This song was, I believe, the first song recorded but the third one finished. The song ended up sounding very nineties, especially once the lyrics and vocals were done.
The Buzzsaw approach wasn’t yet fully formed on this song, though it clearly was emerging. I do remember that we needed a bass part for the bridge. Chas threw the bass in my hands and told me to just come up with something. I played pretty much the first thing that came to mind and, for whatever reason, it worked. This would later become a key part of the Buzzsaw philosophy: first thought, best thought.
The lyrics continued deep religious imagery and sexual innuendo that would continue through the entire album (“Are you a virgin?/ Maybe possessed by devils?”). I imagine Clusterfuck has started some sort of relationship. I also get the sense of spectacle in this song: Clusterfuck imagines opening a window after a night of sex only to see thousands cheering his name; he asks his female friend if she would like to go to a stoning; instead, they go to a matinee and screw around. The private and the public are overlapping and difficult to tell apart. Even the very first line of the song is, “If it’s not a personal question...”
Chas says:
“Mess” was the first song that The Freedom and I recorded. My biggest memory is me more or less passing out on my table as Jake’s trying to play me song after song before he finishes his beer and leaves. That, and him saying at one point while we were recording the song that he felt like we were cheating.
The lyrics came out of a writing game me and Amanda “The Therewolf” Martin did while we were watching Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.” At the end, I just cobbled together the best lines from the two notebooks we were passing back and forth, and bam, instant lyrics.
lyrics
If it’s not a personal question
are you a virgin?
maybe possessed by devils?
If the answer’s yes to these questions
we’re right behind you.
We will worship the ground that walk on
until you lose a shoe.
Blasphemy!
You didn’t bring us here
we just followed you.
We have always know all the time
that you were just playing around at being mad
and I know you like orders,
I know you like ‘em so throw me to the ground.
After a night of good sex
I often pray to open my windows
every morning to thousands of people cheering my name.
Blashpemy!
I’d probably go home too
if no one was following me.
I once was blind,
but now I just can’t see.
We could go to a stoning
but I could go to a stoning any time.
So just harvest my body
while we sit at the children’s matinee.
Symbolic of my struggle against reality
you wanna see what emerges
when you reach under the leaf?
Boston band featuring members of Have Heart and Basement take their earnest, motivational post-hardcore to thrilling new heights. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 23, 2023