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"No Dying Breed" Explanation




The ninth track on 'Volume II' is a song I'd wanted to write in some fashion for a while, and, if I recall correctly, it was actually a last-minute addition to the record. The song opens with a phone recording of me playing the main riff on an acoustic just sitting in front of my computer at my house. This is probably how about half of the guitar riffs I write start off (I have around a thousand voice messages saved on my phone right now, and the vast majority of them are random riff ideas), and I thought that would be a cool way to kick off this track given the subject.

"No Dying Breed" is about persevering and staying true to my beliefs and my artistic vision in spite of the disapproval or disinterest of others. I've had conversations with people who just couldn't grasp the logic of putting so much effort and energy into something that yields such small return, financially. (To a degree, I can kind of understand where that's coming from. I do think it would be foolish, even immoral, for me to completely devote everything I have to music at the expense of the well-being of my household. I don't think me forcing my wife to live in a van with me and eat out of dumpsters because I'm chasing my dream would be right.) But I think it's really sad to reduce EVERYTHING in life to how financially profitable it is. I love music. I love heavy metal. I've heard songs that have given me a new perspective or the strength to carry on when I didn't feel like I could, and I hope to be able to create art that will do the same for others. It used to bother me hearing family or friends condescendingly talk about me putting so much time into creating music, but I've come to understand that people are just different. Not everyone gets it, and that's ok. I see the value in it, whether everyone around me does or not, and that's enough.


The same applies (and infinitely more) to my faith in Christ. No amount of ridicule or exclusion or whatever else will change what I see and have seen in Him. I hope I will always gladly endure whatever comes as a cost of following Jesus. He has loved me like no one else. All the riches and fame I could imagine in exchange for my relationship with my King would be the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals.


Regard me a loss, a waste, a blemish upon this place

I felt it cut to my soul


With the opening lyrics, I'm saying people can think whatever they want about me. "I felt it cut to my soul" effectively has three meanings here. The first is extreme sarcasm, like, "Oh no. Your negative opinion of me is such a crushing blow." The lesser of the other two meanings speaks in reference to music and the times certain songs have resonated so deeply with me. The final meaning pertains to the Gospel. The Word of God has cut me to my core and I can't unsee the Truth to which my eyes have been opened.


Your life embraced was death by another name

This pain will carry me home This is about the idea of just giving up music and/or abandoning my faith altogether. Working my entire life away and never experiencing the joy of doing what I love to do, just so I could make a little more money, would make me miserable. And turning my back on the very source of life and strength and hope would leave me more dead than physically dying. "This pain will carry me home" means that my purpose is to be found in the struggles I face as a result of pursuing what my soul truly needs and desires, not in the immediate ease of giving up and doing whatever it is my society insists that I do.


My fate was never bound to your design

Don't need you to believe

And I may be the last one of my kind

But I'm no dying breed

I don't have to live my life in compliance with the expectations of my peers, and as nice as it is to have their support, it isn't a prerequisite for my success. I particularly like the last half of this chorus. In most instances, saying someone's a "dying breed" and saying they're "the last of their kind" mean exactly the same thing. In making a distinction here, I'm emphasizing the "dying" portion of the latter phrase. That is to say: Even if I'm the last one of my kind, I'm not quitting. I'm not giving up, in relation to both my musical endeavors and my faith. In regard to faith specifically, this is also a reference to eternal life.

There exists a fight in me, unbroken by your disbelief

No man can take it away

I know the light I've seen, the river that washed me clean

It will forever remain


Again, no amount of derision can change the life, peace, hope, joy that I've experienced through Jesus. He will never fail, and there is nothing this world could hope to offer that would even begin to compare with the value of knowing and being known by Him.


Never a path unworn

Never a son to brave the storm

Never a victor born

But did the blind and the faithless scorn


The lyrics of the bridge are a reminder to myself and to anyone else that one will never do anything worth doing without having to endure some amount of resistance. There's likely never been someone to accomplish something that hasn't already been done who hasn't had to deal with being mocked or doubted by ignorant or bitter people. If you have a worthwhile vision, learn to find encouragement even in others doubting it.

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