You hung me like a picture, now I’m just a frame
I used to be your lap dog, now I’m just a stray
Shackled in a graveyard, left here to decay
Left here to decay, left here to decay,
I’m rusted from the rain

Rusted from the Rain, Billy Talent III

I first discovered, and fell in love with, Billy Talent in Grade 12. It was instant attachment when I witnessed the music video, understood the lyrics, and felt the music of Nothing to Lose. The attachment strengthened more when the number for Kids’ Help Phone was displayed at the end of the video, and became rock solid over the years listening to the messages that Billy Talent has touched on throughout their discography.

As noted on their latest cd (freshly purchased at the concert I attended last week at the Stampede Corral in Calgary) when uploaded into iTunes, they are a punk band. Their Wikipedia page lists alternative rock, post-hardcore, and melodic punk. I wouldn’t really know how to describe them; maybe “not everyone’s cup of tea” but there’s just SOMEthing about everything about them…A few somethings.

1) Though I am certainly no music critic, aficionado, or punk fan overall, there is something distinct and recognizable about every song. Either the drum beat gets right to your core and drives the song the whole way through; or the lead guitar zings into your heart, soul, or need for anger-releasing power. See how UN proper-music-terminology-ical I am? So often a song can’t be separated into parts and teased out –  it just all HAS to be there to be that song – with most Billy Talent songs you can easily isolate the percussion, the lead guitar, the bass, the vocal; yet they just fit together so seamlessly and powerfully as a whole also.

2) Ben Kowalewicz has the most incredibly unique voice; it’s nearly impossible to NOT know when you hear a Billy Talent song.

3) Every song has a story, message, meaning. If you listen, there’s something going on. Suicide, bullying, depression, prostitution, multiple sclerosis, the state of the world – big stuff.

4) They’re Canadian, so that’s awesome.

I could include videos and lyrics for toooo many songs. Here’s the video for Nothing to Lose (Billy Talent, 2003) and the lyrics for Crooked Minds (Dead Silence, 2012)

Crooked minds have gone astray
Have they never learned from yesterday?
Only a fool would wear the crown
One day the kids will tear it down

Can’t you see the clocks are ticking away?
They try to fit more hours into the day
The CPU is crunching numbers away
We’re running out breath just to keep up the pace

And when did the revolver start the race?
When did the revolver start the race?

Accelerated architecture creates
A manufactured lifestyle for the deranged
They swallow up the green and build up the grey
And let tomorrows kids dispose of today

And when do you think the roof will bottom out?
When do you think the roof will bottom out?

Crooked minds ain’t satisfied
‘Til the ground touches the sky
(The kids will tear it down)
Touches the sky
(The kids will tear it down)

Cemetery statue stare into space
Sucked into a social media craze
They’re looking for an answer to explain
The reason why disaster strikes again

A picture perfect family sits at the lake
Swimming in a sea of mechanical waste
And can’t they see a tragedy awaits?
Can’t they see a tragedy awaits?

Cauterize these bloodshot eyes
Tangled in their power lines
Tear the ground up with their knives
Raise the caskets in the sky
Someday soon they’ll realize
Nothing’s left for you and I
Nothing’s left for you and I