April 2012 I was in Oswego and Syracuse for a music tour and on my way to a performance I literally bumped into my talented musical friend Justin Grimes. In an excited tone he asked me what I was up to and if I had some time, he explained he was doing an album of original music for a school project and wanted me to write to a beat. He had his laptop and mic and headphones with him and we could borrow a music practice room as a makeshift recording studio.
I agreed immediately and chose this tribal type beat and set to work writing a sort of cautionary general dystopian/Armageddon piece. We hastily recorded it and no more than 45 minutes after we bumped into one another, this song was born out of nothing but coincidence, friendship and creativity.
The recording/mixing quality isn't perfect, and I'd considered taking these lyrics and forming an AllOne & The Room song, which I may still do, but the story behind the creation of this song, spawned from spontaneity and connection, is exactly what I love music and life for and exactly what this album is meant to communicate.
lyrics
AllOne:
Several digit password enveloped
open up our hearts like umbrellas,
mushroom cloud: acid rain on your plastic parade,
penumbra, madman on the moon
bad moon, crater face, sweet talk. aspartame,
cancer fangs, ascertain the answers begged,
ax to slay your lab rats in cages,
guillotine-aged-waste-land,
be-headed in the wrong direction
settle into morbid segments,
"are we doing A-Okay?"
"You''ll Be okay,
you'll See okay!"
No. We're doing Or-well at best.
Your well's infested with ring worms,
your will and testament video went viral
with an intestinal parasite inside you
are you worried about the big brother's
phone tapping orders,
or mother natures contagions,
contained within your tap water?
Downtrodden, somethings up
We count on our knuckles,
punch the atomic clock,
countdown to self destruct.
7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Ending
Don't criticize "evil",
shaken off, treated like vile fleas,
host's indiscriminate viral vetoes
to all individual lives equal,
lead those four horses to fresh water,
teach them to infest all your "civilized people"
best doctors must offer up their knowledge just
to combat all the microscopic slaughter rushing
out the aqueducts.
arctic floods, hotter summers,
not a winter. not a blizzard.
run the numbers, Geiger counter
Fahrenheit 451, all "rays" all days,
bomb shelters, cabin fever,
off kilter, savage seizures,
six feet trapped beneath
with night crawlers glad to eat you,
baited breath, fates' been fate,
date with death. mark it on your mayan calender!
biological arms embrace intense,
shrouded curse, panic's only thing widespread
nice cleanse, all "down to earth".
Justin:
if you feel like I do you know the ending is soon
all we've got left here is avoidance.
AllOne:
downtrodden somethings up
we count on our knuckles
punch the atomic clock
countdown to self destruct
7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Ending
credits
from We'll Make It Together,
released November 28, 2013
AllOne: Lyrics, Vocals
Justin Grimes: Recording, Mixing, Production, Vocals
Left-field rapper, slam poet, singer/songwriter, and author Bruce Pandolfo from Long Island.
Creating to connect. Obsessively exploring and creating art as healing and growing.
Deeply vivid/introspective lyrics populate this ambitious folk rock project. The arrangements span from mellow/minimal to rocking and grandiose. Consistently emotive, unique and sincere. Brilliance. AllOne
Progressive yet punk, aggro yet emotional. One of my favorite bands from Long Island and doing everything they can to live up to their name, raising money for causes and making badass music, AllOne
supported by 4 fans who also own “Head In The Mushroom Clouds (Justin Grimes)”
I have been listening to variations of this album a long time. I remember I was living in a cardboard dumpster when some young guy was like yo dude it's gonna rain come crash on my couch. He played The Many Faces of Oliver Hart for me. I fell in love, I set my favorite track as Rain because we looped it when the rain came. That was one of the early acts of kindness I received in the nearly 20 years I've been homeless. @NomadRoamsFree