Waxing lyrical about content

With the release of Skeleton Crew's first album "Bring It On" less than a fortnight away, Graham shared some band insights recently on the hidden depths - or lack thereof - of the songs on the record:

ALL OR NOTHING
Some days in the Langar scout hut , where we used to practice, were pretty special. On this particular day we had nothing planned or even ready to start on. Rob wasn't around that day and the rest of us just hit on an idea whilst jamming that felt great and the song practically wrote itself in a very short time. Chris was fairly active and single back then (see Bring It On!) and he quickly penned the lyrics about his...erm...lifestyle. One of the few to be written by us whilst we were an actual functioning band and it pretty much ... became our mission statement-both musically and lyrically.

IF THIS IS IT
One of the songs that Chris opened our song writing sessions with long before the band remotely existed. Chris wrote most of the song on an acoustic guitar and the stabs in the music are a deliberate exaggeration of his playing style. He'd just gone through a particularly painful break up and this song was his goodbye note. Chris and I didnt want this song to be a true ballad however, and we had trouble turning it into a rock song. Eventually we found the right balance after what seemed like months of constant re-writes. One of the best vocal hooks we have!

MY LIFE MY RULES
Another of the original session songs. Chris was fairly p****d about how everyone was telling him what he should be doing differently. The original riffs were very Cult-esque but they gradually evolved once the band actually started playing the song (in fact only the original chord progressions remain the same now) The mad drums in the middle were originally my idea that became a drummer oneupmanship exercise as the time passed and drummers came and went. That is until Drew came along and finally made sense of the chaos!

HOW COME I'M NEVER AROUND
When Rob origially wrote the song he had the music plus the 1st and 3rd lines of the chorus. I fell in love with the song the instant I heard the demo. Its about manipulative exes - I had particular fun writing the lyrics for this one (especially the 2nd verse!!)
The obvious first single the second it was finished How Come was recorded long before it was ever played live and was also the last song to be written for the album.btw: See if you can hear the moment that i fell over whilst soloing (i had a torn LCL in my knee) and carried on-it IS on the record. oh, how the others did laugh!

I KNOW YOUR NAME
i originally wrote the music for this extremely late one night whilst Rob and i were still in KickBack. i love the slower heavier feel to the song and i re wrote the lyrics when Skeleton Crew was formed. Written a few years after the fact the song represents the total anger and upset that , rightly or wrongly, I felt about the people and actions I perceived to be responsible for the untimely death of one of my closest friends...and is my personal message to "them".The idea for the incredible intro drums were one of Drews first contributions to the band shortly after he joined us. One of the few songs we currently have that give Rob a chance to play with his organ ;)

BRING IT ON
About a year into the songwriting sessions Chris and I actually had a praticing version of the band. Our good friend Tony Garrett , who actually gave Skeleton Crew it's name, was helping out on drums and he'd brought Steve into the fold. Rob joined us on occasions and there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. This was when the song Bring It On was written and it's a raise your fist (steady now!) salute to the "values" of 80's rock. Chris actually wrote the lyrics based on his typical saturday nights out in Nottingham...or what he can remember of them. It became our early rally cry and was the obvious title for the album itself from day one

TEMPTING FATE
I think I was listening to alot of early Crue at the time and the main riff seems to confirm this!! I also wanted to put a huge harmonised solo into a song and this was the perfect opportunity. The song is about people's total slavery to whatever it says in their daily horrorscope. Unfortunately i know many like this and i wanted to have a little fun at their expense (btw I do have 3 kids and a red car that i suppose was probably nice a decade or so ago!) The hamonised chorus has given us all a sleepless night or two as we figure out what each of us should sing and where but we're finally happy with it now...aren't we guys!...guys?

DRIVING ME CRAZY
The first song written by us after Drew joined the band and, like All Or Nothing, was the result of a good night down the "hut" (but this time Rob was around-he wrote the chorus) It started out as a fairly heavy angry riff of mine that everyone jumped on. Before long it was done. It's a fave to play for all the band but I myself have never made total sense of the lyrics...but i think that's the point!

SOUL
i remember Rob having a few riffs that i thought were in the wrong order and once jigged around a little became the basis for the music in Soul. Hailing from the time when Tony was drumming it was pretty much Rob's baby apart from the odd bit of musical sticking tape by me. It's a very thoughtful song that people always love when they first hear it but love more once they know the lyrics. The out solo is a little homage to Bang Tango, a band that we all saw many times at Nottingham's Rock-City in the 90's. A song that truly shows off the entire bands singing ability it also happens to be the song we usually song check with as it has a little bit of everything.

WORLD TURNS UPSIDE DOWN
By most standards I'd been through a pretty rough time in almost every aspect of my life and once everything had eventually settled down i was delighted to find out that i had come out relatively okay and had only gone slightly mad. The song is very "up" , almost punky in feel and represents the "NA NA NANA NA - CANT CATCH ME!" attitude that I had developed. This song was the first complete song that i wrote for Skeleton Crew. if you notice, the key for the first chorus' are different to the ones at the end. World is the perfect song to end the album with a bang!