Shark

Hey, let's go down to hell
When the north wind rings the bell
Bring your sister's shell
Out here, it's so hard to sell

Kill her secrets, one by one
Sacrifice to the sun

Hey, this will surely be fun
We'll never tell the nun

"Shark" is me having a lot of fun with unleashing my inner demon. Lyrically, it's a lot of word-play and tongue-in-cheek stuff, but when I ponder what this character actually means, it's rather disturbing.

About a song: Shark (1)
Category: Music

As I said, I am now a generally happy person. Well, "happy" is a funny word -- maybe more like content, satisfied, and grateful. I have to admit that my kids are totally my source of contentment. Just try sitting next to a quietly engaged 10-month-old boy, banging away at his toys with his little hand, eyes wide open, totally immersed in the most simplest of activities. The whole world is new to him, and his innocence and wonder are so contagious. I just sit there and stare in awe.

I am usually a positive person, but once in a while my walls crack, and I can't control the hurt leaking out.

I realize that most everyone is on the same boat -- we all look OK, all put-together, laughing and joking and acting that life is all good -- but inside it's a different story.

And it is today, October 18, 2007.

My CD went on sale on CDbaby.com. My debut album is released!

My debut album is called "Darkness Reveals the Beauty of Truth."

I'm sure you knew that by now. ;)

One of my favorite lines in the whole album are from the opening track, "Shark." It says:

"Hey, join me in the dark
We'll look for the truth, the shark."

Though DRTBOT (short for "Darkness Reveals the Beauty of Truth) is the first album I am releasing commercially, it's definitely not the first music output.

I am actually a Scorpio. And no, I don't believe in horoscopes.

Then why is it "Aries9?" Thank you. I thought you'd never ask.

Originally, it was going to be "ak9." But that name was taken by a rapper. I considered just releasing it under my real name, or my shortened name, Ari K. But this is a rock record, something you'd expect to hear from a band -- and I very much want it to be a band. Like Foo Fighters, I hope releasing my music first will attract like-minded musicians.

At last, the CDs are here -- all 99 or so copies.  

Actually, taking a copy in my hand, looking at it -- I'm struck by how insignificant it seems.  The music that has been my life-long dream, the songs that soaked up all my blood and sweat and tears -- all on a tiny disc, looking like any other.  Just like everyone else's music.  

I hope it will come to mean something to other people besides me.  I know it will.  I know it will.

The past few weeks, I've been feeling unmotivated. Very. The bulk of my work on the album finished in July, mixing finished in August -- and since then, I've become very uninterested in anything. Movies, music, musical instruments and gear... nothing. Nothing seems engaging. I have to force myself to pay attention. It's as if I've lost the will to live.

I used to have it all wrong.

Before, my goal was on becoming a musician. I even wrote a blog about it recently, because we musicians talk about it all the time. How to "make it." (I deleted that entry when I started this one. I felt weird about posting it anyway -- as if that's not something I should say. Having stumbled on today's topic, it really made it clear to me why I felt weird about that post)

I just finished watching the documentary on Metallica, Some Kind of Monster. I'm not a huge Metallica fan -- I've liked some of their songs, I had a copy of The Black Album on cassette way back (I wouldn't mind owning it again). I've liked St. Anger for its brutal ferouciousness, but haven't bought it because 74 minutes of it would be too much for me.

I think most of the world misunderstand us.

They think we're in it because we wanna get rich and famous. They think it's because it looks cool to be on stage, making faces at screaming fans. They think it's cool to get all the attention -- it somehow validates our existence. We want to succeed, we want to rise to the top, we want to be a household name...

Some of us may have bits of that. I'm sure many of us wouldn't prevent that from happening if it were to happen to us.

I've decided to release my album under a new project name, Aries9. I have made a MySpace page with 4 songs on it. The time has come to start letting my music out to the world. Below is the announcement I wrote for the MySpage page.