In 1981 Ebbot Lundberg met Patrik Caganis at a U.K. Subs gig. They shared a common musical taste in hardcore music, and the friendship that followed produced the forming of a punk band - "Sure Tråkings Trio". During the years that followed, "Sure Tråkings Trio" was disbanded and Patrik Caganis spent a year as an exchange student in Minneapolis, USA. Going to gigs with bands like Hüsker Dü, Replacements and Soul Asylum, he claims to have been heavily musically inspired. In 1986, Ebbot Lundbergs friend Emrik had tried out as a singer for a band called Heartbeat City. Emrik, (who was also the singer of the domestically famous Swedish funkrockband Stonefunkers), didn't want to stay in the band, and instead suggested that Ebbot Lundberg should audition. Patrik Caganis, a Heartbeat City fan, decided to team up with Lundberg and they went to the audition together.
Heartbeat City then consisted of Björn Olsson on the guitars and Henrik Rylander on the drums. The audition and jams that followed proved to work out well - fitting in Caganis' guitars with Olssons' and adding Lundbergs' improvised lyrics and melodies.[citation needed] After a while Lundberg brought in long time friend Per Helm on bass - an addition that also proved to add to the groups evolving sound. This composition formed Union Carbide Productions. They started writing songs, and on June the 14th 1986 they had their live debut. It took place at the "Save the Forest" festival in Gothenburg. The gig resulted in an amplifier hitting someone's head, and a crowd of skate punk friends creating chaos - a phenomenon that would set the key for many of their gigs to come.
At the end of 1986 the band recorded three songs at Music-a-Matic Studio in Gothenburg: "Financial Declaration", "Summer Holiday Camp" and "So Long". Since they had no record deal, the band paid for the sessions themselves. They sent a demotape to Carl Abrahamsson, the then editor of underground fanzine Lollipop, who liked the band so much that he got Financial Declaration distributed on a flexi-disc that was sold along with the fanzine. In the spring of 1987, the band managed to get a record deal with the small label Radium 226.5, which released their first album "In The Air Tonight". Later the same year, they played at the Swedish festival Hultsfredsfestivalen. In 1988, UCP continued touring in Sweden and also did some gigs abroad. One of the more notable venues being CBGB's in New York where they were the opening act for another band. Before going to USA, Per Helm (bass) was replaced by Adam Wladis (bass) - a former bandmate of Henrik Rylander. During the tour, UCP continued to build on their reputation as a crazy live-act. Before recording their next record, Financially Dissatisfied, Philosophically Trying, Adam Wladis quit and was replaced by returning member Per Helm.
During the years, the band changed its members a lot, but in 1989 they settled and appeared in their final incarnation, consisting of: Ebbot Lundberg, Patrik Caganis, Henrik Rylander, Jan Skoglund, Ian Persson and Christian Martinius. Some of the band's material was produced by Henryk Lipp - a Swedish producer who has worked with Millencolin, Thåström, Håkan Hellström and Sator. The band recorded their last album - "Swing" - in 1992 in Chicago, and it was produced by Steve Albini. The band broke up in 1993. Ebbot Lundberg and Ian Persson later went on to form the successful rockband The Soundtrack of Our Lives, of which also Björn Olsson has been involved both as a musician and as a producer. In 2003, they made a temporary reunion and returned to Hultsfredsfestivalen, sixteen years after their first appearance there.
Train Song
Union Carbide Productions Lyrics
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Try to break on through to the other side
Gotta find a new place cause you don't wanna stay
And I can't always be that way
You're in orbit of fashion you're in orbit of lies
You're a loser waiting for somebodys advice
Well, what's here right now will tomorrow be gone
And I can't always get it wrong
There's some people talking about yesterday
There's a ship of relations and it's floating away
There's some friends I know who won't be the same
And I can't always miss the train
And I can't always miss the train
The lyrics of Union Carbide Productions' song "Train Song" urge the listener to break free and try new things in life. The initial lines of the song suggest that changing one's habits and personal style is essential for growth and development. The lines "Try to break on through to the other side/Gotta find a new place cause you don't wanna stay" emphasize that staying stagnant in one's life is not desirable, and one needs to find new horizons to explore.
The subsequent lines criticize the tendency to be swayed by fashion trends and lies of the society. The lines "You're in orbit of fashion, you're in orbit of lies/You're a loser waiting for somebody's advice" are a commentary on the conformist tendencies of people who blindly follow what is accepted by society without considering its consequences. However, the singer stresses that being rigid and always being right isn't the answer either. The line "And I can't always get it wrong/And I can't always get it wrong" is an admission of fallibility and an acknowledgment that trying something new and failing in it isn't necessarily a bad thing.
The last set of lines talks about moving on from the past, with references to relationships and friendships that may have gone sour. The lines "There's some people talking about yesterday/There's a ship of relations, and it's floating away/There's some friends I know who won't be the same/And I can't always miss the train" suggest that the change is sometimes necessary, and one cannot hold on to the past forever. The train metaphor used emphasizes that sometimes, one needs to step out of their comfort zones and take a risk.
Line by Line Meaning
Try to change your habits try to change your style
Make an effort to alter your behaviors and approach to life
Try to break on through to the other side
Strive to overcome obstacles and achieve personal growth
Gotta find a new place cause you don't wanna stay
It's essential to discover a new path because the current one is unsatisfying
And I can't always be that way
However, it's impossible to maintain the same attitude indefinitely
You're in orbit of fashion you're in orbit of lies
You're under the influence of superficiality and deceit
You're a loser waiting for somebodys advice
You're an indecisive person relying on others for guidance
Well, what's here right now will tomorrow be gone
Whatever exists today may not persist tomorrow
And I can't always get it wrong
But failure is not inevitable
There's some people talking about yesterday
Certain individuals are dwelling on the past
There's a ship of relations and it's floating away
Important connections are drifting away
There's some friends I know who won't be the same
Some acquaintances will inevitably change over time
And I can't always miss the train
And it's not always possible to avoid missing opportunities
And I can't always miss the train
And it's not always possible to avoid missing opportunities
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: TORBJOERN LUNDBERG, PATRIK CAGANIS, HENRIK CARL RYLANDER, JAN KRISTER SKOGLUND, CHRISTIAN JAN PERSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind