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.
Down With Me
Filter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Depicting a families dream's
Look's like they could come
Right out of some plastic family magazine
I wish the pictures were true
And the stories they told were real
But I hate to say there was a rage
Somewhere deep inside their cage
Down, going down holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
Down, going down holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you down
The cops show up but there late
They could not stop all that hate
They climbed over the bodies and put
Up that yellow crime scene tape
And we thought that these people
Lived so calm and seemed fine
Looks like underneath someone had lived
With a blackened heart and mind
Down, going down holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
Down, going down holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you down
It's so hard to believe
Then they found a note
It came from a man with a knife
When they read it it gave them a chill
If I can't have her then no one will
Then no one will
Down going down holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
Down going down holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
Down going down holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
Down going down holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you down
The lyrics to "Down With Me" by Filter are a commentary on the façade that people often put on to mask their true selves. The first verse describes a family whose pictures on the wall depict a perfect life, but there is a deep-seated rage within them that is hidden behind the image that they present to the world. The second verse tells the story of how this rage erupted, leading to a violent crime scene where the police were too late to stop the tragedy. The final lines of the song reveal a chilling note from the perpetrator, stating that if he can't have the person he wants, no one will.
On a larger scale, the song can be interpreted as a criticism of societal pressure to conform to certain images of success and happiness. People often put on a façade to present themselves as normal and happy, when in reality there may be underlying issues that are being ignored or repressed. The line "I wish the pictures were true and the stories they told were real" speaks to the desire for people to be honest about their struggles and not feel pressured to put on a perfect image.
Overall, "Down With Me" is a dark and thought-provoking song that explores themes of interpersonal relationships and societal pressures.
Line by Line Meaning
Pictures hung on the walls
There are images on the walls
Depicting a families dream's
They show dreams of a household
Look's like they could come
Seems same as
Right out of some plastic family magazine
Straight from a fake family magazine
I wish the pictures were true
I hope the pictures were real
And the stories they told were real
And the tales they conveyed were genuine
But I hate to say there was a rage
But, unfortunately, there was anger
Somewhere deep inside their cage
Hidden inside their enclosure
Down, going down holding you
Downward journey, holding you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
I will lead you down
The cops show up but there late
Police arrived but were slow
They could not stop all that hate
They could not prevent that hatred
They climbed over the bodies and put
They stepped over corpses and added
Up that yellow crime scene tape
Yellow tape of the crime scene
And we thought that these people
And we believed that these individuals
Lived so calm and seemed fine
Lived peacefully and seemed alright
Looks like underneath someone had lived
It appears that someone had existed underneath
With a blackened heart and mind
With a corrupted personality
It's so hard to believe
It is difficult to comprehend
Then they found a note
Later they discovered a message
It came from a man with a knife
It came from a man with a dangerous weapon
When they read it it gave them a chill
Reading it gave them shivers
If I can't have her then no one will
If I cannot have her, nobody will
Down going down holding you
Descending with you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
I will guide you downwards
Down going down holding you
Going down with you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
I will lead you down
Down going down holding you
Descending with you
I'll take you down, I'll take you
I will guide you downwards
Down going down holding you
Descending with you
I'll take you down, I'll take you down
I will lead you down
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BOB MARLETTE, MITCHELL MARLOW, RICHARD MICHAEL PATRICK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind