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.
Wildfire
Marianas Trench Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Waiting for dawn it should be breaking soon
I know where you are
And I know where you've been
But I never thought we would be here again
Say that you're lost and need to find yourself
Can't do that with me, but with somebody else
You say you're still here
I say that's a nice way to say I'm alone
When did we both get so afraid to speak though
I thought we got each other's hearts
So I pushed you way through, hurting myself to live with it
I don't know how we could ever let this transpire
You know I thought this love would always burn like a wildfire
Like a wild fire, like a wildfire, like a wildfire, like a wildfire
So now you show up when you're alone again
But we haven't changed, but now you're interested
And maybe you're here because you wanna come home
But what if you're just afraid to be alone
I guess I don't know how
You'd want it back now
I thought you got yourself a way out
How do I prove it to myself you're ready now
God I want to
Now you want me
But what if your heart's a liar
'Cause if you change your mind again
I'll burn like a wild fire
Like a wild fire, like a wildfire, like a wildfire, like a wildfire
From wedding bells to private hells
To fresh new starts to wish you wells
From up in lights to up in smoke
We just can't let this go
Maybe this time it could work
If our need is dire
Maybe our future's so bright if fucking burns like a wild fire
Like a wild fire
Like a wildfire, like a wildfire, like a wildfire, like a wild fire
Like a wild fire, like a wildfire
The lyrics of the song "Wildfire" by Marianas Trench speak about a couple who went through a breakup and are now re-evaluating their relationship. The singer is in a tiny room waiting for the dawn to break, while he thinks about the current state of his relationship with his partner. He knows where she has been in the time they spent apart, but he never thought they would be here again. His partner tells him that she is lost and needs to find herself, but not with him, which he says is a nice way of saying that he is alone. The singer is confused about why they both got so afraid to speak to each other, and he thought they had each other's hearts. He acknowledges that he pushed her away and it hurt him to live with it.
Line by Line Meaning
Sitting alone in a tiny room
I'm alone and waiting for something to change
Waiting for dawn it should be breaking soon
I'm hoping for a new day, a fresh start
I know where you are
I know where you physically exist
And I know where you've been
I know about your past experiences
But I never thought we would be here again
I never expected to be in this situation with you again
Say that you're lost and need to find yourself
You claim to be lost and need to rediscover who you are
Can't do that with me, but with somebody else
You can't find yourself with me, you need to go on this journey alone or with someone else
You say you're still here
You claim to still be around me
But you found a new home
But you've found another place or person to belong to
I say that's a nice way to say I'm alone
I feel like you're just saying that to avoid admitting I'm alone
When did we both get so afraid to speak though
When did we start being scared to communicate with each other?
I thought we got each other's hearts
I thought we understood each other so well
So I pushed you way through, hurting myself to live with it
I pushed you away even though it hurt me, just to deal with the situation
I don't know how we could ever let this transpire
I don't understand how we got here, this situation shouldn't have happened
You know I thought this love would always burn like a wildfire
I believed our love was a passionate flame that would never go out
So now you show up when you're alone again
Now you come back to me when you're alone
But we haven't changed, but now you're interested
We're still the same, yet you're intrigued again
And maybe you're here because you wanna come home
Maybe you're here because you want to return to where we used to be
But what if you're just afraid to be alone
But maybe you're only here because you're scared of being alone
I guess I don't know how
I'm uncertain how to proceed
You'd want it back now
If you want to return to where we used to be
I thought you got yourself a way out
I thought you had already moved on
How do I prove it to myself you're ready now
How can I ensure that you're really prepared to come back?
God I want to
I really do want to believe it can work out
Now you want me
Now, you want to be with me again
But what if your heart's a liar
But what if you're not being completely honest with yourself?
'Cause if you change your mind again
Because if you change your mind once more
I'll burn like a wild fire
I'll hurt like a wildfire that's out of control
From wedding bells to private hells
From joy and commitment to personal torments
To fresh new starts to wish you wells
To trying to begin anew and wishing good things for you
From up in lights to up in smoke
From fame and fortune to a downfall
We just can't let this go
We can't seem to move past this situation
Maybe this time it could work
Perhaps this time things could turn out differently
If our need is dire
If we really need each other and can't live without one another
Maybe our future's so bright if fucking burns like a wild fire
Maybe our future is so bright and full of passion that it would spark like a wildfire
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Josh Ramsay
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@AlexanderStewart
love love love this
@LyokoGirl720
Did anyone else notice that fire was not rhymed with desire or higher?
@jeweliasifuentes6123
it's called an eye rhyme, looks but doesn't always sound like one.
@cynically1nsane60
Lol, the references are real 😆
@MG-zt8nq
Badum Tshhh
@abidawson6614
A++++ on dat comment
@midnightrose928
+Rebekkah-Of-Limonium its all in the way u say it
@kassandra5588
it's not a Marianas Trench song until Josh screams.
@angelitastevenson834
Agreed lol 😂
@hannahroy4546
yoooooo saw mariana's trench last night on the first night of their tour and they were AMAZING.
They played Wildfire for the very first time live, and it was amazing. Josh specifically said it was the first time they were ever going to play it live, because he hadn't been ready to perform until now. It was very touching and an amazing performance.