This is The Anthem, the place we’re telling tales behind traditional songs by interviewing the individuals who have been actually there. This week, we’re touching on AFI’s riotous 2003 single “Girl’s Not Grey.”
In 2003, the bases have been loaded for Bay Area hardcore punks AFI. Following the discharge of 5 genre-defining albums on the indie powerhouse label Nitro Records, AFI determined to make the soar to the most important leagues of DreamWorks Records for the discharge of their sixth studio album, Sing The Sorrow.
The launch propelled them from the common-or-garden phases of sweaty punk golf equipment like 924 Gilman Street to huge arenas, the place they’d change into mainstream rock darlings who would dominate the airwaves of MTV and TRL for years to come back. Possessing a extra post-hardcore, goth, and, at instances, new-wave sound, Sing The Sorrow served as an ideal transitional report for the beloved group as they ventured into extra melodic and accessible territory.
Despite being written on the eleventh hour, the album’s lead single, “Girl’s Not Grey,” ended up being the group’s mainstream breakthrough launch and went on to change into one of the vital recognizable songs in their catalog, which stays a everlasting staple in their riotous stay reveals to at the present time. In the early ‘00s, “Girl’s Not Grey” was virtually inescapable, because the music video directed by David Slade (who’s since directed films like The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and 30 Days of Night) always performed on MTV. The frequent programming made sense, as a result of not solely was the observe itself a hit, Slade created a surprising, Alice in Wonderland-inspired idea and set design that captured the band’s unparalleled gothic aesthetic, and even helped to introduce recurring themes and characters that turned central items in AFI’s distinctive model of images.
Centered round melodic guitar strains, locked-in rhythm sections, gang vocals, and the spectacular vary of the band’s inimitable frontman Davey Havok, “Girl’s Not Grey” might maintain a candle to any pop tune that was dominating the radio on the time, whereas nonetheless satiating even essentially the most punk purists. Havok’s poetic wordplay, whereas darkish and ambiguous, managed to captivate listeners with ease — even when nearly all of folks singing alongside weren’t sure they knew what the tune was actually about.
[Photo by Matthew Welsh]
The genesis
JADE PUGET (GUITAR): This tune is definitely completely different from every other tune on [Sing The Sorrow]. We had principally completed writing the report, however on the very finish, we determined we’d attempt to write yet one more tune. I wanted a change of surroundings to get into a special headspace, so I went to Toronto, Ontario to put in writing some extra and thought if nothing comes from it that’s tremendous, as a result of we already had a cool report already. I sat in a lodge room for just a few days and wrote the music of the tune, in addition to the [verse] melody, and got here again with simply that and confirmed it to Davey [Havok]. From there, he wrote the lyrics to the verse and I helped provide you with the call-and-response factor [in the chorus].
ADAM CARSON (DRUMS): Being the primary single [for the album], we needed the tune to showcase every part that AFI is and was on the time. It’s a melodic, anthemic refrain with the gang vocals, and it’s an up-tempo tune that has a pacing that was in all probability a bit bit quicker than quite a lot of stuff on the radio on the time. With the quieter, moody, broken-down middle-eight, it’s actually all of the hallmarks of the band on the time. It’s a tune that actually works as the primary tune in a set, which is why I believe we’ve performed that tune in all probability greater than something. It’s humorous as a result of as I’m rehearsing and getting ready for the Sing The Sorrow anniversary present we’re taking part in [next month], I’m all the time shocked after I see that “Girl’s Not Grey” is the sixth tune on the report.
PUGET: I imagine that I voted for it to be the primary tune on the report, however I used to be the one one.
[Photo by Ross Haflin]
The lyrics
PUGET: It’s arduous to talk for [Davey], however I do know that his intentionality is often clouded in mystique as he needs it. He does not put concepts on the market that may be simply parsed and he’s a kind of “you figure out” type of guys. I all the time thought the tune’s refrain was type of humorous as a result of the lyrics say, “What follows, just begs to be imbrued,” and imbrued shouldn’t be a phrase anybody ever makes use of. For a tune on mainstream radio that has these weird, opaque lyrics, I’m shocked it did in addition to it did. No one needs to sing alongside to a phrase like imbrued.
CARSON: I’ve been singing these backing vocals for 20 years now and my spouse lately requested me what the lyrics have been and I noticed I didn’t fairly know. I had change into so conditioned to singing the melody and cadence of these strains however probably not figuring out what I used to be singing.
PUGET: There are just a few AFI songs that I’m certain that I’m in all probability simply singing my very own made-up lyrics to. [Laughs.]
The music video
HUNTER BURGAN (BASS): I keep in mind [the director] David Slade carried round this little pocket book with drawings of rabbits as a result of rabbits have been his factor. At the time, Davey was additionally closely into rabbits, in order that they immediately bonded over that and knew we needed to have them in there someway.
CARSON: It was our first time ever making an actual big-budget music video. We didn’t know what to anticipate going into it, however strolling into the soundstage and seeing the large set that was constructed with the hills and psychedelic landscapes with the pink and timber was fairly full on. It was thrilling to be part of one thing that felt so massive.
PUGET: I’ll say with the pink, the leaves, and the hills, it was a extremely stunning set, particularly in individual. Compared to the opposite half the place we’re painted black, which was type of janky, the [set] half was actually cool. I keep in mind David Slade having quite a lot of nervous power, and he used to chew on his sweater, which I believe was a approach for him to harness his nascent inherent power.
CARSON: The bunny that’s featured within the video was truly worn by an actor, and we lately unearthed the bunny swimsuit in a storage locker at our administration’s workplace, so we gifted it to the Punk Rock Museum that’s opening in Las Vegas.
PUGET: For $1.99, you’ll be able to put on it and stroll across the museum.
CARSON: I additionally keep in mind the actor who was taking part in the bunny took some steps and tripped over one thing and type of fell in sluggish movement. The complete time he was beginning to fall, you can hear this bunny going, “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”
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