Destroyers Dan Bejar Decodes Every Song on His New Album, ken. Cover From the SunThis is a really upbeat one, and the tone feels different than a lot of other Destroyer material. When I first wrote it, it was much more in a pub rock vein. I was thinking of a Pete Doherty, picaresque kind of song. It seems like a short little adventure to me, a quick rollick. Its atypical, which I think is cool. Its also filled with references. You go from the Smiths to Shakespeare in one line. Yeah, thats typical Destroyer bullshit. Its a fun song that rips on itself in a way. Its definitely mocking the singer. Saw You at the HospitalIs there a reason you kept this one in a mostly acoustic arrangementImportant announcements and links concerning the Church of Satan and its membership worldwide. I like it as a breath in the middle of the recordI also like it because I started writing it in a hospital. What happened I got really bad pneumonia during the Poison Season tour, and one thing youre not supposed to do is drink and sing your way through that. Its the sickest Ive ever been in my adult life. I went to a hospital in Switzerland to get antibiotics, and theyre like, Actually, you have to stay here for three days. I was pretty out of it. Singing to God is not a nice little emotional trip to spice up a worship service. It is a matter of life and death. Satan is the GreaterScope Villain or Big Bad of most varieties of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and a fair amount of fiction with religious influences. Destroyers Dan Bejar Decodes Every Song on His New Album, ken. I hadnt slept in. I dont know how long. Getting sick when youre living on a bus is not good. I remember being in the hospital, maybe a bit doped up, and thinking of classic ending up in the hospital songs. The Stones have a couple good ones. I was like, OK, Im gonna throw my hat in. I came up with the first couple lines about being insane and the gown on wrong in the rainI had my gown on all fucked up. Satan New Song' title='Satan New Song' />There were also lots of ridiculous lyrics that did not make it into the song, stuff about Swiss nurses making eyes at me. Just the ramblings of a not well mind. This all sounds uncharacteristically autobiographical for you. Yeah, thats not generally how I write at all. In the end, the song took off in a different direction. I started thinking about places of sickness or madness, which were being equivocated with castles and the Palace Hotel and decadence. It ended up being more like this whirling ball of depravity, which mellows out in the end with someone watching guitar amplifiers in a snowstorm. Satan New Song' title='Satan New Song' />Just image based stuff, Swiss surrealism. A Light Travels Down the CatwalkThis is a song youve been playing live for a while, in a much different rendition. I really do like playing and singing this song, which is probably part of what drove me to write more songs on the guitar. I tried it with the band for Poison Season, but there was a folk pop jauntiness to the chord progression that seemed at odds with the lyrics, which were trying to describe a glamorous world in which Satan presents him or herself. Once a lot of the melodic movement was taken out, it really came alive for me, because it exists in really stark contrast to the vocals. I think its good singin. These ideas manifest through universal symbolism e. All Seeing Eyes, etc. He believed that symbols such as the moon and the sun are. It shows that Ive had some practice singing that song. Theres an intensity to it I dont think Ive heard on a Destroyer record before. It became apparent that the dark minimalism of the music brought out a brooding quality to the words that I didnt even realize because, you know, I just write this shit. RomeThis song opens the second half of the record. How would you describe the break between the two sides In some ways, the songs get weirder or more disparate on the second half. Rome seems really discombobulated to me. When I brought it in, it really had more of a singles bar vibe, like a sad disco song. Lyrically, theres an aging cruiser vibe to it. But it ended up getting cloaked in this Disintegration style grandeur. Huge drums. It has a military quality now. Ill be honest, I thought it was going to be a groovy ditty, to the extent that I wasnt sure it should even be on the record. But as we worked on it, it became larger and larger sounding. It took on its own character. Sometimes in the WorldAt under three minutes, this is one of the shorter songs on the record. The brevity of the songs is something Im still trying to digest, but this is just a Destroyer campfire song. Five years ago, I never would have recorded it. Just that first line I cant pay for this, all Ive got is money. I really like it, but it made me feel uncomfortable right away, writing it and singing it. Did the directness make you uncomfortableYeah, someone addressing the ills of the world in a direct way. Theyre statements that are maybe obvious, but if theyre so obvious, then how can the world possibly be how it currently is And then theres really sad lines Sometimes in the world the thing that you love dies, and you cry and cry and cry. Thats not something you normally hear in a Destroyer song Ivory CoastYour languid vocal performance on this song stood out to me. Were you intentionally going for something different I wanted it to sound desolate. My singing sounds kind of wasted and empty, which I really like. Its got a strung out vibe. Theres a quality to the vocal where I dont really sound like myself. Who is the narratorMiserable piratesthe down and out, sad mercenary. Stay LostThis song seems to be offering some kind of advice Being alones an illusion. Its basically a users guide to being in the world. It addresses the audience in a way thats anthemic, but its not an anthem. Or if its an anthem, its one where youre supposed to sing along in your speaking voice. Its a call to abandonment, or a call to roaming, or to embrace hopelessness. Its an attempt, somehow, to sing about those things melodically in an uplifting way, even if youre not trying to provide any hope whatsoever. The song seems built from the parts of rocknroll. The first eight Destroyer records are in love with rocknroll but they are constantly attacking on the language of rocknrollthey are filled to the brim with concerns that youre not supposed to find in a rock song. At some point, there was a shift. I mean, I still get excited about hearing cool words in songs, and I still get bummed out by how, 9. There is a desire in me to have the words and the music become one whole. La Regle Du JeuLa Rgle Du Jeu is the title of a classic French film that takes place at a lavish party just before the beginning of World War II. Was your song inspired by that movieI cant say those words without conjuring up that film, but it wasnt inspired by it. Its more inspired by it feeling so good for me to sing those words over and over and over again and trying to figure out why. The song has kind of a Euro cabaret feel, which is good, because I find it to be one of the more negative songs on the album. Penthouses Magazine Pdf Free Download. The images conjured in the song lead to something terrible on the horizon. I do feel like Im singing to America in some way. The first verse just recites vague, classical dream imagery of the world collapsing, and the second verse is describing a scene at a terrible party where you sense something bad is going to happen. And after that, Im just saying la rgle du jeu over and over again, like a mantra or a prayer at Americas death bed. Is there a political message in it I know theres lots of political talk right now, but I dont see this as a topical record. The state of America is terrible, but it doesnt strike me as a wildfire. I see it as a slow, steady crawl towards a terrible conclusion. I thought if I did sing to America, I wanted to do it in a language that they didnt understandor that they possibly actively hated. I thought French would be good for that.