This song was inspired by my lack of having health insurance in the “greatest” and “richest” country in the world. I heard so many stories in school growing up of American dominance and we still haven’t gotten it together to take care of our citizens. The message: if you don’t support “the bottom line” mentality of capitalism with income level being the barometer of success regardless of the moral implications, you are worthless in this society. Work the right kind of job, which keeps our economy moving, while you become an indentured servant and we’ll give you visit to the doctor.

LRM was my reaction to 9-11. I watched that day from my rooftop in Brooklyn and somehow knew the towers would fall before they did. The song starts with the feeling of ones home being attacked and ends with the predictable American response of cashing in on a war opportunity. It was also a reaction to what felt like the rest of the countries completely different reaction than what I felt in New York City. The incredibly deep bonding that New Yorkers were experiencing was one of the only positive things to come out of the tragedy.

This song came from a strange tuning I came up with: open f#minor! The pretty part was mine and Tobias came up with the heavy chorus. The lyric is a metaphorical slap in ones own face, get out of the funk and recharge your batteries. To own who you are, value yourself and cherish your unique signature in this world. It came out of something a close friend told me once; “Care about other peoples judgments and you become their prisoner.”

Although the lyric appears to be a relationship story, it’s really about my relationship with myself. At the time Speed Of Life was on hiatus and I was playing guitar in two other bands that were spearheaded by others. I missed working on my own creative process and felt the connection to my art being lost. The song was a loud calling from within for me to gain a stronger commitment to my music, my voice and my art. It remains one of my favorite songs I’ve written and feels very personal to me every time I sing it.

The lines “A holy war is how it looks, hit by God’s left hand crooks, all the way from Rome to Pakistan” came one month before 9-11. I was psychically sensing something while taking a class in Tower 1 once almost every week for the previous 9 months. I could feel it in the lobby, and I wrote about it through the American eye capitalizing in every way and on every level on even a most horrific tragedy. The middle drum and bass section juxtaposes a reading of the Koran with the reading of an American family’s experience that day.

An illusion I was asking to disappear. The illusion that I am alone, am not being helped or cared for and that I don’t need anyone. I was longing for connection but wasn’t finding it. The song was an attempt to allow myself to be intimate with others without allowing my insecurities and judgments to get in the way.

A conversation with a close friend inspired this song. Another look at consumerism and emptiness in our culture. People watching even in NYC was beginning to feel like seeing empty vessels being directed into “mega” stores while ignoring their souls calling. “America; brought to you by China” was our punch line in the conversation, a new billboard idea. Selling the one thing that remains young, is “taboo” and never dies; sex...

A metaphor; the child being a sponge that receives 2 soakings, one from each parent. The lyric was in response to a relationship I was in with a young girl who had a hard time taking in love. I saw the difficulty as stemming from her family dynamic and I was trying to break through her defenses.

This song was the first Speed Of Life song we wrote together. The lyric is about Vieques, Puerto Rico and the American military’s relocation of its inhabitants, occupation and subsequent bomb testing. It was a hot button topic at the time; Al Sharpton had been doing prison time for cutting through a fence in protest. Cancer rates were high and the people were ready to have their land back. I actually went down there to research the situation and set up a fundraiser in NY. I got back Sept 6th 2001, and after Sept 11th it wasn’t too easy to get a fundraiser for anything else. The good news is the military has since left.

This version features an acoustic remix at the beginning and the full drum and bass jam we used to play live at the end of the song. All of the jam was improvised and done at separate times. Definitely a fun journey....