Get all 21 The Smith Street Band releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Live At Forum 2022, Life After Football, Life After Football (single), Everyone Is Lying To You For Money, I Don't Wanna Do Nothing Forever, No One Gets Lost Anymore (10 Year Anniversary), Unplugged In Wombat State Forest, Viva La Rev, and 13 more.
1. |
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I don’t come here with solutions
I come to you with ideas
I don’t get no retribution
Can’t make the bad thoughts disappear
I want to make great art that doesn’t sell
Tell a couple of contemporaries to go to hell
I don’t know how to save the planet
But complaining doesn’t help
I don’t come here with an answer
Nor do I think that I can
I’m the parties over dancer
Just the cleaners and the band
I’m not trying to present a fiction
And tell you that it is fact
I don’t care who’s wares you’re pitching
I don’t give a fuck about all that
I was poured into this body
For just one important thing
Nothings ever gonna kill me
If I can play guitar and sing
I don’t come her with an answer
Nor do I think that’s my job
I’m the parties over dancer in the car park smoking bongs
I don’t come here with an answer
Nor do I think that I could
I’m the parties over dancer
Pulling shapes I don’t think I should
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2. |
When I Change My Name
03:45
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I think I’m supposed to be
I think I’m supposed to be lonely
But life doesn’t stop when you fall down
And falling down never stopped me
Cannot reason with the fire
Once it decides it’s burning down your home
Stop listening to music we’re all fucking liars
Without you we’d have nowhere else to go
Can’t get much closer, can’t get much closer than this
I’m scared of the future there’s always something amiss
Can’t get much closer, can’t get much closer than this
I’m scared of the future there’s always something and
I walk in my room and I kick off my work boots
My bed is unmade but in a good way
I can live with the nostalgia and the shame
When I change my name
I’ll never be like the people in advertisements
Down the barrel of the camera with a knowing smile and a wry grin
Even after witnessing such destructive purposeless
Next time it’s at my front door I’d have a hard time not letting it in
What no one tells you about men who disappear into madness is sometimes they welcomed it
What no one tells you about being smothered by sadness is sometimes the smothering can be kinda comforting
Can’t get much closer, can’t get much closer than this
I’m scared of the future there’s always something amiss
Can’t get much closer, can’t get much closer than this
I’m scared of the future there’s always something and
I walk in my room and I kick off my work boots
My bed is unmade but in a good way
I can live with the nostalgia and the shame
When I change my name
Let the memories fade
Let the sunlight in
Let the music change
Let the people sing
Let the stars collide
Let the bastards win
Let the memories die
Become everything
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3. |
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Put me on lexapro
A couple of days ago
Said I’ll experience nausea
It’ll help with the mania
I can handle the turbulence
I don’t like that I’m used to it
I can’t stand the uncertainty
What the fuck do you want from me?
Was this just all for inspiration?
Was I getting ideas above my station?
Things were already terrible
Upped the stakes to unbearable
I am becoming paranoid
I am falling into the void
But as much as you can get used to something like this
I am getting used to it
Put me on duloxetine
Felt more like ketamine
Was this just all for inspiration?
Was I getting ideas above my station?
Was this just public relations!?
I always felt a little fear suddenly it’s so very here
I always heard a little voice can’t drown it out not with all my noise
Was this just all for inspiration?
Was I getting ideas above my station?
Was this just public relations!?
Everyone is lying to you for money
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4. |
Dilute
03:24
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City is grey but it's glowing in silver
We took cigarette breaks on the bench by the river
Your hair brushed my cheek as I bumped your shoulder
Are you trying to get close or is it just getting colder?
And the fireworks out but the darkness won’t come
Are you following me am I just playing dumb?
At the door to your flat you fumble for keys and I’m listening
I said everyone is in love but me and I told it to the trees and they couldn’t give a fuck
At the restaurant at the after party said you had to leave thought that I was out of luck
You put your number in my phone
We are listening to sad dance music
coming up in the afternoon
Our bad behaviour had such good excuses
I start to think that might be the honeymoon
You’ve got magic you’ve got music and I promise I will never dilute
Everyone is in love but me and I told it to the trees and they couldn’t give a fuck
In the restaurant at the after party said you had to leave thought that I was out of luck
You put your number in my phone
I can fix your broken shower but I can’t make your boyfriend love you
Let's steal away on a magic hour a dappled sun-lit winter afternoon
Everyones in love but me and I told it to the trees and they told me to go home
From the restaurant at the after party I had to leave you put your number in my phone
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5. |
Life After Football
04:45
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I couldn’t see a thing but I could hear destruction in the dark
Corrugated iron and timber rip and wrench my roof apart
As each tree fell it felt like the earth was trying to catch its breath
Tunnels of wind whipped through the hills and kicked the forest half to death
Everything was already falling it’s just falling faster now
The power lines frantic like cut snakes in the wind that brought them down
My shady lane was torn to shreds, a mess of dirty brown and green
I threw my bag over my head, headed where I said I’d try to be
Once in a lifetime you get days like these
There’s sure been a lot of once in a lifetimes lately
You rescued me on the main road up near the footy ground
Now I’m masked up and sanitised in a hotel in my hometown
The army established a post on Ballan-Daylesford Road
It was a couple days of hope til I knew if I still had a home
My hideout deep among the trees it had nearly flattened me
I still hear the wind whip through the clearing when I’m trying to fall asleep
The last few weeks the world felt fast what I’m learning to understand
If you tread water for so long your feet feel unstable on land
Once in a lifetime you get days like these
There’s sure been a lot of once in a lifetimes lately
Nobody thinks about life after football
Everyone swears they live in the future
I didn’t know we were moving the goalposts
Much less tearing them down forever
You told us we were invincible
You showed us you didn’t care
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6. |
Black T-Shirt
02:03
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I am poison in a black t-shirt
Underneath it I do not work
Chemical morning with the midnight sun
I taste detergent on my deterred tongue
What would I tell you if you had my voice?
Would I recognise myself in the noise?
All these little things I lie about
Just make it easy when I get found out
Just make it easy
You are sleeping in my black t-shirt
You always pick the ones I’ve worn to work
How can I explain to you days like these?
I cannot be awake I cannot be
I worry one day I will lose my mind
I worry one day that I will lose everything
Never treated myself all that kind
What have I achieved with all of this time?
Just make it easy
Don’t turn around
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7. |
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I watched the MCC mafia all descend
A dark cloud all dressed up in Polo Ralph Lauren
Was immediately swept up into them
Just out here talking ‘bout normal things with my fellow normal men
Held my hand up to my chest felt it tighten
Poured alcohol all over my best intentions
I was already on the outside looking in
Talking about negative gearing with your old school friends
Talking ‘bout negative gearing, baby
I notice stains on my 3XL black t shirt
My purple painted nails are all caked up in dirt
“Those tattoos did you do them yourself? Did they hurt?
Are you sleeping with the fans? How much money do you earn?”
And I was gonna be the leader of the youth
And I was gonna be the Jason of the group
But now I’m stuck here making the smallest talk with you about
Negative gearing, private schools
Negative gearing and in-ground swimming pools
No ones better at cocaine than these young Liberals
And that’s both true to life and entirely metaphorical
No one here came to complain, I can’t help but feel the same
I will hide in the bathroom and I’ll forget your name
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8. |
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I keep dreaming that my hairs falling out
I wake up and fill a whole day with doubt
I’m still hurting and I don’t know how long
Til society feels like where I belong
People are planets and planets move slow
In elliptic orbit around what they know
All this time in silence all this time apart
Accustomed to inside blowing up the dark
I was working on my birthday
Working on your birthday
What was it all for?
If I’m just gonna do nothing forever
I don’t wanna do nothing forever
I keep dreaming that I’m falling off a cliff
I don’t try stop the drop I just go with it
Then I kick the pillow and I wake the dog who doesn’t understand why I just feel lost
What do we do when football season ends?
What is the difference between weekdays and weekends?
My energy sapped by my weekly check-ins
Hold it together while nothing happens
Hold it together
I was working on my birthday
Working on your birthday
What was it all for?
It’s just me and all of the other sexy Germans spinning through the atmosphere
Spent 50 Euro on weed in the park and I got ripped off but I don’t care
We are hanging out with the setting sun
Our shared language is smiles and its drugs
I’m happy here lost and carefree
The whole world is so far away from me
I don’t wanna do nothing forever
I’m not gonna be someone for everyone but I don’t wanna be no one forever
Life feels pointless the distance breaks my heart
Killing time waiting for the world to start
Stay strong in the face of the fear
That good news don’t stay good for long around here
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9. |
Elvis
02:22
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This was gonna be the party
When did I start acting badly?
Lied to me while I was sleeping
I lied to you bout my body
We can talk about the old days
Finish each other in familiar ways
Is there anybody else like me?
Antithalian, pernoctalian, I’m an alien
All my emo friends are DJs
They’re making minimalist music for the cocaine cowboys to play
I was a big ball of enthusiasm getting off the train
Now I’m a broken birthday banner lying trampled in the rain
I was walking in slow motion, doubting even my own devotion
But I’m too old now to be this uncomfortable
Got my privilege kept my addictions functional
Is there anybody else like me?
Antithalian, pernoctalian I’m an alien
I feel like Elvis circa ‘77
Consume, consume, consume then die
I’m the corpse of the king getting drop kicked out of heaven
Sitting in the car park getting high
I’m fat, dead, Elvis getting high
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10. |
Nightmare
03:59
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It’s 7 am and I have nothing to say, countdown the minutes til you motor away
Every action has an equal or opposite reaction you should write that on your hand
We sit so snug in the tension getting angry at things I don’t trust myself to mention
Examining the intricate detail of the stain on the ceiling pleading with you to understand
That I’m not working for the government
I’m not working for the man
I am also scared of everything
I think we should still make plans
You’re here now you’re gone and I watched everything change
I got new sheets my furniture got rearranged and I tattooed a few things on myself
Just cause I am sleeping on new stains doesn’t mean I don’t lie awake with old pains
My new life so big and so empty makes everything I own seem so damn small
I’m not working for the government
I’m not working for the dole
I also want to fix everything
I think I’ll help you stand tall
Push me up against the bedroom wall
And everything is so much better now than before
Why don’t I feel any better than I did before?
Called me to talk about your nightmare
And I wanted to but didn’t care
Called me to talk about yourself again
Called me to talk about yourself
Wanted to tell me about your dreams
And the inconvenience of mine
Called me to talk about yourself again
Called me to talk about yourself
I’m not working for the government
I’m not working much at all
I am also scared of everything
I think I’ll help.
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11. |
I Deserve Love
05:18
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Walked to your house in the dark with bleeding palms and nothing but intentions
Lit myself with your spark, span around and ripped down my defences
Convince us both of all the places we’ll go
I’m no better now than I was before
Would you like me more if I was less like you?
If I was less like you would you like me more?
I deserve love I don’t think that enough
I’m uncomfortable around people I can’t lie too, I cannot lie to you
The sky out here is massive it wraps you like a blanket
The memories we share our lives with cannot hurt us when we’re in it
Convince us both of all the places we’ll go
I’m no better now than I was before
Would you like me more if I was l less like you if I was less like you would you like me more?
Would you like me less if I was more like you if I was less like you would you like me more?
I deserve love I don’t think that enough
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The Smith Street Band Melbourne, Australia
Our 6th album 'Life After Football' is out now
vinyl/cd/tape from artistfirst.com.au
The Smith Street Band recommends:
Everything's Coming Up...
by Milhouse
Because it is the happiest pop punkiest record ever!!
go to album
Wils new record Spiralling!
go to albumIf you like The Smith Street Band, you may also like:
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supported by 33 fans who also own “Life After Football”
The verse "Can't even buy a coffee without exploiting someone" got me. It really hits hard. For the entire length of the album it felt like the end of the world. But to be perfectly honest, it's just how life is these days. And it's fucked up.
go to album
Another perfect release from contemporary emo powerhouse Run for Cover records.
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Excellent emo with a noise pop twist from a new Cambridge label.
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