Introduction

Welcome! to the online liner notes for my album, A Long Way From Home: the second of a planned quartet of mini-albums, all with their own unique sound. If you are new to my music and especially this album project of mine, you can check out the first album of the series here - http://robweissmusic.bandcamp.com/album/breaking-through-the-glass

"A Long Way From Home", unlike its more power-pop predecessor, is the heaviest statement I've made, both musically and lyrically. I wanted to capture a pure, almost uncompromisingly gritty rock sound. I also wanted the lyrics to be the most honest and direct I've ever written. 

If you like what you hear, you are highly encouraged to purchase the album to add to your ever growing record collection. You'll be supporting local music, and ensuring that my three years of tireless work so far on these albums has paid off in the end. You can stream the entire album and/or purchase it right here - https://robweissmusic.bandcamp.com/album/a-long-way-from-home

This album would not be possible without the consistent support of my family. In addition, a special thank you to Cisco, Kelsey, Josh, David, Cass, Noreen, Alex, Jeremy, Melissa, and any friend of mine who has been supportive of this project since its inception. Finally, a special thank you to Dr. Dennis Spencer, without whom, this project would have never happened in the first place.

Personnel -

Rob Weiss – Music, (electric and acoustic guitar, bass, percussion, electric and acoustic trumpet, balalaika, jaw harp, stylophone, lead/backing vocals, programming), lyrics (except as noted), production, mixing, mastering.

Guests:

- Sam Weiss - Second guitar solo on "Tension". 

- Cisco Barahona - Co-writer for "Bottom Of The Barrel". (Lyrics)

Album Artwork -

Kelsey Rogers – Photography and design.

All music and lyrics are Copyright 2015 – Rob Weiss Music. 

Track #1 - Tension

Recorded - 

Basic Track - May 21, 22, 28 and 29, 2013
Additional Percussion - July 28, 2013
Vocals - September 17, 2013 and January 15, 2015
Additional Guitar - October 17, 2013, December 17, 2014 and January 7, 2015

Backstory - 

"Tension", the opening track on Long Way, was born out of a bluesy jam from sometime in the summer of 2009. Over the years, I tweaked the music, made the song a bit more rock than blues, and set about recording it some four years into its creation.

One of the central themes of this album is frustration, and "Tension", lives up to that, both lyrically and in real life. The song was originally considered done in late 2013, before I even released Breaking Through The Glass. As the years rolled on, however, I grew dissatisfied with my original lyrics and ended up re-recording most of them not once, but twice! Each time I did, the theme of the song changed accordingly. Lyrically, the song is rather ambiguous, the "House" that is talked about in the song is up for your own interpretation!

Special thanks to Sam Weiss for playing the Yardbirds-esque guitar during the end of the song!

Lyrics - 

This house is unstable, getting worse each day. 
Feel the floors shaking/creaking, foundation giving way. 
It feels like any day now, it's all going to come down on top of me. 
So much for a lifetime warranty. 

KNOCK KNOCK!

The front door slams down, shingles slide off and the roof it caves in.
I thought this house was strong and lasting, now it's on the brink of crashing.
It's a-happening faster than expected, gonna turn a haven into a pile of wreckage.
Floor boards under my feet are tearing, tension's getting overbearing!

Chorus: This house is falling down and it's happening fast.
I'm caught in the epicenter of this great collapse.
Push and pulled in every direction torn all around.
At the rate this house is falling down, I'm gonna wind up buried underground.

This old house, that once was strong and proud.
Is now a wreck, cuz life's gone and crashed right into it.
Piece by piece it's falling to the ground, brick by brick it's separating.
Tension's building getting heavy, all this weight is crushing my body!

(Chorus)

I'm buried under the rubble in the cellar, my body's starting to crunch.
Smothered under the rubble in the cellar, but the rescue team's out to lunch.
C'mon c'mon c'mon, pull me out of here! Where did you go now? Please pull me out of here, NOW!!

Track #2 - Bottom Of The Barrel

Recorded - 

Basic Track - July 1, 5, 8, 10, 2013
Additional Percussion - August 6, 2013
Bass Guitar Replacement - October 2 and December 15, 2013
Intro Acoustic Guitars - November 16, 2013
Vocals - January 15 and February 6, 2015
Additional Electric Guitar - February 11, 2015

Backstory - 

"Bottom Of The Barrel" is another song that had a lengthy gestation period between its initial creation and eventual completion. Back when this four album project was intended to be only two albums, "Bottom Of The Barrel" was designated as the opening track. It was also one of the only songs that I had lyrically and musically fully written. As a result, I purposely waited until a year into the sessions to begin the song, as I saw this as my easy endcap of the project. Boy was I wrong!

As these two albums became four, and as "Bottom Of The Barrel" was removed from the Breaking Through The Glass project, progress on the song became a bit more cumbersome. I spent around a dozen sessions in 2014 recording vocals, to no avail. It wasn't until 2015 that I finally sought out the help of Cisco Barahona, my original lyrical collaborator for my debut album, 2010's Turn Back The Years. Cisco managed to bring out a lyrically darker and more symbolical tone to the song, and I'm quite proud of the end results.

Lyrics - 

I've sick and tired of being here, Stockholm Syndrome in an unlocked cage. 
I reach out but nothing seems to change. 
I calculate my great escape, but always find I play it safe. 
I know I've lost myself. 

So helpless!

Chorus: Anchors making mischief dragging down down down.
Quicksand disposition sinking underground. 
Call me Jack, and throw me back, fermented underground.
Watching from the bottom of the barrel.

I dig a plot and fill it up, with little bits of me. 
Dress it up with loneliness, and wallow in my grief.
The tide is high but I don't mind, I'm already asleep.
I know I've lost myself.

So helpless!

(Chorus)

The soothing air I long to breathe, hangs so smugly above me. 
But I'm Trapped like a rat, down down down.

(Chorus)

Track #3 - Anxiety Bomb

Recorded - 

Basic Track - June 10, 25 and July 5, 8, 2014
Vocals - October 22, 2014
Additional Lead Guitar and Mouth Harp - October 29, 2014

Backstory - 

"Anxiety Bomb" is, along with "Ennui", one of two songs on Long Way From Home, that are remakes/reworkings of songs that I had originally recorded, and left off, of Turn Back The Years. However, both of these songs are far from being "Filler" or "Oldies but Mouldies". Rather, they were songs that initially didn't turn out like I wanted to, and I always wanted to remake them closer to my original visions.

"Anxiety Bomb" goes as back as far as the early/mid 2000's, when I was just starting to tinker with song ideas. By 2009, I has given this song a title, "Jail n' Bail" and recorded a version for Turn Back The Years. The song ended up just barely not making the cut as I felt the performance lacked punch, and the lyrics were too impersonal. Despite this, I loved the music and structure of the song, and didn't want it to go to waste. Five years later, I finally managed to re-write the lyrics to be more personal, and recorded a totally new and punchier version of the song. So finally after over a decade, I feel this song complete.

Lyrics - 

Every day begins so calm, before the triggers come along. 
Sneaking up to take me down, to run me straight into the ground.
I can't help it, they make me feel, strung out and undone.
Like a high-rise elevator plunging down, I've gone from 100-1.

Chorus: Stay away, before I detonate, cause you're gonna get caught in the blast.
I think I'm contagious and I'm so outrageous, watch out, I'm coming down fast.
So watch out now, go run and hide, don't let yourself get taken by the bomb.

What should be utterly meaningless, has become a red alert.
What could be mostly harmless, has high potential to hurt.
What used to be carefree, needs a push to get along.
What once was over in a flash, has stayed for far too long.

(Chorus)

Stay away for your own sake, to you this is no concern.
Anxiety's made me combustible, and I'm about to burn.

(Chorus)

Track #4 - Restless Apprentice

Recorded - 

Basic Track - November 21, 26, 2014
Vocals - December 3 and 5, 2014
Additional Lead Guitar - December 17, 2014

Backstory -

"Restless Apprentice" came along late into the album's production process, both musically and lyrically. I aimed for a 70's bluesy/glam rock sound, and I found time to experiment with backwards guitars and even backwards percussion.

Unlike many of the other songs on this album, it was recorded in far less time, and was far less of a headache. Which is ironic as the lyrics describe the headaches of working long hours and the mixed feelings of work in general: As much as it might be tiring, you must keep going. so not to be let go.

Lyrics - 

Another day wasting away, through another weekly grind.
Who cares what day it is, it's all become a blur. 
Too tired to fight, too tired to think, too tired to hit the drink. 
I'm not a bum or a junkie or a deadbeat, I'm just a restless apprentice.

(Get me away x3) Don't want to live as a restless apprentice.
(Get me away x3) Ooh, but I've got no choice.

I slave away, for minimum wage, It's better than nothing but it doesn't make ends meet.
Don't own a car, don't own a house, just one slip up and I'll be on the street.
Got no free time to get some rest, every day is like a test.
I'm not a slacker or a chump or good-for-nothing. I'm just a restless apprentice...
...and I'm about to crack!

Too tired to fight, too tired to think, too tired to hit the drink. 
I'm restless, restless, restless, just a restless, restless, restless, apprentice.

(Get me away x3) Don't want to live as a restless apprentice.
(Get me away x3) I don't wanna live as a restless apprentice.
(Get me away x3) No I don't (x2) No, no no.
(Get me away x3) I don't wanna live (x2) as a restless, restless, restless apprentice!

Track #5 - Ennui

Recorded - 

Basic Track - October 17, 22-27, 2012
Additional Lead Guitar - February 12, 16, 2013
Vocals - February 14, 15, 2013

Backstory - 

There's quite a history to this song. The seeds of "Ennui" came to me in a dream over fifteen years ago. It was the first time I truly remember getting fixated on a song idea, and I dreamed then of taking this idea I had in my head and turning it into a song. Unfortunately, I didn't have any way to record music back then so this tune was forced to sit in my noggin' for nearly a decade.

In 2008 during the sessions for Turn Back The Years, I finally recorded a version of this "Dream tune" under the title "All Over". Yet, it wasn't meant to be. The song didn't turn out musically as I'd originally envisioned, and the political lyrics were dated by the time I finally wanted to release the song, in 2010. As a result, it didn't make the album, and wound up in limbo.

When I commenced recording for my still in-progress four album project, I knew I had to remake "All Over" and cap off a song that's been haunting me for so many years. Using some psychedelic music touches, and totally new lyrics that depict writer's block and post-heartbreak, the newly titled "Ennui" is, in my mind, finally as nature intended.

Lyrics - 

I spent all day, lying in bed. 
Daydreaming, and wasting time.
Haven't left the house, for several weeks. 
You may think I'm sick, but I feel fine.

This feeling's got me, restless and lazy. 
My motivations' lost at sea.
Don't throw me a lifejacket. You can't save me now. 
Cause I'm lost without a map, since you deserted me.

I've got no will, to make music.
I've lost all of my, creative juice.
Some may call it, writer's block.
I think of it, more as my gallows and my noose.

Can't you see what you've done to me.
You've got me in shackles and chains.
Please come back, won't you please return.
Please, please, please, before I go insane!

Baby take a look all around you.
See what you've done to me.
I can't function without you.
Everything's incomplete.
I know deep down you're missing me.
I can see it in your eyes.
I'm losing all my ambitions.
So please won't you help me get out of here. 

This feeling's got me, restless and lazy. 
My motivations' lost at sea.
Please throw me a lifejacket, I need you to save me now. 
Cause I'm lost without a map, I'm stranded and alone.
So alone, so please come back to me.

Track #6 - Good Intentions?

Recorded - 

Basic Track - August 18, 20-22, 2012
Vocals - February 6 and 13, 2013
Solo guitar - February 12, 2013

Backstory -

"Good Intentions" dates back to nearly three years ago. It was the third song started for this entire project. (The first being "Just About Done" from my previous album Breaking Through The Glass and the second one has yet to be released).

Lyrically, "Good Intentions" is one of my more bitter numbers, and I wrote it during a rather frustrating time in my life. Musically, the song was a bit of a writing challenge for me. I wanted to write a song that was deliberately out of my comfort zone in terms of musical style. Using drum samples, authentically gritty vocals, and, unusually for me, a shorter and to-the-point song length, I'd like to say I've met this goal.

Lyrics - 

I've watched you turn this society into a disaster.
When it comes to screwing up, you're a seasoned master.
No matter how much I've tried to rise above you it's no good. 
Cause you've sunken lower than anyone should.

Chorus: I regret that I've wasted all my years in here.
Cause good intentions don't count when all the good's disappeared.

I wish you all the worst in life, may you never find success. 
Cause you've turned my paradise into one infernal mess. 
One day you're gonna find yourself all out of luck. 
So if there's one last thing to say to you, I think you suck!

(Chorus)

(Chorus)