Track By Tracks: Inner Urge - Consume And Waste (2022)

1. I'll Overcome:

This track is all about finding our inner strength to overcome whatever is thrown at us. We are so amazing in our abilities to adapt to anything and everything that we sometimes need a reminder that we can overcome anything we face.

2. I Am Inside:

This track is a story I made about a character (myself, yourself, whomever) being trapped inside their own mind. They feel a desire to keep moving and trying to figure out where they are when they discover that the path they walk is actually all of the evil things they've ever done manifest into a bloody path. By continuing to march on the path, they continue to unlock the manifested creature into reality who ends up taking control of their mind while they get locked inside. I've struggled immensely with mental health and addictions issues and saw this whole story in my mind when I got lost in my own issues; I felt like I was trapped in my own mind where I could see what I was doing, but I couldn't actually choose what I did.

3. Liberate Your Mind:

This was the first song I wrote lyrics for off the album. This song is about one of the many inner struggles we must face alone. Based on the idea of "nobody can help those who won't help themselves" and creating a story from that. We all have problems with building up expectations and then not having those met and then being overwhelmed with a feeling of regret, anger, or frustration; so by "killing expectations" it "makes me free again" to enjoy life and appreciate the time we/I get to spend here. The more I fight that, the tighter everything feels; "so I relaxed completely until I just let go" of all the struggles so I could, again, find enjoyment even in the struggles of life. The chorus changes from "don't expect in life a single thing" to "don't expect that you are on your own" because we do, in fact, often have a much bigger support system than we originally thought/think. Even one person that believes in you is more than one, and two people is twice as many; it's about changing our perspective of what we have and what we can do.

4. Stand Strong:

I wrote this track during the Black Lives Matter protests at the beginning of the pandemic. Seeing the police brutalize citizens was captured at an unprecedented level that we, as the public, hadn't seen so clearly up to that point. The catalyst of inspiration for this piece was when the police would be seen taking a knee with the protestors for a photo-op, then pepper spraying them, shooting them with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters, and beating them without mercy after the photo-op was done. I made the character "true blue" based off of a combination of how some people were saying they were believers in the "thin blue line" and supported the police more than anyone else and the reality that they were the oppressors the entire time. So the character was the police/people that were needed that held positions of authority that actually stood for justice and peace even off camera, rather than those that appeared to care until the main cameras were out of their faces and they dropped their peaceful facade.

5. A Matter of Time:

I wrote this one about the various beliefs that came about before, throughout, and after the main stages of the pandemic regarding people's opinions on hard facts and science. Those that went and go against science truly "struggle to make a struggle" and cause "trouble to create trouble," all while projecting their own fears and insecurities onto others through their actions and attempts to deny reality.

6. Never Forsaken:

This is another one about police brutality and meeting non-violence with an iron fist of violence. It's about keeping true to ourselves and our goals and personal missions and not wavering in the face of danger and turmoil while honoring those that have inspired us to become what we see or believe to be the best versions of ourselves that can help the most people simply by staying true to ourselves, that which we love, and those we love and hope to help.

7. Chosen One:

This one is a story about finding legends about a peaceful time but being tricked into a collective that claims is all for peace, however, destroys all that oppose it with utter contempt. I pulled some inspiration from various legion sources such as the Borg from Star Trek or any piece of story where there's a hive-mind. In the attempt to find peace, they took the path of destruction and, in a way, found it at the end of all things.

8. Fight For Every Breath:

I wrote this when I was sitting outside on my balcony during massive fires a year or so ago. The sun and sky was blotted out to make it appear as if we were on Mars and life felt utterly suffocated. It is about ignoring the state of our world until it was all around us and could no longer be pushed aside.

9. Relentless Quest:

This track is about our unnecessary love of billionaires and mass consumption. There are, very clearly, two sets of rules made for the rich and the poor. The rich get to do what they want, how they want, with anything they want, whenever they want and, if they are caught or found to be too destructive, they're given a small fine that doesn't impact their way of life whatsoever. The poor get to do what the rich want, how the rich want, with anything the rich want, whenever the rich want them to and, if they are caught or found to be too destructive, they're crippled both mentally and financially and thrown in prison to rot. It's largely based on the ideas of "rules for thee, but not for me" and the idea that, if a fine exists for something, it is legal for a price. This one digs into my personal views about the state of our world a lot more than others, but I did my best to write it in a way - like all other tracks I write - that could be interpreted in ways that matter most meaningfully to the individual listener.