Mike Felumlee, a native of Crystal Lake, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), is… Read Full Bio ↴Mike Felumlee, a native of Crystal Lake, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), is chiefly known as the former drummer for the influential rock band The Smoking Popes. He is known to a lesser extent for his stint of several years as drummer in the band Alkaline Trio and for his solo music. Felumlee was the drummer on all of the Popes albums prior to the live album At Metro, released in 2006 in conjunction with a long-awaited reunion of the band. Reportedly, Felumlee discussed with Popes frontman Josh Caterer rejoining the band for its reunion but declined, due to personal relations between himself and the Popes having become a little tense. After the Smoking Popes split in 1999, Felumlee joined Alkaline Trio. He was the drummer on the album "From Here To Infirmary". Fulumlee left Alkaline Trio in 2001 reportedly due to personal friction with Matt Skiba. Felumlee is still involved in the music scene and has released recordings of some of his own music to lukewarm critical reception. He released "64 hours" in late 2001 and recorded a split CD with Alkaline Trio bassist Dan Andriano in 2002. As a drummer, Felumlee was also a founding member of the band Duvall (which over the years has had a rotating cast of members, including notably several other former Smoking Popes members) but his participation in that band was fairly short-lived; he was replaced by the bearded and vaguely Viking-like drummer Rob Kellenberger (previously of the bands Slapstick and Tuesday) not long into the band's existence. Felumlee founded and ran for several years the small, independent record label Double Zero Records, originally conceived as a vehicle to release some then-unreleased Smoking Popes material after the band was dropped from its major label, Capitol, in 1998. The label operated for several years before being closed down. Felumlee graduated in 1993 from Crystal Lake Central High School where he was known to be an indifferent student and -- a fact he took significant pride in -- to be one of the heaviest smokers of the entire student body. Currently, Felumlee is the drummer of the band Squirtgun. Physically a thin individual, Felumlee is often sick due to his non-nutritious diet coupled with excessive consumption of soda and cigarettes.

Felumlee, his wife, former Aria model Meagan Tesch, and his son, Jack, currently live in Algonquin, IL

Devil In Me
Mike Felumlee Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

We've been divided and now we're reaching new lows,
Here and back again we've past the point where suffering goes
And on the inside everything's falling down
Am I the only one who thinks we might be living in hell
It all goes on except in your heart, it's always falling apart
And it seemed so clean, but the devil in me ust couldn't wait to be seen
Forever after the dream just crumbles and dies
On and on it seems there will never be an end to these lies

And it goes on, except in your heart, it's always falling apart

And it seemed so clean, but the devil in me just couldn't wait to be seen
And we put our lives into your hands, and it almost worked the way we planned

Overall Meaning

The song "Devil in Me" by Mike Felumlee talks about the division and suffering that exists in the world today. The lyrics convey the despair and agony of living in a world that has gone past the point of bearing any more pain. The singer expresses how everything seems to be falling apart on the inside, and no one seems to be doing anything about it. He wonders if he's the only one who thinks we might be living in hell. It appears that the world is continuing with its charades while the world inside is crumbling, and only the singer seems to acknowledge this.

The lyricist talks about the contradictions that exist in this world. One can see that all is good from the outside, but deep down, there are inner demons that people are struggling with. The devil in the singer waits to be seen, portraying the fact that people often put up a facade of being okay while deep down, they struggle with their inner demons. The dream of a perfect world settles and dies as the world seems to go on with lies and deception.

In conclusion, Devil in Me" is a song that illuminates the struggles that exist in the world today. The message is that one should address the evils that exist, no matter how deep down they exist. The devil in people is waiting to be seen so that one can deal with it and live a better life.

Line by Line Meaning

We've been divided and now we're reaching new lows,
Our relationship has been broken and we are now experiencing even worse situations than before.

Here and back again we've past the point where suffering goes
We have gone through trials and hardships before, but now we are beyond the limit of what we can bear.

And on the inside everything's falling down
Internally, everything is unraveling and collapsing beyond repair.

Am I the only one who thinks we might be living in hell
Does anyone else feel like we are in a hopeless, terrible situation that feels akin to hell?

It all goes on except in your heart, it's always falling apart
Despite the perception that things are moving forward, your emotions remain in a constant state of ruin.

And it seemed so clean, but the devil in me just couldn't wait to be seen
Although everything seemed perfect on the surface, there was a hidden malevolence within my character that couldn't wait to reveal itself.

Forever after the dream just crumbles and dies
After chasing our dreams relentlessly, they finally fall apart and fade away.

On and on it seems there will never be an end to these lies
It seems like the dishonesties and deceptions will continue endlessly without resolution.

And it goes on, except in your heart, it's always falling apart
Despite the perception that things are moving forward, your emotions remain in a constant state of ruin.

And we put our lives into your hands, and it almost worked the way we planned
We entrusted you with our lives and nearly achieved what we set out to do.

Contributed by Tyler I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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