Get all 10 Great Apes releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Mill - White Helmets Charity Digital Single, California Heart, Grey Tapes, Playland at the Beach, Live at Thee Parkside 1/4/2014, Thread, Split 7" with Know Your Saints, Atomic Garden Sessions, and 2 more.
1. |
California Heart
04:08
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paralyzed in the light of the living room
on a cul de sac in Fresno - mid afternoon
thoughts scratch until the synapse bleeds
to the lullaby of the TV hum I concede
all the catalog kids in the quad they scream, "this is the time of our lives."
the teachers and shrinks they judge with scolding eyes - why can't I get it right?
at the dinner table the parent strangers stare
while I dream drift up through the warm autumn air
past the fields and strip malls, tract homes and schools
and then fall - a bug drowning on its back in some suburban pool
the skate rats they ride through the sewer pipes – they’re down there getting high
and the charlatan thugs gawk at the freshmen queens, who all date older guys
maybe we're just a chemical mess brought here on a comet from the sky
the failed experiment of an accident – maybe we’re just born to die
tonight just let me sleep for the next two years
I don’t want to think – I just want to disappear
maybe we're just a chemical mess brought here on a comet from the sky
the failed experiment of an accident – maybe we’re just born to die
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2. |
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I’m cutting class today
I can’t stand the insults or the masquerade
180 east up to the trees
I’ve got my pen and my Parliaments
anything to drown out the dissonance
the hush of mountain air is what I need
through the valley of pesticide and haze…
where the palms choke and the cattle graze
down there they’re all swarming
but I’ll just keep ignoring
the surge of selfishness and sin
out there beyond the peaks
it’s all so fucking bleak
alone is the only place I fit in
on the edge of Redwood Overlook
I press my pleas into an empty book
a hawk replies suspended over cliffs
I write for the eyes of empathy
for wild love and tranquility
the wind pulls my words to the abyss
beneath a blanket of branches and sky
where the creeks speak and the ache it subsides
down there they’re all swarming
but I’ll just keep ignoring
the surge of selfishness and sin
out there beyond the peaks
it’s all so fucking bleak
alone is the only place I fit in
when the sun sinks towards the sea
it will drag me unwillingly
back to the city of dust and drones
where the crickets of Tulare Street
lament in the summer heat
I’ll be back before Dad gets home…
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3. |
Saint Brasher
02:01
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I found a hidden shelter
down in Room 23
lunch left of the dial
with Ms. Kennedy
stale coffee and old books
a worn stack of LPs
a poster of Saroyan
Beat Happening
Into the Wild, in her I confide
through Big Sur, let the luminary guide
she’s Antolini in a school of hacks and phonies
when the Bell Tolls, I leave riding a Red Pony
I found my voice
with the unsung heroes
I found my place
with the Less Than Zeroes
she could see the shine
sinking in my eyes
and she said,
“The hurt will ebb and flow on manic tides.”
Into the Unknown, let the Out of Step guide
beneath the Crooked Rain, with her by my side
in a Room Without a Window, she’s a set of stairs
oh, she dared to dare, so I Will Dare
she said, “be careful, boy. this town it’s so cruel.
squeeze every drop of life – drink until you’re full.”
she made us think - she let us bend the rules
and they fired her right after school
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4. |
Bullard Hex
03:34
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uninvited on Halloween
to a party full of philistines
I went as an invisible man
I spied still in the shaking halls
and walked through the sweating walls
with a red plastic cup in my hand
varsity vampires bared their teeth
to the searing sounds of techno beats
the dance floor was a horde of living dead
in the backyard feral kittens squealed
as a window left ajar revealed
a nurse giving Teen Wolf head
above the banter of the rabid dogs
the bong smoke swirled into an eerie fog
Jenny from art class smiled at me
a gesture of pity and sympathy
awkwardly I tried to wave
but retreated to my shallow grave
banished to the basement with the freaks
medieval knights with twelve sided dice
robotic nerds and punks with spikes
upstairs the witches began to shriek
around about twelve the cops hit the lights
and the roaches scattered into the night
I grabbed the nearest bottle and hopped the fence
in the empty streets I bobbed and weaved
through the candy wrappers and pumpkin seeds
the ghost of childhood past in present tense
I snuck in late through the sliding door
and puked into my dresser drawer
staring at a spinning ceiling / strangled by the sheets
in a world of silent monsters, I lay there counting sheep
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5. |
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I scored a hit right before first period
off a sketchy metal head
he pulled it from a black Jansport
whited out with “Pantera shreds”
we dropped it in the cab of his pickup -
a rusted navy ’97 Chevy
I was tripping; I was feelin’ fucked up
he said, “dude, it’s gonna be heavy.”
tunneling through the hallways
with faces corroding
all the colors of chemistry
my whole world is exploding
wasted
we’re all so…
when lunch hit I was swimming out in the grass
on the field underneath the bleachers
the buzz of the bees and the breeze in the trees
tied to all time and creatures
I peaked in math with my head buried in the desk
tracing patterns on the back of my eyes
when the teacher called me, I was transcendent
high above my body disguise
crashing down on the overpass
in a cage above the freeway
staring into the promise
of insecurity and dismay
wasted
we're all so...
wasted.
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6. |
Regarding the You in Me
03:31
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turning the worn beige pages
of the photo album I found
in the basement with all the shit
mom and dad don’t use
they looked almost alive once
camping out on the coast and
laughing in the backyard
with the friends they don’t see now
I feel the imprint grip and rise
the looks and the flaws devise
a carbon copy in the veins
to craft a curse of a life constrained
I can’t become
I can’t be
the you in me
the you in me
I can’t succumb
sever me
from the tree
the you in me
the years flip to reveal
swelling resentment concealed
phantom shells of yourselves
loveless and callous throughout
a marriage of slamming doors
of secrets and private wars
a portrait of union aged
the faith rots and the lustre fades
I feel the imprint grip and rise
the looks and the flaws devise
a carbon copy in the veins
to craft a curse of a life constrained
I can’t become
I can’t be
the you in me
the you in me
I can’t succumb
so sever me
from the tree
the you in me
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7. |
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the ballpark has-beens
watch the Grizzlies play
idly cheering for false faith
in some better days
the game has been rigged
it’s set for defeat
they’ll bet on stacked odds
cuz’ they’re so minor league
you can try and you can dream
but it won’t do anything…
so keep calm and die
there’s rot dogs and piss beer
to lull out sure loss
the painkillers of commerce
or clutching a cross
swing for the grandstands
with no follow through
in the nosebleeds of life
settling is all they can do
you can try and you can dream
but it won’t do anything…
so keep calm and die
rise in revelry
for mediocrity
for blind complacency
let’s rally for decay
and when the eighth inning hits
we better call it quits
our team is always shit
oh what’s the point anyway?
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8. |
Prom Com
01:55
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look at the robots dating with their thumbs
click to lick / swipe to cum
edit yourself / no flaws seen
desperate sales pitch / sex machine
do you like me?
look at the pretty ones wowing the crowd
basking and beaming / shallow and proud
hiding their secrets between white teeth
makeup coverup / doubt beneath
do you like me?
all the crushing couples - hormones in the night
enamored ‘neath the disco - bathing me in spite
look at me - bitter out of place
judging others while longing for embrace
the last of the losers / loveless freak
melancholy stoner nihilist geek
do you like me? I hate me.
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9. |
Shut in with the Burden
03:02
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the old familiar weight in the chest
the knees creak and the bones compress
locked myself in my room again
buried in a coffin bed to mend
with a mind set on self-mutiny
there’s no pity or pill for remedy
the moods swing like a pendulum
a moment’s peak pulled back to plunge
don’t lie and tell me
I’ll be fine….
another sleepless night
sun cuts through the curtain like a knife
the clamor in the lobes never quits
the valley fog in me never lifts
don’t lie and tell me
I’ll be fine….
(nothing you can say will make me feel good enough)
these days are the pages I don’t want to read
just turn me to the good parts that will never be
a cruel author’s character - penned for tragedy
just turn me to the good parts that will never be
on day three I was forced from quarantine
by a friend’s attempt to kindle self-esteem
coffee and smokes at River Park
with her hand on mine she begged: “don’t you fall apart”
just lie and tell me
I’ll be fine
(maybe something you could say will make me feel good enough)
these days are the pages I don’t want to read
just turn me to the good parts that will never be
a cruel author’s character - penned for tragedy
just turn me to the good parts that will never be
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10. |
The Escapist
02:17
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it’s funny to feel so trapped
when you’re staring out at
the expanse of possibility
the dust of fear and routine
expectations and cell screens
horizons fall to futility
when I’m gone you’ll forget me
frankly that’s alright
you’ll be sleepwalking here
in the cogs and the gears
while I’m exploding in the light
it’s strange to feel so spent
in the age of innocence
hope chokes and the serotonin slides
staring out into the night
through the farms to coastal flight
where fantasy and savage truth collide
when I’m gone you’ll forget me
frankly that’s alright
you’ll be sleepwalking here
in the cogs and the gears
while I’m exploding in the light
if there’s a god she’s laughing at this toxic petri dish
oh, I need a sign that it’s not all meaningless
after sixteen years of lies, in a humming car I drive
to the churning west and walk into the sea
when I’m gone you’ll forget me
frankly that’s alright
you’ll be sleepwalking here
in the cogs and the gears
while I’m exploding in the light.
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Great Apes San Francisco, California
Insert hype-up descriptors here. Plain and simple, San Francisco's Great Apes are a lyrical punk band. Music, much like a bio, is often at its best when it’s spit out intensely and quickly, with concision and honesty.
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