Hangnail Phillips: Lead Vocals, Guitars, Saxes, Organ, Bass, Drums, Moog Synthesizer, Sound Effects, Fox News Reports April 2004
Monika Bullette: Crowd Vocals
The Elktones (Tom, Jax, Ken, & Jeff): Crowd Vocals
All through his’try been turned and twisted.
Been shot down, turned around, crumpled, and torn.
Up from the ape man, standin’ like a real man.
Civilized, modernized, organized crime.
All I hear is this and that, spoken like a diplomat.
It’s nick knack paddywack give a dog a bone.
In through the out door, doesn’t matter anymore.
Upside, downside, over, and through.
With the swing of the balance came the change of power.
The shift of the threat to keep the piece in check.
Can’t afford liquor and the food’s all gone.
The party’s over everybody’s gone home.
My way, your way, who can see a better way
You can’t fight religion with your own beliefs
Spoon fed hatred, be a hero when you’re dead
Slip bang truck bomb virgins in the sky
Hangnail Phillips: Vocals, MIDI Synth, Drum Machine, Samples, Drums, Guitar, Zills
We hold our thoughts in little boxes
Bound by restraints that we create
Release the chains that bind your freedom
And let the box evaporate.
You live in fear, it holds you hostage
You are afraid of someone else
You put up bars for your protection
You are the prisoner of yourself
I hold your hand and I feel nothing
’cause there is nothing there to feel
You hold my hand and you feel nothing
You don’t believe that love is real
We hold our thoughts in little boxes
You only have to do the math
You draw conclusions from assumptions
Which lead you down a crooked path
Hangnail Phillips: Lead vocal, Gibson SG & Rickenbacker 360-12 guitars through a Vox Cambridge tube amp, Rickenbacker 4001 bass, digital drums played manually.
Written & Recorded on January 24th, proclaimed the most depressing day of the year.
Don’t let the apathy overcome you
Search for the spirit to drive on
And if you feel tired
Just get yourself wired
and pull yourself out.
Trudge through the murkiness of the morning
Make light the mundane tasks of the day
But when the sun goes down
You know I’ll be ’round for you
To brighten your way.
Hangnail Phillips: Vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, Vox Continental organ through Leslie tone cabinet, bass, & drums
Monika Bullette: Support Vocals
She can’t be bothered with settling down
When there’re so many from which to choose.
And if she never makes a choice
She knows that she can’t lose.
She keeps them all in separate rooms
And turns the lights down low.
She makes the rounds and tells them some
But there’s only so much she can let them know.
And when she finds the fun is gone
From what their emotions bring,
She just walks in, flips on the light
And leaves them hangin’ on a string.
She can’t be idle with time on her hands
’cause that gets too complex.
She keeps the months all scheduled out
No time for her to reflect.
All the things she lives and breathes
Leave her no room for love.
There are so many hands to shake
But her fingers stay in the glove.
I guess I’m thankful to be penciled in
But never feel the sting.
No, she’ll never see this heart of mine
Hangin’ on a string
Solo
Well I’m not like all those other guys
’cause my head’s not in the sand.
And one day she’ll see that I’m a beacon in the night
And head to me like land.
Hangnail Phillips: Vocals, Rickenbacker 360-12 String & Gibson SG Standard Guitars, Rickenbacker 4001 Bass, Vox Continental Organ through Vox Royal Gaurdsman Amp & Leslie Cabinet, Lab Series L5 Amp, Line 6 Spider Amp (solo), Ludwig 1964 Marble Swirl 4 Piece Drum Set
Every so once in a lifetime
There’s a love that really works out
But I’ve had my share
Of nothing there
Just a neon “Vacancy” lamp
Struggling to reach my potential
With darkness in my arms
And without her there
I’ve only half a prayer
To make it in this world
And I don’t know what to do
I don’t know what to do about it
I don’t know what to do except try to see it through
Only straight ahead with nothing left behind
Don’t ask me where I’m going ’cause I’m driving blind
But what I want
And where it’s not
Get clearer all the time
I have to ask myself, “Where’s the final bend?”
Hey…”When did it begin?”
“And hasn’t getting there been real?”
Solo
Well someday it’s just gonna snap
And who knows where the pieces will fall
When the only care
For the bread we shared
Is a feather in the throat
And I don’t know what to do about it
I don’t know what to do except try to see it
I don’t know what to do
I don’t know what to do
Hangnail Phillips: Vocals, Guitars, Vox Continental Organ through Leslie, Baritone, Tenor & C-MelodySaxes, Bass, & Drums
Up on stage she stares into space,
She sings for your heart never looking in your face.
She’s cool and she moves with amazing grace,
The crowd transfixed on her black suited shape.
Jacque once said she was scared of her,
But she never saw her in that angora sweater.
Went to the opera looking too good to be true
She wore a leopard skin coat and her high heeled shoes.
When we walked into the lobby everybody ahhed & oooed
But she was busy thinking ’bout the Gypsy Wagon news.
I was thinking that she couldn’t look much better
But I hadn’t yet seen her in that angora sweater
The clouds in the sky are light as a feather
But nothing’s as soft as that angora sweater
Leave you standing in the middle of the road
Lost in the swirl of a comfort zone.
Went to the movies she was feeling kinda flat
She wore a red plaid jacket and an orange Flyers cap.
She didn’t want to be spotted so she sat real low
With her glasses on and a red stuffy nose.
The ticket taker thought she looked like Emily Litella
But he never saw her in that angora sweater
Beatin’ on the trap set, pretty as you please
Her long slim arms stickin’ out her T-shirt sleeves.
With her Princess posture sitting straight in her seat
Her hi-hat and her bass drum at the ends of her feet.
She’d wear and evening gown if Edward would let her
But she’d never wear her angora sweater.
Hangnail Phillips: Vocal, classical guitar, C-melody, tenor & baritone saxophones, clarinets, flutes, mandolin, synthesizer, & bass
Monika Bullette: Drums & Sand blocks
My darling Lillian
You are as sweet as your name
But you must be away from me
Oh lovely Lillian
I couldn’t bear to be
The bringer of restless death to you
I am a cursed collage of entropy
Sleeping where some have lain before
Its certain nature will not let me free
Lillian
Leave me be
Oh pretty Lillian
Loyalty is a virtue until you meet the likes of me
break
I thought I was immune to pain like this
Wrapped in the blue mist of midnight
But pain’s no match for your white purity
Lillian
Leave from me
My darlin’ Lillian
Some men are dogs; some men are wolves;
You’ll only know if you escape me
Hangnail Phillips: Vocals, acoustic twelve string guitar, clarinet, mandolin, & Synthesizer
Michele McCann: Penny Whistle
Sometimes the circle is so wide that you don’t realize that you’re in a circle.
Sometimes it takes so long to come back around
That you don’t recognize you’re on familiar ground.
And it goes on and on
The seasons change
The moment’s gone
But it’s still the same.
You can get turned around and lost in the woods,
No semblance of good to guide you.
The circle closes
You’re back from where you came
With nobody looking to find you
And you go on and on
And ’round and ’round
And you don’t stop ’til you hit the ground
Hangnail Phillips: Vocals, classical guitar, tenor saxophone, synthesizer
You’re standing in the dark
And I can’t see who you are
But I feel you in my heart
So I’m just here waiting for you
I can’t hear what you say
Your voice is far away
But I hear you in my mind
So I’m just here waiting for you
Hangnail Phillips: Lead Vocal, EKO Guitars tuned down to D, Gibson SG both through a Vox Cambridge tube amp, Rickenbacker 4001 Bass, Alto Recorder, Drums
Monika Bullette: Counter Vocals, Tambourine
I don’t know what it’s like to wake up as you
To see the world through the eyes that you do
But I can tell you, every choice that you make
Can lead you closer to a life that you hate
It all comes down to you
Do what you want to do
Be yourself and to yourself be true
Don’t want to hear it when the turns have gone wrong
Take two steps back, make a shift, and move on
And in the background are stranger things
Too many people trying to work your strings
It all comes down to you
Do what you want to do
Be yourself and to yourself be true
Hangnail Phillips: Vocals, Takamine acoustic guitar, A blues harp
Every time it Rains someone dies on the interstate.
Same old scenario a different pile of scrap.
Tractor trailer jack knifed killed a dozen people.
Men, women, children, babies, spread out over four lanes.
Every time it snows all the body men get richer.
Hi ho the dairy-o an escapade on ice.
People slip slidin’ in a crazy spinorama.
Lookin’ out the windshield at the trees goin’ sideways.
[last verse 07/18/02]
Everywhere I drive there’s somebody goin’ faster.
Can’t drive through me so he’s gotta go around.
Switchin’ back & forth, changin’ lanes like no tomorrow.
Breakneck daredevils get there at the same time
Hangnail Phillips: Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums
Monika Bullette: Support Vocals
Dave Bennett: Keyboards
Sometimes life is full of strange confusion
Especially when we listen to our hearts
But if you pay attention to your senses
I think you’ll find that’s when the heartaches start
When I stay, I get so angry, and there’s nothing I can do.
But when I leave, I get so lonely, lonely, lonely
I always end up coming back to you
Now I can’t say I’m happy when I’m with you
And I can’t say I’m happy when I’m not.
All I know is when I’ve been without you
I think of all the good things that we’ve got.
Solo
First verse
Chorus
You know I’ll always end up coming back to you
Hangnail Phillips: Gibson SG Guitar with E-bow through Lab Series L5. Moog Synthesizer, Zoom Pedal Drum Machine, Rickenbacker 4001 Bass with Fuzz Face, Phone Ring Sample.
Answering Machine: Sorry, I’m all tied up, and I can’t answer the telephone. Please leave a message.
Chuck Freeman: Hey, I just wanna say.. I wanna thank you for being my teacher, and, motherfucker just ’cause you lost your hair on top…you’re still a rock-n-roll motherfucker, you know what I mean? Hey this is Chuck, I know I sound rude and crude, I’m on the phone bein’ rude and probably…eh tied in with some religious people and you don’t wanna hear that. You know, when I was in Hawaii a long time ago all they were talkin’ about was Elvis out there. I said “Fuck Elvis Presley”. They heard me out there doing Beatle songs, you know, working out with vocals ’cause I was always doing music even as a kid, you know, I told you about that. And a, I uh, I didn’t lie. You know, because I found out I was related to the motherfucker uh both the motherfuckers down the line, some of them, you know I’m Irish anyway, right?
But you, I mean, you taught me and I learned from your stuff like, “Brainstorm”, like I did a song called “Biker Dude”, smokin’ dope from a tube, you know? Huh-huh, just joking, but I don’t smoke dope and neither do you, you know what I’m sayin’? But I just wanna say, hey, you know, when you hear about Elvis Presley it sounds like some Amish kid going “Elvis Presley Elvis Presley Elvis Presley Elvis”. You know why he grew his sideburns real long? So he could go down and suck a cock, you know what I mean, uh uh all night long, you know? He blends in, he’s camouflaged, he learned that in the Army, you know. Camouflaged his self on that cock, you know what I mean? ‘Cause he was phoney as shit that motherfucker they had on the screen, you know what I mean.
Like you, you never got the break there, I noticed how you were, you were good and you…I always wondered why you didn’t make it great. You just remember what Chuck Freeman said no matter whatever happens. You probably hate my guts and then, I don’t give a fuck. But you remember I liked your music and you taught me well. And you didn’t only teach me to play guitar, you remember I watched you in the studio and stuff. How you told me how to mix and you…and I read a little books about it, so hey, motherfucker, you should be proud of yourself.
Have a nice day, Motherfucker <click>
instrumental
When Nick DiMaria said that he would like to do remixes of some of the tracks from “Wit’s End,” I was flattered. Though it was not one that he had mentioned, I suggested he start with the one that didn’t actually make the CD. “Same Old Spray” was written and recorded in mid-January of 2005. It was quickly abandoned once it was finished. So I was thinking if Nick turned it inside-out with one of his amazing remixes, maybe then it would be worthy of release. With no input from me, he managed to select the few things I really liked about the recording and expound upon them. He also chose to use the only lyrics I liked:
Same Old Spray (Phillips) January 17, 2005
LISTEN
So it all worked out and I’m just fine
You’ve fallen down in there between the lines
I don’t even know if you’re livin’ or dyin’
Haven’t got a clue if you’re even tryin’
So just like it should be your fate’s with you
And nothing’s forever…
God help you…
And don’t piss ‘im off like nails on a chalkboard, wow.
Thanks Nick, I Love It! “Same Old Spray (Nick DiMaria Remix)” -Hangnail.
Nick DiMaria Explains:
glad to hear it. I like to make tracks that are a complete reworking of the original. I started just taking your tracks and juicing them up a bit with the same structure, but started to hear your growling voice and thought it would be good as a tribally-angry piece. And that’s how it wound up the way it did. I can go over specifics, but it wasn’t too extraordinary a task so it’s not much to avail.
essentially, I took the guitar rhythm. used it pretty much as is, but added a lot of digital saturation, then noticed it was sounding a bit eighties from the sound I gave it. So, I put it through some filters. It’s actually one of the sounds you hear throughout the track, but it’s so filtered that it sounds like a synth. This happens alot when I remix. I take the raw sound and pass it through effects to get the various sounds, but at the rhythms they were played with. Completely changes the feel of a track while maintaining its rhythms.
then, I took that floating guitar line, added delay and verbs to fatten it and make it a sailing type of line. I think it gives the track ‘length’ and continuity.
I did cheat and used some percussive loops…I played with the EQ, saturation, drive, filters, and placement in the audio field to get them sounding growly. I wanted it to be distorted like the original track. give it some guts. I didn’t saturate it too much b/c then it wouldn’t have any of the nice bass in the kick.
The vocals are passed through distortion, delays, filters, and a beat processor that arranges the percussive parts of the voice so that it’s rhythmic and a bit phonetically driven. I like the results b/c you can make out the idea of the vocal line without being hit over the head with the meaning. intentional masking of the content. makes it more relistenable b/c people can interpret it the way they want to.
I like the bass line. just took a stock bass, fattened it up and gated it some to make it enter and leave completely. sounds nice and tribal to me.
I took another of your vocals and passed it through an autopan, which also had a synth processor. gives the synthy stuff in the middle. give it a bit of a progressive house feel to keep it moving.
track just felt right as it formed. organic growth. the best kind.
Nick was the lead guitarist of the Newark band schroeder and has just released a freshly remastered CD on the grimmwerks label with cover art by Mighty Joe Castro. Get your copy here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/schroederpop – also read up on schroeder’s history here: Legends of Newark Rock: schroeder