Monday, June 06, 2005
Not like Matt
Alkaline Trio's latest album "Crimson" has failed to dislodge them from the number one slot of my favorite bands. My friend Scott was the first to introduce me to the band.
We were discussing misleading lyrics, and I noted that "Digital Bath" by the Deftones was actually a song about throwing an electrical appliance into a bath while someone was taking it. Scott cited a related song: "Radio" by Alkaline Trio, which tackles the same subject of *ahem* bathroom electrocution.
At first, Trio doesn't sound like a very uplifting band. Like many punk acts, they often (mostly with their earlier material) skim the emo border. However, there is a discernibly dark twist to their songs. Physical pain is often used as a proxy for emotional pain.
From "This Could Be Love" the first track of Good Mourning
"You took me hostage and made your demands... I couldn't meet them so you cut off my fingers... one by one."
Yet unlike death metal acts that revel in blood and gore, Alkaline Trio gives it a sort of classy twist. How do they deal with all this pain? Painkillers and alcohol often seem to be the answer, a recurring theme in their 2001 release, From Here to Infirmary
However, things are not always so dire with the band. While Matt Skiba is technically the frontman, each album has seen bass player Dan Andrianno sing more and more songs. If Alkaline Trio is all about heartbreak, then a gross simplification of the two could go as follows: Matt is focused on the dark, demented side of heartbreak, and Dan is focused on the sweet side of heartbreak.
While Matt's songs come closer to some sort of post-neo-goth-punk grandeur, Dan's are closer to the popular punk we hear on the radio. However, unlike the annoying musings of Blink 182, Dan's lyrics are pretty intelligent and interesting, usually only alluding to the problems. Plus, if I had to start a band, I'd like to start it with Dan's voice, as it fits the profile of heartbreak punk perfectly. A few examples of songs I identify with:
"I Was a Prayer" from Crimson
"Mercy Me" from Crimson - (Dan only sings part of the chorus)
"100 Stories" from Good Mourning
"I'm Dying Tomorrow" from From Here to Infirmary
"You've Got So Far To Go" from Maybe I'll Catch Fire
All of these songs have deceptive meanings or lyrics in some way. For example, 100 Stories might refer to the kind of story you can read, but the chorus reveals otherwise. The emphatically sung "Let's do it right!" in "You've Got So Far To Go" isn't the end of the line, and the meaning changes rapidly. Also note the often used examples of physical abuse as a metaphor.
Anyway, I suppose I'm writing a lot about this because when I'm in a generally good mood, I identify more with Dan than I do Matt, hence the title of this huge post.
