SONG MEANINGS
The words in white were taken straight from Brett Mitchell's mouth.
The words in green were written by me, and are little other facts about the songs.
Animal
A flat out pop-song with all the associated cool energy. What's unusual for us is that it doesn't have a breakdown section, the rhythm is constant from the word go to the end. One of the simplest songs we've ever done as far as arrangements go. It sounds like nasty Ratcat or something.
Congratulations
Kevin wrote the lyrics kinda late. He was trying to write a song that told a story. And we namedrop Even. On the first album we namedropped Archers Of Loaf and the Stone Roses so the characters in this song are going to an Even show.
Did You Really?
A good indication of what we sound like live. It's also very indicative of the way we get in and write our tunes quite literally a question of picking up instruments, someone starts playing, we all join in and we write a song in three and a half minutes flat. Love those moments.
Feet Touch The Ground
That's another epic. Don't really want to say what it's about. The intensity of that song far exceeds anything else we've ever done.
I was listening to JJJ (Aussie radio station, for all the people from other countries) just before the new album came out and Kevin was asked what Feet Touch The Ground was about. He said it was about the death of his and Brett's father, and how you deal with the loss of someone you love.
Happier Sad
It's an accidental epic. Ed Bates from The Sports played the pedal steel. He was also on Tim Rogers' Twin Set album, that's where we heard him first. He makes the song, really. The pedal steel is awesome. We've never played that one live.
In Orbit
It's a rock song. What else can you say? It's the most rock song we've ever recorded and Mark's production gives it a big boost: the huge Foo Fighters drum sound and all. It's a hell of a lot of fun to play.
Love At Last
Yeah, well, it's a totally unabashed love song, isn't it? When we were writing the chorus it came out sounding really beautiful: nice, sincere sounding music. Keven didn't want to waste that feeling when it came to writing the lyrics.
Please Leave
The lost song. We played it at Planet (in Perth) before Slightly Odway. Kevin had written out the lyrics and gaffa taped them to Vanessa's back. After that we totally forgot about it and Chris found the lyric sheet in a guitar case somewhere.
Run Of The Company
We always wanted to hear strings on it, the big finale arrangement. The original idea was to have a long guitar solo but never did any of us imagine a full 22-piece orchestra. That was Trombi's initiative. It sounds nothing like Trapdoor, thats for sure.
Skin
That came right after the first album, a pop number kind of in the vein of Leaving Home or Did You Really? There's some funky guitar stuff going on there. It's about a girl.
Slot Car Racing
That started as a joke. Kevin was being stupid in the rehearsal room and came up with this totally nonsensical cord progression. Often we'll start playing heavy metal or something just for a laugh and thats how that one started: full on loud. The way the rhythm goers is just fucking funny.
Star Machine
Chris came in with that first progression and we worked on it from there. It was a really exciting song to write, it kinda felt good to play. It's about escapism, a relief from over-exposure. There might be a slight reference to the last two years of our lives in there.
Trapdoor
Written just after we finished the last album; we were playing it live years ago. We tried to make it the most sonically fucked up song we've ever done. Mark said the demo reminded him of The Pixies. It's the only song we've ever written where Kevin doesn't sing a melody.