Black Cross formed in 2001 under the moniker Black Widows with the original… Read Full Bio ↴Black Cross formed in 2001 under the moniker Black Widows with the original line up of Rob Pennington (vocals, ex By The Grace Of God, Endpoint), Ryan Patterson (guitar, ex National Acrobat, Automatic), Evan Patterson (bass, ex National Acrobat), and Thommy Browne (ex By The Grace Of God, Automatic). They were united in their love of DC hardcore, a coming of age through the early 90's hardcore scene, and a desire to emphasize the aspects of hardcore and punk that they held dear.
Black Widows recorded a debut EP for Initial Records (Stops A Beating Heart, now included on the Widows Bloody Widows CD collection) and soon after joined the Equal Vision Records roster. As work on their debut album began, it came to their attention that the trademark for the name "Black Widows" was owned by another party (not to mention had been used thousands of times over by other bands) and the band decided to change its name to Black Cross.

In late 2002, Black Cross entered the studio with producer/guru J. Robbins to record Art Offensive, their full length debut. Released in 2003, Art Offensive garnered praise just about everywhere and the band set out on the road with the likes of Thursday, Give Up The Ghost, Hope Conspiracy, These Arms Are Snakes, and Suicide File, among others.

Soon enough, line up changes, the members' other bands, and responsibilities at home loomed and Black Cross became sidelined. Thommy Browne left the band to spend more time at home with his wife and children, with Sean Johnson briefly joining the band on drums, followed by Matt Jaha. Rob's touring time was limited due to teaching and family priorities, Evan formed Breather Resist (now Young Widows) who toured heavily, and Ryan then formed Coliseum in order to be able to spend more time touring.

While Black Cross never broke up, nearly all of 2005 found the band entirely inactive with the exception of the release of the three-song EP Sink, Knives & Chrome on Ryan & Evan's label Auxiliary Records. Late in the year, they reconvened with a new, more stable, line up and began writing songs for their next album. Evan switched from bass to second guitar and his Young Widows band mate Nick Thieneman (also of Brain Banger) took over bass duties. A friend of Rob's since the Endpoint / Sunspring tours in the mid-90s, Forrest Kuhn (Sunspring, Halifax Pier) joined on drums and the band made a grand reemergence at Auxiliary's Last Saturday show series kickoff in January 2006.

A year later, the band entered the studio with friend Chris Owens engineering to record their long awaited second proper full length. Titled Severance Pays, the album finds Black Cross focusing their patented melodic-yet-noisy hardcore sound while digging deeper into their earlier melodic punk influences such as Wipers, Husker Du, Gray Matter, etc.

Screaming from the Top of the Stairs
Black Cross Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I ain't no father's son
no one taught me how to be
sequestered firmly by words never said
Here we are face to face
no more words promises to chase
here we are saying nothing
Here we are man to son
so much damage left undone

here we are saying nothing

if i could set the bridge i would
but every step bleeds so awkward
wish there was more to say
than painting just a history

my tiny hands to yours
so alike in shape and form
all we saw were differences
is that all you see now

time will tell in years we have left
if broken hearts find their way home

you don't know me

I see you in myself
I want to tear it out
for once to reach beyond yourself
these hands like lead
these years of guilt

let the light inside I can't see
let the light inside so I can see

now I'm sleeping but we're wearing
a noose around our necks

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Black Cross's song Screaming from the Top of the Stairs reflect the complicated relationship between a father and his son. The singer is expressing his frustration and pain at not being taught how to be a man by his father. He feels sequestered and held back by the words that were never said between them. The two are face to face, but there are no more words or promises left to share. They are now saying nothing to each other. The singer wants to set the bridge between them, but every step seems to bleed and be awkward. He wishes there were more to say, more than just painting a history.

In the second verse, the singer describes how he sees himself in his father and wants to tear it out. He wants to reach beyond himself and break the pattern of their complicated relationship. He feels guilty for not being able to connect with his father and wishes that they could see beyond their differences. The song ends with the haunting line, "now I'm sleeping but we're wearing a noose around our necks," which suggests that the unresolved issues between the singer and his father will continue to weigh heavily on them.

Line by Line Meaning

I ain't no father's son
I am not someone who has learned from my father

no one taught me how to be
I was never taught how to act or be a certain way

sequestered firmly by words never said
I feel trapped by the things that were never communicated

Here we are face to face
We are now in each other's presence

no more words promises to chase
We are done trying to fulfill promises with words

here we are saying nothing
We are not communicating anything

Here we are man to son
We are now confronting each other as men and father-son

so much damage left undone
There is a lot of harm that has not been addressed

here we are saying nothing
We are still not communicating anything

if i could set the bridge i would
If I could repair the damage between us, I would

but every step bleeds so awkward
But every attempt feels uncomfortable and painful

wish there was more to say
I wish there were more words to express how I feel

than painting just a history
Instead of just reviewing what happened in the past

my tiny hands to yours
My small hands in your larger ones

so alike in shape and form
We share physical similarities

all we saw were differences
We focused only on our differences

is that all you see now
Is that still all you can see?

time will tell in years we have left
As time goes on, we will see if we can repair our relationship

if broken hearts find their way home
If we can heal our emotional wounds

you don't know me
You do not truly understand who I am

I see you in myself
I recognize parts of you within myself

I want to tear it out
I want to get rid of those traits

for once to reach beyond yourself
To go beyond who you are and connect with others deeply

these hands like lead
My hands are heavy with emotional weight

these years of guilt
I have carried guilt for years

let the light inside I can't see
I need help illuminating the parts of myself that I cannot see

let the light inside so I can see
Please allow me to see and understand myself better

now I'm sleeping but we're wearing a noose around our necks
Even though I am trying to forget about our issues, we are still bound and strangled by them

Contributed by Arianna P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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