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
Friend's Who Don't Go Out at Night
The Deadly Syndrome Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When their work is done?
Why don't they go home?
Home to where they're loved
No one's really home
Until they're in the ground
Rest well tonight with friends
Friends who don't go out at night
They're friends who stay in
With their lights on
Friends who don't unlock their doors
There's danger here, there's danger here
There's danger!
You're better off inside
It's easier said than done
What's done is never gone
And what's gone ain't coming back
What's gone ain't coming back
No one's really home
The lights just glow alone
They're sleeping in their homes
Of silent, quiet
Friends who don't go out at night
They're friends who stay in
With their lights on
Friends who don't unlock their doors
There's danger here, there's danger here
There's danger!
You're better off inside
Better off inside
Better off inside!
Friends who don't go out at night
They're friends who stay in
With their lights on
Friends who don't unlock their doors
There's danger here, danger here
Danger!
Friends
Who Don't Go Out at Night by The Deadly Syndrome is a song that seems to capture the fear and paranoia of modern society. The first stanza begins with a set of rhetorical questions - "Why do they stay on when their work is done? Why don't they go home? Home to where they're loved" - which highlight the sense of alienation many people feel in their daily lives. The second stanza speaks to the impermanence of human existence, and the idea that no one is really home until they're buried in the ground. The refrain, "Friends who don't go out at night," suggests that the people who stay inside their houses with the lights on are the only ones who are truly safe from the dangers of the world. The song seems to be simultaneously celebrating and critiquing those who choose to stay within the safety of their own four walls, as if there is no other choice.
Throughout the song, there is a sense of unease and danger that permeates the lyrics- "there's danger here, there's danger here." The repeated use of "better off inside" seems to suggest that those who stay within the confines of their home are better off than those who venture out into the world. The song is ultimately a commentary on the fear and anxiety that pervades our society in the modern age, and the idea that we must always be on guard against potential threats.
Line by Line Meaning
Why do they stay on
When their work is done?
Why do some people keep working even when they should be done and gone?
Why don't they go home?
Home to where they're loved
Why don't they leave work and go home where they feel loved?
No one's really home
Until they're in the ground
People are never truly at home until they are dead and buried.
Rest well tonight with friends
Sleep well tonight with
Have a peaceful night's rest with your friends nearby.
Friends who don't go out at night
They're friends who stay in
With their lights on
Friends who don't unlock their doors
Good friends are those who prefer staying at home at night instead of going out, keeping the lights on, and not opening their doors to strangers.
There's danger here, there's danger here
There's danger!
You're better off inside
There is danger outside, and it's safer to stay inside where you can be protected.
It's easier said than done
What's done is never gone
And what's gone ain't coming back
What's gone ain't coming back
It's easier to talk about it than to actually do it. Once something is done, it can never be undone or brought back.
The lights just glow alone
They're sleeping in their homes
Of silent, quiet
The homes are quiet, and the lights are on, but no one is really there, only sleeping.
Better off inside
Better off inside!
It's better to be inside where there is safety and protection.
Danger!
There is a danger outside that needs to be avoided.
Friends
Good and true friends are valuable and comforting.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Christopher Richard, Jesse Charles Hoy, Michael Hughes, William Etling
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mr Kneel
awesome song
Mr Kneel
These are great lyrics!!!!!
Luis Mendoza
No ones really home until they're in the ground.
mr kneel
Lovely