Rubber Bullets Salt & Battery CD

A Salt and Battery is the first of three “themed” albums to be released by “the rubber bullets”, a band based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. A Salt and Battery examines the many facets of “man’s inhumanity to man” (and woman and, to a lesser extent, barnyard animals – see “Crow”) and is to be followed by “Domestic Violins” (relationship-themed) and Carp per Diem (songs with a somewhat “philosophical” bent). It is the observation of this…well, observer (observationist?) that a dogmatic, lecturing or “preachy” tone on such subject matter is likely to lead to drooping eyelids, stupor and a general somnambulant malaise (and, in extreme examples, rolling eyes, tapping feet and outright resentment) which deters any “point” from being made. Therefore, the “rubber bullets” approach on “A Salt and Battery” is to utilize humor, with an emphasis on sarcasm and an “over-the-top” delivery, to highlight behaviors and attitudes which we find to be ignorant and/or stupid (defined as: ignorance can be cured with an infusion of knowledge, whereas stupid is a permanent and possibly genetic deficiency which renders the victim incapable of assimilating said knowledge and, in many cases, leads to the perversion and misuse of the information in question), intolerant (see “stupid”), vain, selfish, deceitful, avaricious and destructive (all sub-categories of the afore-mentioned “stupid”). It is not incumbent upon any observer to agree with our point of view (when is it ever, anyway?). We understand that the “train brain” tendencies (stuck on a pre-determined track from which one is unable to deviate without catastrophic results) of those we critique preclude conversion of the opposition. It is our goal, in approaching a given scenario from “left field” (and, in some cases, the bleachers or even the parking lot) to shed a slightly different light on the subject which may lead to an altered perception by the listener, with humor serving as the “spoonful of sugar”. And as a “value added” benefit, to perhaps generate just the teensiest bit of embarrassment or shame in those who see their actions or attitudes portrayed herein (assuming they possess that capacity). We are also a great proponent of “run-on” sentences (as if you hadn’t noticed!).The songs on A Salt and Battery address youthful angst and abuses (Burning Papa’s House Down, Unforgiving Innocence), predatory relationships (Gonna Love You), the legal system (Playing the Game), self-serving deception (Shadows in a Darkened Room), marketing/politics (Crow, Ordinary Mind), Right-Wing testosterone overload (Tough) bigotry (One Race, One Color) and violence of all types (Full Gutters, Broken Bird, Aliens, Shot in the Back, Annihilation Island). A Salt and Battery represents a veritable cornucopia of degenerate depravity, skewed and skewered for your enjoyment! As to the music, we are a product of the Seventies (say it now and say it loud!) with all the influences of that magnificently diverse and vibrant era (why does it seem that so many people think “disco” when the ‘70’s are mentioned? We had so many ground-breaking and influential artists appear or hit their stride in that decade – Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Who, The Stones, Steely Dan, CSNY, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Ian Hunter, James Taylor, The Eagles, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Todd Rundgren, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues – heck, the Beatles released Abbey Road in the Seventies! And, yes, I know I’m leaving out many luminaries who deserve mention, but these are our influences). And a major hallmark of the artists mentioned above is that they refused to narrow their creative impulses to a particular “style” or “genre”, they refused to be “pigeon-holed” into a sub-category! They wrote music in any style that appealed to them at the moment, rega