As frontman for the Los Angeles-based rock band Angels Fall, Jorgensen will have plenty of opportunity to help his listeners create their own memories when Epic Records releases Yesterday’s Gone. Produced by Mike Flynn (The Fray, Augustana) and Warren Huart, and co-produced by Jorgensen, Yesterday’s Gone is a showcase for Jorgensen’s rich, emotionally transparent voice, melodic gifts, and keen lyrical insights about love and the human condition on songs like first single “Drunk Enough,” “Call On Me,” “Good Bye To You,” and the title track. “I really like writing about love,” Jorgensen says. “Everybody falls in and out of love. Everybody loves their lover and hates their lover. There's a lot to say. And I’m drawn to writing about love in context of the past. Every song serves as a bit of closure for each situation in my life. I try to experience as much as possible. I've lived a crazy life in the name of music.”
Jorgensen was born in a lighthouse in Eureka, California, while his parents were members of a commune called Lighthouse Ranch. A year and a half after his birth, his parents left and raised Jorgensen between Denver and Colorado Springs. Jorgensen’s first musical memory is of trying to play his father’s guitar at the age of five. “I had gotten my hands on this guitar he had sitting out, and he came home and found me,” Jorgensen says. “I could barely even hold the thing, but I was trying to pluck the strings.” His father taught him a few chords and Jorgensen took it from there, taking inspiration from the classical music and classic rock his mother favored, artists like Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin.
It was a dream Jorgensen had about Joplin at age nine that awakened his realization that he wanted to be a professional musician. “I was taking a nap while watching the film Woodstock and had fallen asleep right before Janis Joplin's performance,” he recalls. “In my dream, I was standing in the crowd looking up at the stage, and Janis was up there singing. She stepped down off the stage and walked up to me, circling around me with her finger on my shoulder while singing to me. When I woke up, that was the moment I thought, ‘This is what I want to do.’”
When Jorgensen was 19, a freak accident, in which lightning struck the apartment building he was in while he was playing guitar, nearly derailed his ambitions by frying the tendons and tips of his fingers. “That’s when I started singing and really listening to melodies and lyrics,” he says, “because I wanted to keep creating music. Even if my hands weren’t working, I had to find a way to do it because it was the one thing in my life that I loved more than anything. It’s the one thing that gives me peace and happiness.”
In 2004, Jorgensen quit his job at Guitar Center in Colorado Springs, packed his clothes and guitar into his car, and moved to Los Angeles where he took odd jobs as a waiter and a mover before landing a gig working security at The House of Blues in Hollywood. Two years in, he got to speaking to a co-worker whose brother turned out to be a music manager. The co-worker suggested that Jorgensen send his brother a demo of his songs, which Jorgensen did, sending 50 songs to Isaac Heymann and Michael Goldberg at 108 Management, who loved what they heard and asked him for more material. “I put my nose to the grindstone and did nothing but write for two months,” Jorgensen says. “I was living in a little apartment and had built a tiny studio between the hallway and the bathroom. I turned out another 20 songs, including ‘Angel,’ ‘Goodbye To You,’ and ‘Yesterday's Gone,’ and sent them off. Those were the songs that got me signed to Sony.”
After recording Yesterday’s Gone over two months in the Fall of 2010, Angels Fall played their first live show the following April at the Gibson Guitar Showroom in Los Angeles for the staff of motorcycle maker Harley Davidson — a very special concert for Jorgensen who has ridden every single day since buying and rebuilding an ’80s-era Honda Shadow after moving to L.A. “I love the freedom of being on a motorcycle,” he says. “I’ve got a close group of guys out here who have ended up becoming my adopted brothers through riding motorcycles; we started a club called the Whiskey Boys.” The Whiskey Boys, who appear in the video for “Drunk Enough,” ride bikes that Harley Davidson lent for the shoot, including the Cross Bones cruiser that Jorgensen rides in the video. “Harley Davidson has been really supportive,” he says. “Bill Davidson took me out for a ride and gave me a lot of props for what I’m doing with my life, which felt really good to hear,” Jorgensen says.
In June, Angels Fall hit the road for their maiden tour with Seether for a string of dates in the South and Midwest and played to an audience of 15,000 for the final show. “That night went so quickly,” he says. “We hit the last note and I was watching the crowd. People were screaming and cheering. I looked over at Billy and Ben Jindra, my bass player who has been my friend since I moved to L.A., and they were grinning from ear to ear. We threw our hands up in the air, said ‘Thank you!’ and that was it. I was like, ‘This is it. I'm home.’”
Somewhere I Belong
Angels Fall Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
So are you there?
Can you hear me through the madness everywhere?
Cause I been living in the shadows for too long
And there's nothing here that's keeping me from moving on
So are you there?
So are you there?
Cause where ever you have gone is somewhere I belong
I'm the first to say
I'm guilty of a lot of things that I can't take away
I been doing this time alone didn't know I could ever reach this low
I need you now
I'm reaching out
So are you there?
Can you hear me through the madness everywhere
Cause I been living in the shadows for too long
And there's nothing here that's keeping me from moving on
So are you there?
So are you there?
Cause where ever you have gone is somewhere I belong
I need you now
I'm reaching out
So are you there?
Can you hear me through the madness everywhere?
So are you there?
Can you hear me through the madness everywhere?
Cause I've been living in the shadows for too long
And there's nothing here that's keeping me from moving on
So are you there?
So are you there?
Cause where ever you have gone is somewhere I belong
Just where I belong
Just where I belong
Just where I belong
Just where I belong
The lyrics of the song Somewhere I Belong by Angels Fall speak of the singer's struggle with isolation and inner turmoil. The song starts with the singer admitting to being down for a while and feeling like they have changed. They acknowledge how everyone around them seems to have an opinion, except for the one person who truly understands them. The chorus of the song is a plea for that person to come back, to hear them through their struggles and to remind them of the place they belong.
The second verse continues with the singer admitting their guilt, and how they have been alone for some time now. They reach out to the person they are calling for help and ask for their presence. The chorus repeats, with the singer asking again if that person is there and reminding them that wherever they have gone is the place the singer belongs. The song seems to be about the isolation one can feel when facing their demons alone. The lyrics remind us of the importance of human connection, and how belonging to someone or something can help us find strength to move forward.
Line by Line Meaning
Been down for a while haven't come up for days
I have been feeling low and unmotivated for quite some time now.
I been down for a little too long they say
Others have noticed that I have been feeling down for a while.
I've changed everybody's got something to say
People have been commenting on how I have changed lately.
your the only one who really knows the way I feel right now
You are the only one who truly understands how I am feeling at this moment.
I'm reaching out
So are you there?
Can you hear me through the madness everywhere?
I am asking for help during this difficult time and wondering if you are available to listen to me despite the chaos around us.
Cause I been living in the shadows for too long
And there's nothing here that's keeping me from moving on
I have been struggling for a while and need to move forward from this dark place in my life.
Guilty and I know it
I'm the first to say
I'm guilty of a lot of things that I can't take away
I am aware of my mistakes and while I wish I could change them, I know that I cannot.
I been doing this time alone didn't know I could ever reach this low
I have been dealing with this struggle on my own and did not realize how much it would affect me.
Cause where ever you have gone is somewhere I belong
I feel a strong connection to you and wherever you are is where I feel I belong.
Just where I belong
I feel a sense of belonging with you and want to be where you are.
Writer(s): Joel Stephen Jorgensen, Dave Bassett
Contributed by Oliver C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.