Lo-Pro’s climb has been steep but rewarding, and is reflected with brutal honesty in Revenge’s 14-song rollercoaster. While so many modern rock crews wallow in unearned misery, frontman Pete Murray bluntly and unapologetically retraces his band’s rocky road, from the infectious gallop of “Texas” (“Maybe I did it all because I wanted to”) to the jarring chugs of “Early Morning Anger” (“Was I so out of line to think you’d be there?”) Yet, the quintet is just as adept at conjuring mid-tempo thunderclaps (“A Life That’s Just Begun,” “Wasting Away”) that boast Murray-favorite U2’s sprawling emotional majesty. This is an angry record, but it’s just as confessional and introspective.
“It’s been a challenge,” Murray laughs of his band’s layoff. “That was definitely helped by picking up yoga. I went through a period when I was pissed off, and some of those songs are on the record—but lyrically, the songs track a journey. It goes from finger-pointing to a way more hopeful vibe.”
Little comes easy in the Lo-Pro universe, and that includes geography: guitarist Pete Ricci lives in Massachusetts, and the rest of the band—Murray’s longtime Ultraspank writing partner, guitarist Neil Godfrey, drummer Tommy Stewart (ex-Godsmack) and bassist Jerry Oliviera—are spread out through L.A., Santa Barbara and San Diego. Subtle changes in approach have made Revenge easily their most accomplished work, with principal writers Murray and Godfrey remaining tight through both lean and boom times.
“[The Aaron Lewis acoustic tour] opened up this whole new way of writing, where we started writing everything on acoustic guitar first and building from there,” Murray reveals. “We usually write the music first and I’ll do vocals. Now we strip out the music and I send back [Godfrey] songs with drums and vocals, and he rewrites around the vocals.”
“[Neil and I have] been writing music for almost 20 years now. We’ve known each other since we were little punks out in Isla Vista, CA. We were playing in rival bands for a while; we hated each other for a long time. Now we’ve been writing music together forever, and it’s great. We can criticize what we do and it isn’t a personal attack, which is a huge thing to overcome.”
From the sweeping electronic flourishes on the evocative mid-album segue “Say” to the layered spoken word breaks on the volcanic “Ingenious,” it’s obvious that Lo-Pro couldn’t have picked a better time to be so inspired.
Aaron Lewis of Staind says, “People in the business have come and gone. I’ve always believed in the music, and Lo Pro is the real deal. That’s why I’m still here.”
“The business is brutal,” Murray shrugs. “It’s chewed us up a couple times. We just want to play music—that’s all I’m in it for. From where we’re sitting, we’re in a great place.”
New album The Beautiful Sounds Of Revenge out June 8th, 2010.
Early Morning Anger
Lo-Pro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I could hear it in your voice
Just a second of your time is all I wanted
Just a second of your time is all I needed
Was I so out of line to think you'd be there?
Was I so out of my fucking mind to think you'd care?
Lately I've begun to feel like I'm unwanted
Early morning anger ruins my whole day
And I'm wasting so much time dwelling on it
But I can't seem to find a reason for it
Was I so out of line to think you'd be there?
Was I so out of my fucking mind to think you'd care?
Lately I've begun to feel like I'm unwanted
And lately all the things I've done have gone unnoticed
When you hung up the phone this morning
You didn't hear me say goodbye
Lately I've begun to feel like I'm unwanted
And lately all the things I've done have gone unnoticed
The lyrics of Lo-Pro's "Early Morning Anger" deal with the feeling of being unwanted and unnoticed, particularly in relationships. The singer expresses frustration with the lack of attention and care from the person they're addressing on the phone, which causes them to feel isolated and angry. In the first verse, the singer laments the fact that they couldn't even get a second of attention from the other person, despite their need for it. They question whether they were foolish to expect care and concern from this person.
The chorus reiterates the singer's sense of helplessness and frustration. They can't seem to shake off the negative emotions, even though they know it's not productive to dwell on them for too long. They express a sense of confusion, not understanding why they feel the way they do, but still feeling powerless to stop it. The second verse adds to this feeling of not being seen or heard by the people around them. The singer has done things that they believe should have been noticed and appreciated, but they haven't received any acknowledgement for them.
The final lines of the song reveal that the singer has been talking to someone who didn't even say goodbye before hanging up. This adds to their sense of being ignored and unimportant. The song captures the feeling of being stuck in a negative cycle of emotions, unable to break free from them despite knowing that they're not healthy.
Line by Line Meaning
When I hung up the phone this morning
At the start of the day, after talking to someone over the phone,
I could hear it in your voice
The tone of the conversation revealed the other person's feelings
Just a second of your time is all I wanted
I only needed a moment of connection with you
Just a second of your time is all I needed
A brief moment of your attention would have made a difference for me
Was I so out of line to think you'd be there?
Did I make a mistake in assuming you would be available?
Was I so out of my fucking mind to think you'd care?
Was I completely deluded to believe that you would be concerned?
Lately I've begun to feel like I'm unwanted
Recently, I've been experiencing a sense of being unvalued by others
And lately all the things I've done have gone unnoticed
Recently, I feel that no one is paying attention to what I'm doing
Early morning anger ruins my whole day
Starting the day with negative emotions can negatively affect the rest of the day
And I'm wasting so much time dwelling on it
I'm spending a lot of time and energy focusing on these negative emotions
But I can't seem to find a reason for it
I can't identify a specific cause or explanation for these feelings
When you hung up the phone this morning
At the same time in the morning, after the other person ended the conversation,
You didn't hear me say goodbye
I wasn't given the chance to properly end our interaction
Lately I've begun to feel like I'm unwanted
A repetition of the earlier feeling of being unvalued by others
And lately all the things I've done have gone unnoticed
A repetition of the earlier experience of feeling ignored or unappreciated
Contributed by Lincoln V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Mighty1
Best song in the album. "When you hung up the phone this morning, you didn't hear me say goodbye!".
Kamikaze Krunch
Pete Murray's Melodic screams are very hypnotizing.
Bryan Lenihan
Totally agree but are we gonna talk about Neil's solo that man is such an underrated guitarist
DarkestofTimes
Guy can hold a note ridiculously well even whilst screaming at like D5. Crazy good voice.
Eric Normandin
These guys are INCREDIBLY INSANE! !!!!WOWSERS.
Theo Alonso14
\m/ !!! Why 939 views???