The band released their second studio album on February 24, 2009 entitled Masterpiece Theatre.
It takes some real cojones to include the word 'Masterpiece' in your album title, but Josh Ramsay isn't too worried. "I suppose I could be digging myself into a hole calling the record Masterpiece Theatre," he chuckles, "but it's tongue-in-cheek. And I'm not the kind of person that people would assume as being an egomaniac. I hope not, anyway."
Given his feverish imagination and comprehensive musical gifts, Ramsay could probably get away with a little egomania. And with the release of Masterpiece Theatre, the frontman of Vancouver's Marianas Trench makes a iron-clad case for a prodigious set of talents - both his own and those of his bandmates, guitarist Matt Webb, bassist Mike Ayley, and drummer Ian Casselman.
Marianas Trench had already elevated itself above the rest of the pack with a 2006 debut, Fix Me, that showcased a knack for colouring outside the lines of factory-issue millenial punk, shrewdly-built pop, and super-adrenalized modern rock. The single and in particular the video "Shake Tramp" was enough to demonstrate these qualities, coupled with Ramsay's uninhibited urge to be the complete song-and-dance man.
But with both the industry and the fans beating down the door for a quick second album, the Trench decided to put on the brakes. "All of a sudden you have six months to do your next record," Ramsay sighs. "So I really had to just put my foot down and say, 'No, I need the time to do this.' I was not interested in putting something out for the sake of putting something out."
Two years later, Marianas Trench has re-emerged with Masterpiece Theatre. And not surprisingly, it's a work of soaring ambition and decisive technical prowess – that easily might not have happened. "It's one thing when you're Chad Kroeger and you just finished writing 'How You Remind Me'," Ramsay states. "I didn't have some mega-platinum song to back up my argument with, so I was lucky that the band and the label trusted me enough to do it."
By "it", Ramsay means he was allowed to indulge a high-concept fantasy for the band's sophomore album, which is built, for starters, around a song called "Masterpiece Theatre". Adopting Brian Wilson's notion of the 'pocket symphony' and then running with it, the three distinct versions of “Masterpiece Theatre” dotted across the record feature an almost perfect balance between the vocal theatrics of Queen and the more hymnal qualities of the Beach Boys.
By the time “Masterpiece Theatre” is reprised for a final, climactic time, every other song on the album is quoted and incorporated into an intricately constructed dramatic revue that swings from pristine pop, to propulsive riff rock, to quasi-doo wop, to robotic new wave, and finally into a wholly satisfying thematic payoff.
"You know in the climax of a musical, there's always that medley at the end, and I thought that would be cool on a rock record," explains Ramsay, "but it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. I wrote it in the studio as we recorded it, and it took about three weeks."
After a beat, he adds, "But really it took me two years because it draws from all the songs on the whole album."
Bassist Mike Ayley readily admits, "I don't think any of the three ‘Masterpiece Theatre’ songs could have gone on Fix Me had they been written at the time. ‘Masterpiece’ 2 and 3 in particular are amazing songs that really explore the potential of Josh's writing. You really have to hear them to get it. It's like trying to explain ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ to somebody who has only heard Kanye West and Katy Perry."
Ramsay agrees. "I really wanted to have a 'Good Vibrations'/'Bohemian Rhapsody’ style song on the first record,” he says, “but I don't think I was a mature enough writer to have written it yet, and I still feel like I was in over-my-head when we did this one, and I just barely made it."
Ramsay is unnecessarily modest; the whole of Masterpiece Theatre demonstrates a startling compositional maturity compared to the Marianas Trench of two years ago.
"Beside You" is a panoramic exercise in big emotions, with a dash of the Dream Academy's "Life In a Northern Town”. "Acadia" begins with a clipped, bright acoustic guitar, and blossoms into something like the Who reconsidered by U2, reimagined for the net generation. In the crunchy "All to Myself", the power ballad "Lover Dearest", and the strident "Good to You" (in which he duets with Kate Voegele), Ramsay pulls out the kind of honeyed vocals more attuned to modern RnB than white, adolescent rock.
"I always had that aspect in my voice but the first record just didn't have songs that were conducive to me singing that way," he states. "I think it's from growing up listening to a lot of Michael Jackson. With these songs, it made sense to stretch out a little more."
On "Cross My Heart" and "Celebrity Status", the band conjures up a kind of perfect pop crossover. Producer Dave 'Rave' Ogilvie was responsible for the latter track, which cops a move he used on Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People" with three drummers (Casselman, Ramsay and Shane Wilson) playing at once - much to Ramsay's delight. "He's just worked with so many great artists which makes his well of tricks and ideas so vast," he says.
True to Ramsay's quest for "more diversity on this album" - not to mention the indulgence of his record label - Rave was just one of four prominent guest producers eventually roped into Masterpiece Theatre. Their collective resume includes Nine Inch Nails, Sum 41, Iggy Pop, Avril Lavigne, and Hedley among others.
"I feel really fortunate to have worked with all those guys," Ramsay says, "coz they all bring really unique things. Dave Genn and I have a really good working relationship with each other, and he has such a unique style with arrangement and stuff. Greig Nori was a really pleasant surprise. As far as I can tell, he wanted to work with us because he liked our video. The whole time he was just trying to get me to dance around like an idiot. And Raine Maida, man? Raine's a trip!"
Bassist Ayley also credits Maida for encouraging the band to “find a personality-identity that wasn't as evident when we started the production process," while also praising Ramsay for his production efforts. Ramsay took charge of four songs on the finished record. “Josh is really about capturing the emotion and power which isn't surprising considering all the feeling in the writing,” he says.
Oddly enough, Ramsay also wanted Disney's in-house genius Alan (Little Mermaid) Mencken to twiddle the knobs for the climactic version of "Masterpiece Theatre", but admits, "it's a pretty tall order to get an Academy Award winner to come and work on your record."
Still, the album is certainly not diminished by the few things Ramsay didn't get. And once the world gets a load of this Masterpiece, Mencken, Pharrell Williams, Phil Spector... you name it. They'll probably be lining up.
Perfect
Marianas Trench Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can see you open up to breathe.
Fast words make it easier on me,
Make a point to never disappoint you,
Somebodies got to tell me what to do.
Just wish you would've seen me
When it used to come so easy.
I like to say it's easy to stay
Cause I'm barely here at all.
Slow down now, the secrets out.
And I swear now everything is perfect.
What you want, what you need has been killing me.
Try to be everything that you want me to be.
I say yes, I'll undress, I'll do more for less.
Now I'll change everything until it's perfect again.
Coming down, coming around,
Giving a frown to the sound when I hit ground.
I hate the way that I say I should say
When I know that I don't give a fuck about it anyway.
Shake hands, and shoot smiles all around,
As I sell my body by the pounds.
Sign my name on the dotted line,
It would be fate, to not recessitate.
Slow down now, the secrets out.
And I swear now I'll still make this perfect.
What you want, what you need has been killing me.
Try to be everything that you want me to be.
I say yes, I'll undress, I'll do more for less.
Now I'll change everything till it's perfect again.
I think it's better this way,
This is good in a better way.
It's better this way.
I'll make this perfect again.
I'll make this perfect again.
What you want, what you need has been killing me.
And I will change everything you want me to be.
I say yes, I'll undress, I'll do more for less.
Now I'll change everything, woah yeah.
What you want, what you need has been killing me.
Try to be everything that you want me to be.
I say yes, I'll undress, I'll do more for less.
Now I'll change everything, I'll make this perfect again.
The song "Perfect" by Marianas Trench is an emotional plea from the singer to their partner. The opening lines "Please sing to me, I can see you open up to breathe. Fast words make it easier on me," depict a struggle to communicate effectively. The singer wishes for their partner to actively engage in the relationship and help guide them.
The chorus repeats the phrase "What you want, what you need has been killing me. Try to be everything that you want me to be." The singer expresses a willingness to change themselves and fulfill every desire of their partner. The second verse goes on to reveal a sense of self-loathing and fakeness in the singer's actions, as they sell their own body by the pounds and sign away their identity.
The chorus repeats once more but this time the singer declares that they will make things perfect again, acknowledging their efforts to please their partner while also recognizing that they have lost a part of themselves in the process.
Line by Line Meaning
Please sing to me,
The singer is asking someone to sing to them.
I can see you open up to breathe.
The singer can see the person taking deep breaths before singing.
Fast words make it easier on me,
The person singing quickly makes it easier for the singer to deal it.
Make a point to never disappoint you,
The artist always tries to avoid disappointing the person (maybe someone they love).
Somebodies got to tell me what to do.
The artist needs some guidance on what to do next.
Just wish you would've seen me
The singer wishes the person they're singing to could have seen them in a better place.
When it used to come so easy.
When things in life used to be so much easier for the singer.
I like to say it's easy to stay
The artist wants to believe it's easy for them to stay in a relationship, but...
But it's not for me,
...it actually isn't that easy for them.
Cause I'm barely here at all.
The artist feels like they're not really present or committed to the relationship.
Slow down now, the secrets out.
The pace of the relationship is slowing down, and secrets are out in the open.
And I swear now everything is perfect.
The artist is promising that everything is now perfect (even though it's not).
What you want, what you need has been killing me.
The singer is struggling to fulfill the other person's needs and wants.
Try to be everything that you want me to be.
The singer is trying very hard to be exactly what the other person wants them to be.
I say yes, I'll undress, I'll do more for less.
The singer is willing to do anything to keep the other person happy, even if it means giving too much.
Now I'll change everything until it's perfect again.
The artist is willing to change everything in their life to make it perfect for the other person, even if it's not what they actually want.
Coming down, coming around,
The artist is feeling low and like everything is falling apart.
Giving a frown to the sound when I hit ground.
The singer is unhappy with the way things are going.
I hate the way that I say I should say
The singer hates when they try to say the right thing and it just comes out wrong.
When I know that I don't give a fuck about it anyway.
The artist knows they don't actually care that much, but they still feel like they need to say something.
Shake hands, and shoot smiles all around,
The artist is pretending everything is okay.
As I sell my body by the pounds.
The artist is losing pieces of themselves trying to make this relationship work.
Sign my name on the dotted line,
The singer is making a commitment, maybe to the other person in the relationship.
It would be fate, to not recessitate.
It would almost be like fate if the relationship were to die (and no one revived it).
I think it's better this way,
The singer believes that this (the relationship?) is better now that they're changing things.
This is good in a better way.
And that while it may be different, it's still good.
And I will change everything you want me to be.
The singer is reemphasizing that they'll change anything to make the other person happy.
Now I'll change everything, woah yeah.
They're ready and willing to make those changes now.
I'll make this perfect again.
The artist believes that by changing and molding themselves, they can make the relationship perfect again.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind