Bill Mallonee has released (at least) three new albums since we had our last issue out! It is hard to keep track of everything that comes out because it all comes at an unbelievably rapid pace. I am a big fan of Bill’s work, and what is exciting about these new releases are not only great new music, but we also get to hear Muriah’s voice on the Wonderland release that came out for last Christmas. Typically she sings back up to Bill, on “Wonderland” we get her with main vocals on two tracks. I know it seems a bit late to be plugging Christmas releases, but I look at this in a couple of different ways. 1) We are super late in getting this issue out, 2) depending on how you look at it we are super early for Christmas 2012, or 3) Bill’s work is timely year round regardless of the subject matter, so a Christmas release is good 12 months out of the year. Bill’s music is not only the best available in the Americana world, but it is also a testament to the spirit of those who continue to persevere and push in spite of a mountain of obstacles. Bill has the unique gift of chronicling the experience and offering it back in a way that we can all relate to. I can’t imagine my life without the blessing of Bill’s music, it is a treasure that continues to encourage. I am especially fond of the Slow Dark demos because these were the precursor to one of my favorite VoL albums, Slow Dark Train. Below are all three new releases and a synopsis of each written by Mr. Mallonee himself.
Wonderland
This is our new Christmas EP! There are five originals plus two traditional Christmas carol arrangements by Muriah Rose. I’ve always tried (and seemed to be able) to write Christmas songs that have a certain year-round immediacy. Perhaps this is due to the fact that for so long I lived with a certain existential despair. The notion of “hope” seemed distant and elusive. Of this journey of faith and experience, much of what I see as evidence for God’s love and His near-ness to each of us is most realized in Christmas.
Here we see God becoming vulnerable. He was becoming vulnerable to a life of poverty, vulnerable to the whims of popularity and ultimately vulnerable to the whims of the rich, privileged and powerful. It was that work that attracted me to the person and work of the Child Christ. We think you’ll find the “big” themes that make this a season of deep reflection and joy here.
Slow Dark demos
Into the vaults! Our first installment is Slow Dark demos. These tracks were cut “live” in the studio by me, bassist Chris Bland & drummer Tom Crea in a studio in late 1996, prior to the making of the indie, garage rock album, SLOW DARK TRAIN. The first 10 song album, SLOW DARK DEMOS Vol. 1, is $8.99 and available for immediate download! PLUS: Copious liner notes regarding the record’s history and making are at the site, as well! Each volume has previously unreleased songs.
Folks, it’s been 15 years since this version of VoL recorded these demos. They were recorded (19 songs in all) over a 2 day period, “live,” in a studio setting. How do they strike me now? They have held up amazingly well!
I was going for that visceral, raw energy that was characteristic of many of the great bands I loved in the 90’s like REM, The Replacements and Guided by Voices. In some ways this was the most important record I was to ever make. All industry resources had fallen away. All the “props” of label, management and radio had dissolved (remember it was 1996, kids.) Rather than call it quits, the environment and the challenge called forth in us a whole new sound and way of making music for us.
In a nutshell, here’s why this album is important:
Something bright and affirming was taking place inside of me and in the band that was Vigilantes of Love. It was the first electric album in which I was able to exercise and hone my skills as a rock writer, rock guitar player, lyricist and producer.
These songs, here in their demo format, were the “life blood” of the plucky ‘lil band that could. They still sound fresh, full of a wide-eyed vitality, raw-ness and conviction.
Hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I did revisiting them!
Note: 19 songs were demo-ed “LIVE” over a 2 day period. This is volume 1 of a 2 Volume set. (There are 5 previously unreleased songs here in the two Archive Series installments.)
Songs for the Journey and Beyond
“Road songs” have become “life songs” for me. Travel from “A” to “B” seems to have a way of unlocking deeper parts of my spirit.
Having lived the better part of the last 20 years on the road as a “band in a van” or as a troubadour, I became immersed first-hand in what historians & writers have called the “American Experience.”
Those variables of limited resources & hard luck, when fused with faith, courage & (often) sheer “pluck,” were vital to transforming this great country. The idea that we could all dream and find ourselves a ‘lil part of Heaven initially looked well on paper; we had (so to speak) a lot to work with here. The grandeur and resources of such a land as ours is, to my mind, unrivaled in the world.
We all play out a certain drama. We learn the ropes of life and in doing so we learn of our own gifts and our weaknesses.
We are thrown back (like it or nay) on something larger than ourselves. We try to bet on hope in the face of grief. We champion courage while attempting to keep despair at bay, and we take a stoic stock in a sober faith that “it’s all going somewhere.” Those ancient stories and myths you try to make your own. Call it naïve…call it infantile…call it uninformed, it is, nonetheless the “Faith” we have cobbled together from our American Experience.
It is this “faith” that attracts me to a guitar, and the possibility of a song being born; of something coming to life.
If we “dare to look it in the eye,” this raw energy of our individual lives, dreams, and struggles, we will have more than enough “grit” to make for great songs. Whether it’s themes of heroes, thieves, lovers, villains, misers or the “down-&-out,” it has been such experiences that have informed my world without…but mostly my world within.
Early on in my life I was deeply aware of a universe that was full of great beauty, joy & hallowed-ness. Still, such beauty (earthly or heavenly) comes to us in fits and starts. It introduces itself in such fragility and vulnerability that it appears tentative, even disposable.
We are victims of all that is seen (as opposed to the unseen, even in ourselves.) Fear drives us to soul-less solutions. People get hurt. In our mad rush towards materialism as “individuals” we are easily seduced at the altars of wealth, success and violence. People and things are deemed “expendable.” Even our relationships become defined in terms of “gain vs. loss.”
Having lost touch with things of Spirit, we tend to devalue that hallowed-ness in the world. We miss such hallowed-ness in our neighbor, and sadly, even in ourselves. We miss Spirit, ignore it and (often) ruin it by our own devices. Though outwardly we appear to “have it made,” we are often becoming living beings that are lacking a pulse…running on empty.
I count myself in such a category, punctuated with the occasional “mini-epiphany.” Perhaps we all live at such an address; there’s that “almost but not quite” aspect of our lives.
And, if by chance, we should wake up to that “larger, brighter world,” we can embrace it, cultivate it, and above all, chalk it up humbly to grace, and “not of thyself.”
And for those of us who still walk wounded, lingering in the twilight? Well, “be ye kind, tender-hearted & forgiving” to the rest of us. Such displays of virtue may be the only “sighting” of that larger, brighter world we “unbelievers” will ever see.
Maybe that’s what these songs for the journey & beyond are all about.
Leave a Reply