When I was young,
I saw something more
Than books and school
When I was young
Many years ago, I decided that I wanted to perform. This dream is never easy, as an “artist’s life” is never easy. There is no money. There is a lot of criticism. There is a lot of turmoil. There is going to be a lot of hard times. There will be fights. There will be a lot of anger.
But in creating art, we’re able to put a little part of ourselves into something, whether it’s a song, a performance, a story, a painting, a dance… and you hope that that piece of work conveys your feelings to another person. When I write the lyrics to a song, I want to literally take myself in the moment, what I am feeling, and dump it into a song. The reason I do this is usually selfish: it is cathartic to write songs, and I almost always write songs when I am super-charged. It’s how I deal with shit.
After a failed stint at acting, I dove into music. You can read about how the other Rugs and I met and how I was welcomed into this band in this post here, but a year into it, I was set. I loved that I finally felt free when I was performing, and finally, after many years, had some semblance of how to actually write the lyrics and melody for a song. The guys — Ian, Matt and Ali — they all made me better. They were patient while I found my confidence. They helped me learn how to write songs. They allowed me to pretend I was a competent keyboardist (I am not). And through all that, Persian Rugs grew into something that is very special to me.
Persian Rugs has seen a lot of hard times the past three years as we wrote and recorded our album. Everyone has been asking us, what’s the delay? Where’s the album? But we’re doing this all on our own dime and time, and without any label support, it can be difficult. There were times when I was worried the album was never going to come. And through all this, we all went through our own personal shit. And I kept dumping that personal shit into the songs, as I’m sure the rest of the Rugs did. And then, miraculously, the album was finished this summer. And it felt extremely satisfying.
As I listen to these songs we have made, I want to cringe sometimes because I’ve written things that are so deeply personal, they instantly take me right back to the place I was in when I wrote them. I usually write songs when I can’t process what I’m going through. And from all that, I’ve moved on. So I don’t cringe; I am proud of us for making something very real and true. And I hope that when people listen, they don’t necessarily hear our stories, but that they hear their own stories conveyed in what we’ve done.
We have to thank: Ryan Haslett, Jay Lemak and Jason Richer for recording us. We have to thank Thomas D’arcy, Jay Lemak and Adam Trozzolo for mixing. We have to thank Brandon Hocura and Mark Murray for mastering at Polyphasic Studios.
And mostly, I have to thank Ian, Matt and Ali for allowing me to do this with them, for working so hard on something that’s so special to us, and for being on this wild ride with me.
So, sit back, and listen to the sounds of Persian Rugs on This is OK for Now.