"Here Like A Stain" Background
Track 3 off of "When on High," Here Like A Stain is one of my favorites to listen to.
A lot of the times, when I am writing lyrics, I start mumbling words, looking for according syllables to match the musical space. Somehow, through babel, I muttered out the words, "You're here like a stain." I really enjoyed this kind of concept and decided to base the song off of those keywords.
I think this song probably sat on a backlog for about an entire year with that concept in mind. It wasn't until I was given a prompt in my songwriting ensemble to adapt a poem into a song.
I have a great friend, Kaela Martin, who went to my school for English and wrote a lot of poetry. We met in the dorms. Kaela is the shit. She currently runs Unit E in Denver, CO, a DIY music and arts venue that is beyond cool.
Kaela and I met up for burgers and drinks and talked about her poetry. I, for some reason, have a really difficult time understand the depth of poetry, so it was really awesome to have her explain everything to me. There was one poem that really stuck out to me.
The first line of the poem was, "Mold me, play me, sharpen my years." I decided to combine that first line with, "You're here like a stain." The concept is about having a wonderful friendship, being influenced, learning a lot, having fun, but something has happened in the past, and you cannot fully put yourself 100% back into it. The friendship will never actually be the same again, and you realize the person is a permanent stain, a reminder of all the good and the bad.
"Here Like A Stain," features Harrison Garcia on bass, Brent Somermeyer on Drums, Karl Rivers playing keys, and yours truly playing guitar and singing.
Karl Rivers is seriously stupidly talented at piano and guitar.
Grant Stringham produced this one into the prefect hodgepodge of his electronic style and the corresponding natural elements. I think this is the best example of our styles mixing together.
Love, Michael Glader