CUT-BY-CUT WITH CHAD STOKES OF STATE RADIO

CUT-BY-CUT

WITH CHAD STOKES OF STATE RADIO

"Year of the Crow" …

The year of "true law in action”: the proletariat underdog coming up to reckon with the corrupt policy makers.

01. Guantanamo–This was written after reading countless reports about the detention center where many men who posed no threat to the U.S. were apprehended and tortured without a charge or a trial.  To make matters worse, some in Congress were trying to put a halt to some of the abuse and then Dick Cheney, with Bush by his side, publicly came out in favor of the torture.  The underbelly of the song also talks about Bush's grandfather, Prescott, robbing Geronimo's grave so that new inductees of his Yale secret society could rub the great apache warrior's skull during initiation.  Total disrespect for human rights runs in the family.

02. Unfortunates–Inspired by the story of three teenagers in West Memphis, Arkansas who were convicted of murder on minimal evidence.

03. The Story of Benjamin Darling Part 1–A captain and his slave, Benjamin Darling, shipwreck off the coast of Maine wherein the slave saves the captain’s life.  To show his gratitude, the captain frees the slave.  Darling is the first black man to settle in Maine. I found this book when I was there in 1998 with “How’s Your News?” So I read his story and I found it really inspiring but I filed it away. Then, nine years later I was playing a chord progression and it brought back that story as if it had been waiting that entire time for the right music.

04. CIA--Written after reading, visiting and listening to countless atrocities aided and committed by the U.S. as a result of their warped agenda to keep South America a capitalist continent. The song itself is really a joy to play. When we played it in Cologne, Germany, there was this amazing crowd and they all knew it somehow. Everyone was on board and just screamed along with us.

05. Gang of Thieves–Halliburton and the casualties of the industrial military complex.

06. Fight No More–The story of Chief Joseph's surrender after miles and miles of retreat hoping to cross the Canadian border after promises and treaties were broken time after time.

07. Barn Storming—This is the story of a kid about to go to war and the party the town is throwing for the young soldiers who are leaving. This was fun, I got to play trombone on that one and some others. Our producer Tchad Blake was cool because I’m not that good at it. He loved the idea that if I played it twice and we tracked it, I sounded like a junior high marching band trombone section practicing.

08. Rash of Robberies–An old man grapples with his diminishing reality as he suffers from dementia.  His wife of 50 years, who is unrecognizable to him, sits by his side and reads old letters to him from their past.  In the end she's saying that it's alright he doesn't know her, while also accepting he is near death and letting him go. Wherever he goes, she is sure he will guide her there when it is her time.

09. Omar Bay–About an old friend of mine who I used to spend time with in New York.  He was homeless, slept in the subways in the wintertime and often (for $20) would give people free electricity by turning knobs in the tunnels underneath Manhattan.  He was a Vietnam vet who was dishonorably discharged after refusing to fight.  He used to pick numbers on taxicabs that coincided with years in his life and think about all the memories from that year until the next taxicab came along.  When I returned to New York after being away, he was gone. I asked his friend "Pops" where he went and he said he went into some church program and was up in the hills on some sort of retreat becoming a priest.

10. As With Gladness–Mother Nature regretting giving the earth to man.

11. Wicker Plane–A pilot crashes down in a city park in a wicker plane in the middle of a hurricane.  He is shunned by the locals, except for a little boy.  The boy helps him haul his plane to the roof deck of the skyscraper where he lives.  It is then up for interpretation whether the boy takes off in the plane by himself and perpetuates the cycle in becoming the pilot who subsequently crashes down somewhere else repeating the scenario or if the boy and the pilot take off together or..(the darker theme) that the pilot was imagined and the boy committed suicide off the building (lovely garden can mean the earth and sky or it can mean heaven).

12. Sudan – A song written from a kid's perspective in Darfur about his one wish.

13. Fall of the American Empire–It’s self-explanatory. At first, it appears to be an 11-minute finale, but the band actually buries a hidden track midway through it. “Sybil II” is the sequel to “Sybil I” from the band’s first album. It’s a tribute to our tour manager, who happens to be my long-time girlfriend, for being out on the road and encouraging me to keep playing music and for being a wonderful woman whom I love very much. That’s dedicated to her.

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