NO REPLY

No Reply is, to me, the most important song of my career. That may be a lofty claim but that song is a very heavy, meaningful piece to me.
My brother Ryan came up with the music which he did for most of the SIS album. I recall sitting in my apartment at the time while he played those opening chords and the melody and words just presented themselves to me. I just sang about all the things that were in my heart at that time. We had and have a great chemistry creatively and beyond.

He unwittingly turned this mid tempo hypnotic groove into 6/8 time at the end where it turns into a whole other song.
The song was originally longer but we had always intended for it to be long. We self edited to trim the fat but make a statement. Epic is the word I choose. I remember the four of us all in the live room in Greenhouse Studios all crowded around Scotty's drum kit pounding out the basic track.

At the very end of the song our engineer Steven Drake from the Odds is noodling on a mandolin. Ryan on 12 string. Like it could cycle it's way back to the start of the song again. The snake eating it's tail.

No Reply is a very haunting and dark song. The same could be said for it lyrically but not necessarily. There's a hopefulness to it that resonates in what we were going through at that time. The Age Of Electric had broken up after 9 years of scratching and clawing to achieve any recognition at all. By the time we had attained any success or even the hint of a future of bright horizons we decided we could not carry on with one another. A terrible realization indeed.

I cannot put into words how conflicted we all were on that decision. There is a naivety that tells you that you can just do it again. We got there once we'll just do it again. Of course, that took 9 long years of steady, relentless fighting for recognition. You build a chemistry, a team, a family and then it's gone. You rebuild, you start over only to find that it's a new world out there and they forget so easy. It took a few years to bridge the gap between AOE and SIS. Long enough that we were truly starting from scratch with an audience that simply wasn't buying cds anymore. Ultimately my frustration with the music industry led to the end of the band as I moved into production and a solo career.

The first line of the song is, "I've finished dead last, it's not over. It's started again and I'm unprepared"

That is pretty self explanatory. I finished dead last. After year of hard work my band broke up and I am starting from scratch ready or not. Life is a river. It keeps flowing whether you decide to participate or not. Just because you stop paddling it  will still take you where it wants.

"Step into the ring, survivor. Step into the sun and out of the shame" A pep talk for myself to get back out and fight, you big pussy.
"Never alone, ever lonely. My misery needs no company" At some point I took a look around and realized that I knew a gazillion acquaintances and few real friends. I had lost a lot of people who were important to me on my quest for success.
The song is essentially about that kind of loneliness. No reply at all. Big fucking rock star. Everyone thinks you're on top of the world but you have surrounded yourself with the wrong kind of people. Usually the worst kind of people. That is a bitter realization. There's nothing like regret to let you know you're alive.

"I'm not 'the man I'm tomorrow, yesterday's fool in living color today" That is a reference to never being satisfied with what you have. I'm not the man-I'm tomorrow. That means I'm not the man but I will be. I'm working on it. Tomorrow I will have everything that I want. This was a real sickness I had. I think a lot of us do. If we just stop and look at what we have we would often be very thankful but we get too obsessed with the things we do not have or wanting what the next guy has. This is a dangerous circle to get caught in. Thankfully I do not prescribe to it anymore and haven't for a long time.

"I play the mime out of time" There are a number of references to writing songs within the songs themselves on the SIS album. I suppose I was writing about what I knew and my truth at that time. Often you hit a wall and have nothing to say as a songwriter. You've said so much you just feel there is nothing left to say. I play the mime, meaning I had nothing to say. I was as mute as a mime. Out of time, meaning I was always under immense pressure to write songs from the record company, from management. People were looking to me, to us to carry on the AOE 'legacy'. We ultimately chose to not participate in that kind of pressure but it was there. Always. Out of time-meaning I was running out of time.

"And I'll be ten feet tall tomorrow" This is another play on the above theme, "I'm not the man I'm tomorrow". In this instance it's a lot more hopeful. An attempt at bravery. The attempted Phoenix rising as the music builds. I may be down now but I'll be ten feet tall tomorrow. It's also a tip of the hat to the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer" where Stiv Bators sings, "I'll be ten feet tall and you'll be nothing at all". Basically it was saying that all the odds are against us but we are going to win this thing. The outcome is debatable. I think we won. We made an amazing record that people love. That's a win, thank you very much. The band was swallowed and spit out by an industry that has swallowed and spit out a lot of noteworthy things so I think we're in good company.

"I've fallen uphill" Like we got to the top of this hill somehow (with AOE). Falling seemed accurate. Like we were here by accident.
"Fattened for the kill" Seduced by the industry. Money, entitlement and all the fringe 'benefits' that come with 'success'.
It is impossible for me to put too fine a point on the words to this song. It means everything to me. The song is dark. Haunting. It was a dark and haunted time for me personally. I was struggling with a lot of my demons and I wasn't necessarily winning. Like I said a lot of the good people in my life were no longer there either by their choice or mine and I crawled into a hole and didn't come out for a long time. Luckily there was music in that pit and my brothers were there to make sure I didn't fall too far into it.

At the end of the day when I am dead and gone I am thankful that a song like this will live on without me. It shows a side of me not entertained anymore. Dark and introspective. I have grown very comfortable with the man that I am. The best and worst parts of myself. Those demons to me don't need to be exorcised through song anymore. Though, I am happy that No Reply stands as exactly that. A man wrestling with his own weaknesses and fears unashamed to sing it to whoever cares to listen.

I’ve finished dead last it's not over
It's started again and I’m unprepared
step into the ring, survivor
step into the sun and out of the shame
never alone ever lonely
my misery needs no company
transparent disguise, I’m still homely
forgive my mistakes, i get carried away
swallow me - sink me like a stone
sing a silent whisper
no reply at all
a naked excuse, useless
a fragile disease, a slap in the face
I’m not the man, I’m tomorrow
yesterday's fool in living color today
make no mistake, calculated
make no demands, I’ll know no regrets
don't pray for the man, pray for answers
pray for a way to make this all go away
I play the mime out of time
and I’ll be ten feet tall tomorrow
I’ve fallen uphill fattened for the kill
and I’ve been taken by surprise
still no reply