The songs on the album roughly correspond to the chapters of the book, but they have diverged somewhat as they evolved. This is a few random thoughts on the influences, origins and evolution of the songs on the album.
Babylon Bears. I wanted a theme song that announced the name of the band and gave a summary of the story, even though I hadn’t written it yet. For example the last line “You can’t get spares for a Babylon Bear” betrays the idea that I originally thought they would be mechanical. The music started with the opening riff that turns into the chorus. This is me trying to play like Keith Richards does in open G tuning, but in standard tuning. It has something of Rosalie or Saturday Night’s Alright about it. A certain 70s swagger. It namechecks Dr Rudyard Lake who got named after our local reservoir and describes the revenge Ezra takes on him. This then influenced a rewrite of Chapter 2 of the book…
City of Dreams. I started off with that riff and was rapping Steven Tyler via Cab Calloway stuff over it about a bear in white tie and tails with a cane and top hat tap dancing down the street. This was fun but a bit too out there, so I decided to make the song about how people are drawn to Los Angeles because they want to become famous actors or musicians. I speculate about the price they are willing to pay to realise these dreams. I found this almost impossible to sing and play at the same time to start with, but have persevered and mostly get away with it now!
Chez Moi. I wanted to write something like The Passenger, but it kept turning into Lost Weekend. Eventually it decided it wanted to be a reggae song so I concentrated on how Ezra would welcome his guests to his crib for a mad party. Tried rappin or toasting the middle 8, but just could not get away with it at this tempo and I am not Jamaican. Our former bassist Will used to be in a band with the wonderful Alex Clarke who played saxophone here and this adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the song. I also love The Beat.
Juggernaut is an Indian god apparently, but I may have been thinking of a truck, or what we used to call a lorry, running over the victims of the emo/metal band of this name. Picking up on City of Dreams, Belle comes to LA wanting to meet rockstars and ends up on crack. Pamela Des Barres “I’m With The Band” was on my mind. In the book Pandora tells the story to Ezra believing it could easily have been her in the morgue if a few tiny details had been different. Some events in our lives can be hugely decisive. “There are big days and there are little days…” The chords in the chorus start out like Stairway to Heaven. I was thinking like MacArthur park lyrically here experimentally juxtaposing two events. “They were laughing in the restaurant when she fell beneath the juggernaut.” A bit of that 60s Jimmy Webb vibe. Someone left a cake out in the rain…
We Know Where You Live. I have had this riff knocking around for years and used to play it on bass. On a dirty guitar it sounds a bit like The Skids to my ear anyway. The verses of the song are Anthony Chung, the bears crooked accountant’s fears about what the bears will do. The chorus is the bears threatening him. Little Anthony is a bit like Father Ted, “The money was only resting in my account.” Originally he was killed by Ezra with a golf club in a meat packing plant, but I decided this was too derivative. So I changed it to the totally not like Reservoir Dogs death that is now in the book. I liked the threatening tone of the hook line and the stop start bits add to the tension.
Jumbo Jet Song. Had this song for years and used to rehearse it with Cambridge band EKE. We folded in the end as we couldn’t get a drummer. We had one guy you couldn’t take anywhere. “No spitting across the bar, please!” Then Gary Numan’s drummer auditioned, but it turned out he was auditioning us and he thought we were crap. Most of the lyrics are exactly the same as the EKE version, but I added that bit about static and roadmen. Repetitive verse riff is deceptively hard to keep consistent while singing at the same time. Chorus is kinda power ballady. I must confess here that I really like Heart in their 80s big hair power ballad incarnation. I think about 80s singers and their pretentious stylings when performing this. The verse in particular is very descriptive and evocative of this era. Lyrically, it might be influenced by Jethro Tull’s “Cap in Hand.” The protagonist was never a bear, but I see him this way now, leaving a crumbling city to fly with a sexy witch on her broom up where the planes go.
Jettaway. I do love Thin Lizzy and even quote Jailbreak here. It’s like the Jailbreak for the Internet generation. Tells the story of Jett Whitby’s escape from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. This is a real LA jail and has the most brutal reputation. Of course Whitby’s money means he is having a reasonably ok time in there, and only has to commit acts of sickening violence once in a while. The intro reveals he is so far in the closet he has a coat hanger with his name on it, as he longs for James Dean to help him pass away the long hours in his cell. If I say funkin’ fun one more funkin’ time…, If you’re easily offended too bad! This one corresponds quite closely to Chapter 7 in the book.
Marmont Echoes. I was reading somewhere about the ghosts that allegedly haunt this famous Hollywood hotel and I wondered what it would be like to stay there. Pamela Des Barres book refers to her affair with Jim Morrison happening here (I think!). I was also thinking about Michael Hutchence tragic death in a hotel in Sydney and how one might qualify to become a ghost in such hallowed company as at the Marmont. Who better to lead a rocker into the spirit world than the Lizard King himself, Mr Mojo Risin’. I hope he doesn’t mind me borrowing some lines from his poetry for the book. The more of Jim’s poetry I read the more appropriate his words seemed. Thanks Jim. Musically, this is Southern Rock influenced; I love me some Skynyrd and Allman Bros. The middle 8 is influenced by Nick Cave who I also think is the business. We wanted some kind of effect on the vocals for the ghosts welcoming Jett in the chorus and ended up using the Boss Vocoder pedal. I also use this live which is great if we’ve sound checked it, but if not can sound truly awful!
Two Hears Must Break. I was going for a goth “I got you Babe” vibe here. Both Pandora and Ezra have a shady past and have done some sketchy stuff. She likes that he’s a bad boy and he likes her mystery. Thanks to Ange for singing the Pandora part here- nice harmonies. It has a tragic Romeo and Juliet motif. They have inklings that it will end badly, but cannot do other than they are doing. I don’t do love songs, but this comes close. Got that happy/sad Smiths thing too, maybe?
Goodbye Old Man. In the book this is a Druid Priestess song about Trump dying and them having a party. Elvis Costello’s Tramp The Dirt Down does something similar for Margaret Thatcher. Here I try to do it humorously, mixing hillbilly Americana with a Ska chorus. Took a bit of rehearsal to make it flow, but this is now a live favourite. People have even been known to try and dance to it. Middle 8 is definitely influenced by the B52s as I am doing my best Fred Schneider. “Narcissistic wounds” is for all the psychotherapists in the audience who keep telling me about how often Trump uses the word “I”. As for the “robot wife”, I wish you well Melania, just don’t ever wear that “out of Africa” outfit again, eh?
Let Them Eat Cake. Sounds like a Killer Queen reference and is about Marie Antoinette, but reimagines her as a vegan who just wants to save her sheep from the revolutionary mob. Inexplicably, I give her a cockney accent in the manner of Billy Bragg. Well, it just worked with the music and I couldn’t sing this in an Austrian accent which is where she was really from. Musically, I play some inverted chords and arpeggios, but with a punky rasp. Rob plays some cool guitar over the slowed down break and I have to remember to sniff, dun I?
Babylon Prayer. Ezra talks to God. Like Frankenstein or even Short Circuit I thought the book could use a scene where a manmade protagonist tries to get a response from God. In this case Ezra finds himself in a Catholic Church despite his identification with Rastafarianism. I had to have a Graham Green whiskey priest here and I named him after the priest in Eleanor Rigby. This started off as an acoustic open mic song but with Stevo’s drums, got a bit more Chilli Pepper like with added urgency. Ezra is desperate for God’s mercy, but the Lord does not appear to have anything to say to him. On a deeper level I suppose I am questioning the idea of mortal sin. Should he be damned? Was it ever going to end well for him? Lots of people are born into abusive and neglectful families and go on to repeat the violence and abuse done to them. Should they be damned? And why create a world that tests and damns us so unfairly?
Fast/Asleep. Babylon Bears do prog! This somewhat psychedelic adventure follows Pandora’s death experience and her return to this world. The first bit started off as a song of mine about a car crash where the two drivers stand talking, slowly realising they have passed on. The second bit is influenced by Evici’s Hey Brother with its country leanings. And Alice in Wonderland. I was thinking of the rhythm of Market Street Heroes for the last bit, and it ends with a choir of me with a mandolin/guitar battle over the top. Rob’s guitar here sounds very Mike Oldfield to my ear. The medical sound effects were inspired by Pure Reason Revolution’s Eupnea album. If you don’t know this band, I highly recommend them.
So there you have it. The lowdown on 13 songs. Hope the above sheds some light on the song writing process and how the album and book influenced each other during their evolution. If you have any questions feel free to ask them on the blog page and I will try to answer them in a timely manner. Hope to see you at a gig soon!
Babylon Bears 