Their first album, Short Bus, was released in 1995. The album was commercially successful, and included the hit single "Hey Man, Nice Shot". The song was somewhat controversial, as it was seen as capitalizing on the public suicide of Budd Dwyer. Kurt Cobain's suicide was widely rumored to have inspired the song, but the band refuted this. In need of a live band to tour the album, Patrick and Liesegang recruited Geno Lenardo on guitar, Frank Cavanagh on bass, and Matt Walker on drums. They would all later be featured in the video for the album's second single, "Dose".
Between Filter's first and second albums, the band became known for their soundtrack contributions, The first of these tracks, "Thanks Bro", landed on the Songs In The Key Of X: Music From And Inspired By The X-Files album. In 1996, Filter recorded and filmed the video for the song "Jurassitol", for The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack. They also released the home video Phenomenology in 1996, which showcased some of the band's live performances and music videos, as well as an interview with Patrick and Liesegang filmed in New Mexico.
Liesegang left in 1997 shortly after recording the Filter/The Crystal Method collaboration "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" for the Spawn movie soundtrack, due to creative differences with Patrick. In 1998, for the X-Files film soundtrack, Patrick decided to keep the Filter name and recorded a cover of Harry Nilsson's "One".
Patrick continued with 1999's Title of Record with returning members Lenardo and Cavanagh, as well as Steve Gillis on drums, filling in the gap left by Walker after he left to work with The Smashing Pumpkins. Title of Record moved away from industrial rock somewhat, and resulted in the band's biggest hit, the mellow ballad "Take a Picture", along with other lesser-heard singles "Welcome to the Fold" and "The Best Things". The song "Take a Picture" is about a dispute on an aircraft, when Richard Patrick drunkenly stripped down to his boxers, alarming the other passengers.
The song "Captain Bligh" (after Vice-Admiral William Bligh of the HMS Bounty) was written by Patrick after leaving Nine Inch Nails and was about Trent Reznor's notoriously anti-social habits. "Miss Blue" is said to have been about Smashing Pumpkins bassist D'arcy Wretzky. She can be heard on the songs "Cancer", and "Take A Picture".
2002 saw the release of The Amalgamut, featuring the singles "Where Do We Go from Here?" and "American Cliché". "The Only Way (Is the Wrong Way)" was also featured in the first wave of Hummer2 commercials that year and in the 2003 movie Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. Alan Bailey was recruited for live guitar when they set off to tour the album; however, the tour ended abruptly in a matter of weeks when Richard Patrick voluntarily checked himself into rehab. He has since tattooed his date of sobriety, September 28, 2002, on his forearm.
Richard Patrick was part of the supergroup The Damning Well, which has only released one track on the Underworld movie soundtrack in 2003, despite an entire album's worth of recording. While nothing has directly surfaced, it is rumored that some of the material from these sessions have been an influence or has been reworked in Filter's 2008 release Anthems for the Damned and Black Light Burn's first album Cruel Melody, due to the fact that Wes Borland was the guitarist of both The Damning Well and Black Light Burns.
Army of Anyone, a second supergroup side-project with drummer Ray Luzier and Stone Temple Pilots members Robert and Dean DeLeo, released its debut album on November 14, 2006. Low album sales, coupled with Richard Patrick's desire to do more work with Filter, led the band's break-up around mid-2007.
As Army of Anyone wound down, Patrick began working on material for a new Filter album, to eventually be titled Anthems for the Damned. Released to the public in May 2008, it was more serious in tone than some expected and expressed more of his mixed emotions regarding the state of the world and the state of his life.
On March 7, 2008, it was announced that Frank Cavanagh had reunited with Filter and would play as a live member at the Operation MySpace concert in Kuwait. It was confirmed at Operation MySpace that he would not be joining Filter on the full tour as he would be shipping off to Iraq in April. The only song played live during the March 10 performance by Cavanagh, now a Sergeant and Paralegal in the U.S. Army Reserve, was the band's first mainstream hit, "Hey, Man, Nice Shot".
Patrick also announced a remix album to Anthems For the Damned on November 4, titled Remixes For the Damned. Remixes For the Damned was released on November 21, 2008 in the U.S. and Canada, and internationally on December 1, 2008. The lead-off single was "I Keep Flowers Around".
A greatest hits album entitled The Very Best Things (1995-2008) was released March 31, 2009. It featured tracks from all four previous studio albums and various movie soundtrack contributions, but no new content. There are 14 tracks total, with some tracks being radio edits.
Filter started work working on a fifth album shortly after the release of the remix and greatest hits albums, with Bob Marlette as a producer. The album, said Richard Patrick, would be a lot heavier than Anthems for the Damned and was to have a song written for The Amalgamut on it. He also stated he would be moving away from the political lyrical content present in Anthems for the Damned.
When asked about the direction of his upcoming music style in an interview with Suicide Girls on September 13, 2008, Patrick said, "Actually the stuff I’m writing right now for a record that I’m going to release sometime next year is actually way more heavy industrial, more electronic. There’s probably not going to be that many live drums on it." It's important to note that he originally saw this album releasing in 2009, while it has now obviously slipped into 2010.
Richard Patrick has stated on the Filter website that he has been recording songs for movies recently. Filter covered the song "Happy Together" by The Turtles for the soundtrack to the movie The Stepfather (2009). The song features ambient sound with alternative metal.
Filter also contributed a new song "Fades Like a Photograph" for the soundtrack of the movie 2012 (2009). The song has a similar lyrical mood to "Take a Picture" and saw Patrick reuniting with former Filter co-conspirator, Brian Liesegang, who co-produced the track.
Through the end of 2009 and into 2010, Filter released a series of fourteen studio updates chronicling the progress made on the album. Each update touched on a certain part of the album process, such as "recording guitar parts" or "mixing the album". The last studio updates confirmed that the album recording had been completed. In their last studio video update, Richard Patrick showcased two clips from final mixed songs on iTunes that listed track listing and track lengths. While the video was legitimate, it was not the actual final track list, it was only a collection of new Filter songs on a playlist.
The album has been recorded, mixed and mastered, and band is currently signed with the label Rocket Science Ventures. Filter released a new single, "The Inevitable Relapse", as their first single on May 26th. The song is available on the band's official website as a free digital download. The Trouble with Angels will be released in August 17, 2010, with touring starting in the summer. The second track on the album, titled "Drug Boy," was released on the band's website on August 3rd.
Catch a Falling Knife
Filter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Life was just a play ground.
Life was just a sweet suburban memory.
It got changed when I first met you.
It got changed and I just let you.
I just had to keep the peace inside of me.
I have spent my life in here; in your home, but my hell.
Catch a falling knife with a razor's edge.
To catch a falling life, that's better off dead.
Mom and Dad, what happened?
I looked back and you were missing.
It's been like that for such a long, and lonely time.
Life was just a school yard.
Life was just a play ground.
Life was just a sweet suburban memory.
I have spent my life in here; in your home, but my hell.
I have spent my life in here; in your home, but my hell.
Catch a falling knife with a razor's edge.
To catch a falling life, that's better off dead.
Change the world in me.
You didn't let me see.
Hearts grow black and cold.
It was young and now it's old.
Old!
Catch a falling knife with a razor's edge.
To catch a falling life, that's better off dead.
Catch a falling knife with a razor's edge.
To catch a falling life, that's better off dead.
I have spent my life in here; in your home, but my hell.
I have spent my life in here; in your home, but my hell.
Catch a falling knife with a razor's edge.
To catch a falling life, that's better off dead...
The lyrics to Filter's song Catch a Falling Knife are about the singer's experience of life before and after meeting someone who changed everything. The first stanza talks about how life was simple and sweet before something changed. The second stanza is where things get darker - the singer has spent their life in someone's home, but it's been hell. The line "catch a falling knife with a razor's edge" is a metaphor for trying to save something that is dangerous and destructive, but the singer is struggling to give up on it. They know that this falling knife, this falling life, is better off dead, but they can't let go.
The chorus repeats this sentiment, while adding the detail of the singer's parents being absent or missing. The repetition of the earlier stanzas reinforces the idea that life was happy before, and only got dark when this other person entered the singer's life. In the final stanza, the singer seems to blame this person for turning their heart "black and cold", and for taking something that was young and innocent and making it old. The repetition of "catch a falling knife with a razor's edge" at the end is a haunting reminder of the struggle the singer is facing.
Line by Line Meaning
Life was just a school yard.
Life used to be simple and carefree, like a school yard.
Life was just a play ground.
Life was a fun and playful place, like a playground.
Life was just a sweet suburban memory.
Life was a nostalgic memory of a peaceful suburban upbringing.
It got changed when I first met you.
Meeting you changed my life in ways I didn't expect.
It got changed and I just let you.
I allowed you to change me, without taking control of my own life.
I just had to keep the peace inside of me.
I prioritized keeping the peace within myself, even if it meant sacrificing my own desires.
I have spent my life in here; in your home, but my hell.
Living in your home has been my own personal hell, despite spending my life here.
Catch a falling knife with a razor's edge.
Trying to control or save something that is dangerous and harmful, like catching a sharp knife as it falls.
To catch a falling life, that's better off dead.
Trying to save a life that is already doomed, and may be better off dying.
Mom and Dad, what happened?
Expressing confusion and heartbreak at the absence or loss of parents.
I looked back and you were missing.
Realizing that parents, or a support system, has disappeared or abandoned.
It's been like that for such a long, and lonely time.
Enduring a long period of loneliness and isolation without parental guidance or support.
Change the world in me.
Requesting inner transformation or change from within, in order to improve the world.
You didn't let me see.
Preventing me from seeing the truth or reality of a situation, leading to confusion or disillusionment.
Hearts grow black and cold.
Emotions and feelings become dark and negative.
It was young and now it's old.
Something that used to be young and fresh has become old and worn out.
Catch a falling knife with a razor's edge.
Continuing to take risks and try to save things that may be harmful and destructive.
To catch a falling life, that's better off dead.
Attempting to save a life that may not be worth saving, and may be better off ended.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: BOB MARLETTE, RICHARD MICHAEL PATRICK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind