Released August 20, 2019
Written, produced and performed by Jay Gironimi
Liner Notes
This is the most popular All Hallow’s Evil song. Very little of that has to do with me.
I took a family summer vacation to Williamsburg, VA in 2019. I do not like the summer or vacations, so the only thing that made it tolerable for me was riding the same 3-4 roller coasters over and over again. I spent a little too much time on the coasters and not quite enough time (or money) at the drink stand, which is to say I got mildly dehydrated. Somehow the process of recovery involved a lot of shitting, so while the rest of the family was floating down the lazy river, I was back in the room, alternating my time between the toilet and the computer desk.
Between bathroom breaks, one of my screens lit up with a message from This Podcast Will Kill You asking if I’d like to be on their Cystic Fibrosis episode. I, having more words than I know what to do with, immediately said “yes.” Two weeks later, I hopped on Skype and had a wonderful conversation with Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke, the best parts of which you can hear right here, introducing and closing their excellent episode on Cystic Fibrosis.
I talked to them for entirely too long, which they were very kind about. I’d like to blame it on the fact that I had a late night at an Iron Maiden concert the night before, but let this website stand as proof that once I start going, I don’t really know when to stop. And then, at some point after we said our goodbyes, I started to write this song.
I did not mean to write this song, it just kind of happened. I kept hearing bits of it in my head for a couple of days, the breaking point being a showing of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood where my brain kept trying to show me new ideas for a riff. Finally, I picked up a guitar and started hashing it out.
I wasn’t entirely sure how it would be received. Honestly, I spent a lot of time debating if this was the work of an unwell mind. Ultimately, I decided it probably was, but it was too late to change. I sent the song to the Erins, they played it on the episode, and a number of people were kind enough to listen/purchase it. Really diversified the Spotify demographic too, which I thought was nice. I’m really happy this one found an audience, even if it was just an audience that I borrowed for a little bit.
As for the song itself, this was a few months after I finished No Gods, Only Monsters and I was ready for a new challenge. Somehow repeated listens of Entombed’s Wolverine Blues gave me the idea that an HM-2 (or a cheap Behringer clone of an HM-2) blended with a more traditional distortion might make for an interesting sound, like a Swedish chainsaw in a lower gear. I thought the juxtaposition of that grind with a four on the floor verse and a big chorus might make for a unique song.
The lyrics are pretty self explanatory. The only distance between abled and disabled is time and I think the world would be a better place if certain people would realize/come to terms with that. I don’t think it’s going to happen, but hey, wait til your body betrays you.
-Jay G, March 2024
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