MAXX EXPLOSION

Song by song break down by Front man / Bassist Chris McCarvil

Devil's Locomotive: There's two ways to take this one...one way is the visual. When I first heard the music for this (Jimi and Bj had made an instrumental demo of the whole song - which got me really psyched), I immediately pictured this crazy, demonic train barrelling through mountain passes, angrily storming and clanking through the night, stunning everyone who sees it like some kind of forgotten ghost story. It seemed like I just had to describe what I was picturing from listening to it. I also looked up a ton of railroad slang and terms which dictated a lot of the words I chose. For example, a "Black Snake" is slang for a train that carries coal, etc. Then of course, there's the "below the belt" way of interpreting the lyrics, where it's about...well...think about it. Hahaha.

Falling Away: Musically, this one came from me. I wanted a song where we all sing harmony vocals for the entire chorus. For the subject; we all have people in our lives that we're concerned about. Falling Away is about a few specific people in my life, who really do make me worry sometimes. Maybe it's a way of addressing how helpless it feels to see loved ones/friends who are on the edge of wiping themselves out. I'm sure some people may feel this way about me sometimes too...nobody's perfect. (except Jimi Bell. He told me he's perfect.)

Cross Your Heart: Another Jimi / Bj music piece. Bj and I rearranged it about seven thousand times, then I re-wrote the chorus about eight thousand. Just one of those songs that never sounded exactly like what we originally envisioned, though I'm very happy with where we decided to let it be. The lyrics were inspired by Jimi's intro guitar riff, which reminded me of being lost in a shadowy Brothers Grimm-type forest or like Little Red Riding hood. There's some strong sexual overtones to that story, so I wanted to see if I could make Cross Your Heart have a more adult and darker feel of a fairy tale story without being totally cliche.

I Don't Wanna Break: Bj wrote all the music for this one. It's all his fault. Haha. I should mention that Bj and I both are multi-instrumentalists and we both have recording studios, so we're both capable of writing and recording finished songs. This one shows Bj's musical depth. I've ended up being the lyrics guy, so I tried to dig in and figure out what he was saying with his music. What I came up with is the thoughts that go through the mind of someone trying to figure out if the grass is really greener elsewhere and knowing themselves enough to say "maybe not". Don Dokken stepped in and helped me sort out the lyrics and hipped me to start reading poetry. I have been. Appreciate the tip.

Love is a Nightmare: Ever been in a relationship where the other person doesn't turn out to be who they seem at first? Thought so. I took that concept and ran with it, letting Jimi's angry guitar riffs direct the style of the lyrics. It seems that most of the riffs that Jimi writes inspire the darker side of things. Gosh. How could that be?

Rise: This one's about overcoming hardship. I may not have major problems in my life, but sometimes things still get to me and it can be hard to pick myself up and carry on. Jimi & Bj originally had given me a demo of the music, and though it was really cool, it ended up on the back burner while we worked on other songs. One night I tried fooling around with some keyboard parts on it and it seemed to really make a difference. I think I came up with most of the lyrics that same night. Just shows there's really no formula for songwriting.

End of the Line: We wrote this all together in the rehearsal room. Jimi had the initial riff and verse, I came up with the pre chorus, Bj wrote the chorus. I sang nonsense while we were playing. Then I realized I was singing a word or two here and there. We recorded what we had that day and eventually I figured out I was singing about the adventure of leaving home.

Demon Wheel: Because I can.

Can't Stop Falling in Love: This one is about the one sided breakup, when you're not ready for it. It's also another song that Bj wrote all the music to. He also pushed me to sing it in a lot of different ways, especially the "Can't Stop Falling in Love" line before the big chorus backup vocals. I added the Rhodes keyboard almost offhandedly at first but then got attached. Bj suggested the Hammond organ in the chorus and Jimi added his dark and heavy fingerprint to the guitars which hopefully all adds up to a dynamic listen.

Beat Around the Bush: This one happened pretty quick. I think I had most of the music parts written originally. Jimi came over and we went through it making it cooler. I almost see the storyline of this like to 50's cartoon. I didn't go for fine literature on this one, it's a silly, tongue in cheek rocker that's just for fun. Live, this one proves pretty difficult to play since there's a lot of musical craziness. This is one of the songs that Don Dokken had a hand in. He took a demo that we made and sang the chorus back to me over the phone how he thought it should go. We tried it in rehearsal and man, world of difference. Thanks Don!

Famous: Do you see a pattern yet? Jimi writes a LOT of guitar riffs. I mean like hundreds. This one is a classic Bell riff. I think we wrote the chorus together but I really don't remember. I do remember that the lyrics were somewhat inspired by "the Running Man" book by Stephen King. It's my own take on the fugitive theme. I put myself in the place of someone in a dead end who can't make ends meet but still wants to provide. How far would you go?

Suicide Door: As soon as Jimi played me his riff for this, I immediately pictured an old Ford V8 racing dirt roads, cops in pursuit and Tommy guns blasting. Obviously Bonnie and Clyde came to mind. I rented a show on those two and read up a lot about them. Fascinating, but not easy to make a rock song out of. It took a lot of lyric editing, and the guys didn't really like how many words I had to cram in there to tell the story, but I think it just needs it all to make sense. It's totally exhausting to sing and play this live, and I told Jimi I wanted some kind of guitar/bass synchronized crazy solo part which he wrote. Love that!

Forever: This one took FOREVER! It's my baby, we all worked really hard on it for a long time. One of my favorite movies is the original Lost Boys. After watching it one really late night, I picked up my acoustic and the verse riff and vocal melody just came out. For lyrics, I put myself in the place of a vampire in love with a girl, wrestling with his conscience about turning her into a vampire or not. However, I tried to not say "Vampire" at all, so hopefully people will come away from it with their own interpretation. I had some vocal coaching help from my longtime friend Craig Polivka who wrote the line "lonely hearts for wheels", which is my favorite.
I thought Forever was arranged, but one day Bj said "It's missing a great big chorus"...so back to the drawing board. It took many many more arrangements to make the new chorus work in the song. Our good friend Chuck Beckman played a real sitar on it. I didn't know I would be playing sleigh bells on it, but they're on the outro behind Bj's intense drum solo. The other kind of funny thing about recording Forever was the huge long note I sang. I have a big window in the control room that looks out over my backyard. I found I could hold the note longer if I held my arms out, so there I am, back to the window, in the zone, feeling it, arms outstretched, it's such a long note that I was shaking by the end of it. I press stop, turn around and there's my 11 year old son and a bunch of his friends looking in the window like "What's wrong with your dad?"