Track-By-Track: Stray From The Path
The members of STRAY FROM THE PATH–vocalist Andrew Dijorio, guitarist Tom Williams, bassist Ryan Thompson and drummer Dan Bourke–tell us the stories behind each song on Make Your Own History.
Lucid Dreaming
Tom Williams: We all wrote this song together. This was a last minute song on the record, but we’re very happy with how it came out. Originally, we wanted this to feature guest vocals from somebody who can flow really well. We were looking at Marshall [Lichtenwaldt] from the Warriors, but he couldn’t do it, then we wanted to get [Rey Oropeza] from Downset on the record, but that didn’t work out. So we went with this idea where we would have this chant that sounded as if it was being said when soldiers march. This is the most straightforward song we’ve ever written, and it’s like that on purpose. What matters most in this song is the lyrics–for everyone that listens to us and for ourselves.
Manipulator
Andrew Dijorio: This was the first song written for Make Your Own History. While the rest of the band were recording music for the album in Washington, D.C., I was back at home in New York. We had done pre-production for this song, so I had an idea what direction the song was going to take. After going back and forth with the guys in e-mails, I knew this was going to be one of my favorite tracks on the album. I originally had the idea of calling the album “Manipulator,” but we decided to keep it as the name of this song. I knew it had to be powerful, to the point and extremely pissed off. I started writing the lyrics about a certain someone who caused me an abundance of grief, regret and difficulty. I was so relieved to be saying some of the shit I was writing. [Laughs.] One thing I wanted to do for this record was write catchy vocal lines that would stand out. The chorus came out naturally catchy and everyone was down with it, so that was sick. As I got more towards the end of the song, I wanted it to be about more than one person, so I thought about a few people who turned their back on me for some of the choices I’ve made in my life. The coolest thing about this song is how I took a line from an Endwell song and just flipped it. [Laughs.] Endwell know about this and they were all for it; they thought it would be cool to have that New York connection going on. So if you think that’s cool, go figure out which line it is! [Laughs.] I wanted a sing-along part to close the song out. Everyone around me kept saying, “Fuck my life,” referring to annoying things that happened to them during that day or whatever. So I said, “That’s kind of catchy, and if I say it, it’ll seem pissed off. Now a ton of 16 year-old girls say “FML,” so it’s not that cool anymore. Fuck my life. [Laughs.]
Negative And Violent
Andrew Dijorio: A bunch of different ideas were thrown around for this song. I had already had the “negative and violent” part written, so we were trying to write around that. We had sick ideas, but I think we were all butting heads. The day before one of my vocal sessions, Ryan [Thompson] and I finished this one up together. We wanted to focus on people who use negativity to make themselves feel better about how shitty they really are–kind of like a bully. The perception of this song is often taken the wrong way. Also, I love reading message board posts. [Laughs.] They’re just a bunch of kids shit-talking over a keyboard. Being ignorant is really funny. The idea for this song was inspired by the Long Island hardcore scene and how kids think they’re better than others because they’ve been going to shows longer and are more involved with band members. But it doesn’t matter who you know and how important they are–nobody cares and it doesn’t make you more important. This song is pretty much about all of those things combined.
Mitra
Dan Bourke: “You guys are going to trust me to write the lyrics to a song?" That was the initial thought in my head when the idea came up for all of us to try our hands in the lyric writing process. I had never done it before, but I loved it–and not for nothing, it really helps me connect to the record in more ways than just the drum parts I had written. The title of the song is actually my younger brother’s name. Sparing you all the details, I spent his first three years always with him, playing together, even sitting him on my lap and playing drums together. But during the past two years, it’s been nearly impossible to spend time with him due to circumstances other than my constant touring. I wrote this song about those people in my life who I’ve maintained acquaintances with. Sometimes, especially when you’ve devoted your life to being away from home, those people may even be your own family members. It’s hard for me to distinguish if this is my own fault or if these circumstances are something I just have to accept. Who knows? But I find myself skipping this track sometimes when I listen to the record. You know how that first time you and your girlfriend videotape yourselves doing the dirty dance and you can’t watch it later?
Damien
Andrew Dijorio: I’m so glad that I wrote this song. Tom [Williams, guitar] tells me this is one of the best songs I’ve ever written. I agree. [Laughs.] Damien is such a sick name–that’s the first thing I want to say. This song was written about religion and some of my experiences when I was younger. I remember writing this song while pacing in my room, just really feeling this song. I felt strongly about it, and it was cool to piece it together. Everything just made sense–the vocal patterns and the lyrics, it all flowed really well. “What gives you the right to think that you can come and save me” is the first line of the song. It’s referring to someone involved in the Christian/Catholic community who thinks it’s okay to just go up to someone and push their beliefs. It’s kind of rude, but I get it they only want to help you find your way. One time when I was young, I went to a church retreat in Massachusetts. My girlfriend at the time and her family wanted me to go. I remember everyone at one point under this big tent praising the lord or, you know, singing about how much they love Jesus and stuff. Out of nowhere, people were starting to drop like flies while speaking in tongues. I was like, “What?” There’s no way that’s real. It was ridiculous. I guess that experience had some influence on some of the things I was trying to say while I was writing this song. I’m not saying that I hate people who believe in God or anything like that–it’s just not for me. The second verse of this song touches on someone being forced into religion and believing something that they’re unsure of. I know a handful of people who are awful human beings, but think if they say a couple prayers at church on Sundays they wash their hands of it. I don’t think it works that way. The chorus of this song is about those long days when I do some extensive drinking. [Laughs.] My mom is going to love reading that.
Fraudulent
Tom Williams: June 4th, 2008, in Buffalo, New York. That’s my birthday and where the motivation for this song started. A certain somebody left my $1,200 Mac laptop in the parking lot of a place we were playing and it proceeded to get run over by a van. This was a person who I considered a dear friend of mine. It turns out that he was fake and using me and my friends as a stepping stone. Our fallout happened right before we needed to start writing the new record, and this was the first thing I wrote–with a little help from Drew. The song begins how I want a Bronx album to start, then comes in jamming stray notes. When we were recording vocals, someone had the idea to put something "New York" over a part, which led to the line, "That shit’s no dice, get the fuck out of here.”
The Things You Own End Up Owning You
Tom Williams: I wrote the lyrics to this song, but we all pretty much had our part in it. I struggled with it at first, and the boys all helped me out. I wrote “Fraudulent” about my experiences, Dan wrote “Mitra” about his experience, but this song is all of us in 2 minutes and 12 seconds. It’s about how we all struggle being poor musicians, and we have apartments, cars, children, video game obsessions and the costs of maintaining the band. We all end up burying ourselves in debt. We were driving to the recording studio, and at the exact same time every day, I would get a phone call from a creditor trying to get their money. It’s the most stressful thing I have ever dealt with, and most of the country carries debt. An awesome part in this song is where all of us do guest vocals at the end. I’m the first one in between Drew, and I sound hard as fuck.
Comrades
Andrew Dijorio: The way this song came together was very strange. I had a couple of lines written out and some ideas in my notes. We had done pre-production for this song and I just kept putting off writing lyrics for it. During the past two years, we had made some changes to the band. Our original bass player left and that was a huge bummer to all of us because he’s a great bass player and a very genuine person. Then we parted ways with our original guitar player, and that was huge because he was a very big part of the SFTP foundation. There is no bad blood in any way shape or form. So I felt it was necessary to keep them in our hearts and heads and write a song about people that meant so much to this band. It was strange because, during the process of making this record, I lost a very close friend. The way I started writing this song was almost like I was writing about someone who had already died. After he passed away, I knew how I was going to finish the song. I just didn’t want to rush it. After finishing all of the music in D.C, we started making our way out to Hollywood to do vocals at a different studio. I don’t remember where we were exactly–probably Texas or Arizona-but I just remember being somewhere in the desert. I was in the passenger seat listening to how sick our record sounded even without me singing on it. [Laughs.] Then the track that later would be called “Comrades” came on. All the thoughts of losing such a close friend, losing band members and just being on the road constantly meshed together and became a song.
Black Anchor
Tom Williams: I wrote these lyrics in three days on tour. The tour killed our finances, which were scarce to begin with. It reminded me of the times when we were touring and gas was $4.35 per gallon–we would play shows, sell a lot of merch, get our guarantee and then wind up not even making a dollar because gas was so expensive. The oil companies couldn’t care less because they’re making their money. It got me thinking about all the other bands in the country–from hardcore to country–struggling because of some toilet seat oil company. At 34 seconds into the song, Ryan [Thompson] and I headbang at the same time– never on purpose. It just always happens.
Nigeria
Tom Williams: I was hanging out with my brother one night, and he told me how he got scammed for one of his old cell phones he sold on eBay. These people hit him up from a PayPal e-mail address and said that the money the "person" sent him for the phone was being held because it was a foreign transaction, and that he had to send the phone before he could get the money released into his account. He sent the phone and then nothing happened. I looked into it and found out about all the Nigerian internet scams that have happened for years. This was the first time I heard about it, and I became instantly furious. I saw that people in Nigeria worship these people who rip off Americans. There’s a musical group called Osuofia who wrote a song called "I Go Chop Your Dollar" about groups who rip off Americans for millions of dollars. Find the video for that song on YouTube and you’ll become instantly pissed off. On this song, we had our friend Jonathan Vigil from the Ghost Inside sing on it. It has one of the heaviest parts on the record and we wanted a really heavy voice over it. A few months later, Vigil lost $100 to me on a bet over the Stanley Cup finals, which I have yet to collect. [Laughs.]
Make Your Own History
Andrew Dijorio: This is the second song I wrote lyrics to after leaving the studio in D.C. I had the idea of writing a song about people who can’t do anything by themselves and just sit around and wait for things to happen for them. I started out writing about people who are hopeless and have no control. The saying “Make your own history” seemed so epic to me. The whole theme we have going for this record with history and the artwork might motivate and inspire people to do something someday that they might never have thought of doing. I know I never thought we would write an album like this. I knew we were capable of it, but it’s just interesting to think about what your band sounds like and what the next record is going to sound like. alt
