Crash Transit: 'Are We There Yet?' Album of Misfit Toys...
Crash Transit: Are We There Yet? The Album of Misfit Toys…
So, the new album – isn’t actually a “new album”. Instead, it’s like the opposite of a “greatest hits” record; in the way that most of the songs are orphans and oddballs. Homeless songs that didn’t play well with others or were displaced or ‘shelved’. The forgotten ones from broken homes (broken bands). Half-written ideas that never had a place until you realized that your ‘junk drawer’ is your favorite drawer, and all the stuff you threw in there is the stuff you like!
Case in point: I wrote ‘Tell Me in the Morning’ (which is probably the hardest/heaviest tune on the record) while playing with a Funk band… yeah…too hard; not a good fit. But a little while later I brought it to a Rock band I’d joined and was told ‘it was too soft’…. (twitch)
‘Hole in the Head’ (super-dark lyrics) was conceived while playing with a “fun-loving Party band”… that didn’t fly…
‘Whiskey Bar’ (super-fun lyrics) was written after the “fun-loving Party band” was kaput - and so it was homeless…
“11:11” began while working with a King Crimson Tribute band… (wtf???) #Harold
‘Man in a Cage’ was written for “Shark Week”- because I’m a nerd and love sharks and “Jaws” and “Deep Blue Sea” – The thing is: the tune is kind’a Bad Ass, but it comes from an embarrassingly L7 (aka: square) place…
‘Killer’ was written in my Brother’s car (he actually wrote the last verse after I passed out and has never claimed copyrights…). Our bad poetry got shoved in a glove compartment and didn’t surface for years (only to be shoved BACK in a glove compartment…til now…)
‘Gone Fishing’ was a Status Joe tune that was a tribute to my Father, who used to take me fishing every month… at the same time of the month… rain/shine/freezing cold/blazing sun… to get away from my Mother… for reasons I would never understand until I was an adult… (Thanx Dad… scarred for life…lol)
And the words to ‘Keepers of the Water’ (arguably the best lyrics on the album) were literally written while I was asleep. Sleep-Walking/Writing. If my sister Nicki Richards hadn’t been staying at my house that night, I would have had no recollection that I had gotten up and started writing! (lyrics by: ‘The Spirit of the Native People’… true story) Pete and Nicki did a fantastic job deciphering my spiral scribbles and putting them to music.
The whole album is a mish-mosh of funny/ironic stories and happy accidents, but hell, that’s why it’s called CRASH Transit and not Nice Transit or Smart Transit or something…
But it’s also the best thing that I’ve ever worked on and I’m proud to be a part of it.
Stay Tuned… Crash Transit (Nice Transit? Pretty Transit?) Comin’ At’cha. -phil