Saturday, July 19, 2008

Sacred Cows

I recently got asked in an interview to write some comments about the meanings and processes of songs from our upcoming album, Urgency. I thought I'd periodically add some of them here.
Here's the one from Sacred Cows....


Sacred Cows

This song is a call to arms to people to find out what matters to you and go for it. The idea of a sacred cow is something, in religion, philosophy, martial arts, whatever, that can no longer be questioned, it must simply be accepted. I first experienced this idea in the context of martial arts (I train and teach Jeet Kune Do). Many martial arts aren't interested in whether or not what they do is effective or useful, they're just interested in maintaining their traditions.

Sacred Cows applies this idea not to an external, but to an internal. What elements of yourself do you just blindly accept and no longer question? Are you living as you'd like to? Are your outlooks on the world your own or ideas you got from other people? Accepting where you are at without question means you will never get anywhere, never grow. We need to build our own rituals, find what matters and is sacred for ourselves, not for other people.

This is one of my favorite songs. I feel like the groove just starts, picks you up, carries you along, and never stops. And Gerard's whammy guitar parts are just great! Quite the call to arms. Also, Leigh is playing 16th notes on the bass for the entire song. He likes to warm up before playing this one.

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