So the last song I wrote on this album was the song that has been in me for a long time; Leave Scars. The baseline was this little simple kind of dark line that I use to play sitting in my bedroom for as far as been playing music.
When we looked at all the songs we had I realized we needed another one or two songs. I pulled this one out it’s nothing special nothing extraordinary at least at the time, just a filler, but it had something more brewing inside.
Having to write lyrics I wanted to Lyrically go even deeper then my normal cheesy rock lyrics.
After speaking to my now 26 year-old daughter when she was about 14.
She confided in me that she used to cut herself and that she was depressed and the cutting made her feel something. It broke my heart but I stayed strong and sat and listened. Cutting is a big epidemic especially among teenage girls and it’s something that not even the father can fix but we can help our children recover from.
I thought if I can just help one or two with the story I can tell about my daughter (who actually has grown up to be a very strong intelligent woman) and how she got through it and that these girls are not alone. Then it would be worth it. And the lyrics started to flow.
As we got down to mixing the song we threw some basic live drums on top of that little bass line some electronic drums and some keyboards. some dark clean vocals (that I’m not used to doing) the hook came out of it “we leave scars do you wear the mark?”
Being stuck with making it sound Bigger and all-around better, I enlisted my friend Mark “Gemini” Thwaite Who is a very underrated brilliant musician and songwriter. He has played with the likes of Mission UK, Peter Murphy and one of my favorites Gary Numan.
He quickly took to the song and added some brilliant guitar playing in the choruses some extra keys and some more heavy bass. Still not satisfied I knew it was heading in the right direction I spoke to a good friend Michael Ciravolo who has been in the L.A. Post punk rock and Goth scene here in Hollywood for a long time with bands like Human Drama and Gene Loves Jezebel. He added a few more layers of guitar in the verses and all over the song and I gave both of them free reign to add their own feel and styles to the song. It was practically there so I added better vocals some more keys but there was still one missing ingredient.
At the same time I met a friend online who was battling cancer. We had the same sense of humor; And after watching a few of his many videos of him playing guitar I thought, this song is even bigger than just my daughter and young girls cutting themselves. Scars are battle wounds of life and this man had many of them. Once told he had a few months to live he has now stretched it out over seven plus years. So I asked him if he would do A lead on the song. I figured I would have a great lead from a great guitar player as well as be able to immortalize him on a song which will allow him to live forever. I recognized the battle he was fighting and what the song could mean to him and have now meant to him Since then.
Don’t hide your scars,wear them… be proud of them… they prove you’ve lived and that you continue to live.
I hope the song means just as much too many of you as it meant to me and all the people that helped create it.