Kurt Deimer just released his new album, “And So It Begins...” and he is here to break down each track.
Man, how surreal is it to be talking about my debut double album, And So It Begins... I'm so proud of this album and what Chris Lord-Alge and I accomplished over a 4-year period, along with my good friend Phil X, who's just amazing to write with, and Ben Trexel, who I wrote a lot of these songs originally with as well. And So It Begins…, it's just – it is what it is. It's the beginning of our form of rock and roll introduced to the world, the way I interpreted it and sharing my visions and thoughts and beliefs with humanity.
“Dance”
The first song on the album is “Dance.” I wrote this song when I was in a really bad seat on a four-hour Southwest Airlines flight. I just decided, well, shit happens in life, so I'm gonna write a song to kill the time while I'm trapped in this seat. So, I wrote a song about life and the bumps and crossroads it brings us and the different things you might incur along the way. In order to have a happy life, you gotta be able to dance through those situations and just chill and make the best of it, and that's how “Dance” was conceived. Then, Phil X did the kick ass music.
“Naïve”
“Naïve” was the first song Phil X and I wrote together after we collaborated on our version of “Have a Cigar” and I just wanted to write about all the bullshit I went through when I got back in the music business – people taking advantage of me, people trying to just take my money, telling me I can't, can't, can't. I wanted to write a song to share with everybody else to protect yourselves from the people out there in the world that are trying to take advantage of you and don't be naive.
“Burn Together”
Ben Trexel and I wrote this song together many years ago. I had brought it to uh LA on my Dropbox demos and I played it for Chris and my managers at the time, Andy Gold and Paul Gargano. The first tour I ever did was with Geoff Tate from Queensryche and that all came together thanks to Andy and Paul and Paul's relationship with the Tates. We all met in LA and I decided “Burn Together” could be a really cool song with Geoff and I and I wanted to share with the world how the demise of the family unit is taking its toll on everybody. So, that's how “Burn Together” came into play and then Geoff agreed to do a music video with me and it turned out to be just a masterpiece, I think.
“Back of the School”
The fourth song “Back of the School” is very simple: I call out internet trolls, people that are mean to people on the internet, which causes a lot of suicides if we haven’t all noticed, and I wanted to write a song that called out those cowards because, back in the day when I was a kid, if you had a beef with somebody, you tell it to their face and you'd go fight it out in the back of the school. So, it's a song written to really discourage people from being mean and careless and attacking others with their keyboards on the internet.
“Only Time Will Tell”
I was sitting in my studio in Ohio one night about three in the morning, and I wanted to write a song because it came into my head that, you know, will I see heaven or hell - only time will tell. I love Van Halen's song “Dance the Night Away” and I sent it the lyrics over to Phil that I wrote and he filtered it into a fucking masterpiece. “Only Time Will Tell” is about how we don't know what's going to happen to us in life, but we need to live it and then only time will tell what happens.
“Look”
I had come up with the line “every time I look around I try to find the reason, try to find the sound” and I took it to Phil and he wasn't too keen on it at first, but then he ended up putting it together into the song it is and totally nailed the vibe that I was going for. I'm just trying to find your way through life, look around, just be cool. It was mostly the hook of “every time that I look around, I try to find the reason” that that created the song “Look” that just popped into my head.
“Hero”
I wanted to write a song about all the heroes in the world because I think we take them for granted in real life and we couldn't go out and play shows or put out a debut double album, if it weren't for first responders, our police, our firemen, our EMTs, our doctors, our nurses, our frontline workers, especially during what we experienced in 2020, not to mention our military and our veterans of any country around the world. There ares people that sacrifice their lives to keep us safe, but I also wanted to remind people that we, too, can be heroes. When the time calls, be a hero.
“Fight”
“Fight” was a song I wrote several years ago as well with Ben Trexel, out of Birmingham, Alabama. He had this really cool riff, and I had written a song about fighting for what's right and being the guy people can look up to, to just remember what's happened in our past and not make the same mistakes. So that's how “Fight” came to be.
“Live Or Die”
“Live Or Die” was a single we released in February. “Live Or Die” is a simple message. We all get one life. We need to live our life, we need to make the best of our life, do the things we love to do in life. Don't be afraid, don't be anxious, don't suffer from depression and anxiety because you're scared to do things. Because the worst that's gonna happen is you're gonna live or you're gonna die and you get one life, and Phil X nailed it. I think it's a killer tune and he actually wrote all the guitar and all the melodies while he was rehearsing with Bon Jovi on his days off out in New Jersey, so that's pretty cool.
“Peaceful Stranger”
I wanted to write a song about a small community coming together, bonding together, not being afraid of the world and conquering their fears. I actually wrote “Peaceful Stranger” the same night I wrote “Whatcha Sayin’,” which is on our EP Work Hard, Rock Hard. I had first written “Whatcha Sayin’” and then this other song popped right in my head, I wrote it in like 15 minutes, and I just think it's a classic shanty rock type vibe about people coming together in unity to conquer the devils in the world.
“Sunset Boulevard”
That is all Phil X. I gave Phil X my thoughts on what Sunset Boulevard meant to me. I arrived out there around 2020 and I stay at the Sunset Marquee and as I was finding my way into the music business, it had a major impact on me (The Rainbow, The Whisky, and The Viper Room) and it will always be very dear to my heart. I sent Phil my thoughts and he crafted “Sunset Boulevard” into what it is and I can't thank him enough for his genius. It really haunters the memory of Sunset Boulevard, past and present and future.
“My Dad”
“My Dad” – I'm so proud of. I wrote this several years ago as well on my back porch in Ohio, drinking some beers. My dad had just passed away in 2016 and he was my hero. He was my rock, my one, the guy I could talk to about everything, my best friend. I wrote that song in like 10 minutes and it's the one song, out of all of our songs I've ever done, that I've never changed a lyric on. It was all from my heart to my dad. I love my dad so much and I miss him.
“Big Toe”
“Big Toe” comes in at #13 on the album. We just released it with a video in March. “Big Toe” is a banger. I love it. I love the way it crescendos into the robust chorus. It's a song that I wrote in New Jersey, probably in ‘18 or ’19. I was sitting out on the patio at a brewery and the sky was silverish and
just eerie. It was all around. You know, New Jersey is right by New York, so you see a lot of different lights and cool colors in the sky. So it started with that silver moon and the ghostly sky, because that's what it looked like, and I thought I'd write about it. It just flowed right out of me again in like 20 minutes. It’s about how you have life and if you aren't doing too well or not treating people right and you almost die and you get a second chance, come back a better person and be cool. And make your life better because you got that second chance.
“Doom”
“Doom” I love, we play it pretty much every night. That song came because I shot a movie “Hellbilly Hollow,” that's coming out within the year, and we needed an end credit and an ending song. I wanted to write not only about horror and doom and make it appropriate for the movie, but also bring attention to addiction and that many people are addicted and that creates a dooms day scenario in their life. So, I wanted to bring awareness to that as well as write the song that would close out our epic movie “Hellbilly Hollow” and that's “Doom.” You don't have to live and be in fear of doom – get control and do all you can do with the support of others who care.
“How’d I Get Here”
This is our slower song (we might even redo it acoustically) called “How’d I Get Here.” I wrote that song about life and when people make bad choices and they are unfaithful or not good to others and they end up losing the most amazing people in their life. You have to ask yourself, “how’d I get here?” It's a very special song that I think can help a lot of people that have hit rock bottom or done things that they regretted doing.
“Have a Cigar”
To close out the album on the final side, we have two covers: “Have a Cigar” by Pink Floyd that goes right into “Riders on the Storm” by The Doors. “Have a Cigar” was all Chris Lord-Alge's idea. When I brought my demo out to LA and he discovered me and we met in March of 2020, Ben wanted me to do a cover of “Have a Cigar” and I couldn't see how I would do it. I mean, I hadn't sung in many, many, many, many, many, many years, and I couldn't envision it. Chris said, “this is how we're gonna launch you. We're gonna do this cover of ‘Have a Cigar’ and this is how you're gonna do it.” I had to retrain my vocal cords and everything, so, that's how “Have a Cigar” came about.
“Riders on the Storm”
Chris, then, had this idea. He said, “I want you to take ‘Riders on the Storm’ but write your own modern-day lyrics to it and make it apropos.” Then he did this really cool mix where it went from
“Have a Cigar” into a thunderstorm right into “Riders on the Storm.” So, it's a trip. Sit back, enjoy whatever you like that makes you relax, and it's gonna be a trip for people to hear those two songs together because it's a classic side B of album number 2 to close out And So It Begins...
I’m very proud of the album. Please go anywhere you go to stream music. It's out now! Vinyl, CDs and cassettes will be out in the near future - go to KurtDeimer.com to preorder. There will be limited-edition collector's vinyl. I just want to share my music with the entire globe. Thank you so much, and we can't wait to play for you in your town soon. And so it begins...