2012 has started at the same amazing pace as 2011 for Scala & Kolacny Brothers, with a tour of Northern Spain, dates in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Ireland, an upcoming trip to Korea as well as TV appearances at ITV's Dancing On Ice (UK) and at the famous San Remo Festival... But 2011 was the breakout year for Scala & Kolacny Brothers as they conquered the United States and Canada with a major tour, in support of their first North American CD release, including headlining stages at SXSW and Coachella. This success was immediately followed by a first record release in the U.K., a sold out show at London's Union Chapel in June and a triumphant “special guest” performance at the Latitude Festival, where they played the prestigious Sunday noon slot. In June the group headlined at the Heineken Dia De La Musica in Madrid, in November the album ‘Scala & Kolacny Brothers’ was released in Italy, where it immediately hit the top 10 (!) and in December the group returned to 4 sold out shows in Berlin, as well as a Radio Eins very special-alternative-Christmas-songs special. 2011 has brought Scala & Kolacny Brothers the status of international phenomenon and it all seemed to start with a simple email.
When the email arrived in May 2010, the Kolacny brothers thought it was some kind of joke. “Yeah”, the brothers thought, “right.” But the request was genuine. And the film turned out to be The Social Network. It transpired that the director, David Fincher, is a huge fan.
The song in question is a hauntingly beautiful acoustic reworking of Radiohead¹s Creep. In July 2010, two months after the brothers received the email, the Social Network trailer was released. The powerful music was center stage, heightening a growing sense of unease like a chorus of fallen angels.
Like the film itself, the trailer has been a huge global hit more than 250m people have seen in the Cinema, on TV or online. Thanks in part to the subsequent buzz on social media, traffic to the brothers’ website went through the roof: their interpretation of Creep is an internet phenomenon, watched in various forms well over 25m times.
A record-label bidding war erupted in America but the brothers chose to sign with Atco, a subsidiary of Warner, with whom they had been negotiating. They released an eponymous album in in the US in March in the US and in the UK and most of the rest of Europe - 6 June 2011 (on Wall Of Sound). Italy followed in November of this year and the album was re-released in December in the UK, with two additional titles. In 2011 Scala & Kolacny Brothers also released 2 acclaimed video clips, for their versions of Use Somebody (directed by Inti Calfat) and Everlong (directed by Mark Woollen, who also directed the The Social Network trailer).
In September Scala & Kolacny Brother’s version of U2’s With Or Without You, was featured in the trailer for Season 2 of the British hit drama series Downton Abbey (broadcast in the USA on PBS where Scala & Kolacny Brothers also have their new special ‘Live From Bruges’ airing from December). And in December Scala’s version of Last Christmas was used in the trailer for the Downton Abbey Christmas special, while the group performed at Downton Abbey’s VIP Christmas special launch party in London.
But even with numerous TV shows (including 'the Simpsons'!) using Scala & Kolacny Brother’s music in 2011, it was the Social Network trailer which shone a spotlight on the unique musical project that is Scala & Kolacny Brothers an indie-rock choir, comprising of the two Kolacny brothers, Steven and Stijn, and Scala, their all-girl choir. Steven plays the piano, Stijn conducts the choir. The brothers usually work with 20-30 singers, aged 16-26, at a time, but these days have more than 200 girls on their books, ensuring plenty of cover for their increasingly busy schedule.
Scala & Kolacny Brothers take rock and indie songs and reinvent them as elegiac hymns to breathtaking effect with the piano often the sole accompaniment to the voices. On occasion they also use drum machines, sequencers and synthesizers, and also often perform with a full rock band.
The new album includes versions of Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana), Champagne Supernova (Oasis), With or Without You (U2), Use Somebody (Kings of Leon), Everlong (Foo Fighters) and more. Creep also features, as do three original compositions Seashell, Masquerade and Our Last Fight.
Rock and indie music works best because “the beating heart of the songs is often very black and very emotional, and the female voices of the choir add a certain melancholic touch”, says Stijn. “Sometimes they bring out whole new dimensions in the songs our version of Nothing Else Matters could be
classical music; its sound is nothing to do with Metallica anymore.” Other influences range from Sigur Ros to Nirvana and include the dark electro-pop of Goldfrapp and Depeche Mode, and the brooding mini-symphonies of Massive Attack.
Dream On
Scala & Kolacny Brothers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As your bony fingers close around me
Long and spindly
Death becomes me
Heaven can you see what I see
Hey you pale and sickly child
Been walking home a crooked mile
Paying debt to karma
You party for a living
What you take won't kill you
But careful what you're giving
There's no time for hesitating
Pain is ready, pain is waiting
Primed to do it's educating
Unwanted, uninvited kin
It creeps beneath your crawling skin
It lives without it lives within you
Feel the fever coming
You're shaking and twitching
You can scratch all over
But that won't stop you itching
can you feel little love
dream on dream on
Blame it on your karmic curse
Oh shame upon the universe
It knows its lines
It's well rehearsed
It sucked you in, it dragged you down
To where there is no hallowed ground
Where holiness is never found
Paying debt to karma
You party for a living
What you take won't kill you
But careful what you're giving
can you feel a little love
dream on dream on
In the song "Dream On" by Scala & Kolacny Brothers, the lyrics are filled with a sense of darkness and impending doom. The opening line, "Can you feel a little love?" seems almost out of place in this song that is filled with talk of death, suffering, and karma. The singer describes a world where death is never far off and where pain and suffering are always waiting in the wings. He warns against the dangers of partying for a living, alluding to the idea that what you take won't kill you, but what you give might.
The song's central theme seems to be about the idea of karma and how the universe can suck you in and drag you down. The idea is that everything you do comes back to you, good or bad, and that you're responsible for your own fate. The singer seems to be warning against making the wrong choices in life and living recklessly, as it can have dire consequences. The repeated hook of "dream on" seems to be a plea for hope and a better future, even in the face of all this darkness.
Overall, the lyrics of "Dream On" are a bleak meditation on the human condition and the idea that sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can't escape our fate.
Line by Line Meaning
Can you feel a little love?
Asking if there is any love felt
As your bony fingers close around me
Describing a feeling of being trapped
Long and spindly
Describing the fingers as thin and delicate
Death becomes me
Feeling like death is imminent
Heaven can you see what I see
Asking if others can see what is being seen
Hey you pale and sickly child
Addressing an individual in a negative manner
You're death and living reconciled
Acknowledging a person's connection to both death and life
Been walking home a crooked mile
Expressing a difficult and uncertain journey
Paying debt to karma
Suggesting that actions have consequences
You party for a living
Implying that one's lifestyle is focused on enjoyment rather than responsibility
What you take won't kill you
Emphasizing that certain actions have minimal immediate consequences
But careful what you're giving
Stressing the importance of considering how actions affect others
There's no time for hesitating
Urging action rather than indecision
Pain is ready, pain is waiting
Highlighting the inevitability of suffering
Primed to do its educating
Asserting that pain has a purpose in teaching important lessons
Unwanted, uninvited kin
Referring to a negative force as familiar
It creeps beneath your crawling skin
Describing an uncomfortable sensation
It lives without it lives within you
Indicating that negative forces can exist both externally and internally
Feel the fever coming
Sensing an impending negative event
You're shaking and twitching
Physical symptoms of fear or anticipation
You can scratch all over
Attempting to relieve discomfort
But that won't stop you itching
Implying that the solution is not as simple as it seems
Blame it on your karmic curse
Suggesting that negative events may be due to past actions
Oh shame upon the universe
Expressing disappointment toward the world
It knows its lines
Implying that the universe is predictable and consistent
It's well rehearsed
Further emphasizing the idea that the universe operates predictably
It sucked you in, it dragged you down
Describing feeling trapped and pulled down by outside forces
To where there is no hallowed ground
No place is safe from these types of negative forces
Where holiness is never found
Implying that there is no respite from negativity
can you feel a little love
Repeating the opening question
dream on dream on
Encouraging optimism and wishful thinking
Contributed by Charlotte F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.