The Room

I wrote a song inspired by the current pandemic environment. However, I am not ready to share it. At first, I felt unqualified to write the words, not having the requisite experience. Then the corona virus touched my family, and I began to feel that the song was a curse. Everyone pulled through and my stress level has reduced somewhat, so I am able to revisit it, and alter it a bit. But it is still not ready yet.

In the meantime, during this shelter-at-home period, I often think of this song, which I recorded with my post-Front-Lines band, Friendly Fire, in 1986. Its imagery is more of a fallout shelter. "The Room" has more minor chords than usual, and an off-kilter guitar solo. The drums at the end suggest bombs and tension. Bruce Gomez, keyboardist with The Front Lines, used to call me "Dr. Doom" due to the dark subject matter of many of my old songs. His nickname, on the other hand, was "Go-Go." As usual, I think the weak link in my songs is my singing. It just seemed like the best way to get my songs done was to sing them.

Listen to "The Room" on YouTube:

Carmen, Curt, Kier, and Mark perform as Friendly Fire at the Cubby Bear, Chicago, May 13, 1987 (Photo: Suzanne Plunkett). 

Curt, Kier, Mark, and Carmen of Friendly Fire, 1987 (Photo: Inglehart).

You can learn more about Friendly Fire, The Front Lines, and other bands I've been in at http://strejcek.net/bands/bands.html.