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Nobody Gets to Paradise

by The Acid Rains

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ee-la
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ee-la really into all your guitar work on this album, especially the break down at 1:48 and the Led Zeppelin style intro of Dillinger. Favorite track: It Just Ain't Gonna Be You.
mathew
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watashiwakabocha
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James Swanick
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1.
SUCKER 02:30
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its been a real long time but ive been here before cackling in the dark they say youve made it once the sun goes down but thats really when it starts cuz all the shapes go change inside my head when i find myself alone and so i scream your name like an epithet cuz i know youre always home so go ahead eviscerate me watch me bleed out on the floor you drive me crazy but it’s nowhere that i haven’t been before you’re a sucker for a martyr and it’s the closest thing i am to really seeing what i’m made of when you’re cutting me in half
2.
Lose It 02:31
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3.
Be Cruel 02:49
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how about we go down and get that greasepaint off your face again how about we step down our cruel illusive tenure never has to end be cruel don’t be kind to me too many have tried this chemistry isn’t in you so be cruel hey now don’t look so down it took me twice as long to know nothing at all hey now get it out if you have something to say then say it again so be cruel you're not tied to me be as cruel as you can be
4.
Play So Rough 03:44
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im getting bad reception here im coming up on a hill maybe ur voices will break even then maybe they wont! maybe they will im getting no connection here my voice is breaking up inside my ears maybe next time they’ll catch us when they fall maybe next time they’ll be there but you want what you want a gold star isn’t enough and i would bleed if i could if you just wouldn’t play so rough there’s a misconception here that what you are is who you’re with i wish that wit was true for me maybe it isn’t maybe t is there’s a missed connecton here i can hear you leaving i can feel the fear maybe next time they’ll be there when we call maybe they won’t be there at all
5.
Fog of War 03:08
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6.
Red Pen History 02:18
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7.
Almost as Blue as You 03:42
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she said can i bum a smoke or two and a light i don’t usually ask these kinds of things to people like you i said it’s alright we got to talkin we had next to nothing in common except a tendency to do what we shouldn’t do and that’s alright too then we went drivin i thought i might be dyin sittin next to you all this blue light’s making a fool of my right to be blue almost as blue as you she said can we go walking instead in the dark i dont usually stay up this late with people like you but its a good night, isnt it? we found us a rock that we could gossip on trading pasts and half-truths she said she liked the way the vines would curl around her hands and mine if we could just sit still and all this talking is getting in the way of the truth and all this sleepwalkin is showin our cards too soon and holding my breath makes me think of the deep blue almost as blue as you
8.
Love Adjacent 01:36
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9.
The Middle Distance 03:50
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10.
Coming Back to Me 05:19
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11.
CRUSH 03:10
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Pour yourself a drink I'll sing you a song Don't worry about the money, honey I got a tab a mile long Bathe me up in light Call me when you drown I can wait all night I've spent my whole life A little less up than my downs I know a secret everybody tell Who goes to heaven, who goes to hell And I know one thing sure is true I never kept a secret I got a crush on you You're everybody's dream Out on the schoolboy yard They tumble like an injury Just about you all night long All night long And there was a fire In your breast and in my brain Your fingers on my fingertips Making lines in the windowpane I know a secret everybody tell Who goes to heaven, who goes to hell And I know one thing sure is true I never kept a secret I got a crush on you If you should go there before I do God's gonna trouble the water Tell all my friends that I'm coming too God's gonna trouble the water Sometimes I'm up, lord, and sometimes I'm down God's gonna trouble the water Sometimes I'm almost level with the ground God's gonna trouble the water If you should go there before I do God's gonna trouble the water Tell all my friends that I'm coming too And God's gonna trouble the water Sometimes I'm up, lord, and sometimes I'm down God's gonna trouble the water And sometimes I'm almost level with the ground God's gonna trouble the water I got a crush on you
12.
It Just Ain't Gonna Be You 03:26
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i was standing there running my fingers through your hair you always look better in black and white pictures taken by somebody who cares and you always wanted to believe that was true but you wanna be saved from a grave past its due date and i have to say that that just aint gonna be you babe it aint gonna be you i was standing there but i was running scared you always look worse for wear when nobody’s awake enough to care the feeling started to creep that the water is deeper than it looks and honey i shook and honey i i was on the street i was in the crowd somebody handed me my cards but they were upside down and i couldnt read em so i started to weep i started to weep and you wanted to fight away these blues don’t wanna be a slave to a grave past due and you just had to say i can tell from lookin at you that you tell the truth most days but babe but babe —— it just aint gonna be you it aint gonna be you i was standing there running my hands through your hair you always look better when nobody’s there to scare you to scare
13.
Dillinger 02:37
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14.
You Died Last Week 01:30
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you died last week i spent years waiting for the right time to speak to you but if i had a chance i know i’d do the same thing and i know you would too they turned your cot into a stretcher songs that meant a lot to a lot of people on the radio played low while they wheeled you away forever there was oxygen enough between the measures the moment never came cuz i kept it inside the plane didnt get to taxi it never arrived the roads never got to rollin the silence was never broken i never had the time of my life
15.
Father's Father's Father's House 06:26
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16.
Song to Ranger 00:31
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ranger hey buddy ranger good boy
17.
Sugar Rush 03:44
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18.
Sunspot 02:46
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about

this time i tried to scream.

did it work? i dunno. the first song, 'SUCKER', is a 'full band' rock remake of 'suckerforamartyr', which was on Trafic Island Inferno as my usual sort of folk-rock song, and that itself is a song (previously titled 'Untitled') written and originally performed by Kat Giordano (on a piano). kat is a shadowy part of the current lineup of the Acid Rains, but i would be loathe to go without crediting her on the song, especially the lyrics; i messed with the melody a lot and had to change it around because i can't twist like she can twist. but that is her song: think of her as the lennon&mccartney to my ringo. ringo gets the next 17 tracks, sorry--

i'm a little concerned that it sounds like a parody of the grunge scene. i don't want to be nickelback. i mean, i don't hate nickelback, but i don't want to be them. when i really reached into my guts and screamed on that track, it came out in what i hope isn't, but suspect is a yowl that sounds suspiciously like kurt cobain. now, i love nirvana, but again, i want to be myself.

enough about song #1. it's kind of an outlier. the rest is what you might expect from me: a grab bag. maybe some of my best songs. maybe some of my worst. maybe my favourite one won't ever be heard because this album is too long.

so, that's it for 2018, and that's it for this cycle of releases. good or bad, it's been exhausting, though i've had fun and generally have done what i set out to do: put out the 40 or 50 songs i'd recorded after going silent, under the auspices of these December releases.

am i happy with it? yeah, hell no. i have no idea. i can't really stand listening to it anymore. i'm too close. i'll find out someday, when it's not immediately me and it's someone else sending dispatches in from another time and place. maybe wonder if i shouldn't have been as hard on that person as i have been.

early next year, there might be two more things coming out, one being a large compilation of outtakes or alternates of some of my massive hit songs (which, from an already spotty recording artist, is a funny idea to me, kind of like releasing a greatest hits already [hey, that wouldn't be a bad idea], but i really do stand behind some of the stuff i just felt wouldn't fit anywhere in any way, and maybe you'd have a few favourites, too); also, a short (5 songs, maybe) EP of covers. all of the above is already recorded, but there's every chance i won't do it anyhow. we'll see.

besides that i'd like to say i'm going to work on getting better. to control my voice. write more real hooks. play fewer boring chords. get better gear. record with real musicians. get someone to mix and master these things properly. put out an album that makes sense.

it might happen. or i might just keep writing and releasing as long as i live and whatever happens happens. just let the chaos out, let it get close. get a little wet. learn to love it if you can.

goodnight raindrops, leaky batteries, you acid-hearted buckets of love, and a real from-the-heart i-love-you to anyone who has ever listened to my music. i mean it.

signing off for 2018. exit sign is right there.

james
xo xo

credits

released December 31, 2018

all songs written by james edward schier, except:
'sucker' - kat giordano
'crush' - horrible crowes

all physical instruments and human vocals by james edward schier

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The Acid Rains Edmonton, Alberta

i write songs, play guitar and sing

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