Vultures

This week’s Song Lyric Sunday focuses on songs with one word titles. Of course there are many songs that fit this criteria, but one thing Jim Adams’ states in his post is that he is looking forward to hearing some new music. So I chose Vultures by Asking Alexandria.

Asking Alexandria is not a new band, but its popularity, I believe is not exactly mainstream either. Much of their music is heavy metalcore genre with only recently becoming more melodic. The current band members consist lead vocalist, Danny Worsnop, guitarists, Cameron Liddell and Ben Bruce, bass guitarist, Sam Bettley, and James Cassells on drums. While they are considered a British rock band from York (North Yorkshire), the initial band was formed by Ben Bruce in Dubai, UAE in 2006. It wasn’t until 2009 that the band released its first album.

The first album, Stand Up and Scream, debuted on the US chart, Top Heatseekers, for up and coming bands, at Number 4. Since then, the band has had consist gold records and hits and has toured with other bands, such as Avenged Sevenfold, and headlined tours, with supporting acts such as Trivium and Of Mice and Men. They have performed at popular festivals along side of Slayer and Slipknot. (Those are popular rock bands, in case you didn’t know.)

In January, 2015, Worsnop left Asking Alexandria and began to focus on his own band, We are Harlot. Fans were extremely distressed and as you will hear, Worsnop has a very unique voice. One that Asking Alexandria would find hard to duplicate. The band tried in May, 2015, by hiring Denis Stoff, a Ukrainian metal singer, who sounded similar to Worsnop. The issues between Ben Bruce and Worsnop were resolved, however, and by October, 2016, Worsnop returned to Asking Alexandria. (Thank goodness)

The song, Vultures, is from the 2017 self-titled album, Asking Alexandria, and the song itself released in 2018. This was the first album where the band worked with Matt Good and Jonathan Davis as producers. The song was written by Danny Worsnop and Ben Bruce a long time ago (2013) . This was also the first album to deviate from the metalcore sound and into more melodic hard rock. The album peaked at #27 of the US Top 200.

Vultures was actually written after the album From Death to Destiny was completed. It came together very quickly with Ben Bruce playing the guitar and Danny Worsnop penning lyrics over the music. At that time, Ben Bruce stated “We hated each other, we were all on drugs, we were drinking, and the recording of that album (From Death to Destiny) was extremely difficult. I left the studio before even finishing because I didn’t wanna be around Danny anymore.” The song, Bruce says, is about about how messed up the music industry is, and the lengths Asking Alexandra were pushed to for people to earn money at the expense of the band. “It lead us down this dark hole, and that was essentially Danny’s goodbye to music,” he said. “He was gonna quit music forever. It’s a sad song; it was a tough one to have written.” It was the last song written by Bruce and Worsnop and never got released, because Worsnop left the band. Worsnop said the song was so personally to him, he knew he would be back with Asking Alexandria because he would think about the song every day.

Worsnop’s recollection of where he was in life when that song was written was “when the blindfold finally came off from the industry, when we finally took it off ourselves, and realized how much we’d be f—ed all up. It was ahead of its time because it was about what we were later on. And it’s why I left. And we’d been worked into the ground. We’d been told that if we took a break, our career was done. That’s what we were told. And we were exhausted; we were broken; I was an addict; I’d lost a baby, and their thing was, ‘Well, go on tour,’ suck it up. You can deal with it from the road. So it was that. It was this downward spiral that just continues and continues and continues, and it was just us being bled dry. Because all they see is money. They don’t see people behind the paychecks. They just see the paychecks. So if we take a month off, that’s a month they’re not getting paid; they don’t want that. They don’t care if in six months we’re dead because they’ll find someone else to fill that space. And like, we’d literally bought drugs and drinks, chicks and all this different stuff just to keep us moving. It reached a breaking point, and I got out. But it was me leaving that kind of woke everyone up, and, I mean, going into it now, it’s a completely different story.”

(Quotes taken from Songfacts https://www.songfacts.com/facts/asking-alexandria/vultures)

I am posting two videos for the song. One is the one I like the best, although, the curse word is muffled. It needs to be heard. It makes the song in my opinion. Shows the frustration. The second is the official video.

Now, as I often like to do, I like to end with what the song means to me. To me, the song speaks of my apple cart. (My metaphor for my mental state.) While I cannot really blame the pressures of managers and the greed of others, I can blame myself. I take on more and more and more, always trying to please, until the cart upends itself and my life becomes chaotic and I find myself stuck. It is then I am faced with “do I run or do I lay down and die”. I can’t do either. So I pick up my apples and start over. I blame my inability to put myself first. The battle between my brain and my body. I numbly do what I need to do, not considering its affect on me, until I am forced to. And yes, I try to stop myself ahead of the disaster, but “everywhere I look these vultures burn the life right out of me”. Dark, but at the same time uplifting. The teeth gritting determination of breaking free.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Close the curtains, cash me in
Gather photographs of the devil you let in
Digging deep inside my soul
I don’t know where to turn everywhere I look these vultures burn the life right outta me
Do I run, or lay down and die?
Is it time to close my eyes?
Keep me numb, I’ll follow direction
A pawn to pass around and be bled until I’m dry
It’s hard to see what’s underneath, is it me?
Where do I turn?
Everywhere I look these vultures burn the life right outta me
Do I run, or lay down and die?
Is it time to close my eyes?
For so long all I’ve known, all I’ve seen’s green lights
Fuck your greed, all I need’s somewhere to catch my breath, rest my head, and ease my mind
I’ve been holding on but my grip’s not what it used to be
I’m much older, I’m bitter, I’m jaded I’m lost
Can somebody give me a sign?
Where do I turn?
Everywhere I look these vultures burn the life right outta me
Do I run, or lay down and die?
Is it time to close my eyes?