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Singled Out: Pinnick Gales Pridgen's Black Jeans

07/12/2013
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King's X frontman dUg Pinnick tells us about the song "Blue Jeans" from the acclaimed self-titled album from his new supergroup project Pinnick Gales Pridgen, which also features Eric Gales and Thomas Pridgen (Mars Volta). Here is the story:

I am always writing and recording songs. With this particular song I was thinking of a simple cowboy, country type of song. I always loved the rockabilly look and attitude; plus I was thinking what my interpretation of Johnny Cash would sound like (I know, LOL! It doesn't sound country or like Cash, but that was my inspiration) so I decided to change it up a bit and do it in a 3/4 or 6/8 timing.

I don't write in that time signature very often but it's my favorite time signature. I always tune to drop C, I like the way a guitar sounds at the tuning. The chord structure is very simple; it can be strummed on an acoustic guitar easily, which Eric immediately changed to fit his style of playing. I programmed the drum machine to play a very over-the-top, busy type groove to compensate for the simplicity of the chord structure. I was excited that Thomas immediately took the original drum idea and made it his own thing but kept the emotion that I was looking for. He also suggested we play it faster.

Originally I was thinking of a blue jean commercial when the lyrics came to me. I was thinking "I'm gonna keep my blue jeans on�" and you could tie that in with anything. It was originally going to be "I'm gonna kill myself tonight". That was how I felt at the moment I was writing the lyrics but I decided to change them because I didn't want to be responsible for what those words may have suggested or any misunderstandings. It was later that the Blue Jeans replacement came to me. The verses were inspired by watching FOX, CNN, and Democracy Now, back to back for about a month on cable. It made me realize that the popular consensus is totally and hopelessly controlled by the media, and that there are no honest politicians or presidents. We have all been duped and no one really cares or has time to think about what's really going down. We're spoon fed censored information encouraging people to choose a side that fits their belief system and to enjoy the fighting because they play to the violent side of our nature.

My conclusion, which is constantly changing, is that there is no fixing the world's problems because religion, politics, and corporations separate and leave us no choice but to take sides, and because there is no truly right side - thus causing issues to never be resolved. Our freedom and privacy have been willfully given up to the government and corporations that have more money than countries. Waging wars that can't be won, religions and corporations seem unstoppable, and are profiting from all of us at all costs. "Run to the hills!" like the Bible and Iron Maiden say.

It has been done, and I'm on the run, so I'm gonna keep my blue jeans on. Dead or alive, I'm gonna keep my blue jeans on. Everything's gone, and everyone's wrong, so I'm gonna keep my blue jeans on.

The funny thing is you probably would never get that out of the lyrics, LOL!! And who really cares about all this sh*t anyway?

My demo was called Blue Jeans but as I was tracking the chorus vocals in the PGP recording session, Mike suggested I call it Black Jeans. I agreed and we tracked the tune in one take. I think it's my favorite song on the PGP record.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the album right here!

Pinnick Gales Pridgen CDs, DVDs and MP3s

Pinnick Gales Pridgen T-shirts and Posters

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