The first time I met Mike from The Deadly Syndrome, he was throwing up on my couch. He had been out drinking the night before with Will, tore the head off a paper mache dummy, wrestled it across a stranger’s front lawn and then stumbled up to my house (I was living with Will and Jesse, and soon Chris would move into the garage) where he puked all over everything and passed out.
There was a lot of that sort of thing when The Deadly Syndrome first got together. Everyone was running around having fun, working shitty jobs, and writing music all the time. The house was drowning in instruments. There were cheap old organs that somebody picked up off Craigslist. Guitars, pianos, keyboards, violins, all broken down and beat up, just laying around in case somebody needed them.
The weeks started to revolve around shows. You know how whenever someone says, “You should check out my friend’s band?” how your immediate reaction is “are you saying that just because they’re your friend?” I never had that problem. The guys attacked the stage; the audience lost their minds. Their shows were like festivals (with lots of cardboard cut outs). It was a wonderful couple of years.
And then it stopped being fun.
It’s a cliché to say that youth is fleeting. But it’s true. And it’s hard to separate youth from rock and roll. That’s not to say The Deadly Syndrome are a bunch of geriatrics, they aren’t. But after two years of being together they were four guys who loved music, but still weren’t able to do it for a living. Four guys who were getting older and starting to think about things like financial security, maybe starting a family, having a car that didn’t break down all the time, getting health insurance, etc – all the stuff that keeps making more and more noise as the years go by and you start growing up.
And growing up is tricky business in rock and roll. Because the truth is that while age doesn’t stifle creativity, it certainly encourages stagnation. And stagnation leads to a sad and boring road that either ends with too much thinking about The Good Old Days or Fat Elvis.
So after a couple of years I think the guys weren’t sure what to do. If you’ll allow me another cliché, things were starting to feel like an ending, rather than a beginning. At this point they could have very easily broken up. Left on good terms and gone their separate ways. Or they could have written another Ortolan. Similar songs played in the same venues, stretching out the good times as far as they could. Instead they moved all of their stuff into a cabin up in the woods and started over.
There weren’t a lot of updates, no hand wringing or bragging, nothing specific, just the occasional word that things were moving along. And then one day after about nine months had gone by, they let everyone know that they had finished an album and were calling it Nolens Volens.
The songs, the production, it all seems to be the work of a band that has found its strengths, and is busy seeing how far they can push them. You can hear the earlier, younger band throughout all the songs, but there’s something else there as well. A sort of self-assurance that gives each song its own life and space, along with a patience that usually isn’t associated with rock and roll.
More than anything else though, Nolens Volens is about growing up. About the give and take that comes with age and responsibility, about remembering the energy of youth and infusing it into a new, older life.
Or not. Fuck it, maybe I’m over thinking it. Maybe they just made a great record and plan to release it later this year and that’s all there is to it. After all, they’re all still in their 20’s for god’s sake! Why am I talking about growing up? There’s still plenty of time for being young, playing the music too loud, and puking all over everything just before passing out.
–Jason Greene
Deer Trail Place
The Deadly Syndrome Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We forgot to ask him where he'd been for all those years
Didn't you think we'd like your answers
Did you just decide to take a chance and avoid us all?
Didn't (?) they come up running out of breath and telling us that he'd left again
And that we had been here since
Choosing not to make decisions
Running back to you
At deer trail place
At night, outside
At deer trail place with sleeping bags
At deer trail place
At night, outside
At deer trail place with sleeping bags
(Running back to you)
At deer trail place
At night, outside
At deer trail place with sleeping bags
(Running back to you)
At deer trail place
That lake side drive
That four day week
At (?) vineyard
The first stanza of "Deer Trail Place" by The Deadly Syndrome talks about someone who went missing for a Significant amount of time. The singer of the song regretfully acknowledges that they didn't question the man, they simply let him come back without any inquiry. Additionally, they seem disheartened because of the lack of information they had about the “missing man”. The on-going questions suggest that the man came back with nothing to offer.
The second stanza refers to the singer’s indecisiveness and failure to make any choices or to take any action. The lyrics portray the singer as being hesitant and scared to take the necessary steps. They have been procrastinating when they should've been taking action or dealing with the situation at hand. They are constantly delaying things up until they have to act our age. The mention of “running back to you” suggests that the singer needs to revisit their fear and indecisiveness in order to address the situation.
The chorus of “Deer Trail Place” refers to the setting of the story. It talks about the place where the singers reside, which seems to be a campsite in the woods. The lines indicate that the characters are sleeping outside with sleeping bags. It gives a feeling of camping in the woods, which elucidates the fact that these characters might be living off the grid or far from what can be considered a usual society.
Line by Line Meaning
We forgot to ask him questions
We neglected to inquire of him.
We forgot to ask him where he'd been for all those years
We omitted questioning him of his whereabouts over the years.
Didn't you think we'd like your answers
Were you not under the impression that we would find your responses pleasing?
Did you just decide to take a chance and avoid us all?
Did you make a conscious decision to seize the opportunity to evade us?
Didn't (?) they come up running out of breath and telling us that he'd left again
Were the others not gasping for air as they came to inform us of his departure once again?
And that we had been here since
And to notify us that we had been present all along.
Choosing not to make decisions
Opting to defer decision-making.
Pushing back the day when we decide to act our age
Delaying the time we choose to display maturity.
At deer trail place
Located at Deer Trail Place.
At night, outside
In the nighttime, out of doors.
At deer trail place with sleeping bags
Bringing along sleeping bags to Deer Trail Place.
(Running back to you)
(Returning hastily to your presence.)
That lake side drive
Alongside a lake whilst driving.
That four day week
During the duration of a four-day week.
At (?) vineyard
In proximity to a vineyard of undetermined location.
Writer(s): ETLING WILLIAM, RICHARD CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL, HOY JESSE CHARLES, HUGHES MICHAEL RYAN
Contributed by Kayla G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.