Itz Not U, Itz Me: Bait & Switch's Song 5

Shortly after finishing "The Last 2 No", and digging into my love life history, I went further back in time. When I was like 12, a new band sprung up out of nowhere, called KISS! My dad got me an 8 track cassette of "Dressed To Kill". I never heard anything like it. Not because it was musical. Rather, KISS had a point of view, "I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll All Nite", "Rock Bottom", and "Ladies In Waiting" were themes I never heard before. This music wasn't Pop. It was gritty, more earthy, more in the mud. It was the first time I heard "Hard Rock." It wasn't shortly after that when I heard Ozzy Osborne's Crazy Train. This sound was called "Heavy Metal". I didn't know it at the time, but Heavy Metal and Hard Rock would influence my music choices for about 10 years.

Inbetween the two, I heard "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick. This was "Guitar Driven Pop". Cheap Trick kind of had that balance between being nerdy and being a rock star. They had music that was more "intellectual". The song title is a classic break up line.

So, I took those influences and wrapped them all together. I took a repeating guitar riff, and a heavy metal drum sound, and inserted an Ozzy vocal into a more intellectual story about how everyone just accepts corporate America.

Let's face truth. I live quite a bit inside my head. The way I see it, I don't want Corporate American telling me how to be a good citizen. That is, our connection to our extended families was re-engineered to be nuclear family that depends on big business. The system doesn't want you to care about your elders, or who they are related to. They just want your money. Hence, Ancestry charges $400 bucks a year for what your family used to tell you at family gatherings for free. People used to gather and tell those stories. And so, your family history now becomes profit margin. The Great Universal Cash Heist (GRUNCH) has you.

So, the song hits on, "I don't wanna be like you, I wanna be like me". It rejects the world that's been pulled over our eyes.

As for influences, you really hear them in the song's bridge. The bridge refers to Ace Frehley's "What's On Your Mind" from his solo album. And the guitar solo uses all those wonky guitar string bends he's famous for.

To finish, I refer to KISS again. I say, "I just wanna rock'n'roll all nite and party ev-ery day". Ending the song vocally refers back to Ozzy. See? I didn't need to even write the song. It wrote itself in about 20 minutes.

Song 5 was complete, and was featured as #3 on the album. And I knew I was on to something. Not only was the album coming together, but it was starting to make sense.

#BeachRock #UZTV RussMainesMusic.com