Track By Tracks: Neanderthal - Rise (2023)

1. Destination Paradise:

This was penned by former guitarist Jonathan Stokes, it deals with the radicalization of young people into terrorist groups, written from the point of view of suicide bombers from different events in history.

2. A simple God Complex:

A cautionary tale of sorts, this song deals with trying to reconcile the suffering and struggles in life against the notion that some people believe that it isn’t random and there’s a higher purpose to it all.

3. Rise:

Another song written by a former band member, Adam Loveridge, this is a song that deals with the subject of rebellion and serves as a call to arms.

4. Are We Winning?:

This is a bit of an analytical piece dealing with the current climate of social media and how success is measured by “tweets” and “likes”, not really knowing what the motivation for them is. Do the people who “like” you actually like you? What is the goal at the end of all this frenzied competition for attention?

5. The Death of all emotion:

This song is about that person you give a chance to over and over again and they do the same stupid shit, over and over again. “The Death of all emotion” is the point you finally cut them off and feel nothing for them.

6. Cut, Print, Kill the Pig:

Yes this is a line from the Simpson’s movie, although I didn’t know that at the time of writing! Our former Drummer Joe Reid said it at the end of the song when we first wrote it. I didn’t have any lyrics at that point and didn’t know where the quote was from, but I thought it had a ring to it. I based the chorus on those lyrics, it’s very much a sort, that’s the end, we can do no more! Sort of theme to it, which is why we usually play it last. I deliberately made it nigh on impossible to sing to get across the finality of it, something I constantly regret every time we play it live.

7. Seeing is Not believing:

This song deals with the themes of global news coverage and who is in charge of that narrative. It’s about how you can never be sure that you’re getting the full picture of what’s happening and an impartial view point is incredibly scarce these days.