This was the last thing recorded for this project, and came about under very unusual circumstances. On the night of 3/4/87 I had just finished recording "I Was Back In School Again", and was experimenting with tunings and different effects combinations when I suddenly found my mind inundated with what seemed like input from a malevolent intelligence, along the lines of, say, Richard Ramirez (the Night Stalker, a serial killer who terrorized L.A. with random killings). A lot of really horrible imagery went through my head. It's difficult to describe but it was the mental equivalent of suddenly being thrown in a tiny room with such a person. It was very frightening, seemed totally real and was so intense that it felt as if I was overloading, and I managed to get the guitar off and crawl onto the bed before passing out for about a half hour. What caused this? I don't know. At the time, it felt like the process of finding the tuning and experimenting with the sounds from the pedalboard put me into an altered state of consciousness, opened a channel in my head, and that's what came through. Whether this was an actual person, an element of my unconscious, or some discarnate force, it's impossible to say. But it was real enough that I worried about keeping the tuning I'd found- fearing that it would somehow attract this maniac to me like a homing signal. I stuck the guitar in the case and decided to wait until morning to decide.
By the next day, the tuning seemed harmless, but I really liked the sound of it. I played it for a couple of people and it had no adverse effect on them. So I decided to use it and to write a song based on the experience. The harmonics that had seemed to trigger everything that night are what start the piece off; the effects settings were left untouched between the incident and the recording, so this is exact.
The lyrics are from the point of view of whatever it was that passed through my consciousness. The idea was not to create sympathy but fright and repulsion, and to examine the character in a wider social context.
lyrics
I walk the streets alone at night
Beneath the silent neon lights
There is no order
Chaos rules
And violence reigns supreme
My conscience left me long ago
I don't care
And I don't know just where it's gone
I'm happy now
There's nothing in my way
I live to take your life tonight
I'd love to take your life tonight
As screams and terror fills your heart
Your death makes me a star
Now I'm on the nightly news
With your blood I've paid my dues
Your innocence and all your dreams
are buried in the grave
I'm killing you because it's fun
It could be you or anyone
I don't owe the world respect
And this is all I crave
I live to take your life tonight
I'd love to take your life tonight
As screams and terror fill your heart
Your death makes me a star
Now it's time to face the facts
Time to play the final act
This world is a catastrophe and order is a joke
If you live free you live with me
Brush shoulders with insanity
I suffer you to come to me
Or live under the yoke
Take one last look before you fall
You've seen my face in mirrored halls
To you the world is made of glass
To me it's made of stone
G.S., 3/87
credits
from Water From The Moon,
released April 13, 2014
G.S.: electric guitar, electronic drums, bass, vocals. Lyrics and music 3/4-6/87.
Throwing mathcore, emo, and ambient into the mix, Estonia's Kaschalot push progressive rock's multitasking approach to its limits. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 10, 2021
