I came across Tom’s lyric book not long ago and happened to open it on this page. Following a conversation with a friend it has become increasingly important to me that the intention behind these words, and specifically the album title is understood. Words are just words, it’s the intention behind the words that matters. Some people, myself included, believe that the intention behind words holds more than just an intellectual meaning.
As a band we broadcast a message and how that message is deciphered can be extremely important. We had discussed leaving the title to interpretation but I am aware that we have a reputation for being part of some type of evangelical atheist cult, which is not the case, and that perception would be factored in when people draw their conclusions on what these words mean. Some of our songs have touched upon the ugly side of religion, the destructive and manipulative side, but many religious folk are lovely, harmless people. We don’t identify with any religion but we all possess some level of spirituality within our lives and it is the lack of that quality in modern western culture to which the title refers. It feels to me as if modern culture has been starved of introspection. We’re incessantly fixated on the material world and our immediate environment. Our focus on the tangible means that we’ve lost our connection with the intangible. We’ve lost touch with ourselves. Our Gods have been replaced by material God’s or ‘false idols’. Tom joked that the album would have perhaps been better off being named ‘We’ve Abandoned All Our Gods’, but that it didn’t have the appropriate ring that an album title calls for.
We embark upon our biggest ever headline tour this Saturday and tens of thousands of you will sing that line back at us over the course of the 5 weeks tour. To some of you the line is just a line. A cool sounding string of words that precedes some (really good) heavy riffs, and for me that’s fine. What I don’t want is thousands of people broadcasting some ‘fuck the world’ or ‘fuck God’ meaning because that is not what was intended. If that is how you feel towards the world then who am I to stop you, but what I would like you to remember is that when those words were written in this book, they were written as a critique on ourselves. It’s a reminder that we need to take a look in the mirror and question who and what we really are. Many of us feel a void in our lives, some sense of emptiness that we struggle to fill but we have to wonder, in a rapidly evolving world, how far adrift are we from where we’re really supposed to be? And how much is this modern culture contributing towards our feeling of unfulfillment.
The song that the title is lifted from is ‘Nihilist’, so yeah, you could assume some type of pessimism or negativity within the lyrics. I think a level nihilism is experienced by anyone that is faced with their mortality and I’ve certainly encountered it whilst I’ve been grieving. Maybe everyone that experiences some level of depression experiences a taste of nihilism. But whilst nihilism seems unpleasant to some, I think it offers a deeper perspective into life and it allows you to dissolve some of the boundaries that we accept as normal in everyday life. Although at times existence itself feels utterly meaningless, I do my best to bring lessons back from my trips into absolute nihilism that could serve as useful tools for when I attempt to resume normal service.
Yes, the song was written from a place of deep dissatisfaction with the state of the world, but it is written as a wake up call. A request to those who listen to take a look at themselves, to wonder who (and what) they really are and what it is that they’re bringing to the world. If people want to live their lives as culturally engineered pre-programmed zombie drones, then by all means do, I’m often as guilty as the next man, but for me its important to examine your actions, your thoughts and your words and question what it is that YOU are broadcasting into the world.
Magazines, please stop paraphrasing my ramblings on your online platforms, it ain’t journalism. If I get tagged later with ‘Grieving nihilist @danarchitects thinks fans are culturally engineered pre-programmed zombie drones’ I won’t be impressed. It helps for me to write and share, so please let me do so in peace.
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