25 or 6 to 4
Chicago
I’m not really a Chicago fan, but this was one of those weird songs that you’d perform in your head and be all “Yeah, that song kicks ass”, then you hear it and you realize it only gently pats ass. For some reason my memory rearranges this song into something that drives a little more. I have shamelessly Goth roots. Fact. I’m all grown up now, but the roots are still feeding the tree. I can’t avoid being attracted to things that are a little dark. “25 or 6 to 4” is a little dark. It’s in the descending scale that makes up the verse. It’s the same scale in the supremely Goth songs: “Dark Entries” by Bauhaus, and Death Cult’s “Ghost Dance”. So I took out the goofy horns and added my very not silky, and extra not commercial radio friendly voice to make “25 or 6 to 4” the song that I heard in my head.

Don’t Fall
The Chameleons
There’s another song that I’ve always loved that uses the same descending scale used in “25 or 6 to 4”, and that’s The Chameleon’s “Don’t Fall”. For this one I had no intention of fixing it. It’s already a perfect piece of music, and arguably a Goth classic. The chameleons are one of those bands that illustrate how Goth works. Ya see, you don’t decide if you’re Goth, culture does. The Chameleons in reality were an artsy Post Punk band not afraid of fluffy sweaters and plaid shirts, but their music was deeply poetic, mysteries, and darkly evocative. So, like it or not, they are a Goth band. The Chameleons were known for their unique duel guitar sound. Reg played a chunky sounding Gibson SG, and Dave played this weird Micro Frets guitar with tons of chorus and delay on it. They combine to make this thick, swirling guitar sound that almost hypnotizes you. So when we covered them I wanted to take out all that delicious guitar confection and replace it with traditional hard rock nonsense like palm mutes and shit like that to bring out the inherent toughness in the song’s composition. But if you really listen to the chorus and the outro you can still hear some guitars with ebow and delays because I couldn’t resist paying proper homage to Dave Fielding.

Paris 1919
John Cale
This song is easily my all time favorite song. It’s has no genre attached to it. The song has no drums and is performed with a piano and a small orchestra. So really it’s what, like a classical piece? Then John Cale sings all over it with his gruff Welsh pipes and repeats this dopey “La La La” crap all over it, totally putting it into a new category. I’ve no clue what box it belongs in, and that’s a good part of its charm. It’s this thing that I love because it’s lonely and beautiful… It really is beautiful! The opening with those staccato violins and piano banging out 4/4, then that cool cello riff comes and is doubled by the french horn? Come on! That’s just amazing! So, how did I ruin it? Well, by performing it with a rock band. I don’t know what the fuck we made here. But I am a little proud that it, even though we made it a regular rock song, still maintains no allegiance to a genre. It’s as ridiculously singular as the original version. Now I can finally stop thinking about covering my favorite song. It’s done, and it’s fucking weird.

Sugar Sugar
The Archies
I love Pop music. Like real Pop music, not “popular music”, but real Pop music. But there’s this little gremlin in my brain that doesn’t let me make it. I try! I swear I’ve tried many times to make a Pop song and I fuck it up with some minor chord or something unintentionally spooky. So I wanted to cover the most syrupy Pop song I could find and see if it gets fucked up by my black clad gremlin. To do this honestly I needed to have it be an honest version and not just perform the original composition in a snarky ironic way. We played “Sugar Sugar” like it was one of our songs. No making fun of it like we’re all super cool and this song’s a little dork. No, we respected it! Sure, we left in the stupid tambourines, but I ALWAYS put stupid tambourines in our songs. So what’s the verdict? Did we take the pop out of the song or were we able to put our slight tarnish on it while still retaining its pop sparkle? I can’t tell.

Body & Soul
The Sisters of Mercy
Covering the Sisters of Mercy is usually a huge mistake. They are one of those bands that are not just unique in their compositions, but are also unique in their sounds. They have a baritone lead singer, a drum machine, and busy little 12 string guitar sounds that you can identify as the Sisters of Mercy by the second measure of any one of their songs. It’s idiotic to just play one of their songs like they do. You do that and you’ll sound like a tribute band or one of those 90s bands like Rosetta Stone that decided that the Sisters of Mercy wasn’t a band, but a genre. So I tried to play it as if I just had the sheet music and wasn’t familiar with the original version. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a Sisters super fan. I’ve been listening to them nonstop my entire life. So when we recorded this my goal was to show how resilient their songs are. You can remove all of their trademark sounds and still have a tough, dark, and head bang-able song left. I obviously transposed the lead vocals into a tenor part. I mean, I don’t want to hear someone pretend he’s Andrew Eldritch, and I’m hoping you don’t either.

Listen To The Sirens
Gary Numan - Tubeway Army
Gary Numan writes the shit out of a song. I swear I listen to “Down In The Park” with awe and near jealousy. Haunting! I couldn’t cover that song because fucking Marilyn Manson already muddied those waters. So I went with a slightly more obscure Tubeway Army song. We added heavy instrumentation, and removed most of the keyboards that are in the original. It’s a more dark and gritty interpretation. After I recorded this I found out that Red Fang also covered “Listen To The Sirens”, and did a really great job with it. So, our version may have lost some of its novelty, but I think it still it’s a cool cover, and you can’t have enough Gary Numan homages out there. Listen to all three versions and see what you think.

With You
O Positive
This song we covered as an attempt to correct one of the great mistakes History, in her caprice, made. There are few of these kinda songs that came out in the 1980s that are fat with heavy tom toms, springy guitars, and basses playing leads that were so fucking catchy and charming that I’ll never tire of them. Go listen to The Icicle Works’ “Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)” and if you don’t think “Oh my god, I fucking love that song!’ I deny your humanity. It’s fucking awesome. In Boston, around that same time, a band called O Positive (Not to be confused with Type O Negative) had a song called “With You” that was a local hit and fell perfectly into that category of “Oh my god, I fucking love that song!” It felt like everyone from Boston knew and loved that “Smoke a cigarette” song. But it never became a national hit. Why? No fucking clue. Was it the wildly frenetic bridge that they should’ve probably left out? Was it because they weren’t backed by a major label? Again, I have no clue. The song should’ve been huge, and History blew it. So we covered this song pretty straight forward. It’s just us basically playing what they played. Okay, sure, I rewrote their bridge a bit and hammered the catchy parts, but basically we didn’t change much. We covered it to say “This is a classic! It’s wildly popular and worthy of being covered.”

Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drop
Cocteau Twins
I’ve had an obsession with this song since the moment I ‘got’ it. I remember lying on my floor with headphones on and tears running down my face while listing to it on repeat. It was like falling in love. I was drowning in the romantic perfection of this stupid fucking thing. This song has so many weird elements defining it. Instead of being a 4/4 rock song, it’s in 3/4 like waltz. The melody is played by the bass that uses chording and double stops, while the guitar plays the harmony which is this simple three note progression. That’s backwards! The instrumentation is reversed! I’m swooning just thinking about it. Then you have Liz with her unearthly voice and gibberish lyrics… Why the hell would anybody cover such a song? You have every chance of ruining it! So why? Why do it? I’ll tell ya, and it’s a shitty reason: To be a part of it. To feel that song wrap around me like a storm. To wear the most beautiful dress ever designed. In performing it, I wanted not not just preserve the romantic elements, but to heighten them and give it a huge almost orchestral sound without losing the guitars and bass that define the sound. The hardest part was the vocals. I didn’t want someone to put on headphones, lie down on their floor and go “That man singing hates me.” So I removed her beautiful vocal gymnastics and soprano range and found a way to interpret the song as an honest reflection of myself. Just lower the lights and momentarily throw away my constant shame and embarrassment and feel the song behind me, almost pushing me as performed my interpretation of the most beautiful song I know.