The Forfeit King II - Album Commentary (Tracks 4-6)

☝️WATCH THE COMMENTARY ON YOUTUBE☝️

TRACK 4
"The Devil In The Details"

HOW THE SONG CAME ABOUT:
Originally intended to be on 2018’s Acquiescence but was released as a bonus track on Bandcamp. 
I am happy it’s finally found a home on TFK II and can shine on it’s own.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT:

If you know me or my family, you’d know that we’re all over thinkers. Over analyzers. Always weighing out the pro and cons of every situation, or fixating on some little detail and making a mountain out of molehill. 

Sometimes it’s a blessing. Example, if there is something I am passionate about - I will become hyper focused on it. IE: learning guitar, recording techniques, video editing - to the point of exhaustion and that is exactly what will happen. 

I’ll be 100% into something for a good point of time then all of a sudden get turned onto something else that changes my focus completely. I’ve never been diagnosed with Autism or ADHD professionally - but I’ll bet you $100 that I would be on the spectrum.

I mean...wait - was that a squirrel? 

FUN FACTS:

• Surprisingly this song and several other songs on this album are all in E Standard. A guitar tuning that is quite common for most, but not me. A good majority of my tunes are in open C tuning. The Led Zeppelin “Friends” tuning.
  
• I may have ripped off both Von Hertzen Brothers and The Toadies whilst writing this tune. So you know which songs, then you know...if not, forget I ever mentioned it.

TRACK 5
"Fools Parade"

How The Song Came About:
Well I lied when I said that “Thought It Thru” was the oldest song written on this album. Fools Parade is. 

Between 2003-2005 I’d amassed over 200 original songs. Alot which I’ve already repurposed for various sections in my songs...alot of which I’ll probably never get to.

Fools Parade was one of the clear winners from that time period. Not only has this tune been on the top of my back catalogue - it easily fits in with the rest of the tunes on the album.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT:

This is a song about being overlooked and ignored for something that someone else always gets all the praise for. 

FUN FACTS:

• I also added this tune to the aforementioned rock musical “Sleep Well Young Man” which both songs were recorded for.
  
• I plan on releasing that musical someday or at least put it on a compilation of unfinished tunes that I’m gonna call “Proof Of Concept”

TRACK 6
"Waters"

How The Song Came About:

As with all of my albums, some songs were written for different albums in mind. “Waters” is no exception. It was originally intended to be on “The Darkest Of Summers” but due to technical difficulties with my iMac, I was unable to access the original recording sessions to include it prior to releasing it.

Fast forward to early 2021, I had replaced my hard drive and was now able to open up the sessions for this song. 
I questioned if this tune was too much of a departure stylically from the rest of the tunes on the album, but felt it was close enough and was a nice palette cleanser ¾’s of the way through the album.

Originally the song was twice as long in the vein of “Go or Go Ahead” by Rufus Wainwright. Where dynamically it takes a long while to pick up from the quiet beginning to the explosive chorus. I ended up nixing that idea and went for a slow build from the very beginning and only having (1) main chorus then the song ends...otherwise it would have been like 7 mins basically just repeating the same stuff over and over again. 

WHAT IT’S ABOUT:
​The full name of the song is “For Here Is Where The Waters Have Placed You”, but I shortened it due to space constraints on the physical CD...plus it was just too long of a title to release as such. It’s more of a sentence or a statement than a song title.

A statement however, perfectly connects with the theme of the album. I pictured myself drifting down a river where I eventually come to a random spot on the shore. “Well...This is where the water placed me, so I’ll do my best to deal with where I’m at.”

Acquiescing to the situation...or forfeiting to circumstances that are beyond your control. Do you get the connection yet?

FUN FACTS:

• My Daughter Lily provides that ethereal, ghostly vocals in the beginning and the end. I threw a mic in her face and just pressed record. She did alot of talking and mumbo jumbo, but at one point she started vocalizing these creepy intervals. I noticed when I added the reverb and echo effects that not only did it match completely with the vibe, but she was exactly in tune with the song. GMajor to Eb Major if you wanted to play along.

LISTEN to The Forfeit King II

Do you like behind the scenes content like this? Join The gEoffVOLUTION and I'll periodically email you exclusive stories and other stuff I don't normally share on social media. Keep it a secret ok