Singled Out: Black Sunshine's Tears (Filter/ Theory of a Deadman)
05/28/2010
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Black Sunshine released their self titled debut this week and to celebrate we asked the band's mastermind Matt Reardon to tell us about some of his favorite tracks from the album. Today he tells us about the song, "Tears". We now turn it over to Matt for the story: "Tears" is without a doubt the most personal track on the album and deals with the tragic death of my sister's son at the tender age of 19. If you go here you can read how truly special this kid was and always will be. It sets the tone for the first verse line "have you ever heard the sound of an angel cry" The tune was written with John Davis of F5 fame who I have often collaborated with. When the initial riff came out in a jam session all I could think about was Christopher and immediately left to write what had been spinning in my head for months . He was more like a little brother to me and every night I sing this song he is with me.. I missed him by minutes at his apartment the day he drove off and was killed and the "what if" question is forever etched in my mind. When I was writing the lyrics I heard in the background Old Man by one of Chris and my favorite songwriters Neil Young. "love lost such a cost so the Young man said" It hit me hard the fact that Christopher just had gotten to meet his real father for the first time after a long kept childhood secret was revealed. "I know I might be treading a thin red line…at least you got to know the color of your fathers eyes" This track was and always will be therapy not only for myself but for my sister and family. When we were recording the track In LA we had Bob Marlette play the intro on piano…the guy is incredible on keys…well actually on most instruments, he also layed the bass track. Then we got super indulgent and started putting massive orchestral arrangements etc etc all over. During the final mix down knowing how much Christopher, a singer/songwriter himself, loved just acoustic and voice we decided to make it raw. The acoustic intro was played on my beat up first acoustic he loved so much and the tone came from not using a guitar pick but opting for a quarter. I had read somewhere Van Halen did that on "ice cream man" and we have to thank Thomas Laufenberg for laying down the intro. John Davis played all the rhythm tracks on Marlette's go to Les Paul through a Bogner head. Dave Smalls from F5 layed down the drums at Henson studios and I added some fairy dust guitars and some acoustics underneath. At the last minute Bruce Somers and I put some strings in at the end to keep the songs emotions lifting higher and higher. My Sister raises thousands every year in his honor by running marathons where people sponsor each mile. At Christmas she spends all the money on toys and goes into the under privileged neighborhoods and gives out Christmas gifts at random…bikes, dolls, train sets, shoes, clothing…the look on kids faces is priceless….and Christopher would be proud! Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album - right here!
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