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Welcome to Hard Times

by The Demigs

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    full color gatefold double LP w/ lyrics printed on record sleeves
    limited edition white vinyl labels hand-stamped and autographed by each band member (only 40 available)

    Includes unlimited streaming of Welcome to Hard Times via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 40 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $20 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    2-disc cardboard gatefold w/ full color 4-panel insert

    Includes unlimited streaming of Welcome to Hard Times via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

1.
Welcome to hard times We're living off the grid and out of sight 'Cause we know the side streets and back roads to get us home As long as we're avoiding encampment firelight He said good luck to his last of kin His sole surviving son, his spitting image And you can't keep wild things Without spilling blood Or shedding skin Or any ease Change is coming up Like it or not Just a head in a line, and it's next on the block She saw a bandsaw That will cut the jewelry off That will cut the jewelry off You can hush your mouth You can hide in a bush You can't take it to heaven No, you can't take it with you You can hush your mouth You can hide in a bush You can't take it to heaven No, you can't take it with you Good morning, Timer Where will we go? Looks as though you'll lead the way Is it a mine? Or could it be worse? Do you have them busy picking out the core of the earth? Some need somebody to follow if they don't know better first Goodbye, good ol' days You left our world like a hand grenade Now is it divine or is it absurd that the voice we chose to lead us is the loudest one we heard? We baptized the dead, but it did not work Days and days and days All the photos fell like rain All the photos fell like rain He saw a chainsaw That will cut the specters away That will cut the specters away You can hush your mouth You can hide in a bush You can't take it to heaven No, you can't take it with you You can hush your mouth You can hide in a bush You can't take it to heaven No, you can't take it with you Welcome to hard times We're living off the grid and out our minds Wish we knew the side streets and back roads We got no home...
2.
Do what you love before you put both feet in the grave Well, what if I'm wrong? Well, this is the time to make a mistake What if I'm right? My presence of mind says, “Put it away.” We looked at the list of what life promised, then we crossed out our names It's a no win It's a no win It's a no win It's a no win But either way, I'm caving in Mission control, I've lost all control, I'll try to assist Surely from there the irony's clear. Oh, what did you miss? The cameras in place, each side of the wreck is captured on tape They went through the list, the flight manifest, then they crossed out our names 'Cause I can't win No, I can't win No, I can't win No, I can't win But either way, I'm landing
3.
Melamine 04:52
The Earth was spurned From the wreckage of a war and a hurricane Black vultures like soft-bodied ticks swollen on remains If you've seen it once, you've seen it a million times Seldom self-made men admit help of any kind You'll get no solace here You'll find no quiet here Except for the feeling you might be all alone And singing at the ceiling Don't tell me that nobody's home With all the world surrounding us There's no chance That this all was happenstance Tell me how this looked Before everything changed Modern day mother's milk mostly measures melamine Fools the lips but not the belly If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times Not to play with guns Still I hear you whistling down the barrel of a .45 You'll get no comfort here You'll find no answers here Except to the questions You thought you might not ask When every nerve and notion Has been put to task And stretched beyond, beyond Like wildfires There's no design Or reason or rhyme Tell me where the mountain was Before we stripped it This is the death of adventure There is no wild to discover El Dorado is pyrite And every kingdom smolders Unseen hands Etch-a-Sketching across the land This is the end of a century Things are bad enough Do we need to add Melamine? Couldn't taste a thing Desperate and haunting Melamine Couldn't taste a thing Melamine
4.
Pluto 03:22
Can I catch you on the flip side? An undertow Has been there waiting Just off the shore Can you hiss it to me, hussy? Like mean girls speak Don't tell me your forked tongue Is serpent-chic Been a little bit of mind rot And gut rot too It seems beyond me To stop their feud Angry hornets Are living right up the stairs Awful neighbors They sting when they drink and They share much too much So now Pluto's not a planet? Well, I call bullshit I see no difference From where I stand Just another group of assholes And unchecked black holes That spin in a circle At least that's the plan Life is sweeter than a gingersnap My honey got her fire back Then tossed it with the table scraps And all loose ends Any moment The hornets, they might take off Dropping anvils It's your head and your heart Where "X" marks the spot So now Pluto's just a remnant A distant fragment An unseen misfit But we know it's there
5.
Chin up and face the music 'Cause lonely things don't die You're switching up your mates and If the chips fall where they may, we'll give it one more try Echoes leave the park Just like high fashion in the dark Well, don't touch the lights Don't touch the lights I went to find your grave And remove your name from the lexicon Of everything that I've given up on ...for now... Beware the olive groves The ground swallows like it is sand It's home to the rotten life and many a man But if you're lucky, you might get out with youth in hand Youth in hand I went to find your stone And leave one of my own With the others That crumble and smother you out I went to find your tomb Underneath an abandoned zoo Where they keep all the things that shouldn't be seen
6.
Sending me out on a dare Just to watch me struggle I can't handle the cards Toughing it out, wear a smirk, watch your mouth, mind your Qs Then I'm crashing, no guards Make a nice clean slate for a mind erase and recover Mission complete, spend a night on the seat Tune 'em out, and turn it up, if you're taken over Enjoy the good life While the getting's still good Not a bit gets back, and the days don't tack like calendars could Yeah, I'll change But history states Rome wasn't built in a day It took a silvery tongue, dumb muscle, and a sea of people chipping away It spread like grapevine, left scorched earth and streaked skies wherever they were The size of the planet, regardless who ran it, the damn thing burned Enjoy the scenery while the scenery's still here What a marked up place There's no room to make your moniker clear Long runs the fox Red with white socks He's cornered But don't think that he won't bite back The brass refracting all the summer light We're getting closer to the end of the line I'm opposed to being disposed in the manner of being scattered Well, help is on the way Try not to look—you're okay... ...with this life? As it was? As it is? As it ever, ever, ever, ever could be?
7.
Wished you You could have been there So I could've kicked your boots off your desk But you You vanished to thin air You're as weak as the tweed and the twill from your vest Everything is a weapon From pens to scissors and then Anything that your hand comes across Before you pick it up and throw it at them Eighteen hundred twenty-five days But what did it get you? To see the wealth and how it lives If it makes you feel better The corporate world is a killer They want every minute I think I'll take your head and tie No need for any silver plate Just bring your office supplies And me, I'll bring my brand new paperweight Everything is a weapon From pens to scissors and then Anything that your hand comes across Before you pick it up and throw it at them
8.
Matamoros 02:41
Four deadheaded punks were out looking for something to do Yeah, straight for the border in no specific order They were all on a mission to Follow the urge to binge and to purge Before the semester resumed O-! B+! Atypical and unenthused About most everything That isn't already doomed Climbed inside a hole in the wall It was $10 for all you could drink Almost got arrested outside It was 20 more to bribe the police Found a hotel Turned the room into a shell and left a tip for service assumed It was breakfast in bed Through the lobby we fled Looking for the Casa del Ill Repute Just 'cause we're not from the same cloth Doesn't mean we're not on the same loom Just 'cause we're not from the same cloth Doesn't mean we're not on the same loom Matamoros! Thanks for having us! Matamoros! Thanks for having us!
9.
Used to collect All the notes that they'd throw away Now he's a gent And he's pitching up the sale of the day I'll get by so slowly We're living in an x-ray world gone mad And there's no sense to any of it These are the best years Does it scare you as much as me? We've lost another rebel At the entrance of the company Dying off quicker than a heatwave It's the way that the working class sleeps Well, they'll play for yours But I'll play for keeps Or would I? Yes, I would I'm taking your air I'm selling your irises to put them on display Now he's a mint But he's only giving troubles away I'll get by, so sorry We're living in an x-ray hell gone bad And there's no use to any of it These are the worst years Does it kill you as much as me? We've lost another rebel To the service of the company Dying off quicker than a heatwave It's the way that the middle class sings Well, they'll play for yours But I'll play for keeps Or would I? Maybe...
10.
Henry has gone away for good Came home sooner than he should and There he found that his old lady had been messing around Well, what do you know about that? Henry quickly blew a fuse Held her down with everything he had to lose His knuckles white and blanched From having just taken a life But what he saw when he looked back was... Rorschachs in red Trail from the living room and End at the bed When it's all done and said Another bird in a pine box Another snake in the state pen Maggie longed for something new With all the eyes of the hometown spies It begged for someone passing through No trace, no strings Don't fly too high with Icarus wings They fall apart like summer love Maggie went and lost her will Infrequently turned to constantly The callers at the sill When foolish girls Think they can have all of the world and Everything you see within its... Fine lines are drawn and Crossed like dry riverbeds Ignored like a warning call If she won't last 'til dawn What will the townies think? The rumor mill's got the power back on
11.
Mr. Timer 02:38
His name is Mr. Timer You should know as much I'm sure that he knows much the same His armor's made of diamonds, and he's got that touch Immune to any trick or trade "He's a madman," The old folks say "It's a trap, man," The kids proclaim That's why he's off to rule us all Kings are made of meaner things than wounds with salt Hey, Mr. Timer, can you spare a sec? I'm sure that you might have a few When we're all goners and the last heartbeat's kicked Will you exist if not in view? "He's a mean man," The girls all say "He's an old friend," The menfolk say And that's why he'll outlive us all Every circus needs a master as we travel even faster to the wall
12.
Left field/right brain Start/stop. Long day. Dogs in the yard Easy on your heart Let it go before you lose your skull Dr.'s orders, play it cool and Wear this/don't do that Watch it all on replay, and see right where it's at Any pattern but the one that she got Can't keep thinking this way 'Cause she would rather not Hear one at all, if this is the new beat Might not sound pretty, but at least it's still working Right field/left brain Red/green. Lose/gain. Medication's laid out Too quiet without you around Sweet pea, let me tell you something This is how I whisper sweet nothings I've got your back Doesn't mean I don't love you 'cause I don't use tact Syncopated—that's the one that she caught Can't keep talking this way 'Cause she would rather not Have one at all, “if this is the new me,” Misery loves company, but does company love misery?
13.
My girl plays guitar but mostly when nobody's home Yeah, it rips me in half 'cause she don't want to play with me anymore Old dirt, new skirt, party-burned At least you've got your chords I miss talking to you through pedals So plug into the board And bring back the girl in the band I dig the connection Spare me the sitcom romance and resuscitation Watch my lungs implode like the sun My SOS should be heard by every S.O.B. that I know False advertising Bait and switch is lying So get out on the floor Old hurt, new shirt, take a turn Before they're not anymore I miss flirting with you through amplifiers So rendezvous at the chorus And give me the girl in the band And leave the moderation Tell me that you've got a van And that we're going Eastward Westward Northward and Southward Inward Outward Jetward I miss the girl in the band
14.
Back off—I'll be dead by Monday Maybe find us at the side of the freeway Overdosed on the comatosed, and I feel nothing Live in the wreck of a Hollywood set 'Cause we're just hiding and blaspheming and fighting It's 90 miles until the end of the world Takes 30 seconds to explode Sounds like a good time, but you best bring a girl 'Cause no one likes a parasite, and you're a parasite if you come alone Step off—I'm gonna kill on Sunday Two clichés in an unlit alley, and I'm oversold On your green and your gold, and I feel lucky Walking the yard With the white picket bars Is enough to get any hands bloody All we need is a distraction All we want is just a fix Cut me up until I'm fractions Nobody wants to be presumed But then that's the way we get our kicks Just a mile until the end of the world Takes 30 seconds to explode Sounds like a good time, but you'd best bring a girl 'Cause no one likes a parasite, and you're a parasite if you come alone
15.
Oh, what to do When nothing feels brand new And everything is beyond passé and worn out shoes Better than I probably deserve American complaints in a half-southern twang Ain't I got the nerve? Simpletons got smiles second to none Envious of what naivety does, but I'd hate to rust Maybe I Just need one last ride Through the stratosphere and the unknown fears of a microcosmic life Anywhere but now and here And when all of this over You can meet me in a light year I'll see you in a light year Now of the age Success is measured by wage Phone in a bluff, I'm absentia Fortune favors different slaves Notably Not where I thought I'd be Left in the wake of the guilt and the ache Will it ever ease? I can mend The question now is, "When?" Or does it return like a mark from a burn? Does it dig itself back in? Maybe I Could see you one last time From the stratosphere, it's crystal clear, it's a microcosmic life Anywhere but now and here And when all of this is over You can meet me in a light year I'll see you in a light year You can meet me in a light year I'll see you in a light year I'll be there in a light year I'll be there in a light year
16.
Arches 04:48
On my hands and knees Sifting through a sea of pictures Some faces have moved on But there's none that I miss like yours Gonna drive it down the coast Pack of Parliaments and toast to you I've been high and I've been low and I've been lost a time or two Will you shuffle feet down the aisle Or will you skip? Put your troubles in a heap of burning invite slips We're not getting any younger Doesn't mean we're growing up A decade has decayed and gone away Right in front of us Gonna drive it out of town Windows down and arms extended It takes two falling arches To keep this bridge suspended Will you drag your feet down the aisle Or will you waltz In the sand or Concrete slab in the one horse towns we're from?
17.
5th and High is covered in snow and The Baptist Church across the street is the only place I know Where I can give you my letter Pull your hand from your yellow sleeve I haven't lost you yet, but I've been bereaved While Tommy's dad fakes a suicide Put a bullet through the wall and lived a week on gin and pride 'Cause that's the way we grew wild out in the sticks Herald runs the daily: “The Duke is Dead” A paragraph in the the finest of print that nobody read Say it on the radio A hundred thousand watts will do Coming at you in stereo Always at full volume All my friends were living out on the res Putting every color of warpaint on, but they bet everything on red 'Cause it's here, 'cause it's now, 'cause it's cheap and we're young Station wagon's cold, and the same song's playing Way too young to see hearts breaking Wished that we could've fixed it, but sixth grade hands were tied Didn't want to walk those steps or pull into the drive
18.
Yeller 04:03
Looking rather rabid Been there since birth Keep her out of habit 'Cause I know what she's worth Can't parlay a tidal wave Haven't you heard? Don't want to teach an old dog new ways to beg for the ten cent cure So tell me Where will we be in another twenty years from now? You've been a good friend When we were having a ball You've been the worst friend But it was probably all my fault Wonder where the money goes I've got a good guess No one really ever knows No one really ever gets it What's the next move? Is there any room? With seven billion here Set it on an ice flow Penny for your two cents No matter the way the wind blows It's the current that binds and bends Yeller
19.
Well, the black cat came home He was a shadow of his former self But the same one that I had known He was as pale as a sheet, as quiet as death, and thin as a rail We must have walked a million miles To the edge of the map, through every trap and every maze Pieces moved from tile to tile Following me like a rook to a king We needed the chase Keep marching on That's all you're good for I know that you're not sure What you're here for The black cat finally crossed my path Under a ladder, the mirrors were shattered, now a bad moon will rise A red coat stretched across my back It was a flick of the wrist, a knife with a twist, and a change of the tide On this godless earth The meek shall inherit nothing Except the pains of free fall and stillbirth Everything is here for the taking Keep marching on That's all there's time for It's the disease But it's the cure The black cat came home He was a shadow of his former self But the same one that I had known He was as pale as a sheet, as quiet as death, and thin as a rail
20.
Gathered up all my sins, and I bathed in every one of them Some to regret, some to retell Some to forget, and some to send me off to hell But it's worth it if it gets me to you Keep catching flack for having faith Just a sign to me the end of days is nearly here and gaining fast But to what end and by which means shall we last? Only do it because it makes me laugh So sing Sing for your supper Sing Sing for the summertime Oh, sing until the last breath Comes rolling out your chest You only get one ride Tallied up what all was lost Be it accident or be it caused And no amount had come to mind No albatross to bear No scars that I could find But none of us will ever make it out alive Might as well sing Sing to be a better man Sing Sing for the afterlife Oh, sing Oh, sing Oh, sing until the last note Comes falling out your throat You only get one rodeo

about

Together with I Love Math Records, The Demigs unveil their third album, Welcome to Hard Times. Interspersing straightforward rock and roll with lush soundscapes, this double LP traverses through and beyond the human condition, while grappling with life in 21st century middle-class America. Balancing bleak prophesy with sober acquiescence and a stoic hopefulness, Welcome to Hard Times is a modern classic.

credits

released April 14, 2015

WELCOME TO HARD TIMES

Produced and Mixed by: Chris Demiglio & Alex Hastings
Engineered by: Alex Hastings at Shady Lane, Denton, TX
Mastered by: Garret Haines at Treelady Studios, Wilkins Township, PA

Music by: Chris Demiglio & Alex Hastings
Lyrics by: Chris Demiglio

Chris Demiglio: Vocals, Guitars, & Percussion
Alex Hastings: Guitars, Vocals, Keys, & Glockenspiel
Jason Bacchus: Bass & Vocals
Russ Connell: Drums & Percussion

Additional Players:
Petra Kelly: Violin
Will Kremer: Cello
Scott Danbom: Hammond M3
Jeffrey Barnes: Clarinet
Brandon Dowd: Trumpet & Trombone
Matt Cochran: Saxophone
Annie Ramage: Vocals
LaVinya "V" Coleman: Vocals
Merrie Earnest: Vocals
Matthew Morin: Percussion

Matamoros gang:
Tara Linn Hunter, Megan Storie, Robert Boler, Antonio Nogueras, Merrie Earnest, Brandon Van Noy, Annie Ramage, LaVinya Coleman, and The Demigs

Collages by: Chris Demiglio
Sketches by: Jon Rudin
Layout by: Tesa Morin

℗ © 2015 The Demigs
ILRM013 // I Love Math Records

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The Demigs Denton, Texas

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