Matt and Keith together played all the instruments appearing on that album, with its name taken from 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkien, though they both mostly played acoustic guitar. Both also contributed to writing all the songs and both sang for 'There and Back Again'. The duo toured for several years after this, mostly appearing with similar bands such as Jackopierce. By 1995, they were ready to record again. The resulting album, titled 'Running on Ice', again had Matt and Keith playing acoustic guitar and singing, but it also featured the addition of other guest musicians to play other instruments. Guests included members of Jackopierce band as well as Carter Beauford (of the Dave Matthews Band) on drums.
More touring followed, and soon Matt and Keith were joined by Ed Toth on drums. In 1997, a live album, Live Stages, was released. This featured Matt, Keith, and Ed, as well as Ryan Fisher on bass. Live Stages signaled a departure from the original acoustic guitar-based music, and featured heavy emphasis on electric guitar. Also, by this time, the band was explicit in their intent to find a major record label; band members have said that it was no accident that the first track of Live Stages opens with the sounds of a large cheering audience. Their wishes came true, and the band was signed to RCA Records.
Ryan had never intended to join the band permanently, so the three other members held auditions for a permanent bass player. Their first audition was Sean Hurley, and everyone liked him immediately. There were many more auditions, but they eventually came back to Sean, and he officially joined Vertical Horizon.
The band's major label debut, "Everything You Want", was released in 1999. The title track, released as the second single from the album, skyrocketed up the charts and ended up as one of the most played tracks on radio in 2000. One of the stand out tracks "You're A God" got on several compilation CD's and featured in the Box Office smash Bruce Almighty
The follow up to "Everything You Want", titled "Go", was delayed several times until finally being released in 2003. "I'm Still Here", the first single from Go, was released with little fanfare and faded quickly. VH ended their relationship with RCA in 2004 and re-signed with Hybrid Recordings. "Go" was re-released with an additional track in 2005. A second single, "Forever", was released prior to the re-release and received moderate airplay but did not match the earlier success of Everything You Want.
In 2005, drummer Ed Toth got what he considered the dream gig of a lifetime when he was invited to join the Doobie Brothers following the death of drummer Keith Knudsen. While Toth had hoped to juggle both bands, he quickly realized it would not be possible and announced his departure from Vertical Horizon in July 2005.
In 2007, realizing as Matt says, “there was more to do” and “thinking the timing was just right to start working on a new album,” the band began writing and recording, Burning The Days. The album is slated for release on September 22, 2009 with the first single, “Save Me From Myself” recently sent to radio. The single has been extremely well-received and is currently climbing the Hot AC charts with strong airplay in McAllen, Modesto, Monterey-Salinas, El Paso, and New Orleans.
Independent of label constraints, Burning The Days was produced by Scannell and recorded at his studio over the course of the past 2 years. For the band, it was a complete return to their beginnings of working at their own pace and “nurturing those moments of inspiration.” According to Matt, the album is “sonically as good as anything we have ever done. I take great pride in this album and feel that our renewed sense of creativity will resonate with our fans.” The album also features virtuoso drummer Neil Peart of Rush on “Save Me From Myself,” “Even Now” and “Welcome To The Bottom” as well as Richard Marx playing piano on “Here” and producing two of Matt’s lead vocal tracks.
“I’m actually in a pretty positive place right now,” says Scannell. “Of course I still have that underlying fear of everything falling apart and crumbling to the floor, but it is not the first thing on my mind, like it’s been at times in the past.” And so one of the main themes of Burning The Days is about finding balance in a journey from hardship to peacefulness – knowing that the up must follow the down, and vice versa. “It’s about being okay with things going well, and also finding strength to get through the tough times.”
The first single, “Save Me From Myself,” is about “the danger of getting so lost in your own struggles and personal demons that you can’t help the people you love, and you won’t let the people you love help you. You’re too far away in your own head to do anything but spin off in self-criticism and doubt. There’s a lot of anger and frustration in that song.” Conversely, “The Lucky One” is one of the album’s most upbeat tracks, a fact that took the song’s author a bit of time to get used to. “I’m usually wary of songs that have really upbeat messages, but this song resonated for me because I tend to be the last one to believe when things are really going well. Songs where everything is perfect and everyone’s in love make me suspicious, but this song has enough of a gray area to feel real for me.”
Other highlights on the album are “Afterglow,” “All Is Said And Done” and “The Middle Ground.”
To support the album’s September 22nd release, the band plans on doing targeted performance dates throughout the summer with a nationwide tour in the fall.
Offical web site: http://www.verticalhorizon.com
Inside
Vertical Horizon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We're all found
We're all the same
Just one heart beats in us
With different names
Just one heart
With different names
'Cause I want to be inside you
Inside you
Take this hand
Lift me up
Into your sky
Hold me here
It's just you and me
'Cause you make me fly
You make me fly
Hold me inside you
'Cause I want to be inside you
Inside you
We're all lost
We're all found
We're all the same
Hold me inside you
'Cause I want to be inside you (inside you)
Hold me hold me hold me
Inside you inside you
'Cause I (hold me) want to be (hold me) (hold me)
Inside you inside you
Oh inside you
Oh inside you
The opening lines of Vertical Horizon’s “Inside” speak deeply of humanity, reflecting on the idea that we are all fundamentally the same, despite our perceived differences. The chorus reinforces this notion through the metaphor of a single beating heart with many different names, suggesting that we all share a commonality and that our individuality is merely a matter of perspective. In the verses that follow, the lyrics shift toward a sense of yearning and longing, as the singer pleads to be taken into the person they are addressing - “hold me inside you/‘cause I want to be inside you.” This desire for connectedness and unity is further underscored through the imagery of being lifted into the sky, the singer’s ecstatic feeling of flight carried wholly by the one they are addressing.
The repetition of the chorus throughout the song serves to reinforce the central themes of unity, of wanting to be intimately connected to another, and of feeling a sense of both loss and foundness. Its simplicity underscores the universality of these themes; we are all on a journey, and we all feel a desire to connect and hold onto something greater than ourselves. The final line of the song, “oh inside you” repeats, bringing a sense of finality and affirmation to the central message of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
We're all lost
We all feel lost sometimes
We're all found
We all find our way eventually
We're all the same
We are all human and share common experiences
Just one heart beats in us
We are all connected by the same life force
With different names
Though we may refer to ourselves differently, our essence remains the same
Hold me inside you
Let me become a part of you
'Cause I want to be inside you
I want to be intimately connected to you
Take this hand
Let me guide you
Lift me up
Elevate me to a better place
Into your sky
Into your world or perspective
Hold me here
Keep me safe and secure
It's just you and me
We are alone together
'Cause you make me fly
You empower and inspire me
Hold me hold me hold me
Emphasizing the desire for physical and emotional connection
Oh inside you
The idea of being inside someone else is a metaphor for complete intimacy and closeness
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: PATRICIA ROTHBERG, PATTI ROTHBERG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind