For generations of great American songwriters, the music and the message have been inextricably linked. Word and deed are one in the same, and the only thing more moving than the rousing call to action is the evocative melody that transports the words like a shell casing. These are fire-breathing poets of justice who sing about ordinary people in extraordinary ways, and can turn the world inside out with three chords and the truth. These are the tenets by which STATE RADIO’s Chad Stokes Urmston, Chuck Fay, and Mike “Mad Dog” Najarian are driven, and they once again flex that strength and sense of purpose on their third album, LET IT GO. But this is no soapbox symposium.
“It’s the only way I know how to do it,” says singer/guitarist Stokes about the band’s impassioned social consciousness. “It’s the only way State Radio has done it. This has always been an organic, grassroots thing. It’s about trying to be true to what we do.”
Like Rage Against The Machine and System Of A Down before them, State Radio roll up their sleeves as they practice what they preach, whether it’s riding bikes to gigs to support Bikes Not Bombs, hosting food drives in conjunction with Rock For A Remedy, or playing shows to raise money for the Learning Center for the Deaf. How’s Your News?, a film project created by Stokes while working at a camp for adults with disabilities, where the campers are the reporters, was just a way for Stokes and company to flip the standard interview format on its head with a different viewpoint before it was picked up by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for a run on HBO and MTV.
Action is hardly a new concept for all the members of State Radio. Before the band, Mad Dog volunteered as mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters, while Fay was and continues to be a powerful voice for Instant Runoff Voting and comprehensive election reform across the country. On tour, State Radio has joined with Amnesty International to expose the injustices and improprieties of the legal system by protesting the death penalty for Georgia’s Troy Davis. They’ve worked to minimize wildfire danger by removing invasive plants from areas in California, and have partnered with Oxfam America to organize home run derbies and 5K road races to raise money and awareness to help protect women against violence in Sudan. Most bands have touring schedules. State Radio have an Action Calendar.
During their sold out, 25-city tour this past February, the band performed service projects in every town they visited, from serving lunch at a homeless shelter in Houston to building a community garden at an inner city elementary school in Washington, D.C. Calling All Crows (callingallcrows.org), the group’s platform for social action started by Stokes and State Radio tour manager Sybil Gallagher, is committed to continuing the group’s socio-political dialogue once the music ends and the lights come up. In less than a year, State Radio and their fans have amassed over 1,800 hours of community service through projects that have local, national, and global impact.
“There are times when there’s a service project every morning at 9am—and we’d had a late night the night before—where it’s like, ‘Are we a service group that plays music, or are we a band that does service projects?’” Stokes laughs. “There’s a balance between the two things because they feed each other. I want to experience the stuff I’m writing about.”
That same mindset held true for Stokes’ previous band, the roots rock outfit Dispatch, who formed while Stokes was a student at Middlebury College in Vermont. Though the group disbanded in 2002, they’ve reunited three times, the most notable being a three-night, sold out run at Madison Square Garden in 2007 to raise funds and awareness for poverty-stricken Zimbabwe. It marked the first time in history an unsigned band had headlined the Garden, let alone sold it out.
“It was a progression,” says Stokes’ of the shift from Dispatch to State Radio, who formed in 2002. “I think had Dispatch stayed together, all these State Radio songs would have been Dispatch songs.”
State Radio’s first album, Us Against The Crown, introduced listeners to the band’s raw, pop-punk sound. Tracks like “Mr. Larkin” and “Black Cab Motorcade” had all the boundless energy of a vigorous protest, while “Right Me Up,” a personal account of a friend with a disability, showcased Stokes’ reggae harmonies.
Their second album, Year Of The Crow, was recorded in the UK and produced by Tchad Blake (Peter Gabriel, Pearl Jam, Soul Coughing). Featuring songs like “Sudan,” “Guantanamo,” and “Gang Of Thieves,” the album pushed the group’s socio-political motivations even further into the forefront. It also broadened their sonic palette with bigger guitars (“CIA”) and more diverse instrumentation (“The Story Of Benjamin Darling, Part 1”). But the bridge between both records has always been Stokes’ transcendental storytelling, which continues to mature and evolve on Let It Go.
The album kicks off with “Mansin Humanity,” a gripping song about the Armenian genocide, then slides into “Calling All Crows,” a one-drop groove that calls the band’s legion of fans to attention as Stokes beckons, “It’s gonna be a showdown, said the rebel to the revolutionary, come with me!” Elsewhere, State Radio invoke the spirit of the Clash on “Doctor Ron The Actor” and “Knights Of Bostonia,” a raise-yer-pints anthem to the band’s hometown. (After all, Stokes did meet Mad Dog while he was drumming on a bucket outside of the home of the Red Sox Fenway Park.) Another track, “Held Up By The Wires,” mixes classic Boston references and Civil War tales with nods to Jack London’s “The Road,” sailing pioneer Irving Johnson, and Stokes’ own time spent in Zimbabwe. The track has been in the band’s repertoire since the early days, but it wasn’t until now that it found it’s way onto an album, a fact Stokes attributes to the way in which Let It Go was recorded.
While touring Year Of The Crow, State Radio enlisted Tchad Blake’s assistant, Dom Monks, as their front-of-house engineer; a critical position for a band with such a large live audience. When it came time to seek out producers for Let It Go, Monks threw his hat in the ring. He also suggested that the band record the songs in the same manner as they were performed: live off the floor, with all the instruments buzzing and howling at once.
“He has a great ear and he’s worked with the best guy,” says Stokes of his producer and friend. “He knew all our songs and he did an amazing job.”
Two-thirds of the album were recorded at Q-Division in Boston, while the remaining parts were tracked at the famous Long View Farm Studio, the preferred practice space of the Rolling Stones before all their US tours, and a location that houses just as much livestock as it does vintage pre-amps. The rustic setting provided the perfect atmosphere with which to coalesce the band’s trademark live energy, while recording straight to tape with limited tracks allowed them to be more succinct with the musical message they wanted to convey.
“We’ll take the long way around, we gather on the wall on the wrong side of town. We’ll surprise them all,” sings Stokes on “Evolution.” After years of social action and political awareness—not to mention playing in front of thousands upon thousands of fans with very little support by the mainstream—the 33-year-old Stokes knows a thing or two about how to serve up lighting in a bottle. Sometimes quiet persistence is the best way. Like when he and 15 other peers spent 28 days walking a headstone 433 miles from Sherborn, Massachusetts to Arlington National Cemetery to honor unknown civilians killed in war. (Alas, they were stopped at the bridge and not allowed to enter.) But after you’ve done the backstroke in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and shaken hands with the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, what do you do next?
“I think the dream would be to jump freights to each city,” says Stokes of their upcoming tour to support Let It Go. “Going out to the Democratic National Convention last year, my brother and I jumped freights from Massachusetts to Denver, then from Denver to California, opening up for Rage in the middle there.”
And have someone drive the gear?
“Or just get back line everywhere we go,” Stokes smiles, “and hit the rails that night.”
State Radio’s Let It Go is out September 29, 2009.
Wicker Plane
State Radio Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That crashed down just the other day.
The pilot had lost his way, got disoriented
And crash landed in the middle of the city.
He'd never seen buildings so tall
And wondered why they even didn't ever think to lean over and fall,
And wondered how he'd manage to navigate through them all like he did.
As if to peer down on the broken scene.
As if to question the innocent invasion of the stranger
Brought down in the hurricane.
He said wherever I am Lord,
Please you must explain,
Just hours ago I took off in my wicker plane.
Night fell and with it came the rain.
Down on the buildings, the pilot the plane.
Rain ran down his hair, hangin' so low
Makin' circles in the puddles where the drops would go.
A little boy came along,
Took him to a tree on top a gentle slope
Said this tree is a misfit like you and me.
On rainy nights like this the bark come off like rope.
They bundled up the bark, each took a load.
Took it to the high rise where the little one lived.
Tossed it down the park with a mighty throw
And watched it unroll to the ground round.
The pilot ran down, tied the bark to the prop
And then promptly left the park to go back to the top.
There they hauled the plane clear up to the roof,
The boy said the place you come from that's where I'll be from too.
Where ever I am Lord,
Please you must explain.
Just hours ago I was taking off in my wicker plane (wicker plane)
Now you're in a lovely garden,
It's such a lovely garden.
Now you're in a lovely garden,
It's such a lovely garden.
Now you're in a lovely garden,
It's such a lovely garden.
Wherever I am Lord, I know where I am Lord.
Wherever I am Lord, I know where I am Lord.
Where ever I am Lord, please you must explain.
Just hours ago I was taking off in my wicker (wicker) wicker (wicker) plane
Just hours ago I was taking off in my wicker (wicker) wicker (wicker) plane
State Radio's "Wicker Plane" tells the story of a pilot who crashes his wicker plane in the middle of the city. The pilot, who has never seen tall buildings before, is disoriented by the cityscape and wonders how he will navigate through it. As he sits in the wreckage, the buildings seem to lean over him, as if questioning his presence there.
The song then shifts to focus on a little boy who comes to the pilot's rescue. The boy takes the pilot to a tree on the top of a hill and gives him some of its bark to tie to the prop of his plane. Together, they haul the plane up to the roof of a high-rise building. The boy tells the pilot that he is a misfit like him and that wherever the pilot is from, that's where he wants to be from too.
The final line of the song, "now you're in a lovely garden," suggests that the pilot has found a new home in the city, surrounded by greenery and beauty. The song is a metaphor for the idea of finding community and connection in unexpected places, even in the midst of chaos and unfamiliarity.
Line by Line Meaning
In the park there's a wicker made plane
There exists a plane made of wicker in the park.
That crashed down just the other day.
The wicker plane recently experienced a crash landing.
The pilot had lost his way, got disoriented
The pilot became lost and confused while flying the wicker plane.
And crash landed in the middle of the city.
The pilot ultimately was forced to make an emergency landing in a densely populated area.
He'd never seen buildings so tall
The pilot was unfamiliar with large, tall buildings like those in the city.
And wondered why they even didn't ever think to lean over and fall,
The pilot questioned why the tall buildings didn't fall over despite appearing unstable.
And wondered how he'd manage to navigate through them all like he did.
The pilot was surprised he was able to successfully navigate through the city despite his doubts.
But oh how they seemed to lean over him now,
The buildings, which had appeared stable before, now seemed to shift and loom ominously over the pilot.
As if to peer down on the broken scene.
The buildings appeared to scrutinize and judge the wreckage of the plane and the pilot's predicament.
As if to question the innocent invasion of the stranger
The tall buildings appeared to question the pilot's sudden appearance and unexpected landing in their vicinity.
Brought down in the hurricane.
The pilot was brought down by a powerful hurricane.
He said wherever I am Lord,
The pilot cried out, asking for guidance and help from a higher power.
Please you must explain,
He implored this higher power to provide an explanation or answers for his current state.
Just hours ago I took off in my wicker plane.
The pilot reflected on the short amount of time that had passed since he had taken off in his wicker plane, contrasting it with his current disastrous situation.
Night fell and with it came the rain.
As night fell, it started to rain in the city.
Down on the buildings, the pilot the plane.
The rain fell down onto the buildings, the pilot, and the crashed plane.
Rain ran down his hair, hangin' so low
Raindrops ran down the pilot's hair, which was hanging low.
Makin' circles in the puddles where the drops would go.
Raindrops created circular ripples as they fell into puddles on the ground.
A little boy came along,
A child unexpectedly appeared in the area.
Took him to a tree on top a gentle slope
The child led the pilot to a tree at the top of a hill.
Said this tree is a misfit like you and me.
The child expressed kinship with the pilot and identified the tree as being similar to them.
On rainy nights like this the bark come off like rope.
The child noted that the bark on this particular tree would come off when it rained, resembling rope.
They bundled up the bark, each took a load.
The pilot and the child collected pieces of bark and each carried a load of it.
Took it to the high rise where the little one lived.
They brought the bark to the child's residence in a high-rise building.
Tossed it down the park with a mighty throw
They threw the bark down into the park using a lot of strength and effort.
And watched it unroll to the ground round.
They observed as the bark unraveled and unfurled onto the ground in a circular shape.
The pilot ran down, tied the bark to the prop
The pilot secured the bark onto the plane's propeller.
And then promptly left the park to go back to the top.
The pilot quickly departed the park and returned to the hilltop where they started.
There they hauled the plane clear up to the roof,
Together, the child and the pilot were able to pull the plane up to the rooftop of the building where they had collected the bark.
The boy said the place you come from that's where I'll be from too.
The child expressed a desire to go wherever the pilot came from.
Where ever I am Lord,
The pilot continued to call out for guidance from a higher power.
Please you must explain.
He insisted that this higher power provide explanations or meaning for his situation.
Now you're in a lovely garden,
The pilot finds himself in a beautiful, peaceful garden.
It's such a lovely garden.
The pilot appreciates and marvels at the garden's beauty.
Wherever I am Lord, I know where I am Lord.
The pilot expresses confidence that he knows where he currently is, despite his earlier confusion and disorientation.
Where ever I am Lord, please you must explain.
Despite having a better understanding of his surroundings, the pilot still seeks explanations and answers from a higher power.
Just hours ago I was taking off in my wicker (wicker) wicker (wicker) plane.
The pilot reflects on how much has changed since he took off in his wicker plane a few hours ago.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Light Yagami
great song! I heard this off pandora. I really hope you guys make it big!
jim777my6
theyre decently big alredy
CourtneyW
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