Track By Tracks: Chmcl Str8jckt - WRTCHD THNGS (2019)

1. WRTCHD THNGS:

The opening track is a spoken word poem...kinda a “welcome” to the experience! We had our good friend Steve Thomas Greene read it. We love hearing his British voice on his radio show, Ghost Wave Radio. He did a great job! I added myself shrieking in a high pitch behind him and we are off! We like how many of the overly indulgent 80’s albums start this way, “Number Of The Beast” “Shout At The Devil”etc. So we did it!

2. Ode To Peckinpah (Bloody Sam):

We wrote this one after I had read the biography of Sam Peckinpah. He was a director of American western movies back in the 60’s and 70’s. I find both him and his films to be fascinating! His films were ultra violent and western-gothic for the time. I love the imagery! Sam himself was a bit of a mess like most geniuses. He drank too much….hit his actors...etc.

3. The Only Thing That’s Real:

This is just a fantasy story of fiction loosely based on a Conan the Barbarian type character. I wrote the lyrics while riding my motorcycle with Ian one day. Mike separately sent me the guitar riffs and they just fit together as if we wrote it that way! It’s kind of a follow-up to “Dressed To Kill” from our debut. In “Dressed To Kill” the character is watching….stalking. In this one, he takes control.

4. Cut Deep:

This song is a rewrite of a track that didn’t make the debut! It’s basically the thoughts of a violent, twisted patient in a mental hospital...biding his time to get out and reunite with his circular saw!

5. Baphomet:

The opening line tells it all “A hero of the Templar...an idol old and true” This is the story of the relationship between the Church and the Knights Templar...and how Baphomet was used to destroy the Templars in a power play by the Church.

6. Fantasy:

A cover of an Aldo Nova track from 1981 or 1982. This cover that we were messing around with (and didn’t intend to include on the album!) really caught John Bechdel’s attention and helped us to secure him as our producer!

7. Cactus:

Two covers in a row?!?!? Yep! We always loved this Pixies song. So twisted and dark AND has that western vibe that is part of us.

8. Love:

We expect some blow back from this track but we couldn’t give a shit! I can already hear the cries of “that’s not industrial!” Ha ha! Mike played me this guitar riff one day, warning me “this isn’t Str8jckt stye...we won’t use it...I just like it” It gave me the chills….I loved it. I wanted to write a song around that guitar riff and we did! Kinda a gothic love song. I crafted the words while thinking of my wife. It’s very “Helen Of Troy” really. We took the album title from this track which has the repeating line “We men are wretched things.”

9. Bomb Cyclone:

A groovy, grungy, industrial stripper song! It’s about a woman letting loose...really going off like a bomb cyclone! Taking down the room and kicking ass! Mike’s got some sick riffs on this one!

10. Black Vulture:

Our LONG track! Ha ha! We called in a friend who plays organ at his church (how perfect, right?) to lay down a cool intro and outro. It’s got a sick time change where it jumps from 100 bpm to 170bpm, then back again! I always loved songs with unique “sections” in the vein of classic rock bands like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin so we wrote one. Black Vulture is a brand of vodka made by the Milk Street Distillery right in my home town of Branchville, NJ. The distillery and the vodka play in integral part in the story! If you go there, order yourself a Chmcl Str8jckt…..it’s on the menu and delicious!

11. Meat Hook:

We end it all with an industrial punk track! We took you thru the apocalypse….we grooved to “Bomb Cyclone”....we made the long journey thru “Black Vulture”. Now we kick over the drums, smash the guitar and throw the mic. It’s literally a song about being impaled on a meat hook and being visited by “Black Phillip”...the goat who ventures forth scouting for Hell.