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This Affliction – lyrics

As I woke up, with lights upon me and strange instruments shaking over me, what happened to the car I was in and a, where is my brother?
They said to me as I was shaking “you need to stay down, this operations not finished yet,” but my senses told me otherwise…lies

And it’s a strange affliction in my head. Ahh, start the engine I need to prepare,
Out there somewhere, he is lying, out there somewhere Freedom in dying

So I ran for my life into the mountains, my car and the night, seeking wonders
The knock to my head got me thinking of what I should have done.
The Moon wanted in, so I let her, and we travelled to the worlds end where I
Cast myself into the arms of infinity! Yeeah!

And it’s a strange affliction in my head. Ahh, start the engine I need to prepare,
Out there somewhere, he is lying, out there somewhere Freedom is dying

Doh in dat doh, in dat doh, hey
Do in dat doh, in dat doh, hey!…

And it’s a strange affliction in my head. Ahh, start the engine I need to prepare,
Out there somewhere, he is lying, out there somewhere Freedom is dying

Check out the story behind the song if you wish.

This Affliction

LYRICS

This Affliction has always been a favourite song of mine I think mainly because the lyrics pretty much revolve around a story. I enjoyed classical studies at school and have always had a healthy fascination with mythology of many cultures, and so it made sense for me to incorporate some of this into songs.

I based this around modern themes with twists that could refer to mythology, yet without actually using any known stories – in shorter words I made up my own. The song is pretty straight forward in terms of the story, as you will be able to read below.

Lyrically, I introduced three main ideas. The first; that the brother of the character singing was Freedom, not just in name but in reality. It twists the fabric of the story and makes rises it above simple human problems and also creates the question; if his brother is Freedom then who is he? I never really expected people to pick up on lyrical subtleties in the songs but always incorporated them for my own enjoyment.

The second; was the line ‘the moon wanted in so I let her’. Asian mythology has hundreds of tales about the moon, as I imagine every culture does. It is as symbolic as the sun yet surrounded by more mystery. I wanted to emulate some of these stories by giving the moon a gender and desires, hence the line.

Thirdly: ‘we travelled to the world’s end where I cast myself into the arms of infinity.’ I do not really even know where this line came from but is has been my favourite ever since I wrote. They words inspire some beautiful imagery for me that I guess just meld with my personality and again, with my love for mythology.

DEVELOPMENT

Musically this song came around quite quickly and for a time was one of our favourites to play live. The whole arrangement is pretty much based around rhythms. The verses hitting the patterns of three with a half-time feel, while the chorus hits a quarter-note beat with four kicks and crashing cymbals.
The energy of it was simple, especially the chorus where we just went for the straightest, kick-ass, full guitar and drums sound. Even structurally the song was simple, hitting the four chord pattern repeatedly. I do not think the simplicity of the music was a weakness of it but part of its strength.
One of the main icons for this song is the bridge part where we pulled the energy back and let it simmer, before rocking with a semi-funky rock-out leading back to the chorus.
This song resonated with us really well because both tom and I were really set on blackboypeaches being a rock band and so the drive of the song was in the cranked guitars and raw energy.

INFLUENCE

At the time I wrote this song I was in admiration of Paramore’s (early music) ability to bring an interesting change almost without fail in every song. As such I was determined to introduce a timing change to the band and the ¾ timing worked really well with the chords I had already for the song.
I also had re-discovered The Mars Volta album ‘deloused in the conitarium’ (I’m sure that is spelt wrong, maybe it’s a foreign word???? EDIT: ‘De-Loused in the Comatorium’) and was impressed by the attitude to their songs. I’m not sure if this influenced the song, but I know I listened to it about the same time.

Check out the lyrics to this song if you like.

Skyward – lyrics

Look, look behind you, there’s a miracle happening in the clouds,
Look, look behind you, there’s a shadow on your every move.
And I have been pushed skyward, with only the lights guiding me,
And I sent a messenger, but he could not seem to keep up with you.
And everything is happening to you, and everything is happening to you…

It’s beautiful up here, and I, and I (I feel I’m a pushing up skyward)
And it’s beautiful up here, and I, I yeeah

In this wartime, it’s harder to explain what love is, you see its not as simple as before
And this harlem of fiery lights, they besiege me, but girl my mind is far, far away

And everything is happening to you, and everything is happening to you…

It’s beautiful up here, and I, and I (I feel I’m a pushing up skyward)
And it’s beautiful up here, and I, I yeeah

Breaking is not winning, living is not laughing, but together we’ll fight these tears
Holy is not human, history is not moving but together we’ll make a start

It’s beautiful up here! And I, and I (I feel I’m a pushing up skyward)
And it’s beautiful up here! And I, I yeeah!

Check out the story behind the song if you wish.

Skyward

LYRICS

One of the most epic movies I have seen was called ‘Pearl Harbour’, a war story about when the Japanese bombed and destroyed most of the American naval fleet in the space of a morning. It’s got heroism, romance, action – pretty much everything. It reminded me of a book I read when I was younger called ‘Good Night Mr. Tom’ which was also based around wartime when London was being bombed.

All of the imagery and lyrical content was based these two stories and the dogfights that became glorified throughout the English and American air force. More than anything I wrote the words of this song with the colour blue in my head. I don’t usually base my lyrics around colours but when something is in your head…

The words were written to inspire thoughts of epic battles in the clouds above the remnants of cities, but not meant to be dark – rather catching the beauty of being in the air with the power of a plane in your hands. Haha, I don’t know if it actually is like this, but it’s what I think of.

DEVELOPMENT

It was an interesting way that the song came around. I was just jamming on the guitar, making up chords and figuring out progressions that kind of built tension, and came across a scale in A that seemed to just appeal to my ear. And with it quickly came the synth riff, which at that stage I was just singing in falsetto.

We jammed the song for a bit but were already starting to record some things so whacked it down on Tracktion (the recording software we used at the time). By then we were well familiar with using the synth to crank into a huge sound and so figured out the riff I had been singing with the guitar pattern. It worked instantly, so well in fact that it became the chorus of the song, no words, just the hugeness of an instrumental.

With the drums I had already envisioned something that was pounding and really driving the whole song and so came the punk/bass slammed drum beat which hardly ever faltered. The change in the dynamics of the song came when a friend of ours who was listening to our demo recording said he thought the chorus should have words. So I put words in. Later the idea to add a second vocal track to the chorus came along. Skyward has proved to be one of our most epic songs to date.

INFLUENCE

One of the reasons we added a double vocal in the chorus was because of a track I had heard by MUSE. Muse had always inspired me by the endless and near flawless backing vocals by the bass player and after hearing ‘Super Massive Blackhole’ where the band layers vocals so well I was inspired to try it more often. Skyward’s chorus proved a great circumstance for this. Thank you MUSE.

Check out the lyrics to this song if you like.

Mystery – lyrics

Is this an interrupting time to tell you, I’m not satisfied?
Is this an interrupting moment to mention, I’m not qualified?
It’s not like the problems ever go away, I’ve got enough fish in my bowl.
It’s not that I actually need your love I got Yahweh inside my soul.

But it’s because you’re like a thunderbolt, thunderbolt I tell you girl
In this mystery find a sanctuary, you and I got time upon our hands.
And this is laser lit, razor-light and cutting girl, plans of what we lost in the deepness
But you and I got time upon our hands, yeah.

Now that you understand my position of mind you seem a lot more in control of yourself
Your looking independent, in your own world, run parallel to me girl
Holding back is not what I want and cautions overdone,
With eyes that burn like the London fires, you only captivate my will.

But it’s because you’re like a thunderbolt, thunderbolt I tell you girl
In this mystery find a sanctuary, you and I got time upon our hands.
And this is laser lit, razor-light and cutting girl, plans of what we lost in the deepness
But you and I got time upon our hands, yeah.

Check out the story behind the song if you wish.

Mystery

LYRICS

The lyrics came about during a romance of mine (one that has been very successful and has led to marriage) and was kindled by all of the turbulent and interesting things that a relationship makes you think of. Some of the words seemed to hinge on a relationship based around two people not knowing each other as well as they thought they did, and the conflict and resolution that came from that.

In terms of imagery I always thought of hospitals and doctors, which then led onto thinking about ‘Scrubs’ which in turn made the whole song seem less serious.

DEVELOPMENT

The development of the song definitely came before the lyrics for Mystery. It was at this point blackboypeaches was just forming and Tom and I were starting to knock ideas and songs around. I remember clearly being at my parent’s house and unearthing an old, beat-up behringer guitar I had borrowed off my friend and then forgotten about. I plugged it into my little 10watt Marshall practice amp I bought when I was 15 and starting mucking around. For some reason the riff we use for Mystery was all I played for the next two hours. I thought it was kind of cool but a little bit jazzy so I never really thought it would work.

Just for fun we kind of jammed it out at band practice and I remember Jackson Rodeka (our drummer at the time) being really baffled about how to play it. In the end Tom suggested just slamming it with a straight kick pattern and it started working.

The funny thing was that we had started recording the ‘Slasher EP’ already and Mystery was recorded on a whim. Tom and I after that spent the hours in front of the computer discussing the arrangement and figuring out instrumentation. In the end it worked but it is never an ideal way to create a song.
Get a band – Haha, I should listen to my own advice.

The way I produced the vocals for the song was trying to be quite raw and in your face. I’m not sure if I succeeded in this but I remember being pleased with the first few lines of the song (still not being much of a vocalist at this point) and how they kind of just stomped their way out

INFLUENCE

There was a band that had a one-hit-wonder called ‘California’ which was the theme song for the OC, I think the band was called Razorlight. Anyway I loved the name of the band and the way the words intonated sharpness and brilliance, hence the use of the word in the chorus.

The other band that was fully dominating my interest at the time was FamilyForce5, who are an epic ‘crunk-rock’ band that function on both the dance scene and the contemporary metal scene. They had a song called ‘Lose Yourself’ which although wasn’t their greatest song just seemed to hit a note with me. One of the lines in this song was ‘in your own world’ which seemed both funny (in my sense of humour) and deceptively perceptive about people. The line also seemed to fit with my themes and so thank you FF5.

The last contributing factor was from a book I read by Terry Pratchet called ‘Going Postal’. A hugely clever and talented writer. A small part in the book was about a ‘Golem’ which was a creature made from Everlasting Clay with the Eternal Fire put inside, so they could never die. The one that featured in this book tells the main character at one point that he spent 900 years stuck under a sunken ship at the bottom of the sea, lost in the deepness, where the most interesting thing that happened the whole time was the appearance of an anchor. The words and images that ‘lost in the deepness’ stirred in me were pretty awesome, so I used them for the chorus.

Check out the lyrics to this song if you like.

Sound Of It – lyrics

There is an angle, angle I’m coming from can you, oh, see what I’ve become?
I’m fishing for something much deeper in the water, water.
Look at your make up, make up, It’s running like an inkpot, inkpot,
Probably because there’s water covering us from the heavens, ooh-oh-oh

You know that he said she said the world would try and stop us,
You that he said she said the distance was unrighteous.

Whatever they take from me I’ll keep on running, whatever they take from you just keeping on fighting, I’m heading for home to complete the fairytale story.
Whatever they take from me I’ll keep on running, whatever they take from you just keeping on fighting, I’m heading for home to complete the fairytale story.

Whatever distance they put between us, they will follow they will swallow us whole and the skies aren’t safe anymore. Shotgun, hit the pedal feel the tyres screech, and we’re on the road again,
But it’s never enough it has never been the same since the rumour..

You know that he said she said the world would try and stop us,
You that he said she said the distance was unrighteous.

Whatever they take from me I’ll keep on running, whatever they take from you just keeping on fighting, I’m heading for home to complete the fairytale story.
Whatever they take from me I’ll keep on running, whatever they take from you just keeping on fighting, I’m heading for home to complete the fairytale story.

With a thousand lies and a miracle we’ll reach the stars
With a hundred hands to hold us we’ll keep our sights…

Check out the story behind the song if you wish.

Sound Of It

The lyrics for this song are about decisions and defiance, and keeping ‘the dream’ alive – which to stay sane, and have a fulfilling and exciting life is critical. The song is based around a young couple in love who begin to run away when people try to interfere in their life, but who can’t seem to escape far enough – and what they’re running from always seems to catch up.

A lot of the imagery in this song relates to driving through huge landscapes, canyons, plains bordered by mountains, and deserts. The sky is a large part of these images also; It’s vastness, its ability to change quickly, and its diversity, are reasons for this. Mainly, I wanted to express the idea that the night sky and the stars are the last undiscovered platform on earth. In the stars the characters have found a sense of freedom that couldn’t be found anywhere else.

DEVELOPMENT

The song came together quickly, both with its sense of rhythm and vibe. One of the defining aspects of the song was the rhythm in the pre-chorus which became a half-time jam mixing back and forth. The lyrics for that part also ‘you know that he said she said…” were a line from a ‘switchfoot’ song that really stood out to me. It kind of implicated rumours and half-truths which seemed to fit well with the relationship edge of the song.

The drums are kind of set to a good groove, which meant the rhythm guitar and bass could simplify out for the verses, but what actually happened was the our bass player at the time (Adam Murray) jumped in with a bouncy chord pattern, which then became emphasised by the lead guitar.

At this time we had started using synthesizers in our songs ‘Slasher’ and also ‘I Am Looking Forward’, so it was a natural progression to bring it in for an epic intro and bridge, linking the sound of the synth with the mystery and imagery of the stars/space theme.

Even with the use of the synth we have often been keen to stick with the classic rock set; drums, bass, double guitars for the driving sound which you can hear in the chorus of this song, hitting the punk edge a little before coming back to the groove.

INFLUENCE

‘The Killers’ have been an inspiration throughout Black Boy Peaches’ existence and I have really enjoy a lot of the imagery in Brandon Flowers lyrics. Although they are generally a little more ‘homecoming queen and American dream’ kind of fairytale line, their video clip for ‘When You Were Young’ inspired a lot of imagery for me.
Also the UFO song by ‘Sneaky Sound System’ was good for the alternative/spacey side of the song.
Feel free to check both of those out and it might give you a deeper gauge of The Sound Of It.

Check out the lyrics to this song if you like.

I Am Looking Forward – lyrics

Time is slipping away, life is on a broadway, a gift that can’t be saved a love that won’t be braved
Deception running deeper, my pain ticks like a meter, my mind is far away oh time and time again
 
I know my problem, you know it’s not that this love cannot be saved, oh time and time again
 
I am looking forward and running deep into the night I’m running
The party’s in the street but the will is in my feet, oh
I am looking forward and running, love is pumping through my bloodstream
Wide eyed in the moonlight, the rhythm of a heartache
 
I cannot find the light switch though I’m searching my apartment
Would you please turn of the car you know I won’t come out that far
Motion to the beat, the party’s spilled into the street and no I won’t come dance with you, Oh
 
I know my problem, you know it’s not that this love cannot be saved, oh time and time again
 
I am looking forward and running deep into the night I’m running
The party’s in the street but the will is in my feet, oh
I am looking forward and running, love is pumping through my bloodstream
Wide eyed in the moonlight, the rhythm of a heartache
 
Sometimes I will be strong sometimes I will shut down, sometimes I think of time and how it got away,
She’s out to dance while I rest upon exhaustion, only this running, man, is keeping her at bay

Check out the story behind the song if you wish.

I Am Looking Forward

LYRICS

I actually wrote this song when I was about 16, and I revisited it when blackboypeaches started at the beginning of 2009. It was still bitsy then, and the chorus was something I added later on. It’s funny when I look back at the lyrics of the verses because I can definitely see the younger influence on the words that were written.

From the recent additions to the song (i.e. the chorus’s, bridge, V.2) the theme I followed was of a younger guy who was naturally introverted and not very outgoing being pursued by a girl that was quite the opposite. A clash of interest and personalities that creates, in a way, the tension of a young relationship.

I have always really enjoyed the idea and the symbolism of ‘running’. It is something that is both about strength and weakness, a tool for escape and for well being. In this case I used it mainly for the escaping/fleeing from something that both emotionally and socially frightens the character in the song.

The other imagery of this song that I was always stoked about was the line ‘deep into the night, I’m running’. The depths of the night for me really stands out as holding both mystery and terror, darkness being a fear for a lot of people, but also another escape. These words always remind me of Shakespeare’s ‘a midsummer night’s dream’ and the Gaelic and Celtic mythology of the fairie world and the existence of creatures outside of the human realm.

DEVELOPMENT

It was a tricky song to put together musically as the chorus and verses are quite different not only in tempo but in energy. We ended up gluing the song together with a almost horn-like synth sound which in the end really gave it a cool synth pop feel and led to the easy jam feel of the verses.

During practice sessions the song always revolved around the chorus and the up tempo punk feel and we played it faster than when we recorded it.

When we came to recording it we slowly realized the energy didn’t need to be in the speed but in the general fullness of the sound.

I remember clearly my brother Tom, who was the genius who played the synth and lead guitar (and now is playing the drums), telling me that on his way back home, walking down North East Valley in Dunedin, he started writing a lead guitar part for the chorus of the song.

In the end it gave the chorus more energy than the tempo had and with that and some energetic vocals the whole song seemed to come together.

INFLUENCE

I am unsure whether there was any influence from outside music during the creation of ‘I Am Looking Forward’ as it was a heady mix of old mixing with new, planned stops and synth competing with electric guitars. In some ways I guess it is similar to bands like ‘the killers’ and anyone could argue that it sounded like so and so but I think it has always been a remarkably original song.

Check out the lyrics to this song if you like.