 Continuing our series in which we're sharing insights from the songs on our new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from?
Our next feature song is: 'Will I Ever Know?' - track 9 on the album. This is a pure pining-for-love song. It's a slow rhythmical tune featuring a whimsical flute and rolling acoustic guitar. The song is about finding true love. The singer reflects on what it feels like to be in love and asks that simple question: will I ever know? Will it be my turn one day? Am I one to love and be loved in return? Only time will tell.
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We're sharing insights from the songs on our new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from?
Our next beautiful song to shine a spotlight on: 'I Don't Belong Here'. Straight up, this is a political anti-war song: “To your wars I do not concur”. Or moreover, 'I Don't Belong Here' is a pro-love song. The singer, our John, calls out, frustrated: ”Can we share all the love that we feel?” In this story, the singer has observed the anguish of a young girl caught up in a war – it could be Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Ukraine, Korea, China... It doesn't matter where – there are so many conflicts these days, take your pick. Yet from these wars it is the innocent who suffer. We as a Western society have become so desensitised to war, it's an accepted factor of life these days. But it's not much of a leap that we could all become that little girl one day. John sings: “We're protected but now the line's blurred because I could be her”. What The Neo Now is saying in this song is that these wars are waged in the name of protecting people but there has been an undeniable cost in terms of human rights, of freedom. The Neo Now says that the lines of 'protection' in the name of war have blurred into institutionalised 'control' mechanisms. You might not need to exercise your freedoms right now but come a time when you want to, indeed, need to, you might find that they've have been taken away without you having even noticed. There have been some big changes to laws worldwide in recent times, mostly met by silence on behalf of the populace. Is it because the majority are so distracted by the entertainment and ego-drama that is presented as the 'way we do things around there' these days? Let's focus on peace and sharing the love that we feel. What you focus on, grows. Is anybody listening? Who is your pride and joy? We're sharing insights from the songs on The Neo Now's new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from? Next up: 'Pride and Joy' This is a confronting heart-wrenching solemn song about the generational impacts of family violence and more specifically, the role of a Father in a family. It's not something that people often sing about, we know! The world seems a little fatherless at times. We heard a statistic about who visits women in jail and it was shown that fathers are very rare visitors. Where are the fathers? Every 15th May is the International Day of the Family, and in Australia, White Ribbon Day brings awareness to violence of men against women. We recently heard the testimonies of a men's transformations program that runs in our community and can't help but wonder if there's violence at the heart of all their stories. And we wonder if the source of that violence is the heart-break experienced by men who are put in harms' way in the first place? Our men need a voice, they need a chance to heal, they need to know they are valuable and loved. That violence gets turns inward on yourself and outwards on others. And it rolls like a dirty fiery sandstorm across generations upon generations. Where does it stop? That's the point we get to in 'Pride and Joy'. The father in the song-story makes a different choice, a more conscious choice of courage and honesty. Honesty to say 'hey, I'm hurting' and the courage to do break the generational pattern. We're not saying this experience is everywhere, we're telling one little story in the story of all violence.  We're sharing insights from the songs on our new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from?
Our next feature song is: 'Take Another Lover' “I should reflect on what I do, it's a little late now I'm with you”. People have told us this opening line shocks them. Why would someone take another lover?, they ask. It goes like this: Love never dies. People do. The guy in the song wants the love of his life to be happy, even after he has gone. He has dived into a relationship, even though he knew he was dying. He's saying to his love – get on with your life after I am gone. Only you will know if and when the time is right. So many of us have lost loved ones and our lives have gone on hold. The love of your life has gone and life feels desperately empty. It may take some time to pick yourself up and rejoin the land of the living. And when you do, there's a little voice in your head reminding you that it is ok to experience joy again, to live as fully as you did during the time of your life together. And let's face it, the right lovers are lovely. Musically, the song has overtones of 70s psychedelic rock with soaring organ, live drums and the wonderful glockenspiel. The Davey family feature on the track – with Tony on bass and young Luke on live drums. It was recorded at Gypsy Hill studios in the height of summer - the tune burned into the carpet. The core Neo Now guys performed this track live at the end of that summer – battling to be heard over a coffee machine! Such is performing! We're sharing insights from the songs on our new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from? Our next feature song is: 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite' – track 1 on the album. People have asked us what the term 'rainbow coloured dynamite' means and what the song is about. Simply, Rainbow Coloured Dynamite is celebration of love. Falling in love, being in love, bubbling-over-with-joy love. Rainbow Coloured Dynamite is a feeling, it's like the explosion in your heart when you are with the one you love, when you kiss the one you love, it's like dynamite. Love sees the world in full spectrum colour – in all its glory of fiery red through to blue hues and vivid crystalline white light. The love in all things radiates light – have you noticed it? Love in the fullest depth of colour, it's living life vivaciously, in celebration of love. With love as your first thought in the morning and your last thought at night, your path in life is guided and buoyant. With love in your heart and at the front of your mind, life is like butterflies and rainbows, light as a feather. That's what Rainbow Coloured Dynamite is all about. Sound over the top? Have you ever been in love? [And you know that bit in the song where there's the chanting 'f 'every day, every daaaaay', every time we hear it we feel like we're in a huge beer hall at Octoberfest in Munich with huge heavy beer steins in our mits, waving them back and forth yelling 'every daaaay, every daaaaaay'. Cheers.] We're sharing insights from the songs on our new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from?
Our next feature song is: 'Maybe Baby' – track 3 on the album. This is a heart-felt break-up and get-back-together song. Being in a band is exactly like being in a marriage. A few years ago our band broke up for a whole year – don't worry, being apart could not last. Some people are meant to be together. This song is special to us because it formed part of a ceremony of reunion. Our family are close so the temporary break up of the band was felt wider than just us. At the end of that year, they travelled from different places in Australia – Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne – to the property of Gypsy Hill Records in Hobart. We'd invited them for a celebration. Everyone was expecting something like a wedding vow renewal to mark a new era of what was to become The Neo Now. The party was rolling along when suddenly we gathered everyone together as an audience in front of our stage. We took our places on the stage and our instruments. We didn't speak but simply sang this song, eyes locked on each other, choking back the tears. We don't know if anyone really understood what we were singing or what this moment meant but we knew. (It certainly wasn't what anyone was expecting). This song is about saying sorry, I messed up. I left your world but I miss your love and I just want to come home. Please forgive me. Please help me to find a way back to you, find a way past the pain and hurt. I hope you notice the change in me. Please, be back here beside me. We're sharing insights from the songs on our new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from?
Our next beautiful song to shine a spotlight on: 'I Don't Belong Here'. Straight up, this is a political anti-war song: “To your wars I do not concur”. Or moreover, 'I Don't Belong Here' is a pro-love song. The singer, our John, calls out, frustrated: ”Can we share all the love that we feel?” In this story, the singer has observed the anguish of a young girl caught up in a war – it could be Syria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Ukraine. It doesn't matter where – there are so many conflicts these days, take your pick. Yet from these wars it is the innocent who suffer. We as a Western society have become so desensitised to war, it's an accepted factor of life these days. But it's not much of a leap that we could all become that little girl one day. John sings: “We're protected but now the line's blurred because I could be her”. What The Neo Now is saying in this song is that these wars are waged in the name of protecting people but there has been an undeniable cost in terms of human rights, of freedom. The Neo Now says that the lines of 'protection' in the name of war have blurred into institutionalised 'control' mechanisms. You might not need to exercise your freedoms right now but come a time when you want to, indeed, need to, you might find that they've have been taken away without you having even noticed. There have been some big changes to laws worldwide in recent times, mostly met by silence on behalf of the populace (is it because the majority are so distracted by the entertainment and ego-drama that is presented as the 'way we do things around there' these days? But that's a topic for another song). Let's focus on peace and sharing the love that we feel. What you focus on, grows. Is anybody listening? We're sharing insights from the songs on our new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from?
'Very Very Long Time' with it's weird plonky carnival feel, has Naomi Black on female lead, singing about an all-time favourite theme – frustrating, soul-destroying Unrequited Love. In this song we step inside the mind of a woman who is waiting patiently for the object of her love to be co-joined with her. She's crying, she' burning up. The haunting repeated lyrics song 'but my wait will end, time is my friend' hints at a futile pointlessness as her thoughts loop and loop in a downward spiral. A repeated whistle is placed inside the song to help wake her up, give her an alarm bell. But it doesn't work, she's stuck in a never-ending carnival of self-deception. She is waiting for her life to start but by the end of the song you get the sad sense that she's going to be waiting forever. Or not, will her commitment to love bring her a happy ending? We're sharing some insights from the songs on our new album 'Rainbow Coloured Dynamite'. What are the songs about? Where did the songs come from?
We have to talk about 'Cab Ride'. The response to this song from our fans has been overwhelming. Ever been out partying into the wee hours of the morning and you've been having the best night of your life. Nights like that can get messy, can't they? Then you realise you've lost your friends, you've lost your phone and the daylight is starting to creep onto the horizon and now you just want to get home. But then you've got to face the cab line! It's a fun, pacey tune that at it's most basic is a subtle ode to the pioneers of Australian rock. Drummer Richard Ploog from The Church and Adrian the keyboardist from Icehouse joined John's band The Unclaimed in 1993 (The Neo Now's John Jones). INXS – one of the most successful Australian bands of all time, behind ACDC - join Australian bands and artists – like Dami who we saw perform a few years ago, who is an incredibly soulful spiritual artist – who are rocking the world in timeless creativity. Huge respect for all the Aussie pub rock geniuses upon whose shoulders artists are rising up today – The Lime Spiders (Mick Blood we love that you got so successful, you inspired us, John knew him in Newtown Sydney in the late 90s), The Radiators, The Sunny Boys, Spy vs Spy, Radio Birdman... |
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