Frontwoman SIERRA KUSTERBECK tells the stories behind each song on VERSAEMERGE’s Fixed At Zero. 

 

Figure It Out
When we wrote this, we were in Los Angeles for a bunch of different reasons. One of them was to meet up with producer Dave Bassett. We took a drive to Malibu and our GPS led us up this steep mountainside of twisty, dirt roads with a lack of guardrails. After pulling over a few times because Blake [Harnage, guitar] was getting carsick, we finally reached the top. There was a completely solar-powered, spade-shaped house and a dog in the front yard/cliff side. It was amazingly beautiful, but that doesn't even come close to explaining it. We all put out some ideas for a song and once we started, it couldn't be stopped. The creativity was spilling out of us. Dave and Blake went to town musically, both of them being guitar freaks.Blake’s electronics and strings, plus our obsession with textured guitars came into play. I sat back and started going through my journal, phone and computer where I keep a mess of lyrics. I was drawn to all the things I had written when I was kind of going crazy. I felt very misunderstood and confused about why I am the way I am, which is constantly being lost in my head. This has led to people becoming extremely frustrated with me... very often. So this song was me trying to "figure it out." 

 

Mind Reader
This is another song we started with Dave. Dave and Blake got this cool beat going. It was very groovy. They looped it and tried a handful of riffs and progressions over it. I was writing lyrics and didn’t know what about yet. It was just a mess of words really, but I had a distinct idea of the way I wanted it to rhyme. I knew I wanted it to start with "Hey, mind reader." Dave then pitched the melody idea and I didn't understand it. The whole rhythm of it wasn't making sense to me. But Dave and Blake insisted this was the perfect melody. I tried it so many times, but I just couldn't grasp onto it. It actually took me a deal of time listening to the demo and feeling it out and singing along.  One day it clicked. Now it's one of my favorites to sing live. Devin also sings in this song—he echoes me in the bridge and on the, "Don't let me get away" in the end. Every time I hear this one, I think of California. It's got that vibe.  

 

Fixed At Zero
After we wrote this song, we decided Dave was the guy we had to do our record with. He understood the sound we were going for and he’s an amazing writer and musician. It just fit so perfectly. We wrote this the day after we wrote “Figure It Out.” We were supposed to meet up with [another producer] but the appointment was canceled, so we asked Dave if we could come back to his studio and write some more. Once again, it was a great creative flow that started with Blake’s guitar lead that hits in the beginning of the song. I came across the line, “There’s a vulture on my shoulder." It was tucked up in the corner of a page and written upside down.  On the same page, I had written, "Fixed at zero." Dave loved the lyrics I’d picked out, which made me feel better. I thought it might get shot down because it's hard to understand. The vulture represents all your demons and bad habits that lurk in the back of your mind. They haunt you and try to control you. It's not always a bad thing. We aren't perfect. We all have a little vulture inside us, and sometimes it makes us take chances that we can learn from. I chose a vulture not only because it rhymed with "shoulder," but because they're so evil and lazy. It waits for its food to die and isn’t even a skilled hunter. Sometimes we get all get lazy. We feel fixed at zero, which basically means to be stuck in one spot, not able to move forward or in the right direction—in the sense that 10 is the greatest and zero is the lowest. I want to get the phrase “fixed at zero” in the dictionary, so I'm trying to think of many explanations as possible.

 

You’ll Never Know
This is by far the most vulnerable [I’ve ever been] in a song we’ve written. Blake and Dave were writing this riff on piano and mixed it with flutes and vibes. It sounded so sneaky. I wanted the lyrics and melody to tiptoe on top of it perfectly. I had a note on my phone titled “You'll never know.” I had written it pretty recently and knew it would fit the feel of the song, but I was hesitant due to the subject matter. It's basically an experience that everyone hates to go through, when you have feelings you've never felt but you aren't brave enough to show them.  I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, so I chose to use the exact words from when I first wrote them, while in the moment when the feelings were at their peak. I also used the theme of directions because it's all happening and being written while on the road. It's truth with a pinch of lust. I'm proud of this song. 

 

Stranger
This song was started by Blake on his acoustic about a year ago when he would constantly play this beautiful, guitar-picking riff. The picking is similar to a type of picking called "Travis picking." We knew we wanted to use the riff, but we took our time in fear of ruining it. Blake finally demoed out the music in his home studio and we all loved the direction. We wanted it to have a slow approach then jump into a groove. It's very snappy and it gets me moving. They used an old record player as an amp for the rhythm guitars, which gave it a lot of character. Dave had lots of old, interesting instruments that we played around with—one of them being an Omnichord that Blake plays in the chorus. Lyrically, the song is basically about two the distinctive sides a person has—a good one and a bad one. The first verse is the bad side, and the second verse is the good side. It flows into the same theme as "Figure It Out" and "Fixed At Zero." It basically cut my head in half and analyzed both of those sides in me. I'm completely aware of my bad side, but it doesn't mean that's who I really am. It's like there’s a stranger [inside], but no matter what, this stranger seems to take over. I think everyone can relate to that. Also, the song doesn't resolve at the end musically or lyrically. So you don't know if my bad or good side won. I've always loved that.   

 

Redesign Me
Blake has always been into the Celesta piano which is heavily used by [composer] Danny Elfman and the films he scores. Blake wrote the opening Celesta riff and we basically built this song around that riff. We tried different speeds over and over in order to find the perfect tempo. We really wanted this song to be straightforward. It's a track on the album that is powerful but at the same time, gives you a rest. I wrote the lyrics on the spot with Dave. We wanted to try something "simple.” It was hard for me, but Blake told me that a great lyricist is someone who can be diverse and make themselves understandable to people other than just me. It kind of pushed my buttons, but I do want to be a great lyricist. I wrote about the friends I was growing apart from and a person I chose to leave behind. Life is too short to sit around. I feel a constant need to get out into the world. Moving on is hard, but it's sometimes for the better.

 

Fire (Aim Your Arrows High)
Blake made this amazing programmed sequence that sounds like you’re underwater. He actually took influence from when he was at Universal Studios in line for the Poseidon Adventure. The feel of the soundtrack that kept looping while he was in the line inspired the verse programming in “Fire.” To him, the chorus sounded "on fire." Whenever we start an idea, we give it a certain feeling, element, color, animal or story. It helps us stay with a feel and not stray musically and lyrically. We wanted Blake to sing more, so we thought to split it up between the two of us. The first verse idea we recorded was with me and Blake singing back and forth, but it got scratched at the last minute. I was about to go into the booth to record, it but I felt we had to give it one more shot and try something new. I’m glad we rewrote the melodies because it flows better and Blake’s voice works perfectly. This song was inspired not only by [the movie] Avatar, but mainly our supporters—like the VersaVultures. So many of them have reached out to us, telling us how much we've helped them in some way. It's also inspired by specific people I've met at shows and keep in touch with because they just need someone to talk to. I see them in a confusing point in their lives, just like me. Maybe they don’t love or believe in themselves or they don't feel as if they're worth it. I use my voice to let them know they need to take chances and follow their dreams. I sound like a preschool teacher, but I'm dead serious. This song is 110 percent for you guys. People always ask about the arrow tattooed on my finger. Besides the fact that I like arrows, I'm also a Sagittarius—everyone in the band is—and the tattoo always points me in the right direction. So the thought of aiming your arrows high is very hopeful. It's all about pushing forward, busting through the obstacles of life and not letting one single person bring you down. We're all a wreck, but we're also unique because of it.   

 

Up There
We wrote the intro music of this song with [composer] Guy Sigsworth. He was always a huge inspiration to Blake since he was a member of Frou Frou and has written with Björk and Britney Spears. We mentioned we wanted to write with him, but it was just a far-fetched idea. When we heard that he was interested, we almost died. After fan-girling about it, we finally ended up writing with him via Skype because he lives in the U.K. He sent us this programming idea of eerie piano, strings, arpeggio harps and bending sub-base. When we heard it, we died all over again. We eventually added the jump to the chorus and the bridge, which modulated into a totally different direction, but we were having a hard time resolving. It was missing something. We let it sit, and then months later, went back with a fresh perspective and added the second half of the bridge—which seemed to fit perfectly. There's talking in the background that's been reversed. It adds to the eerie-ness. The song is about a ghost I had in my room. It was another time when I felt like I was going crazy, except my mother thought I was crazy, too. I couldn't sleep in my room for almost two weeks. I was out on the couch. I came home from tour,  and I think I brought home some bad energy because this feeling just sunk into my room. It was draining, and terrifying. I laid in bed wide awake, just staring at one specific corner until I sprinted out of my room with no intention of going back until morning. My mom blamed it on the ghost shows I watch on TV and my curiosity in the paranormal. We hung a crystal in the corner of my room and burned some sage. It's better now.

 

Your Own LoVE
We wrote this right before we left for the studio. Blake came to me with the music already written, and we fused in a bridge that we had written a long time ago that just so happened to fit this song perfectly. We wanted to have a concise chorus. That was the challenge we gave ourselves because I tend to write a mouthful. We came up with "Your Own LoVE" right before I left Blake’s house to drive three hours back home. Things always happen at the last minute like that. The song is about someone holding you back from finding what it is you love and chasing after it—not necessarily a love for a person, but a love for your passion. It ties in with “Redesign Me” in that people see you changing, but really you're leaving your past and finding your future.   

 

Mythology 
This is the very first song we wrote for the album. It's driven by Blake’s signature programming. It has lots of glockenspiel, strings and spastic, under-layered acoustic guitars that were inspired by Britney Spears’ “Mannequin.” We locked ourselves in Blake’s studio and kind of forced it out of ourselves. It was grueling. We'd been on the road for so long and had no inspiration, but we had ideas. We slowly but surely got the song halfway done in the amount of time that we were supposed to get several songs done. We got hung up on the details. Afterward, we left for Warped Tour. After the summer, we went back to the song and suddenly found all the missing inspiration and finished it in the studio. It was the very last song we tracked. Again, the guitars went through the record player for that buzzy character. The song is about someone very close to you who is telling lies—lots and lots of lies. The kind of big lies that you get sucked into, and when you find out the truth, everything you knew about the person is suddenly different. It's so confusing and you get lost in it.

 

Lost Tree
Blake came to me with this progression on his acoustic guitar. I think I sarcastically said, "What's this happiness?" or "That's the most normal thing you've ever written." He then slammed it into this part that twisted it all up from being completely regular to super-urgent and out there. I said, “Oh, okay. That's better!” Blake thinks that something can be much more interesting in direct contrast with something simple. I've had a poem called "Lost Tree" that I wrote under some type of spell. You know when you just have those days when you get all lightheaded and you're so sucked into your own mind that it's hypnotizing? Well it was one of those days. I was in the nest of the van writing all over a piece of cardboard I found. “Lost Tree” is actually the name of the street and neighborhood where Blake grew up. When I first went to his house, I was so obsessed with the name. How can a tree be lost? It's rooted in one spot forever! It's so interesting to me. I knew this song was meant to be “Lost Tree.” We had way too much fun tracking it. We used a Theremin, which none of us knew how to play. We each just took turns trying it out. I went in to do vocals with all the lights off and a few candles lit. Dave was messing with the delay and other vocal effects. I started saying and singing all these odd things and messing around when he said, "Sierra, do whatever you feel. We're gonna track this!"  So all the swirly background "ohs and ahs" and the big yell was a moment of truly being lost in the music. The vibe was unbelievable. We all left the studio that day on a musical high. At the last minute, we added a collage of all the vocal lines from other songs at the end. We felt it'd be a perfect way to bring it all back and wrap up the journey. I made sure that the last line of the whole record was "So lost in it" because that's what the album was all about. alt