Singled Out: Vangough's Drained

"Drained" was a very personal song that I wrote during a challenging transition in my life. Everyone has their muse or place of inspiration and for me it's no different. For me it happens once that warm water hits my neck, the steam comes surging through my lungs and my voices echoes like a demonic angel. That's right, the shower is my almighty inspiration and that's precisely where "Drained" was birthed. I might have been singing something completely different at the time, as is usually the case, but it evolved into something quite unique.

Unfortunately I didn't have my waterproof pencil and paper handy so I just sang the melody over and over until it was committed to memory (I find this to be a distinctly first world problem to have an idea hit the moment I step into the shower). As soon as I got out of the shower I went to work fleshing out the melody with a suitable harmony, mostly in Sibelius or Guitar Pro, can't remember which. After air drumming to the empty scaffolding of a song that was a mere melody with harmony I finally had the architectural blueprint for "Drained" (I pride myself on my air drumming ability).

The production was a long and exhausting process of trial and error as well. I had three different melody ideas for the opening verse that I just couldn't really decide on. I ended up going back and forth a number of times before resting on the final version that you hear on the album. I also remember Lopez, our drummer, adding a very cool rhythm to the opening phrase, which really sparked a lot of energy. Past those little nuggets of gossip there isn't much else to say on "Drained" other than it is fun as hell to play. It's kind of a grungy, sludgy and viscous kind of thing. It's about as close as we'll get to a Pantera-inspired metal groove without betraying our style I'd say. On top of that we put together a really creepy video about rabbits getting bloody revenge on some helpless victim. I like to think of it as our Clockwork Orange meets Donnie Darko meets Watership Down homage.