Track By Track: Foxfires, 'The Golden Age'
Foxfires' The Golden Age sees its release today via Escapist Records, and AltPress caught up with frontman Josh Lyford to tell the stories behind each track. You can order The Golden Age now, and be sure to check out Foxfires in our new 100 Bands You Need To Know in 2013 issue!
“One Coin”
This song is meant to be as blunt as it sounds. The opening lyric, “I watched my heroes die/I wish that I could say that I was speaking figuratively” is the basis of the entire song. It is about coming to a point in your life when saying goodbye to loved ones is an all-too-frequent occurrence. It is a hypothetical conversation between friends over drinks, where you both realize you have to explain to the rest of your friends and family what just occurred, and how you will deal with these events and make the most of what this person taught you.
“It Was A Journey”
In an alternate view to the first song on the record, the message of this song is that we all make mistakes and that’s okay. Maybe not everything in life pans out, but there is still a lot of fun to be had, and I think so far in this life, me and mine have made the most of it.
“Crushed”
Everything has a consequence, whether it is good or bad. Some people you trust will betray you. People you love will die and leave. Some of the dreams you have may not work out. But we’re all from the same breed somewhere down there deep, and you have to remember that just because you’ve done wrong or been wronged, that’s not an excuse to be a constant drain on the people around you.
“Ticonderoga”
Fort Ticonderoga is in New York, right on the border of Vermont. I used to go there with my family as a kid, and I still have really fond memories of the place. The fort played a major part during the American Revolution; the Green Mountain Boys, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold (before all that traitorous stuff) captured it from the British Army. The idea of a fort being captured is the running metaphor for the song, as is the fort’s Iroquois meaning: “At the junction of two waterways” sometimes in life you come to a crossroad where you get bogged down in the past yet you have to keep believing in yourself. We can be our own worst enemies, and apathy hurts that, but we can also do anything when we put our minds to it.
“Black, White Birch”
I’ve spent most of my life, from childhood to the present day, under the shade of New England pine and birch trees I love the distinct look of the area’s forests. There has always been this shadowy side of my head that creeps in as some minor depression or anxiety, and if I keep listening to that voice, I can be miserable. I think that is what happens each winter, but the New England forest is beautiful year round, and you realize that even in the tough times, there are things to appreciate.
“Gravity Is Honest”
Things don’t have to be perfect; for every up there is a down. I always felt that was something I had to come to terms with. On the other hand, you don’t have to keep hacking away at something doesn’t feel right. There is a line and it’s up to you to know where that line is.
“Nostrum” (digital bonus track)
This is a hypothetical conversation between the narrator, a lost friend and some sort of higher power, the “three philosophers.” It was also a drink our friend Dom would bring with him when we would all gather on the porch and talk and drink and dance at our friends’ apartment on Highland Street in Worcester.
“Good Fences” (digital bonus track)
“Good Fences” is a nod to one of my favorite poets, Robert Frost, and his poem “Mending Wall.” This song is about traveling on your path in life and the things you figure out about the people and events around you. Along the way, some people come and go, and it can be difficult to differentiate between who is going to be there for the journey and who won’t be. You don’t have to be on an island of your own to be your own person.
