Once again, real life disrupts my creativity. I spent this last month worrying about tons of things I had very little control over. For this ‘New Music Monday’ I had hoped to review some new entry which was more listener-friendly so that more readers would be inclined to check it out instead of my thrash, in-your-face, angry, the-system-is-against-me, music.

Sorry. I ran out of time. Out of due diligence, I’m opting to fall back on an old reliable. Now, it sort of just fell into my lap and maybe that’s what makes this review even more appropriate. This is one of my favorite groups of all time. I only have three groups where no matter what they release; I’ll fawn over it no matter how horribly it sounds or resemble the aural equivalent to excrement. And this is one of them.

Authority Zero is back together after taking a little break with the new release “Stories of Survival.” I love this fricking band and always felt like if I were to ever have pursued music with my little brother, this is what it would sounds like. For the uninitiated Authority Zero is loud with a heavy influence of ska, reggae, and skate punk. Successfully and efficiently, it channels my inner-13 year old adolescent.


Before I go into the review which will obviously be ‘unbiased,’ let me explain my obsession. It was summer 2004 and we’d been through an absolute shit stain of a year. Unbeknownst to us, it was going to get a little worse. We moved up to Seattle from Long Beach as our lives took a dramatic turn with the loss of my brother, the pregnancy of my wife, the dysfunction of my job, and the impending terminal illness of my mother-in-law.

While looking for a house, my pregnant wife and I were living with my mother-in-law in her little rambler in the hood. It was a small place with my wife, me, my mother-in-law, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s son all to live. No privacy and one hell of a commute to work. One night, the five and half of us were watching Third Watch. Bored by the episode, I remember hearing a song at the end of the show which hit me hard. The show was good at locking in great music at the end as the story was wrapping up. Once, even Green Day and “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams” was used.

Anyway. The song was “Find Your Way” by Authority Zero. I was on the internet, searching out newsgroups and threads the next day to find out who the hell this band was. And after work, I hit Best Buy and picked up “Andiamo.” That record was life changing. I’ll always remember everything my wife and I went through in 2004 and 2005. Authority Zero is my life then, just as it is now.

So this is less about a review and more about how music can map your life. It marks major intersections with signage on your life’s journey. Forever, “Andiamo” will mark loss in my life and the start of a great family. In a coincidental parallel to then, we’re going through major life changes now. And again Authority Zero releases a record which zeros in on my soul with laser-targeting accuracy.

“Stories of Survival” is just that, a collection of stories of making your way through the chaos of life and holding on to the few things that matter; your faith, your friends, and your family. Don’t get me wrong here; it’s edgy, fast, and loud just like my life. But get past that and listen to the message in the lyricism. Jason DeVore is an incredible storyteller who can capture emotion and bottle it like lightning. This record is what feelings sound like.

To make this easy on you, I’m not going to subject you to my weak musical assessments. Instead, I ‘m going to note a few songs and the poignant lyrics of each which really connected with me. I hope this will encourage you to find music out there which, just like a very close friend, will take care of you in your formative times.

“Brick in the Wave” – Do you remember acting up and acting out. Not following the herd Now they see it in your eyes. Your actions speaking first as you rise with a will to survive.

“Get it Right” – No you’re not dead, no not quite yet. This is your time, How far will you take it?

“Crashland” – As we stand in awkward silence, and we see these crazy things. As this world goes on corrupted, we lose sight of our being.

“Liberateducation” – Here we go again. Liberated and alive, with unrelenting words and a strong will to survive.

I know that listening to a genre of music like this can be a little intimidating and even tiring. It’s loud and fast. But don’t discredit the purity in the emotion that created it. Those feelings are woven through the lyrics. Because of all that my wife and I have endured over the years and even now, Authority Zero is knotted to the thread of my existence. People are always looking for a signs to guide you. For me, I found it in this music.

While your preferences may differ greatly from mine, I encourage you to open yourself to the healing powers of feelings put to sound. Whether you like Dave Brubeck, David Hasselhoff, Cher, or Authority Zero, there’s a message out there specifically tailored for your heart. You just got to listen and your life will change.

A great song can easily be judged by how influential it is when you connect with it the first time your hear it and how it never grows old no matter how many million times you listen to it. It’s always relevant to you.

Last Tuesday was a big day musically for me as three of my favorite artists released records. And while this isn’t ‘New Music Monday,’ I can’t help but talk a little bit about a song on one of the albums that made me breakdown a little and think about where I’m at in my life. In a gross understatement that only my wife will get, this has been a ‘busy’ month.

So this is about a song. Listening to it has restored the value and energy I have in my faith and my perseverance as a person. Everything I do has purpose and my effort and belief will be reward despite the disruptions along the way. You see, new employment opportunities, selling the house that both of my children have always known as home, not having a new residence for a destination, and just growing up and trying to be more responsible has really wore me down lately.

Before I go any further, those of you readers who receive email updates, I strongly recommend going to the actual ourowncountry.blogspot.com to get the audible aid in the form of music. And if I can off one more piece of advice…..turn it up LOUD.

I’ve literally listened to this song a hundred times. Each time the result is tears of joy. This is what I’d define as the reason for music. That is; music is what emotions sounds like. If you’ve been following the chronicles of my family and our never-ending life-changing decisions, you know that we once again at a crossroads. And while I have support in every corner of my life, I find that at the end of the day, the accountability for success falls squarely on my shoulders. Lately, I’ve worried greatly about letting everyone down in my house. I look at Son #1 and wonder how can mix his life up like this.


While occasionally you get to make decisions where there are clear successes and failures, typically, our life-changing decision don’t carry the simplicity of these results. They take years to truly evaluate their ramifications. But despite all of the ambiguity in these decisions, I’ve always tried to do my best to evaluate the best answers to our complex problems. And for the first time in my life, I am scared that I risked too much.

Enter Authority Zero and “Get it Right.” Succinctly, it captures what I’m feeling in sound. Twisted thoughts, contrived truths, and misled observations. Here I sit; trying to make the best decisions I can and worry about getting it right. I keep poking my head into harm’s way. I’m scared as hell that I’m going to screw this up and my family will resent the torture I’ll be putting them through. Just the other night after work, I sat with Son #1 on my lap and asked him if he trusted that I would do what is best for him and his brother. I started to break down as I muttered out the question. I couldn’t breathe and I could feel my anxiety begin to creep in to my consciousness. As I sputtered out the words in between tears, Son #1 leaned in closer to me, smiled that big cheesy smile, and said yes, he trusts me.

To cap off the emotion which is gushing like a BP oil spill in the Gulf, this song is like and old friend who knows just what to say, sometimes what not to say, and when and where to say or not to say it. “Get it Right” put a definition on how I’m feeling and how I carry along. Of course my description of the song and my emotions are somewhat irrelevant tot the reader. As with emotion, music is also extremely personal and wildly introspective. But how great is it to have something so esoteric, yet so poignant that connects with you and makes you feel a little more comfortable with the discomfort of life?


Right now, I’m just hoping someday I’ll get it right.