rockyourlyricsRYL: Your new album “it’s time to get weird”….will be released in october … tell us more about it…
SUNFLOWER DEAD: Hi there, thank you for having me. It’s Time To Get Weird is the culmination of touring our self titled debut album for 2 full years and letting ourselves development in a way that most artist don’t do anymore.
When you pop in the new album, you will hear everything SFD has grown into and how much fun we are having. What’s killer is that Jonathan Davis from Korn shares vocal duties with me on the title track.
RYL: Let’s talk about the song “DANCE WITH DEATH”, what it means for you?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: Dance With Death is about not letting anything, not even the fear of death stand in your way to achieving your goals. Bottom line, no obstacle is going to stand in our way to getting what we want.
RYL: Is there a common meaning/theme between all your songs?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: The common meaning between all my lyrics is the idea that I am on a journey of self discovery. These lyrics metaphorically chronicle the steps I am taking.
All the ups, downs, insecurities, hurt, lessons learned, happiness, life meanings, etc.
RYL: Do you remember the day you wrote “JUST A LITTLE KISS”?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: I do, originally the song had a different version of lyrics called Colder Than The Kiss From The Bluest Lips.
I absolutely loved that title but just didn’t feel it was a great song title.
When I shifted the title to Just A Little Kiss, thematically, the song took on a much stronger direction. I like to have, should we say “glue” between the title and the meanings and my overall message.
I have never been one for random words and titles just for the sake of sounding cool. Back to your question, I was sitting in front of my computer screen last fall and the lyrics just unfolded to me as they always do.
RYL: how do you, usually, write the lyrics and music of your songs?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: For me, I am pretty stringent on the fact that for SFD we need to come up with the hook lines and melody along with the basic song structure before I delve into the lyrics.
On that same note, for some reason, whenever a hook line comes into my head, so does the main lyric.
https://youtu.be/wcjxtyTnVqg
RYL: Which is your favorite rock song (lyrically speaking)?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: There are many depending on the sentiment I need at the time but one of my favorite is Marilyn Manson’s “I wasn’t born with enough middle fingers”. Yeah, that is powerful.
RYL: Which is your dream not yet accomplished?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: My dream of being a fully realized person. Work in progress.
RYL: Which is the best verse you ever wrote?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: You really would have to ask someone else. I do feel my lyrics on this new album are especially strong.
Maybe that is because I was so infatuated with the romanticism of death and it kept creeping into my lyrics. To me, lyrics are best when they are both metaphoric and world setting.
What I mean by “world setting” is that when you listen to the words, a landscape is created for you by the key words you hear.
RYL: Which is the last song you wrote (not published yet)?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: The last songs I have written are all on the new album. I have to write in phases. I don’t write all the time.
For me, when it is album time, I subscribe to the time and place thing.
An album should represent where the artist is at that time at their life. You get the rawest emotion that way.
It is a bit different than the here today gone tomorrow attitude of art today but who cares, SFD is its own entity and we have made up our own rules since day 1.
RYL: tell us your tour projects….
SUNFLOWER DEAD: On the first album cycle we toured with All That Remains, Hell Yeah, In This Moment, Nonpoint, Ill Nino, Hurt,Smile Empty Soul, Hed Pe, Powerman 5000, Soil.
We just did our first European Tour this past summer openening for Snot and Korn. The touring plan for the new album cycle is to tour worldwide. US, Japan, Australia, Europe, etc. We must go worldwide.
RYL: What “I’LL BURN IT” lyrics mean to you?
SUNFLOWER DEAD: This is a very simple song. It is quite direct for how I usually write.
A personality trait for better or for worse I live with is if a person challenges me with their negativity, I will one up them.
Basically, test me and I will burn everything we share and everyone will suffer. Yikes, that sounds terrible. But with me, you get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god!
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