![Osprey037[Reported Failure]](/forum/resource.ashx?u=485 "Osprey037[Reported Failure]") Rank: Advanced Member
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Artist: Reported Failure
Album: Rome
Label: Studio 60 Records
Length: 53:06
Producer: Vin Peters, Avil Hartman, Brandon Caulfield (Track 13)
Release Date: June 8, 2013
Genre: Rock
Format: Mp3 download, CD, vinyl
Personnel:
Reported Failure:
Billie Beckett (Lyrics/Vocals/Guitar)
Vin Peters (Guitar)
Matt Collins (Bass/Backing Vocals)
Robert Edwards (Drums)
Additional Personnel:
Hugh Keeley (Keyboard)
Elton Walsh (Piano)
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
Brandon Caulfield (Guitar)
Joseph Harmon (Banjo)
Erik Saunders (Mandolin)Track Listing[Part I: Change & Rebirth]
1. Days Spent in the Dark (5:16)
2. Lunar Utero (3:34)
3. The Day After Forever (3:14)
[Part II: Give]
4. Awakening (3:52)
5. Goodbye, Innocence (4:55)
6. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac Cover) (4:22)
[Part III: Land and Sea]
7. When I Talk to God (6:31)
8. Arctic Stars (4:12)
9. Frosted Peaks (3:30)
10. By Land and By Sea (6:40)
[Part IV: Rome]
11. Enlightenment (1:13)
12. Journey's End (2:17)
13. Rome (Featuring Brandon Caulfield) (3:30)Overview"Rome" is the sixth studio LP by Sacramento, California based quartet Reported Failure and their eighth LP total. It will be released on Saturday June 8th through major label Studio 60 Records and will be the band's second LP on Studio 60 after spending much of their career with Liberation/Nomad Records. For the most part it picks up right where their 2012 release "Darkness" left off with frontman Billie Beckett contemplating his own life and the tragedy and depression. "Rome" however lifts out of sorrow and deals with Beckett finding his place in the world with his family, friends, and ultimately pondering god and the reason we are all here. Musically it abandons the theatrics of the bands previous release and settles on a more controlled, more in sync sound. The departure of former guitarist KC James is evident in the sound that is much lighter and subtly emotional than the heavy, hardcore sound that James brought to the band. Three singles have been released so far from "Rome". The first two, "Days Spent in the Dark" and "Lunar Utero" were released as a sample mostly to see how the world reacted to the new Reported Failure sound. Both hit #1. One right after the other with "Days Spent in the Dark" debuting at #1 on the Digital Downloads Chart and the following week "Lunar Utero" debuting at #1 on the Airplay Chart. A third single the "lead" or "promotional" single for the album, "Frosted Peaks" was released on May 21st. It is expected to chart at least within the top three if not ontop of the charts which would make it the band's sixth #1 hit.
The album itself was produced by Vin Peters and Avil Hartman who previously worked with Reported Failure on their 2010 release "Disarm". It was recorded through three separate recording sessions starting in September of 2012 in LA and finally finishing up in May 2013 in Iceland. Hype was built steadily from March 2013 when rumors surfaced of Reported Failure working on a sixth album and numerous members of the band were topics of gossip in news outlets such as Culture Uncut. The band, however, made "Rome" in relative isolation giving no formal interviews. They did however perform at several events leading up to the album's release. Billie Beckett now infamously cursed at the crowd at the Chaos Awards. he also was criticized by the religious right after lyrics of "When I Talk To God" were released. This built controversy as well as hype. For fans who thought Reported failure had changed for the worse, however, the band's headlining performance at Aphrodisiac redeemed their legitimacy as rock and roll's most intriguing and consistent young band. Finally the hype accumulated with the announcement of the album's release date, the release of "Frosted Peaks", and the announcement of a listening session for music industry critics and insiders and subsequent rave reviews.
Creating "Rome"Writing[Par I: Change and Rebirth]
The album truly begins exactly where "Darkness" ends. "I was depressed and really had nothing as we all know, but as soon as that started to ends I just was longing for a new beginning and thats where the concept of rebirth began as a lyrical theme." As far back as November 2011 Billie Beckett began intense feelings of wanting to start over. "It wasn't that I wished I had never been born I just wished I could do it all over again and that I wouldn't have been depressed and hurt the people around me." These feelings of wanting to be reborn began translating to actual lyrics by spring of 2012. "I had honestly enough songs by the end of summer 2012 to make the next Reported Failure album." says Beckett. The songs were all different though. Some delved deep into reflecting on Beckett's depression and only hinting at the concept of rebirth. In the end the band didn't want to make the album just about the literal concept of rebirth, so the best song of these was chosen. "Days Spent in the Dark" was the most loved song by Beckett and the rest of the band, so it was the first choice to go on the album. Additionally Beckett had accumulated a series f songs very directly addressing rebirth and the physical desire to be young again and to start over. creepy and raw, the lyrics of "Lunar Utero" draw upon images of Beckett crawling back inside of his mother in a desperate effort to be reborn. These almost disturbingly personal lyrics made "lunar Utero" one of Reported Failure's most popular singles and made it the perfect fir for the album. Finally Beckett wanted to explore another aspect of rebirth in the idea of sleeping forever and someday waking up in a rebirth. he imaged being much older and having had the world change around him but with him still alive. The result was the bitterness and loneliness of "The Day After Forever" to round out the first part of the album. "I think in order to really build the album we wanted to we first had to establish that we were starting again and reaching a new life rather than the same depression we had before, and with the Change and Rebirth section we were able to accomplish it" says Beckett.
[Part II: Give]
"We never make a series of 12 songs as an album. We always make a concise, purposeful story with exposition, rising action, a climax, falling action, and conclusion." says Billie Beckett. if "Change and Rebirth" was the exposition then "Give" is certainly the end of that and the beginning of the rising action. Lyrically it explores the more relatable aspects of life and its everyday challenges in contrast to the deep depression and longing for rebirth portrayed in the first part of the album and the longing for understanding portrayed later. Give describes more what we give our simple lives to which ultimately is each other. "I didn't have any specific shared theme for the songs on this part of the album. They were just a mix of ideas." The result of this is that "Give" is the shortest section of the album. The first song "Awakening" is a necessary transition in the story to make clear that rebirth has taken place. Written mostly in Autumn of 2012 after the album plans had begun the only other song that actually made it onto the album was "Goodbye Innocence". "I thought about the imagery I could use with houses and rooms. It basically turned into a song about decisions and living with the decisions we make in life everyday but then making the best of it all if we can and if we cant at least accepting it." The section also contains a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide". "We have played Landslide a lot and it really fit with the idea that life always goes on and changes and we just have to keep on going whether for better or worse. That's mostly what this part of the album is trying to say because after rebirth you still have to deal with the day to day stress and disappointment of life but instead of choosing depression you have to keep going." says Beckett.
[Part III: Land and Sea]
"There is a deeper purpose to life than day to day ups and downs." says Beckett. It is from here that Billie Beckett wrote the songs that would become "Land and Sea" the third part of "Rome". While the second part sought to teach someone who is reborn how to live day to day life "Land and Sea" goes deeper and tries to answer the question "If you've been reborn why? What is the purpose of you getting a second chance besides just doing better for yourself?" The longing by Billie to live better thus transitioned to longing to understand why he was living in the first place. The obvious way to look was towards god and religion. It is where Beckett first went explaining his struggles trying to relate to religion in "When I Talk to God". But Beckett soon moved to concepts such as love and hope and faith. Beckett's relationship with his longtime girlfriend known to fans just as Sarah inspired thinking about love and whether it is worth it despite the constant threat of heartbreak. "I wanted to build a story with images of the arctic and a winter landscape. I think it captured my overall mood." This story became the true rising action and climax of the album. Billie and Sarah's romance was documented as how Billie reached and sought more understanding and purpose out of life. The section is full of love but still with the omnipresent concept of god and divinity. "I think even the most hardcore atheists have to at some point explore the idea of god and a greater power. I did this and this part of the album documents it. Christians are born again and christian or not we all have to recognize the divine power of a personal rejuvenation."
[Part IV: Rome]
"Some feelings are so deep and intense that words dont describe them. They cant. To try to describe them with words would only destroy and underplay the power of these emotions. When that happens as an artist you have to step back and realize that you cant write lyrics for those songs. That melodies are all that can be done." says Billie Beckett. The first two songs of the final and self-titled section of "Rome" are instrumental with only a piano. Composed by the band with the help of classical pianist and spouse of Vin Peters, Elton Walsh, the songs are Beckett's expression of his transformation and realization. As "Land and Sea" ended Beckett was left longing for understanding, and the first song, "Enlightenment" is an expression of that thought, or feeling, or sight, or mission that finally he found. Thus "Journey's End" is Beckett's journey back to the regular world so he may see fit to apply his new knowledge and make an impact in the world. The only lyrics in the final part come in the title track of the album. Finally leaving the metaphors behind Beckett lists atrocities in an anger-filled assault on the world. "I realized that the world is fucked. So much in the world is fucked up. But I had this enlightening feeling in myself that it would be alright if I made it alright. This is where the mission of the album finally took place. I saw the parallel to Rome. Western culture and all its aspects are rooted from ancient Rome. All that we cherish started there and yet all that scares us, haunts us, destroys us, corruption, greed, violence, danger, was also there and it ultimately destroyed Rome. I realized that in America we all live in the new Rome and it is our mission to make it the grand, powerful, and moral Rome that it can be." Recording"Going in to recording we knew that we wanted to make a simpler album than we had with darkness. We knew we wanted to make an album mostly just with what we had purely as Reported Failure which was four guys with guitars, drums, bass, and voices." says guitarist and producer Vin Peters. In Los Angeles in September 2012 Reported failure began this endeavor as they recorded five songs for what would become "Rome". The simplicity was evident from the first song recorded "The Day After Forever." It was hard hitting, loud, and emotional but the band could duplicate it live easily. Joining them in the studio was Avil Hartman who helped to bring out the best that the band had. The guitar tone was thick, the bass was powerful, the drums were hard, and the vocals were emotional. From the beginning Reported failure didn't seek to make any song that sounded different from everything else ever made, but they sought to make an album of real rock songs that could withstand the test of time. Later in Studio Trilogy in San Francisco the album took shape further as the first two parts became very straightforward musically. Dark tonally for the most part but with brief poppy bursts such as "Awakening" the band worked quickly. "We've been a band for upwards of six years and we've been making albums that whole time. After that long we're very comfortable with eachother and kind of know what each of us wants before we say it, so making an album that we all love wasn't very hard to get started on." says bassist Matt Collins. With that said Vin Peters and Avil Hartman both pushed absolute perfection as producers. Days were spent re-recording to make sure no pitch or tone was off. At the end Reported Failure had half an album. Then it was time for Sundlaugin. Reported Failure went to Iceland to record the rest of the album at Sundlaugin Studios. "The atmoshpere there just inspired our creativity more than any other place in the world." says Billie Beckett. The mission to create an album that was great but also simple remained. The only song that wouldn't be easily played live is "When I Talk To God" which includes samples from the London and Icelandic Symphony Orchestras. Overall the tone got softer and the melodies got more ambient and soothing as the lyrical themes for the album changed. Finally Brandon Caulfield was brought in as a guest performer and producer for the title track including more bluegrass oriented instruments. "It just seemed to fit ya know? It was different and weird for us. We just loved ith though and especially for this song. It was perfect." says Vin Peters on working with Caulfield. Thus the album was finished and Reported Failure feels that they have created music worthy of Billie Beckett's lofty lyrics. InterpretationAs the album is being released and since the whole thing was already heard in the Listening Sessions many theories as to its deeper and true meaning have arisen. The most popular theories are outlined below. Plato's AllegoryOne clear interpretation is that Billie Beckett is creating an entire album to echo philosopher Plato's famous Allegory of the Cave. Please brush up on Plato's Allegory before fully entertaining and understanding this theory, but essentially the rebirth at the beginning is leaving the cave initially. The confusion, frustration, disbelief, etc is documented in "Give" and "Land and Sea". Finally the protagonist reaches their enlightenment as they can truly see and appreciate what is outside of the cave ("Enlightenment") and then the preachy feelings of the titles track represent the protagonist going back in to the cave to tell everyone about what is outside. Born Again ChristianOne of the most popular theories is that the album documents Billie Beckett's journey to finding god and accepting Jesus. The rebirth presented at the beginning of the album is Beckett's baptism. From there the rest of the album is simply a memory in Beckett's head explaining why he chose to be baptized and become a christian. Beckett has been very secretive about his own personal religious beliefs since the lyrics to "When I Talk to God" were leaked, but this theory seems as plausible as any.
ReincarnationAnother theory is that Beckett is telling the story of reincarnation such as that in the Hindu religion. The protagonist had lived poorly in their previous life. Many speculate that the previous life was that documented in the band's previous album "Darkness". Thus they had earned bad karma and been reincarnated at a lower level. Then "Rome" documents how they have changed their ways in their next life in order to gain good karma and next time be reincarnated at a higher level.
In the end interpretation is up to the audience, so without further ado Reported Failure with Studio 60 Records presents the masterpiece: Rome.
Overview
Writer: Billie Beckett
Producer: Vin Peters and Avil Hartman
Length: 5:16
Little had been heard from Reported Failure since Carnival of Sounds ended and they won a Fans Choice Award for best album earlier in 2012. The release of "Days Spent in the Dark" as a single came very much out of the blue. The song had been performed at TA7 by Reported Failure but no one expected a new single so soon. It represented that Reported Failure frontman Billie Beckett had been in the dark but that was over now. It marked a turning point for the band in October as they transitioned to the next era in their career. This made it the obvious choice to begin the album with. The moody song was written by Beckett and produced by Vin Peters as well as Avil Hartman.
Crafting "Days Spent In The Dark"
Writing
"I spent a few weeks on the coast of the Olympic Peninsula last Spring" says frontman Billie Beckett. Through the course of the album he reveals that the enviroment in which a song is written influences its ultimate mood heavily. In the case of "Days Spent in the Dark" Beckett says how he wanted to create something that would make a note that the times and struggles that had led to Reported Failure's award winning fifth album, "Darkness", were over. "I was consciously thinking about how this would be interpreted when we released it. I didn't want to stray too far from the sound of the singles from the last album but I also wanted to say clearly that that era was over." The result of Beckett's plans is a song that sounds like it could have some from that album but lyrically says point blank that it is over.
The first thing Beckett did after writing it was get some instruments into the mix. He worked with Vin to establish a basic dynamic of the song and the band began playing it during Carnival of Sounds but they knew it was far from ready. While they were too busy to take the sound further beckett went to work on the lyrics. The original lyrics were mostly the same except for the chorus. "Writing choruses is one of those things that no one can explain. When you've got it you've got it. Until then you know that you still have to figure it out." At that point he wanted the song to be the opener to the album but knew it wasn't ready to be.
"I spent a couple of nights working. I came up finally with a new melody and new lyrics. They were creepy and big and full of imagery and I loved them." Beckett thought it was ready. With new lyrics and the "Sieze the day" optimism Vin Peters finally agreed that it could not only be a good song but also be an album opener. "I really liked the lyrics and how they were putting the old days behind us yet still recognizing them and I knew I could have fun finding an arrangement for the chorus." says Peters. The Carnival of Sounds Tour was over: it was time to enter the studio.
Recording
In August 2012 Reported Failure entered the studio for three days between tour dates. They had recorded a few demos at Matt Collins's house in Santa Cruz, but now it was time to get serious. They went back to Ocean Way Recordings in LA where they recorded their fourth album "Post-Grunge Catastrophe". They were also joined by Avil Hartman to produce the song which would become "Days Spent In The Dark". "In the beginning" says Vin Peters "We just had these lyrics and a really eerie atmosphere... It was great but we wanted to give the song more depth and something a bit different so we called up Avil who we'd worked with before to see what sort of spin he could put on it."
The band recorded for only two and a half days. Then it was done. On the first day most of the focus went on drums. Robert Edwards and Hartman worked for hours to find the right tone for the song. They ended up bringing in different drums and working with different patterns until the beat was powerful enough to be memorable and aggressive like drums of war, but could still be soft enough to keep the flow of the song. Bass was next. Matt Collins layed down the songs's original bassline. It worked but everyone agreed it could use more power. A couple of distortion pedals later and the bass was done!
Then it was time to set more of the atmosphere. Friend of the band Hugh Keeley was there and he supplied a track on keyboard with tone that was almost like a bagpipe but a little bit softer. Once that was done it was guitar time. "For the most part our guitars are subtle in this song" says Peters. He is right. There are no guitar solos and no iconic riffs. KC James recorded a quiet, but very sweet sounding rhythm. It was simple and on the second day of recording gave the band little trouble. Vin also recorded his lead guitar easily. He supplied short licks here and there but overall subtly harmonized with the keyboard and helped create the atmosphere of the song. After day two the song was ready to have vocals added and be finished.
"The great thing about having been a band for awhile and made five albums" says Billie Beckett "Is that recording a great song can be done with little to no stress because we all usually know what eachother are going to want before we start. We're in tune with eachothers ideas. Also being very experienced musicians that within just a few tries can nail the song also helps". Billie wasn't joking around when he said they could nail the songs within just a few takes. Billie only had to sing the song once for it to work. "The best part of working with Billie Beckett everyday is hearing him sing a slow song where he switches from whispery to full vocals. Because he will nail it everytime." says Matt Collins. As Billie went to the microphone in the studio the rest of the band was listening and five minutes later they knew that they had something special. They knew that this was their next single and were fairly sure it would do well.
Finished Product
[Intro]
In distress the opening notes of the song play somberly with tone similar to bagpipes at a funeral. Just a few notes but they pierce the heart of the listener hooking them in to see what happens next. Like an army of soldiers drums begin banging. The bass and guitar join in as their weapons and spirits all playing in harmony. Billie Beckett joins in singing in quiet, weeping tone the song of their battle but not of their triumph: the song of their loss
[Verse 1]
Vin Peters's guitar tone acts as the rockets and planes flying high above in a cloudy sky. The bass is heard and heavy like the burden the soldiers carry but the rhythm guitar is warm and with the drum is able to keep them going. Billie keeps singing growing more and more passionate, growing more and more angry with the complacentness of the soldiers.
[Chorus]
Now into battle. The fuzz of the guitar strays the song like bullets while Billie's tone gets more challenging as the terror of battle takes over him meanwhile the drums bass and guitar keep pushing the battle everforward to its death.
[Verse 2]
The second verse briefly offers escape from the battle. It gets quiet as Billie sings sadly as if examining his dead brothers beside him. The bagpipe tone continues but soon the battle starts again. All the instruments work to bring it back while Billie also gets louder as if trying to fight it.
[chorus]
The battle has started once more. It is loud as guitar tone of bombs falls, the fuzz of charging troops, Billie singing as their screams, the drums as their footsteps. The bass pushing them along still and acting as the bombs hitting the ground.
[Outro]
The chaos of battle continues from the chorus. Billie sings more passionately but slowly gets more distant. It is an epiphany that something has got to change: that the war cant go on. and as it happens all the noise fades out as if the battle is going somewhere else finally.
[Intro]
Drink with the moon
And go around the outside
Til adrenaline kicks in
So swing from the dark trees
So go drown in the forest
[Verse 1]
Sing like you could back before
Before you screamed yourself hoarse
And days blurred to lifetimes
Were on our deathbed
So the clouds become therapy
and were addicted to the sadness
We can speak again
Were here to speak again
[Chorus]
So we took these words and locked them in a temple
So we trapped our souls from freedom from anger
It was cold and silent
It was another day spent in the dark
we took our hearts and made them less painful
We took our scars covered them with makeup
But we weren't free; we were trapped by a facade
By our days spent in the dark
[Verse 2]
Take me to an ambulance my life doesnt work
Find me a coffin and a place to be born
I need a love and a life to restore
I wish I could fly like a bird overhead
And be innocent like a child who can say anything
So I would speak and then fly away
I want to speak again
I want to seize the day
I shall speak again
Seize the day
[Chorus]
So we took these words and locked them in a temple
So we trapped our souls from freedom from anger
It was cold and silent
It was another day spent in the dark
we took our hearts and made them less painful
We took our scars covered them with makeup
But we weren't free; we were trapped by a facade
By our days spent in the dark
[Outro]
I take it all take it all back
Give me home or give me heart attack
Speak speak let me speak once more
Tell me theres no more hell in store
And cry cry cry my eyes out
I want to speak I have no doubt
Life life unlock my life
Or cut my wrists end it with a knife
Sounds Like
OOC:
AS you can see; this is my masterpiece. Its the greatest piece of RP I've ever done so please take the time to read it and give me your feedback or praise whether in character or out of character (I appreciate both). A couple of thing you should note:
The song descriptions aren't literal. I wanted to describe more the emotions or images that the songs could create rather than actually how the songs sound. This first one is described as a battle. To get the best understanding of how the song would actually sound listen to the sounds like (thats why its there) but still read the rest because its still important and (I think) well done.
I've done something that no one here has ever done and actually recorded two of these songs. They are Enlightenment" and "Journey's End" and they're only piano which I actually play rather poorly but I thought it would be interesting to add the actual original melody of a song. So once I get to those songs they will have no description. Please let me know how that works and if I should try it again.
This is really about the lyrics and writing. So if you are like me and have a short attention span for reading then read the lyrics and writing section and listen to the sounds like to get the general idea for the song and later go back and read the rest if you can.
Thats all I have to say. Enjoy and as always REPLY. I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK. I've been working on this for a LONG time.
Thanks. And lots of love. Sincerely, Keaton (AKA Osprey) Edited by user 08 June 2013 06:20:35(UTC)
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