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.
Welcome To The Fold
Filter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You take your drink
You think it's funny
And I hit your face
You got your Jesus
And I got my space
You got your reasons
Just got to sit your self down
To contemplate
Get yourself a nice cold beer
And drink yourself away
Celebrate nothing
You feel a-okay
You celebrate nothing
To feel a-okay
You think you're precious
I think you're shit
I kill father
Destroy his seed
I'm nothing rolled over
Destroy your dream
Just got to sit your self down
To contemplate
Get yourself a nice cold beer
And drink yourself away
You celebrate nothing
You feel a-okay
You celebrate nothing
To feel a-okay
Now when you break yourself down
Go this place
You give yourself no reason
To get off your case
And when you break it down again
Seen through this shit
You give yourself no reason
To live, through this
Mama give, me my medicine
Mama give me my medicine
Mama give me my medicine
The one that makes me feel taller
Mama give me my medicine
Mama give me my medicine,
The one that makes me feel so tall, tall
Like a tall tree
Mama give me my medicine
That make me feel like a tall tree
Mama give me my medicine
That make me feel like a tall tree
Mama give me my medicine
That make me feel like a tall tree
You celebrate nothing
You feel a-okay
You celebrate nothing
And you, feel a-okay
The lyrics of Filter's song "Welcome to the Fold" deal with themes of self-destruction, anger, and addiction. The first verse sets up a situation where someone is taking advantage of the singer, taking their money and mocking them. The singer responds with violence, hitting the other person's face. The second verse compares the two individuals, with the other person having Jesus as their "reason" and the singer having their "space" as their own justification for their actions. The chorus repeats the phrase "you celebrate nothing" twice, emphasizing the hollow nature of the other person's life. The bridge encourages the listener to take a step back and reflect on their own life, possibly with the help of alcohol, and also criticizes the other person for not doing the same. The final section repeats the chorus and adds a new section about taking medicine to feel better, possibly hinting at drug addiction.
The lyrics of "Welcome to the Fold" are very dark and intense, dealing with themes of violence, addiction, and self-destruction. The song's heavy use of distortion and industrial sounds emphasizes this bleak tone, creating an atmosphere that matches the lyrics. The song was released in 1999 as the lead single from the album Title of Record and received a good deal of radio play. Lead singer Richard Patrick has cited Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails as a major influence on his music, and this song in particular has been compared to Reznor's work.
Line by Line Meaning
You take my money
You steal from me
You take your drink
You indulge in your habits
You think it's funny
You find humor in your actions
And I hit your face
I react violently to your actions
You got your Jesus
You have your faith and beliefs
And I got my space
I have my own personal world
You got your reasons
You have your justifications for your actions
And I got my case
I have my own argument against your actions
Just got to sit your self down
You need to take time to reflect
To contemplate
To think deeply
Get yourself a nice cold beer
Indulge in a temporary escape
And drink yourself away
Drink until your problems disappear
Celebrate nothing
You have no reason to celebrate
You feel a-okay
You feel content with your lack of celebration
You think you're precious
You have an inflated sense of self-importance
I think you're shit
I have a low opinion of you
I kill father
I reject traditional values
Destroy his seed
I reject the generational legacy of those values
I'm nothing rolled over
I refuse to conform to expectations
Destroy your dream
I reject your unrealistic expectations
Now when you break yourself down
When you go through a tough time
Go this place
Reflect on this situation
You give yourself no reason
You lack motivation
To get off your case
To change your behavior
And when you break it down again
When you face a similar situation
Seen through this shit
Seeing the situation for what it really is
You give yourself no reason
You still lack motivation
To live, through this
To overcome this challenge
Mama give, me my medicine
I need something to feel better
Mama give me my medicine
I need help to feel better
The one that makes me feel taller
Something to boost my confidence
The one that makes me feel so tall, tall
Something to make me feel invincible
Like a tall tree
As strong and mighty as a tree
You celebrate nothing
You still have no reason to celebrate
And you, feel a-okay
You're still content with that fact
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RICHARD MICHAEL PATRICK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@DJSkyhawk85
The whole Title of Record album is fire! I remember jamming out to this all the time in 1999! Still hits 24 years later
@jonathanbatturs6359
Yep 👈
@Set-me-free13
2022 and missing the 90’s. This song rocks. Makes me feel A…O…K. 🤘
@Lestat0081
I'm right there with ya, kids now adays think there music is the best but in all honesty alot of the music now is plain out trash and shit. #Bringbackmoreofthe90'smusic
@E3Ops
Yup!
@noreenkhan3365
Agreed 😊
@TheBucknative
Almost 2024 homie
@ItIsWhatItIs702
Now you know how your parents felt living in the 90's and missing the 60's... lol
@Jeff-sf9rd
Dude has always had a killer voice.
@normturner4849
Pity he can’t do it live with any consistency. 😾