The Killing Flame - "Save Yourself"

We've been going back and forth with Marc Maxey and Gavin Oglesby from Orange County California's The Killing Flame for a couple of months now, trying to get this together. Finally here it is, for all the readers of DCXX, this is The Killing Flame's last album, "Save Yourself", with commentary by Marc Maxey and lyrics by Joe Nelson. Hope you guys enjoy. -Tim DCXX

The year was 2004. George Bush had just been re-elected and Joe Nelson was pissed off. The Killing Flame had just finished an extremely fun 2 ½ week tour of Brazil playing mostly with a great band called Dead Fish, as well as a couple shows opening up for The Lemonheads and All Systems Go. The best part of every show was when Joe would introduce our song “We Are The Patriots”, and explain that we loved living in America, loved our country, but seriously, “Fuck George Bush”. The crowd would ROAR their approval.

Oversight

This is the end of the story
I feel it in the coming store
And with a whimper we close the book
Sleep tight America
We keep looking over our shoulder
Thinking help will arrive
But why would we think that way
Living in complacency USA

Why would we expect a change?
When people refuse to rise
We’re losing the real fight
We made an oversight

You know it’s a little deeper then some twin towers revenge
It’s deeper then oil, or a power grab, or chasing ghosts on Iraqi soil
It’s a Templar treasure hunt in a modern Saladin dance
Just know come checkmate, “Great Satan” is to blame

Why would we expect a change?
When people refuse to rise
We’re losing the real fight
We made an oversight

Keep your eyes on the prize

Wake up
Rise
America

We’ve made an oversight


Joe belts it out with The Killing Flame, Photo courtesy of: Marc Maxey

After we got home, we had high hopes of turning The Killing Flame into a consistent, vacation-making band. We’d tour Europe, Japan, Australia, Hawaii, and any other exotic locale we could fly to for a week at a time. When world domination didn’t happen, we ended up playing a great show with Insted…in Corona, CA with Joe Foster sitting in on guitar and Alex Barretto on drums while Casey sat on the sidelines with 3 broken fingers.

Los Angeles

So you say you're a little lost
Well come on in anyway
You have some doubts and that's fine
Just sit down and give us some of your time
In the city of Helter Skelter
We’re selling some shelter

There’s no peace
On these cracked and worn
City streets
Where you’ll soon come to find
That you’ve aligned with all the hollow fallen stars
Who’d trade it all to get back into the line

Welcome to the good life
Where the sun always shines
Where your only motivation
Is to end your desperation

There’s no past
No future you’ll find here
Just empty plastic days
You’ll pray will last forever
When they have the cocaine, glamour, and cash
You’ll drink the Kool –Aid and beg for another glass

Welcome to the good life
Where the sun always shines
Where your only motivation
Is to end your desperation

This is your Jerusalem
A new improved Babylon
Your Los Angeles


Marc with The Killing Flame, Photo: Fred Hammer

In 2005 Joe Foster decided he wanted to rejoin the band. Cool, great guitarist, great songwriter, and a fun guy to hang around. Unfortunately after a handful of practices it became apparent that Foster didn’t really want to play any material that he didn’t write, which included our entire last album, as well as the new song Gavin had just written. So that was pretty much that. We did get one new song out of those rehearsals though – “One Summer”. Classic Foster riffs.

One Summer

Just trying to make it out alive
As I’m wading through
The venom dripping from your lips
Like you want it to
There must be a point to this that I’m missing
There has to be something I’m just not hearing
As The sun went down on me

One summer
You let us slip away
Went from undercover, to going under
One summer
My heart stopped on a dime
But reach out; I’ll save you every time

Now everyone’s coming to me
Telling me all about you
And your fucked up new toy
You don’t understand me
Penning this fiction
Into a book I’ll never read

One summer
You let us slip away
Went from undercover, to going under
One summer
My heart broke on a dime
But reach out; I’ll save you every time

And if you ever wonder what hell looks like
Just take a walk in my shoes
And if you ever wonder about me, well I’m fine
I’m always fine

One summer

And if you ever wonder about me I’m doing fine
And if you’re going under reach out I’ll save you every time


Casey Jones with The Killing Flame, Photo: Fred Hammer

So now we’re well into 2005 and we’ve settled in as a 4 piece with Gavin writing a bunch of new material with a bit of a different feel to it. The only problem is, our 2004 release, Nine More Lives, has still only been released in South America. We did manage to find a label in Italy to release it in Europe, and we thought we had a US label lined up, but then once we sent them all the artwork and music, they stopped returning our calls and emails…

I did manage to sell 118 copies online of the CD that we had brought home from Brazil. Then I got a call from Hot Topic that they wanted to order 200 from us. I only had 12 left. Never mind then. So much for our chance at fame and fortune on the Warped Tour…

Already Dead

“Take all the breath out
Of my lungs
I don’t want to use them anymore”
She said to me.

Running around
Trying to figure it out
How to act in a world
That I’m nothing about
And it takes, yeah it takes
Every last bit of my sanity

There’s something inside of me
That nobody ever sees
Just another victim of this disease
So judges look on till your sick in the head
But take this note

Time is running out
And I’m going to kick and shout
At the T.V. screen dictating to me
Products to buy to feel more alive
And pills I can take to feel human inside
God, help me escape
Everything everyone else celebrates

There’s something inside of me
That nobody ever sees
Just another victim of this disease
So judges look on till your sick in the head
But take this note

I’m already dead

Just a victim of the Western disease
Just another victim of your disease

So you judges you look and look
Just take stock of the things that you took
Cause I’m dead
I’m already dead


The Killing Flame, Photo courtesy of: Marc Maxey

Sometime around late 2005 we went into the studios at NewBandTV.com and filmed live performances of two or three songs from Nine More Lives. The videos showed up on Youtube for a short while, but now they are gone. They never did end up on the actual website that filmed us. They don’t return our emails either…

Helpless Hopeless

Drink down all that you can get
Forced now to scrape for the scrap
We still take it now
Don’t we?
300 million people locked down
Inside this burning house

Hopeless, Helpless
So content here in our sleep
Hopeless, Helpless
We’re so content to die in our sleep

Hopeless and Helpless

Jesus are you watching tonight?
Are you laughing?
At the sight of this nation that we built just for you
Built to fail just for you

Hopeless and Helpless

Disenfranchised, disengaged
Hopeless and helpless
Sleep talker, Death walker
So helpless


America's most dangerous frontman, Joe Nelson, Photo by: Fred Hammer

Early 2006 comes around and Gavin, Casey, and I are still practicing on the regular, writing new material, but Joe Nelson sightings are few and far between. We pretty much decide to call it a day, but the 3 of us want to keep playing, and Gavin really wants to record all the new stuff we’ve written. So we book some studio time with Derek O’Brien and crank out all the basic tracks to 9 new songs in, I believe, 2 days.

The Last Gravediggers

Step right in and take your seat
You were born just in time to see
The end of days, of everything
In this apocalyptic dream
Hold on tight
With your blank stage fright
Are you really asking how?
How we choked?
You must be joking?
You must be fucking joking

We are the last of our kind
We are the last of the world’s grave diggers

Watch as all the rivers run dry
Taste the blood drops from the sky
Choke on all the burning green
This is our true paradise
Now the puppets met
To discuss the best laid plans
To really talk the walk
Did you trust in them?
Did you believe their lies?
Those fucking parasites

We are the last of our kind
We are the last of the world’s grave diggers

The clock’s a half step to midnight
It’s meet your maker time
We’ve come a long way I know
But it’s time to dig our grave

Are we the last of our kind?

We toy around with the idea of getting a different singer to do vocals for the songs and starting up a whole new band based around them (maybe even the singer who wrote another well known song called “Save Yourself”). Offers are extended, possibly even considered, but ultimately declined. The songs then sit untouched for a few months.


Marc at The Killing Flame's practice space, Photo courtesy of: Marc Maxey

Save Yourself

I am what you say that I am
A lost soul, no redemption
In a house of cards you’re the prophet
Preach your words while the foundation rots

Save one, save some, save everyone
Save yourself
Save your words, and wisdom
For someone else

A good Sheppard always milks the flock
Salvation is measured in the things you’ve bought
Who do you think you’re fooling you fuck?
God?

Save one, save some, save everyone
Save yourself
Save your words, and wisdom
For someone else

The blood on the cross
The blood on your church
The blood in the sand
The blood on your hands

You will burn in hell
So save yourself


Gavin Oglesby with The Killing Flame, Photo: Fred Hammer

Summertime comes and we hear that Gorilla Biscuits are touring. With Joe being as tight as he is with those guys, we figure, hey maybe The Killing Flame can pick it up again and hop on a weekend’s worth of shows on the East Coast. Of course that didn’t pan out, but we did end up playing their Southern California show with them, and we even played one of the new songs that Joe had put some vocals to.

Paper Champion

Paper Champion
Yeah, here you are once again
You’re battered, and bruised
As everyone around you questions every little fucking thing
Are you crumbling?
I can see your fear and insecurity
I know that you’re starting to lose hope

Paper Champion it’s time
You put your heart on the line
Stepped into the ring
Went toe to toe
Let it all fly
Leave nothing to chance
Cause you’re only judged by this
Just this

Paper Champion
Doesn’t anyone remember?
Your honor
Your compassion
Or the good fights
Or does it all come down to this moment
I believe you still have some tricks up your sleeve
I hope you’ll pick yourself off the ropes

Paper Champion it’s time
You put your heart on the line
Stepped into the ring
Went toe to toe
Let it all fly
Leave nothing to chance
Cause you’re only judged by this
Just this

It really is up to you
Will you seize the day or fade away?

Our last hurrah came at my 40th birthday party in January 2007 where I ingeniously decided to get every band I’ve ever been in back together for one show. So Justice League, The Killing Flame, and 3 bands you’ve never heard of played to a small crowd of 30 and 40-somethings in a warehouse in Oceanside. It was a fitting end, and actually a really fun night.


The Killing Flame... 8 track style, Image courtesy of: Gavin Oglesby

Extinguish

This is the end of everything
Final picture, final frame
The eternal , long black fade
Don’t pray for me my friend
Cause I know where I’m going
To a waiting coffin
A soul selling , last gasp auction

Extinguished
Without a trace
Extinguished
From this fucking race

Those kids I use to run with
They ran so far ahead
They made some turns down roads
I never wanted to travel on
Left me here standing on this crumbling ledge (straight edge)
But I wouldn’t trade places with them

Extinguished
Without a trace
Extinguished
From this fucking race

No real home to speak of
I’m on the this dead mans run
Yeah I know
No faith, no hope, no heart, no God
I’m on my own
Oh Lord I know

Extinguished
Without a trace
Extinguished
From this fucking race

A few months later, Joe and Gavin went back to the studio and finished up the songs that you can finally now download here for free, 3 years later.

DOWNLOAD: The Killing Flame - "Save Yourself"