1) We recorded a 7” single (Piles backed with Gimmie What I Want/Buk’s Son… Read Full Bio ↴1) We recorded a 7” single (Piles backed with Gimmie What I Want/Buk’s Song) that got us a profile in the first issue of Spin magazine (thanks Regina Joskow) and some label interest. We figured we would need a producer to help us with the “Big Breakthrough”. We met Handsome Dick Manitoba from interviewing him for Mark’s fanzine “The Poisoned Pen”, and Manitoba steered us to Andy Shernoff. Andy worked with us to try and meld the “punk thing” with a sheen of professionalism (the jury’s still out on that). He took us to Springfield, Missouri to work with the legendary engineer Lou Whitney. We recorded through endless stacks of amps and high-end gear. We came back to NYC, and mastered the tapes at RCA studios. The best of the best! Unfortunately, Soul Desire was released straight to the cut-out bins and became our only release at that time. We toured out to Atlanta and back while re-assessing the “commercial breakthrough” approach. We went back into small studios in NYC to use what we learned, and record what we felt was “The Alter Boys’ Sound”. The band played bigger clubs like Maxwell’s in Hoboken opening for Soul Asylum, and kept recording to try and capture that elusive “sound”. We played our last gig at The Continental Divide for a live recording of all the bands (curated by the legendary Senders) that played there regularly.
We felt we had finally captured our sound, but the band was no more. JZ, Mark, and I had already been playing as The GasHounds, so our attention went there and a whole new batch of songs and recordings.
When JZ and I went through all our studio tapes from start to finish (1985-89), we revisited the thought we had long ago- can we capture our essential sound? We feel these recordings present the band as we always felt we should have been on record.
So, ladies and gentlemen, This Is The Alter Boys!

2) The Alter Boys are an American band including members of the bands Dog Fashion Disco, Mushroomhead, and Unified Culture, as well as MTV's Jackass. They play in various musical styles, and released their debut album in 2005. They are currently on Jason Popson's label "Fractured Transmitter" .

Vocals - Todd Smith, Jason Popson
Additional vocals - Craig Martini, Mike Martini, Ryan Dunn
Guitar - Todd Smith, Mike Martini
Bass - Craig Martini
Keyboards - Matt Rippetoe
Woodwind - Matt Rippetoe
Accordion - Mike Martini

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01Pigs & Pineapples2:47

02Can't Cool Down2:28

03Famine Ghost4:04

04Little White Lies4:56

05Where Have You Gone4:07

06A Little Pain Goes A Long Way7:21

07Auto-Erotica2:41

08Boy In A Bubble2:35

09Docking Bay 942:39

10Surrounded By Porcelain Flies4:05

PT4M5S

The Alter Boys

11I See You Moving4:13

12Yesterday Is Here14:08

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Surrounded By Porcelain Flies
The Alter Boys Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

When it stops when it fades
When the bodies have all hit the ground
I'll be there at a funeral for a friend

When it's done when it's over
When the buildings have all burned down
I'll be there at a funeral for a friend

Take my last breath today
Close my eyes and fade away
Lower me in the ground
You'll be there at a funeral for a friend

I can't remember what I was trying to forget -- It doesn't matter now
Well I was frozen I was frozen in time -- In a cryonic dream

I can't remember what I was trying to forget -- It doesn't matter now
Well I was frozen I was frozen in time -- In a cryonic dream
Send me a message send me evidence from death
A postcard from paradise
They'll find me one day surrounded by porcelain flies
With a smile on my face

Overall Meaning

The Alter Boys' song "Surrounded By Porcelain Flies" is a melancholic reflection on the inevitability of death and the different forms that it can take. The lyrics speak of two different scenarios - one where all bodies hit the ground and another where all buildings have burned down - and envision a funeral for a friend in each one. The singer seems resigned to their own death, as they tell the listener to take their last breath, close their eyes and fade away, and lower them in the ground.

The chorus repeats the phrase "I can't remember what I was trying to forget - it doesn't matter now" twice, suggesting that whatever the singer was struggling with in life, it pales in comparison to the finality of death. The line "well I was frozen I was frozen in time - in a cryonic dream" could be interpreted as a reference to the desire for immortality or the belief that one's consciousness could be preserved through cryogenic freezing.

The final lines of the song are hauntingly beautiful, as the singer requests a message or evidence from beyond the grave, a postcard from paradise. They seem to accept that one day they will be surrounded by porcelain flies (symbolic of death), but they will face it with a smile on their face.

Line by Line Meaning

When it stops when it fades
When everything comes to an end

When the bodies have all hit the ground
When everything has fallen apart

I'll be there at a funeral for a friend
I'll be present to mourn the loss

When it's done when it's over
When it's all said and done

When the buildings have all burned down
When everything is destroyed

I'll be there at a funeral for a friend
I'll be there to say goodbye

Take my last breath today
I'm ready to die

Close my eyes and fade away
Passing away peacefully

Lower me in the ground
Bury me when I'm gone

You'll be there at a funeral for a friend
You'll be there to remember me

I can't remember what I was trying to forget -- It doesn't matter now
Letting go of the past