Punchline

The Snake, The Fake, and The Birthday Cake:
I wrote this song in Milwaukee, WI while on our Now Or Never tour back in May '05. I was playing my guitar in the van before the show started when I started playing the chorus to this song. The first draft of the song came together right then and there, but still very very far from the final version. I developed the ideas in my head for a long time, scared to put it down on tape - I thought if it wasn't just right when I demoed it then I would dismiss the song as a whole. I finally did demo it on my 8 track - it ended with an almost two minute breakdown that faded out, very drawn out. The beginning of the song was a little bit longer also. Maybe i'll let you hear the 8 track recording someday? Maybe when I die someday?

Head to purevolume to hear the final version of these songs.

01 - Flashlight :
I got so fed up with forgetting ideas for songs that a few years ago I started to write down or record every idea that I could. Whether on a tape recorder, digital voice recorder, my phone memos, or actually leaving myself a voice mail - I made sure to collect all the ideas. Flashlight is a very new song, but some of the parts were written over the last few years. I wrote the chorus at my friend Eric's in the midst of a little movie gathering. The song really came to life when we were recording demos with Oliver Chapoy at Salad Days Studio back in April of 05 just before heading out on our headlining tour. We threw together 13 songs in the course of 7 days, 4 out of the 13 ended up on the album. Anthony Raneri sings the bridge in Flashlight, we gave him the only swear word on the album to sing. Very fitting for a guy who's first track on his own album is called Hello Shitty. Jack from Bayside was in the studio with Anthony, so we had him sing the angelic harmony at the end of the part. Its an agressive song for us; really gets the album going at full speed. However, a sore subject - losing a friend to a drug problem and dealing with the constant lies that they think are accepted after saying them so many times.

02 - The Getaway:
A little tune popped into my head as I flew on several planes from Jacksonville, FL to Worcester, MA to meet the guys for the first show of the 2 month long Reel Big Fish tour. This little tune became the chorus for the Getaway. However on the plane I had no way of recording my idea so I had to just keep singing it and singing. Its not like I was belting it out but some people were definitely giving me some strange looks. Oh well, it was worth it. I eventually put the idea to tape and demoed the song idea on my 8 track when I got home from the tour. After a few times of working on it at practice I doubted the song would make the album, let alone be one of the first tracks. This song is about ignoring a problem that is on the verge of exploding.

03 - Don't Try This At Home:
About 6 years ago, my older brother went out and bought a guitar, he played it for a few days and ever since its been sitting at my parents house. A black stratocaster like Applause guitar, we used to always joke that they named it Applause because people would applaud if you could pick it up. Definitely an overweight guitar. After hanging out at Chris' house one nite I drove to my parents to crash for the nite. On the drive home the melody for the verses slowly developed in my head, I quietly ran in the house and sought out that old heavy applause that's kept around only for times like these. I sat on the corner of my bed (in the same spot on the same guitar where 'getting there' came to life) and worked out the verse and wrote a chorus that was eventually changed. The original chorus lyrics were:

kid without a clue
floating in a fish tank
unsure if the rules I'm making are failsafe -
I could be the brightest

I played this at practice for the guys unsure of what they would think and I guess they had more faith in the idea than I did. They loved it. The rest of the song was written when we did preproduction for the album with Shep and Kenny in the mountains of northeasten PA where we locked ourselves away for three days and tightened up the songs we were to record. Shep pointed us in the right direction as far as coming up with a solid chorus. The lyrics weren't finalized until about 3 minutes before I acutally sang them in new york. This song without a doubt had the most work put into it as far as lyrics. One thing we were real happy to work in was the last line from the tv show The Wonder Years - "I still look back in wonder". There was one part of a verse that we loved but had to cut:

If you can drive
I'll sit shotgun
play the wheel
I'm air guitar

Greg came up with the key change in the bridge and had the idea of getting his friend Ryan from Yellowcard to play the metal guitar solo over top. I have some video of Ryan playing this that I should post somewhere. The lead from the beginning of the song was kind of stolen from one of the songs we wrote for the album that didn't make it, but I'm not gonna tell you what its called in case we ever decide to record it! You'll just have to keep your ears peeled. No longer available.

04 - Green Light:
According to the date on my digital voice recorder - Green Light was born on the same day as bside Changing Lanes. I don't know what happened that day, but I must have been in a hell of a mood. This song was probably the first song we worked on when it came to work on new songs - not including Pretty Petty because it did not make the album. Green Light expresses the positive outlook that we try to have in life. I'm not saying that everyday is the best day of my life (althought there was a time when it seemed that way), but every day at least has the chance to be. A lot of our songs on the new album remind me of older songs or coincide with songs from Action. To me, and I'm not quite sure why, but I think Green Light is the modern day 'Stop', which appears on the Rewind EP. The last line written for this song sums it up for me - "If I keep this speed and if keep this smile, then i'll catch every one I swear." No longer available.

05 - For the Second Time:
This song dates back much further than any other song on 37 EVERYWHERE. This song is kind of the ballad bside to Heart Transplant - they were both written in the span of 2 days. It was a rough time for me, at least two of the best songs I've ever written came out of them. Lyrically, this is my favorite song. I like how the bridge reference is complimented by the melody of 'london bridge is falling down' (which no one has ever picked up on when I play it for them). I'm happy that this song was written as a ballad and stay that way. We could have totally made this a fast punk rock song, but decided to present it in the way it was meant to be heard. No longer available.

Look for Punchline's new album 37 Everywhere to hit stores April 11th. (Remind Me)

fall out boy, cartel, new found glory