the main structure. We have tried to record this song for a long time but every time it never sounded as good to us as it should until now.

I here you calling

Calling my name
I see you round here
Everything’s the same
Don’t want to stop now
The feeling is growing
I want to keep this
New sense you’re showing

Can’t stop this feeling 
All my senses are reeling
Can’t seem to think straight
I feel that I must wait
On You


Feeling your eyes
Burning into my head
Right to my thoughts
My mind you’ve read
Know what I’m thinking
Know how I feel
Push out together
This feeling is real

Just when it happens, I want to break free
Don’t want to sit back, your changing me
I feel it moving, from my very soul
If I don’t look out, I’ll loose control
Just when it comes on, and I’m on my own
Just when I need it, I’m left here alone 


When
One of the 3 original songs we started out with and has been in every live show we have done so far. This is the first time we have a recording that we think is as good as the live version. It is a stripped back Blues/Rock number with no added frills.

When I come home in the morning, and I knock on your door

I don’t get that glad to see you, welcome any more
What you tying to do, what do you really want from me
I don’t want to live like this no more, why don’t you go away

You come up to see me, you knock on my door
I don’t want you round here, any more
You’re up in the air girl, I’m down on ground
I don’t want to be here, I don’t want you around
I don’t want to live like this no more, why don’t you go away

You’re up in the air girl, I’m down on ground
You better come down now, stop messing around
I don’t want to do this no more, don’t want to be here anymore
I don’t want to live like this more, why don’t you go away 

I tend to adlib the lyrics live and mix and match the lines as they come to me.



Hold On
Late 2011/early 2012. This started out from a Jam at rehearsals and has just grow and grown. The chorus went through a number of variations until we settled on the final version. The whole song (15 minutes) is actually in 3 parts, Apathy, Remorse and Regret. Why did we do it? Who knows, but we just felt the song needed to be this long. (Fucking Hippies, as our good friend Wullie Pretsel calls us) Would we do something similar again, most probably, but not on the next album.

Part two, is the main section with the vocals. The intro chord section to this, was added once the basic verse and chorus were arranged. 

Part three, is an extended solo section that we decided we needed to do to finalise the song.

Part one, was then added after the first two parts were recorded. This was to give an introduction into the main part of the tune. I also used a finger picked acoustic guitar on this part, a first for us using acoustics. Will probably do more acoustic guitar in the mix from now on.

Again all of the lead sections were worked out in sections not just jammed.

When doing this one live we shrink it down to about 9 minutes (Fucking Hippies). We don't do the part 1 intro live.

When I think of how it used to be

When things were better for you and me
Feeling good was the order of the day
Nothing was going to get in the way

But look at us now, what have we become
Passing our time in a life that is numb
Strangers who meet without looking inside
Only just holding on tight to the ride


Can you remember when it was not so
What happened to make it all suddenly go
The emptiness of this thing we call life
Is closing around us and cuts like a knife

There has to be a solution to this
Pretending that there is nothing amiss
Foolishly letting the world pass us by
Not even trying to live up to our lie