2014 was a bad year, by Franco Bandini

2014 was a bad year

by Franco Bandini

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1.	Nashville, KId 02:22	lyrics
No light to guide your tunnel, no daylight creeping in There’s been some kind of going on, don’t let it pierce your skin You’id pray at night for gunshots, if only you had faith There’s been some kind of going on, don't let it pierce your skin 40%, forty proof, ageing bones are shrivelled proof Let the beast break through, its not afraid to go any more Cos I’d rather crawl along than die. I know it’ll be alone and here is why There’s a big black hole inside of me The size of which will blow your mind
2.	The Whiskey, Guns & Bridges Blues 04:03	lyrics
I needed to face mortality if I would overcome So I combed my hair, got dressed and to the water the magnet pulled I walked through the valleys, I found my place With a pack of four and a flask thats full, the silence I’ll embrace YOU WONT DROWN IN THESE WATERS AND YOU WONT HANG IN THESE TREES YOU CAN'T FIRE GUNS INSIDE THESE WOODS AND THERE AIN'T NO BRIDGES HERE So I took a gulp of whiskey and imagined a blue lake a lake as deep as the Persian gulf maybe it could seal my fate And I laughed at the shallow river, on the banks of which I lay It took five more gulps of whiskey to let the silence have its say YOU WONT DROWN IN THESE WATERS AND YOU WONT HANG IN THESE TREES YOU CANT FIRE' GUNS INSIDE THESE WOODS AND THERE AINT NO BRIDGES HERE As I lay on the railroad track I look above, I aint' ever going back Don't need no taste of reality This new world holds no place for me Love us, or hate us but we do it in style We are the victims of a mass suicide Your net gives us no safety here Utopian dreams confused by fear YOU WON'T DROWN IN THESE WATERS AND YOU WONT HANG IN THESE TREES YOU CANT FIRE GUNS INSIDE THESE WOODS AND THERE AIN'T NO BRIDGES HERE
3.	Videotapes 04:18	lyrics
You’ll be down and out You’ll be on your knees I’ll be thrashing out my plans to disease You’ll be watching on, I’ll be waiting For all of my fantasies to consume You will walk alone, you will shrink through fear You will hear dogs howl, smell the stench so clear Feel the pump of blood as its raging. As the blade draws near it's a done done deal With ethanol, the glass is tall, becomes me I’ll cut you all, 'til the walls come down, See you crumble around me This Valium, the wall is tall surrounds me God burn them all Ashes all fall down but your flames won't scorch me From the crying bum, to the kids on crack From the cloud of blood, hear the thunderclap Flipping heads or tails, ion a wager Bet your life on me, spin the wheel, feel free Pick the weapon of choice, hear the cranking of gears As the chainsaw shouts “RING RING” in your ears Clasp the neck of hope and its ringing The receivers to boost as the end draws near With ethanol, the glass is tall, becomes me I’ll cut you all, 'til the walls come down, See you crumble around me This Valium, the wall is tall surrounds me God burn them all Ashes all fall down but your flames won't scorch me
4.	Ask The Dust 04:04	lyrics
Do you want to ask the dust? I will, if she’s right beside me I’ll never come unstuck, as long as she’s here beside me Now the lamp posts are falling. Camilla aint here beside me The earth is quaking, the dog is laughing, the chimneys shaking But she’s not around me How do I sleep? Well, I don’t sleep well And I dare you to spend, one night inside my personal hell Write it down oh yes, pour it down, so sweet , Burn the bridge between heaven and hell The creator is lighting the fires my friend and even the ashes can tell Pour old Sammy’s coffee, extinguish all of my dreams He’s more than a poor old leper she screams But she loves him more than me But I’m the one who fades away And all I bleed is hate Camilla, It's in my blood babe, I don’t want to see you again

about

A twenty first century outsider figure, Franco Bandini possesses a style of deceptive simplicity, full of emotional immediacy and tremendous psychological point. Among the releases that have comprised his career, Bandini’s crowning accomplishments were, for many, his hard rock work under the name ‘The Parish Church Fire’. An impoverished young Lancastrian-Mancunian, Bandini, armed with no high school education and the insane desire to write music, escaped his suffocating hometown of Atherton to seek glory in a dystopian millennial-era Manchester. He arrives with big dreams but he finds the reality; a city gripped by nostalgia. He now makes music for the people who lurk in the outskirts of this commercial hell.

An ‘Acoustic EP’ containing no acoustic guitar, ‘2014 Was a Bad Year’ is a record made by an outsider for outsiders. After achieving a modicum of success with a string of punk musicians, Franco Bandini has retreated on this record to explore a sound more in line with his dark, depraved inner voice. Tales of murder, abandonment, alienation and suicide adorn the 15-minute extended play and the music reflects these lyrical themes. Recorded over just two days with no other musicians, the four songs are a nod to the great-underrated author John Fante (his novels ‘1933 Was a Bad Year’, ‘Ask the Dust’ and ‘Wait Until Spring, Bandini’ providing obvious inspiration). The artwork depicts John Fante himself, with an added semicolon used a symbol of hope for those suffering with depression, anxiety and thoughts of self-harm, the underlying engine room of the themes presented on this record.

Of the 9 songs recorded by Bandini in the session, 4 appear on this release courtesy of German Shepherd Records. With the idea of creating something raw, all songs were completed with minimal accompaniment, no overdubbing and no more than 2 takes were attempted on any of the tracks throughout the recording process. The result is a broody EP that provides a true representation of the emotions felt within the recording process; no glitter, no sparkle, just Bandini in a room with a microphone.

credits

released October 23, 2015

All songs written, recorded, mixed and mastered by Samuel Frankie James Smith © 2015 with thanks to German Shepherd Records

Fettling by Larry Pants in The Den
Watcher of the Skies - IK Moss

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Some rights reserved. Please refer to individual track pages for license info.

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