Founded by Arnold and Donikian in 2000, Hypnogaja originated as an electronic studio project with early collaborator, keyboardist Sean "Dr." Brooks. As a live show began to develop, members and collaborators were added to the fold, including Grammy award nominated guitarist/producer Jean-Yves "Jeeve" Ducornet. Hypnogaja's sound evolved into new dimensions with the incorporation of rock influences into the group's initial electronic foundation. The band tours consistently and has performed shows to audiences throughout the U.S. and Canada, and has opened for bands such as Shinedown, Saliva, 311, Cold and many others.
Grammy nominated songwriter Wendy Waldman helmed production duties for Hypnogaja's live acoustic album, Acoustic Sunset: Live At The Longhouse. The band previously collaborated with Waldman on two songs - "Killing Time" and "Outside, Looking In" - from the album "Post-Hypnotic Stress Disorder". The latter song was featured as the end title of the NBC Movie "Carrie" a remake of the Brian DePalma film based on the classic Stephen King novel.
Hypnogaja's latest studio recording, Truth Decay, was released by Union State Records in June 2009. The fourteen-track, science fiction-tinged concept album includes the song "Welcome To The Future," featuring Richard Dodd of The Section Quartet on cello. The album was released to strong reviews, including a 9 out of 10 star rating from Outburn Magazine, which noted it as an "expertly crafted album." The LP's first single, "The March," spawned a music video directed by ASC Award-winning cinematographer Nelson Craggand and writer/producer Marius Markevicius
Various television shows, motion pictures and soundtracks have featured Hypnogaja’s music, including America’s Next Top Model, Carrie, Cold Creek Manor, Dirt , Las Vegas, One Life To Live, Roswell, Sex And The City, Tru Calling, Valentine and many others.
Author Frank Beddor featured Hypnogaja's Alice in Wonderland-themed song, "Looking Glass" (from the Below Sunset album) on the soundtrack for the audio book version of his 2006 NY Times Best Seller, The Looking Glass Wars. In 2007, the Warner Bros. Interactive game, FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage, used the band's song "They Don't Care" (another track from Below Sunset), which was also placed - that same year - as the theme song for the Versus network's Red, White, Black and Blue Summer promo trailer. In 2008, Hypnogaja frontman, ShyBoy, co-wrote and performed two songs ("The Time Has Come" and "Shall Never Surrender") featured in the Capcom video game, The Devil May Cry 4 (the latter track appearing as the game's end title and both songs appearing on the accompanying, official Sony Music soundtrack). In 2009, Tapulous featured the Hypnogaja song "Things Will Never Be The Same" (from the Truth Decay LP) in the iPhone and iPod touch game, Tap Tap Revenge 3.
Several technology companies have featured Hypnogaja's music in noteworthy articles and promotional materials, and have invited the band to participate in events. Apple computers posted an in-depth interview and story on the band's experience in using Macs in the realms of recording, touring and promotion. AOL Music's Noisecreep property featured an interview with Hypnogaja about the concept behind Truth Decay, and offered an exclusive, free download of the song, "Worship Me (I'm On TV)." Microsoft Windows featured free downloads of two songs from Truth Decay - "Rusty Moon" and "Cellar Door" - on promotions tied to its Windows 7 release, including a slot in the January 2010 Windows Media Guide.
Hypnogaja performed at the first annual 140tc (Twitter Conference), held in Los Angeles in September 2009. In consideration of the band's success in utilizing social networking to grow its fan base (Hypnogaja has reached over one million followers on the site), keyboardist Donikian was invited to serve as one of the speakers during the conference's music panel, which also included Chamillionaire, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears and several notable music industry executives. The band rounded out 2009 with a Best Alternative Artist win at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, performing "Welcome To The Future" at the November awards ceremony. In November 2010, Arnold won the Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Male Vocal for his performance of the Donna Summer classic hit, "On the Radio," (released in January 2010 by Union State Records as the bonus track on the Hypnogaja digital 45, Welcome to the Future / On the Radio).
Hypnogaja's current lineup of Arnold, Donikian, Barnardo (member since 2004), Farrar (member since 2008) and Parker (member since 2009) performed an official showcase at SXSW '10 in Austin, TX and the group continues to tour and perform webcasts consistently. In July 2010, the band appeared on the debut episode of the web series, Stripped Down Live with Curt Smith (of Tears for Fears). On February 15, 2011, Union State Records is scheduled to release a new Hypnogaja digital EP entitled Dark Star which will contain a remix of the song "Dark Star" (featuring Slimkid3 of The Pharcyde). Later in 2011, there are plans to release Arnold's debut solo album (under the name ShyBoy) as well as plans to start recording a new Hypnogaja studio album.
American Boy
Hypnogaja Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don't even care what the others say
The rebel coming through
For the devil in you
Got no patience for nothing
Filled bad attitude
Got a real fast car
I'm a type for destruction
And a hunger for disaster
Break the ice and break the mold
In the land of s** drugs and rock and roll
Break the ice and break the mold
Cause it's all s**, drugs and rock and roll
[American boy]
French fries and a coca cola
[American boy]
Levi's and a lot of soda
[American boy]
Elvis with a tv dinner
[American boy]
Everybody thinks you're a winner
Die young, leave a pretty face
You're on a pedestal
But your falling from grace
No order is to know
And the world is yours
From the very best jobs
To the girl next door
Junk food
Acting rude
Do whatever you please
Go and bring the whole world down on it's knees
Got to get and got to go
In the land of s** drugs and rock and roll
Yes, you got to get and got to go
Cause it's all s** drugs and rock and roll
[American boy]
French fries and a coca cola
[American boy]
James dean and Marilyn Monroe
[American boy]
Elvis with a tv dinner
[American boy]
Everybody thinks you're a winner
Everything comes easily
All designed to suit your needs
Live your life selfishly
You're so care free
Born free and stay that way
Don't even give a fuck what the others say
The rebel coming through for the devil in you
Got no patience for shit and filled with bad attitude
Got a real fast car and a bitch that's faster
I'm a type for destruction
And a hunger for disaster
Break the ice but fuck the mold
In the land of s** drugs and rock and roll
Break the ice but fuck the mold
Cause it's all s**, drugs and rock and roll
Break the ice but mother fuck the mold
Cause it's all s**, drugs and rock and roll
[American boy]
French fries and a coca cola
[American boy]
Levi's and a lot of soda
[American boy]
Elvis with a tv dinner
[American boy]
Everybody thinks you're a winner
The song "American Boy" by Hypnogaja is an anthem about the reckless, carefree and selfish lifestyle of American youth. The lyrics suggest that American youth are born free and stay that way and have no concern for the opinions and norms set by the society as they break the ice and mold in the land of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The songs portray the singer as a rebel who has a hunger for disaster and destruction, and who is proud of his fast car and his even faster girl. He lives his life selfishly, with a bad attitude, and "No order is to know, and the world is yours, from the very best jobs to the girl next door."
The chorus of the song "American boy" is repetitive, which makes it an easy song to remember, and the lyrics themselves paint a picture of the stereotypical American boy, who is associated with junk food, fast cars, and an obsession with pop culture icons such as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley. The song speaks to the idea that American youth believe that everything comes easily, and they live their lives with a sense of entitlement that society has designed to suit their needs. However, with such carefree and reckless behavior come risks, and the bridge of the song warns that "Die young, leave a pretty face, you're on a pedestal, but falling from grace."
Line by Line Meaning
Born free and stay that way
I was born free and I plan on staying that way.
Don't even care what the others say
I don't care about anyone's opinion, I'm going to do what I want anyway.
The rebel coming through
I'm a rebel and I'm going to do things my way.
For the devil in you
I'm doing this for the devil inside of me, the part of me that likes to be bad.
Got no patience for nothing
I have no patience for anything, especially not anything that gets in my way.
Filled bad attitude
I'm full of attitude, the bad kind of attitude.
Got a real fast car
I have a really fast car.
And a girl that's faster
And I have a girl who is even faster than my car.
I'm a type for destruction
I am the type of person who likes to destroy things.
And a hunger for disaster
I have a hunger for disaster, the thrill of destruction.
Break the ice and break the mold
I want to break free from the norm, to break the ice and the mold.
In the land of s** drugs and rock and roll
In the land of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Cause it's all s** drugs and rock and roll
Because that's all it is here, sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
[American boy]
French fries and a coca cola
As an American boy, I enjoy eating french fries and drinking Coca Cola.
[American boy]
Levi's and a lot of soda
I also wear Levi's jeans and drink a lot of soda.
[American boy]
Elvis with a tv dinner
I associate with Elvis and eat TV dinners, that's just what American boys do.
[American boy]
Everybody thinks you're a winner
Everyone sees me as a winner, I'm everything an American boy is supposed to be.
Die young, leave a pretty face
I want to die young and leave a pretty corpse behind.
You're on a pedestal
People put me on a pedestal, they see me as someone special.
But your falling from grace
But even though people see me that way, I feel like I'm falling from grace.
No order is to know
There is no order here, chaos rules the land.
And the world is yours
And yet, the world is mine for the taking.
From the very best jobs
To the girl next door
I can have anything I want, from the best jobs to the girl next door.
Junk food
Acting rude
I eat junk food and act rude, that's just who I am.
Do whatever you please
I do whatever I want, it doesn't matter to me what other people think.
Go and bring the whole world down on it's knees
I want to bring the world down to its knees, to show everyone that I am in charge.
Got to get and got to go
I have to get what I want and go, there's no time to waste.
Yes, you got to get and got to go
That's just the way it is here, you have to get what you want and go.
Everything comes easily
Everything comes easily to me, it's just my natural talent.
All designed to suit your needs
Everything is designed to suit my needs, everything revolves around me.
Live your life selfishly
I live my life selfishly and only think about myself.
You're so care free
I'm so carefree, I don't care about anything or anyone else.
Break the ice but fuck the mold
I want to break free from the norm, but not just that, I want to completely destroy it.
Cause it's all s** drugs and rock and roll
Because that's all it is here, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, and I love it.
[American boy]
James dean and Marilyn Monroe
As an American boy, I associate with James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.
Break the ice but mother fuck the mold
I want to break free from the norm and completely destroy it, I don't care how extreme it may be.
Contributed by Ellie M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.