Although their style displays crust influences, they are not a neocrust band. It is closer to traditional screamo but with dashes of crust, which would better classify them as an emocrust band, if that serves of any distinction. Their music is mostly driven by the emotional expressionism and urgency of screamo rather than d-beat galloping or the epic and melodic riffing of neocrust. However, it still manages to incorporate some aspects of crust's primal aggression.
As a three-piece band comprised of a guitarist / vocalist, a bassist and a drummer, the faces of the members are intentionally cropped out of promotional photographs and music videos, and the individual members are usually only referred to by the single letters: B, D or T. Birds in Row consciously make this effort in order to appear as a single entity rather than three individuals. The band commented, "It's not about some individuals, but songs, ideas, points of view that our three lives have in common. So as we've been asked for promo pics for several reasons, we decided to crop them so all you can see is a band"
Two of the members formed Birds in Row one week after their previous band split up, and recorded their first song one week after that. The group chose the name because birds are able to fly around freely, however, "they very often decide to fly as a group or land on wires in a row. So, this for us represents how people could chose to be free, but always end up following their fellows to feel comfortable." They chose the name 'Birds in Row' over 'Birds in a Row' because it sounded better to the group. They also chose to sing in English because they, "wanted to be understood by most of the people." Birds in Row had begun writing their debut album in late 2011. Deathwish Inc. showed interest in reissuing their Cottbus EP, but the band offered the album they had been working on at the time instead. Birds in Row's signing was announced in November 2011, and they finished recording their debut album by January 2012. Also in January 2012, Vitriol reissued the group's early EPs as a compilation titled Collected.
Birds in Row toured the United States with Loma Prieta in March 2012 and with Touché Amoré, Defeater and Code Orange Kids in April 2013. A music video for the song "Pilori" was released in June 2012, and Birds in Row's debut album You, Me, & the Violence was released on September 4, 2012. Also in 2012, the band toured Europe with Converge and Rise and Fall in August, and the UK in December. Along with Glass Cloud and Rebuker, Birds in Row opened for The Chariot during their final tour in October / November 2013.
Website
Bandcamp
Phoenix
Birds in Row Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We chose a box for the memories
Put down some tears inside
And leave regrets behind
Let this fire grow up as a new beginning
From the cold ashes the body rise
Ice turns to water
And flows along fire feathers
In our time we're searching for more than illusions
We're confused inside a storm of deceptions
Pulling us deeper and deeper
And it's our time
We're searching for more than illusions
And it up to us to go
Everywhere but down here
The quicker the better
With wild open wings the phoenix goes again
We're all chasing our role
Living in memories shadows
Forgotten souls on photos
Rebirth never come without a fire and you're
The spark
The wood
The gasoline
The lyrics to "Phoenix" by Birds in Row depict the process of embracing change and rebirth, while acknowledging the painful process of letting go of past mistakes and regrets. The opening lines speak to the idea of using past failures as fuel to ignite a new beginning. The metaphor of a fire is used throughout the song to convey the transformative power of change. The line "from the cold ashes the body rise" speaks to the idea that growth and transformation often emerge from moments of great pain and hardship.
The second verse touches on the struggle of navigating life's illusions and deceptions. The reference to being "confused inside a storm of deceptions" speaks to the struggle of finding meaning and purpose amid chaos and confusion. The chorus repeats the idea of searching for something more than illusions and emphasizes the need for personal agency in the pursuit of growth and transformation.
Overall, "Phoenix" is a powerful song about embracing the painful process of letting go and starting anew. It speaks to the human experiences of pain and growth with honesty and vulnerability.
Line by Line Meaning
Let this fire being fed with all our failures
We want to start anew by burning away all our past mistakes and faults.
We chose a box for the memories
We have put all our memories, good or bad, in a container of our choice.
Put down some tears inside
We have cried over some of the memories we've put away.
And leave regrets behind
We've decided to leave behind all our past regrets and move forward.
Let this fire grow up as a new beginning
We want the fire to symbolize a fresh start and new beginning.
From the cold ashes the body rise
Like a phoenix, we want to arise from the ashes of our past and start anew.
Ice turns to water
We hope that our troubles and pain will slowly melt away, like ice turning to water.
And flows along fire feathers
The fire will help us move forward, like feathers helping a bird fly.
In our time we're searching for more than illusions
We are looking for something real and meaningful in our lives.
We're confused inside a storm of deceptions
We feel lost and misled due to the many lies and illusions around us.
Pulling us deeper and deeper
These illusions are causing us to fall deeper into confusion.
And it up to us to go
It's our responsibility to find the truth and navigate our way out of this storm.
Everywhere but down here
We want to rise and move up, rather than stay stagnant or fall lower.
The quicker the better
We want to move forward and improve ourselves as quickly as possible.
With wild open wings the phoenix goes again
Like a phoenix, we want to soar freely and go forward with courage and strength.
We're all chasing our role
We are all searching for our place and purpose in life.
Living in memories shadows
Our past memories can still haunt us and affect our present.
Forgotten souls on photos
We may forget certain people and moments, leaving them only preserved in photographs.
Rebirth never come without a fire and you're
We can't begin anew without overcoming obstacles and burning away our past.
The spark
We have the power to ignite this fire and start anew.
The wood
Like wood, we need to be strong and resilient to withstand this fire and come out better on the other side.
The gasoline
We need fuel and energy to move forward and ignite change in our lives.
Contributed by Peyton A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.