Track By Tracks: Weapon Of Pride - Taking Over (2023)

1. Crusade:

This one is inspired by my interest in history and wars. This song is about how many wars are driven by imposing religious beliefs. Whether that be the Crusade wars in the 1300s, to the wars today in the middle east, it's always been a thing that seemed at the very least song worthy.

2. Denial:

My environment was not a good one in 2022 dealing with health and legal issues. All those that I ran with were on a sinking ship and I personally lived in denial as I was too afraid to pull myself off of said ship.

3. Lost:

Written about walking through an endless and hopeless desert, being promised salvation and comfort but only finding more despair. I guess that's a favorite scene of mine growing up in the literal desert, the Sonoran Desert that is. And that's a metaphor for life sometimes when you choose to wallow in the shit. It's hard to see an end and make improvements when you accept your role as a victim in life.

4. Taking Over:

Flagstaff ( a city in Northern Arizona) has a history of extraterrestrial encounters (i.e. the 1993 movie Fire in the Sky documents a Flagstaff logger being abducted). I'd spend a lot of time up in Flagstaff and the sky was also much clearer up there. The idea of alien encounters crossed my mind more than a few times while visiting up there, and ultimately I decided to write this song, Taking Over. It's added plus that the song clocks in at 4:20 and is released on 4/20.... an easter egg, if you will.

5. Stumble:

Stumble is about my struggle with alcohol. Having an addictive personality means that I will drink to have fun with all of my musician and bartender buddies until it becomes a problem, and then I'll sober up for a few months just to usually start the process again. It's a hard environment playing gigs throughout the local bar circuit and working behind my own bar on the weekends.

6. Change:

This song came about for a number of reasons. One, it's a cover by Tears For Fears. We wanted to challenge ourselves and try taking a pop song and making it metal. It also provides that diversity on our record and shows off the band's versatility. We also specifically placed this song after Stumble to signify that with a Stumble, Change is required aftermath.

7. Pending Cure:

News, wars, pandemic... the world is a crazy place right now and many can't think for themselves. It's real easy to scare and control people that pursue little knowledge of their own.

8. Defy or Comply:

Back to my interest in history, I visited Ireland a few years ago. I was surprised at all the Viking history found in the museums and the culture that stuck with the country. The land found in Ireland and the UK was much more fertile for farming and became highly sought after by Viking invaders looking to set up new homes and farms in the land more sustainable than where they originally came from. The voyage across the seas and the wars to gain this new land fascinate me. So, I decided to throw the perspective of the Irish awaiting and experiencing the attacks from the Northmen into a song.

9. Under Wings:

I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up and my grandmother who is very spiritual, has a great respect for the word. She would, very frequently, tell me of the end times depicted in Revelations and how Satan would provide for the world in return for the fealty of man. This would ultimately trick and damn those, making him a king on earth, before the return of Christ. Seemed like a heavy enough topic to touch on in a metal song.

10. Power Trip:

As I had stated earlier, 2022 was a rough year. A minor traffic violation became a bigger legal issue with court-to-sheriff department miscommunications. Add in a clerical error on the Sheriff's end and that gave me two court dates for the same offense, one I was unaware of and not attending. What did that get me? A wrongful warrant on my head and a suspended license due to the lack of appearance in court for the made-up, duplicate offense. After hiring a lawyer, having spent a lot of money, and experiencing plenty of emotional distress, I am told that the issue is behind me and the prosecutor has dropped the duplicate case... but there will be no reconciliation for all I've spent on correcting their mistake, and there will be no repercussions for the clerical error that ultimately flipped my year upside down. The lack of care and accountability blows my mind, and there are really no serious repercussions for the mistakes made by those in authority. I do believe this is a case-to-case issue and does not reflect on all authority figures, but I found myself in a very unfortunate predicament with this one.