Another Jake riff that inherited the apt name of The Riff Of Gash (see album ‘thanks’ list). In the end I had to video him playing the riff as slowly as possible so that I could go home and go over it again and again and again. After three weeks I was sick of the sight of him and his stupid guitar.
This is one song that seriously messed with our heads. Jake had got a series of guitar sections that would work together soundly. I’d got a droning bass idea that mathematically shouldn’t have gone with the song’s guitar-driven mid-section, but when the higher bass solo was added it just worked. The guitar and bass do flow, but just try concentrating on one instrument and it will pull your brain out your ear and plug it back the wrong way round. The way Andy’s drumming alternates over this is truly amazing. Part of the build up to the outro of the song was originally going to be used as an instrumental outro to the album, with the acoustic guitar being faded out. Andy and I had the ending of The Chameleons’ Strange Times in mind, but when we tried the idea with Ajeet it just didn’t cut the mustard. Jake’s acoustic, bringing the album to a finale, had a haunting presence that didn’t need disturbing in any way.
There’s a section just after the middle where Andy wanted his snare to be off and then to suddenly come on. Thanks to brave engineer Andy for being bullied into doing this dangerous task. The end result was well worth the risk of being in such close proximity to Slab’s answer to The Muppets’ Animal!
Well, I think The Riff Of Gash had a profound effect on me. When I’m angry or frustrated or both, then lyrics seem to come easily. Enter Richard Williamson, the bishop who had the audacity to deny the existence of the Holocaust. Wanker. According to him there were no gas chambers… Of course The Vatican has forgiven him. Bless.
“…derange and disengage” is a tip of the cap to another bass god, Simon Gallup.
I am the nihilist, sent to derange and disengage,
Time weighs heavy in my hands,
But there’s always that time for the last dance,
Show me the…
Bundled up shoes and rags, piles of photographs,
Lady of Perpetual Succour, leave me here don’t make me suffer.
Can you hear the dead voices sing?
My Hollow words are so deafening.
Like a phantasmic horde,
comes the triumph of death,
The wheels of misfortune,
Spinning endlessly.
Anomy, insurgent, blinkered, in the distance hear my voice,
And you will hear you have no choice…
Bundled up shoes and rags, piles of photographs,
Lady of Perpetual Succour, leave me here don’t make me suffer.
Can you hear the dead voices sing?
My Hollow words are so deafening.
Blood for blood.
Name by name.
Arbeit macht frei, I am The Nihilist, towing the souls of the dead in my wake, as I head down into the dark, I tear down the memories of your loved ones lost and gone.
Perpetuation of hate and destruction, thinly disguised as, moral medication.
Never seen again.
