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i love my life when you're around

by the fake boys

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    2017 Animal Style Records #050

    Includes unlimited streaming of i love my life when you're around via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
newz 03:13
i don’t believe in convenient history or the pigs on my tv i don’t think twice and you don’t think once but if we’re bad guys or punks then i think i’m getting off i’m not writing about you because i fucking love you i’m just calling to say i miss the way that you smell in the morning
2.
we breed control feeding the swine anything but soul devolution screams play the insecure but you’re simple and i’m bored we feed our heads with keeping up if you’re not laughing then you’re dead you can’t hate like me or my unstable core because fronts don’t know what they’re hating for i’ve got a right to be myself and i don’t care what you think i’ve got the mind to mind my own i’m smarter than you think i’ve got the right to free myself i don’t give a fuck what you think you know that i know about you you know that i know, fuck you
3.
this is 03:26
you and i both forget that we’re dying here, so? and this is how we fall apart and this is how we grow and this is how i know don’t freak out, life’s a hoax keep your nose clean and your art in books i heard if we pray and spend it just might save our lives i’m never wrong but don’t call me right if you’re not careful love, school will make you dumb i don’t wanna live the lies and they’re feeding us more than we need it’s a song as old as crime when average ideas make careers it’s an insecure battle between right vs righter this is how we grow
4.
thick pop 03:36
there’s nobody home, my mind’s in megaton she’s sleeping in my bones still i know it’s not my lawn to mow but your kids can’t grow consuming mostly greens, right? walking through the field with a bottle full of soul i learned to let my heart sing i never understood the walls they paint at school i knew i should’ve went to hyrule and i don’t know why i don’t know, it’s making me old and i don’t know why i can’t decide life used to be an open book that i’d never read now every page feels the same and every feel’s a dead end will you keep me warm when i get home?
5.
wet mutt 04:09
it’s a heavy world for sure and most things never change a healthy fall leaves us feeling strange, you feel me? i throw my arms to bait you, so take a wild guess we know that i’ll debate you even if the answer’s ‘yes sir’ please kill me, please set me free it’s always been my mind but now it’s eating me you feel me now? cuz i don’t feel good you feel me now? have i been wrong about you? i’m sick of talking, i’ll be walking home if there’s one thing i know you make your bed with room to grow life’s big and i’m bored i can’t make a choice now another year without my voice is like the open ocean swim a lap ahead until you sink like a stone
6.
wormy 04:58
i know i’m early but i’m trying to beat the sun and feed my heart to tape i still hate this place we’re the future wasted and the brightest lost in space living for tomorrow is still not the sweetest bird to follow it’s a disease you know do you know about me? i know i’m early but i’m tired of sleeping long where’s the good if nothing’s wrong? i fucking hate this place we’re the future wasted and the slowest in this race but you don’t feel me is it fear or lack of taste? it’s a disease you know do you know about me? what do you know about me? i really like that drawing it’s good to know somebody else is wasting space i’ve always been somewhere but not quite there and i may be soft my friend, but i’m a lion feeding’s rough, but smart is the new tough i’m just making sure no one’s eating more than you i don’t want to talk no more so sleep full, take life slow, and die soon
7.
sick mostly 03:09
feel my canine teeth as you taste the bars you’re behind and your hateful eyes roll out of your head as you’re reaching for a soul if there’s one to reach but i don’t feel you it’s a burden to bear but i care feel my canine teeth as you taste the bars you’re behind and your hateful eyes keep me out of bed as you’re reaching for my soul if there’s one to reach but i don’t feel you it’s a burden to bare but i don’t care hey paul, i hope you’re doing well
8.
heel 05:53
i know you’re fair and you know how much i love new england i’ll be right there when the dollar’s due sleeping next to you both i know you’re wrong and you know how much i love the fair i’ll be right there when the dollar’s through i’ll be watching you whenever the world won’t feel i know she’ll feel for me whatever my words can’t heal i know she’ll heal for me i’m so tired of all the work we do, eat bills not pills let’s play big brother and watch each other
9.
it crawls like a slug in a garden of salt it used to live on my head life wasn’t so heavy then won’t you lend me a hand and sit on my neck because i could sure use the break and maybe a broken spine we’re digging a hole and every day’s a new low i live for leaving behind and diet steady on piss and fleas i gave away my best friend because i can’t love myself it’s a nervous tic i can’t shake i hope you understand it’s hard being the most intelligent, depressed person you know it’s also a long and lonely fall to the floor of a well sucked dry when life slows down i’ll think of you biting my ear when life slows down i’ll think of you but i wasn’t long for here
10.
ok, i'm up 02:10
you can shoot without reason but our thoughts are changing season i know it sounds insane but i don’t believe in this game you know we’re all afraid to plant a house when there’s no rain but it’s really not so bad letting go of the things we’ve had because there’s a reason and the world is changing season you’ll see you sound insane and we don’t believe in this game
11.
brainfog 06:08
any song you want to hear, i swear please come home, we need to see your face again you’re the only one who cares i hold you close when life is gross i lean on so much more than any fucked up kid could ever need just to calm his restless soul like i don’t know that i’m slow, it’s true i talk in circles most, it’s still better than talking to you i don’t feel the way you feel do you remember how we met? it wasn’t class, it wasn’t love, it wasn’t any of that i don’t want to live too fast, we’ve always been kings take it from me, i just want to sing with you i love my life when you’re around
12.
slave 06:25
hello, my name is your name here signed with ambition and fear i’ll make the most of learning to fake maybe someday you’ll feel and i’ll squeeze you like a snake this world is full of impossible dreams for sure i’m lucky to be here, i know the drill you’re a compassionate shill i’ll make the most of sleeping in and it’s not a sin that i’d rather die than win this world is full of impossible dreams for sure we don’t need brains or thumbs to work through lunch i hope you’ve built your banks like our homes because failing kept us warm and there is no sun burning where we’re going momma, you don’t know how nice it is to feel how much you care for colors and queers just trying to get by while the white pigs tell us we’re all gonna die this world is full of impossible dreams for sure and i’m gone

about

Sometime around 2013, my old friend Matt stepped in to play drums for us and we had a pretty solid year. We played ‘the fest’ for the first time and recorded an early version of a new song called ‘red, white, and bouge’ along with a cover of The FU’s ‘daisy chain’ for a split 7” with our beautiful friends Old Flings on Bitter Melody Records! The trip to fest was so much fun and we were joined by our friends Tyler, Chris and Drew. I remember hanging in Chris’s hometown in West Virginia after a dangerous night drive like it was yesterday. We snuck into the college to eat free food, we convinced Tyler that he had a child and that he should pursue custody somehow, and I got to sleep in Chris’s video game room! I felt like a little kid, it was excellent. Drew also established his position as my ‘life tech’ because I can’t do anything on my own. It probably started out as a joke but eventually I would grow to depend on his presence. Drew is an excellent musician, so all the guitar stuff was easy, but he really excelled in keeping my mental health in check. I carry a lot of anxiety when I’m away from home so honestly it was nice just to have a friend there to remind me that we were having a great time when I was stuck in a death loop in my head. We would dive into stream of consciousness rants together and we would talk about everything under the sun. sometimes when I was nervous, I would just hold his hand until I calmed down. it gave my wife peace to know that he was looking out for me and I miss him very much. Matt ended up having to leave the band because he had a shitload of things going on and we had incredibly unrealistic tour expectations for the near future, but we will always be super grateful for his help not just this time, but for the many times he has helped us out in the past even if just for a gig or two.

When we started having tryouts, I was amazed at how many awesome people came over to our jam spot to play with us. It was really cool to hear how different people interpreted our stupid songs and made them their own. One day we had two people coming over to jam, one was my incredibly talented cousin Damon who I hadn’t seen in years, and the other was Keith with whom we had just recorded the split 7” with Old Flings with at Labyrinth Audio. This was a wonderful day for us not just because we found a new drummer who was an incredible player as well as an excellent engineer, but I reconnected with my cousin who has been kicking around with us ever since and would go on to assist us in writing, performing, and producing the next record. Keith brought a new dimension to the band with his ability to sing and his interest in contributing to the creative process. Keith and I formed a lasting friendship when we began recording at labyrinth and by the time he joined the band it felt as if we went from being down a person to having a family of creative maniacs who just wanted to play rock and roll and make sick records.

We had a space at the swing center in Billerica and started writing tunes immediately, that place was fucking crazy. There were always people bouncing around and always someone to hang out with. It was completely normal for people to just walk into each other’s rooms while people were jamming, and the jade was right across the street which made for an excellent post jam celebration. We ended up splitting a jam room with my cousin Damon which was awesome because his artwork was all over the place! He would draw all over the walls, ceilings, and the floor. It was cool to show up after a few days and see all the crazy shit he had been doing. Keith always reminds me of the time when I had just got my yellow les paul and I needed to figure out how to get the type of feedback response I wanted. Damon was taking a nap about 5 feet from my guitar cab and I was just standing in front of it, moving around in different positions letting my amp scream like a motherfucker for at least an hour straight. He didn’t even move, and I think that’s kind of symbolic of Damon and I’s childhood. We grew up listening to our dad’s hardcore punk band PTL Klub jamming in our nana’s basement. They sounded like a pack of wild dogs tearing apart a wildebeest carcass while our lovely grandmother was upstairs cooking and being a beautiful person. I don’t know how she was so cool with that noise bombarding her personal space at all hours of the day and night, but she was supportive of her sons even if she had no idea what the fuck they were doing. She would yell down the stairs in between songs while the feedback was ringing and say “junior! play green acres” because they did a thrash version of the TV show theme song. I don’t know, maybe that’s why Damon was cool with me making all that noise while he was trying to sleep, or maybe the noise comforts us because it reminds us of being kids and going over to our grandparent’s house. There were many excellent nights at the Billerica space, and it was awesome to take a break from jamming and hear Phil or Mark D’s bands playing next door. There was always something to do, someone to show your new songs to, and someone to smoke weed with.

We eventually moved the jam spot to Keith’s house to start getting ready to record because his recording studio and workshop were there. It was nice to see his parents every day and they really enjoyed listening to us play music which made everything feel very comfortable. We would spend hours on tone quests and leveling up our gear because Keith would just make random pedals and it would spark some sort of idea that didn’t exist before. We were replacing speakers in my cab one day and he was doing all the hard work while I just held stuff in place, but he handed me a drill for some reason and I put it straight through my speaker cone. I don’t even know how it happened, but it was nice to have someone there to clean up after all the stupid things I do. One day we decided to go into the woods across the street and take band pictures which was pretty cool. Keith lived in a neighborhood that kids in the area used to say was haunted, and we would go ghost hunting there when we were younger. I think about the stupid stories kids would tell about those woods every time I see those pics, that was a really nice day. We cut a rough demo of ‘heel’ and ‘this is’ in Keith’s basement somewhere around that time which Bitter Melody released as an exclusive for that years Fest! This dude John drove us in his old school bus, and it was without a doubt the most comfortable touring situation I have ever been in. My wife and drew were there with us the whole time which was excellent, and John and his buddy were beyond cool. They had great taste in music so the trip was a blast, I just hope my anxiety wasn’t too stressful for them and they were able to have as wonderful of a time as we did. We would go on beer runs to the package store down the road from Keith’s and I remember the day that Joe decided that he was going to get something. This was a shock because Joe had never consumed alcohol before. In the end it was pretty mild, but with the help of some of the earth’s most industrious offerings it marked a significant shift and was the beginning of Joe’s transformation into ‘the mystic’ we all know today.

There were so many people around in those days that it felt like the creative thoughts and ideas would never stop. A typical day would include Keith meeting me at work when I was about to get off shift, then we would head over to The Firebox which was this incredible BBQ spot that had half price wings and beers every day from 3-5pm. Keith would eventually start working there which was super fucking awesome because he would bring home wings and pulled pork all the time, and I think he got their mustard recipe which was unreal. Joe would meet us over there when he got off work and we would head over to Keith’s and start jamming or whatever the fuck we were doing. I also met my good friends Courtney and Nick around this time. They would come by and visit pretty much every night and we would all sit around, smoke weed, and watch music documentaries, concerts, and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos on VHS! Some of our favorites were Brian Wilson and the story of SMiLE, Pink Floyd live at Pompei, Jimmy Hendrix live at the Monterey Pop Festival, The Year Punk Broke, and Hype! We named our first studio bong ‘Wild Thing’ as a tribute to Hendrix’s performance at Monterey because he clearly demonstrated that he was an extraterrestrial. Some of my favorite memories were from when we first started recording and would spend the whole day at Labyrinth. We would meet up and head to Ritu, which was this incredible vegetarian Indian restaurant. We usually ate so much that we couldn’t do anything for a few hours after, they had unlimited gunpowder dosa’s that would fuck you up and are still pretty much my favorite food on the planet. Once we could stand up again, we would pop the garage door and hang in the driveway with music blasting. I have vivid memories of hanging out there listening to Mountain ‘climbing’ and watching nuns from the convent around the corner walk up and down the street. They would always wave to us when we were out there with wild thing listening to rock and roll which made us happy, I think they thought we were cool. We would eventually get around to recording and getting stuff done but these rituals were important to us and took precedence over everything else. My old friend Joe ‘Jafo’ Carriere would come by and hang with us. I could talk for hours about this guy because he was just fucking amazing, but he loved the studio and talking to Keith’s parents. He wanted to know everything about what we were trying to do and would spend every minute of his day trying to lift up everyone around him. I’m pretty sure the last time Jafo came by Keith’s was the last time I ever saw him, he told us that this record we were working on sounded like a ‘heavy metal all things must pass’ which was insane because I listened to that record almost every day. That guy did so much for me, and I don’t think I ever heard him say a bad word about anyone. I’m eternally grateful that we got to spend time with him at Labyrinth before he passed because I know as a lifelong musician he really loved being there and seeing all the cool stuff Keith had going on. Keith called his spot ‘the ultimate zone’ and it was truly a creative utopia for our small circle of friends and the many others who came through to record. After sessions on Friday night we would go over to my parent’s house to hangout. We called it ‘the gentleman’s club’ and we would smoke weed and listen to records as well as update my dad on all the stuff we were working on. If one record stands out from this time it was definitely the buzzcocks – a different kind of tension. I grew up listening to that album on 8 track in my dad’s old shitty truck, and when Keith heard it I could tell his mind was blown. We would sit there in silence as side 2 was pounding us into oblivion. my dad would roll joints while we just sat there hypnotized by the power of the performance. We hung on every word, bass line, and drum fill. It felt like the album forced us to compulsively question every aspect of life itself until the last song finished.

Tracking the record was great! Keith and I would always come up cool shit we wanted to try when we were getting tones and stuff. We made sure to track guitars and bass standing in the room right in front of our amps so the feedback was fucking wild. It’s really cool to listen back now and hear my guitar feedback always ring perfectly to the note I was looking for and then joe’s bass feedback violently tear through the mix, it all worked so well together. I can’t believe Keith’s parents were just sitting upstairs listening to us make noise for hours, but they would always tell us how good everything sounded because they are absolute sweethearts. For the brainfog intro, keith had joe lay down the initial track and then he tricked us and asked for another take to be safe. When we came in to listen to the playback keith panned both bass tracks hard left and right, creating the suffocating stereo bass intro which is without a doubt one of my favorite parts of the album. I remember having the influence for the opening riff when playing chrono trigger on my nintendo DS and wandering around the millennial fair. In my travels I fell upon a prehistoric dance party and heard the mesmerizing jurassic rhythm! I felt so inspired by the tune in that moment, and it will always be one of my favorite songs. Keith also had a super gameboy and would constantly be playing mario land in the studio. He would play up to the muda kingdom level and then just leave the music on repeat in the background. That theme was really important to us and definitely serves as one of our band’s biggest influences to this day. Keith came up with a cool idea for vocal tracking where we used a ribbon mic to capture my take as is and then also ran a mic into my music man combo because it has excellent spring reverb. We then captured that with a distant room mic and used it to create a really cool 60’s-ish psychedelic blend with the main vocal. We were also lucky to have our friend Hannah add some backups in select places on the album. Hannah is a talented song writer and has an excellent voice, so the tracks she contributed to the record have a wonderful, soothing quality. Keith has an excellent sounding old piano too which we got tuned up right before recording. I don’t even remember how he got those tones but it came out incredible, It reminded me of a piano playing in an old western but underwater or some shit. When we finished tracking, Keith borrowed a roland space echo from one of his buddies. We had so much fun running different parts of the mix through that thing, and since it was tape you would have to listen to every take because sometimes you would hear the tape warble which wasn’t always a bad thing. What we would keep for the final mix didn’t depended on if it was clean or not but if it sounded cool. Keith would also fuck around with it to get feedback and play it like an instrument. Songs like ‘wet mutt’ and ‘slave’ have so much cool shit buried in there, and it would probably be impossible to recreate which makes it even more special. There is no way we could recall all the stuff we did on that record which is nice because every once and a while a random memory pops out and makes us smile. I remember listening back to the mix together and we would all just start laughing at the same time because of how ridiculous and perfect everything sounded. We were so lucky to have the ultimate zone, it gave us the opportunity to create our own personal pet sounds. We decided to have my buddy Rob Jeanotte who did the art for ‘nice knowing you’ come over and sketch up an alternate reality version of the space for the album cover with the fuzz monster in the control seat, and he fucking nailed it. It’s amazing that we got everything done because it was a pretty ambitious project and we were working so much. We used our off days to track the bulk of the stuff and we made sure to put in an hour or two when we could to tie up the loose ends. When everything was done we decided to have the record mastered at this spot in Brooklyn. My wife and our best pal Courtney came down with Keith and I. On the way there we got a flat on the highway in New York City right before an off ramp and it was terrifying. I’m pretty sure we all thought we were going to die while putting on the spare. There were so many cars flying by and the highway was shaking while the car was up on the jack, I’m honestly surprised the car didn’t fall and crush somebody. We had a really good time that weekend but decided to pass on the mastering job. Looking back, I blame myself because I probably talked too much about what we were looking for and confused the guy, but it turned out ok because Keith used the opportunity to do it himself and it came out great.

I was worried when we were waiting for the test press because the length of the album was certainly over the advised maximums. I had some longer records in my collection that sound ok but I had a feeling that our mix wouldn’t respond well. When we received the test press it was definitely low in volume compared to our other LPs so we decided to add a few songs and press it as a 2xLP. I wrote the music for ‘ok, I’m up’ a long time ago when I used to work overnights. I was bored one evening so I watched some internet videos on how to play ukulele. I practiced the typical strumming pattern and some basic chords without actually having the instrument. I went to guitar center in the morning to buy one when I got off shift. I picked up one of the cheap ones and started fucking around. I put the chords together and came up with a melody that sounded cool. I bought the thing but never ended up using it for anything besides that one song structure I put together. When we needed another couple tunes for the record I wrote some lyrics for it and laid it down. I had this little twinkly outro riff thing that reminded me of a JRPG loading screen that I wanted to fade out and one night Keith added this incredible vocal over it that blew me away. When it ends if you listen closely you can hear the vocal resurface lightly because of the delay which is still one of my favorite parts of the record. I never played another song on the ukulele and ended up giving it to my niece because it was just sitting around and she thought it was cool. The other song we added was ‘sick mostly’ which I wrote with my cousin Damon. He pretty much had all the lyrics for the first verse written when he showed me, I just twisted some things up and made small variations for the rest of the song as well as adding a few lines. It was actually one of the first songs we wrote for the record, but we didn’t finish the arrangement and sort of forgot about it. When we had the chance to add a few more songs it was there waiting for us and we decided to track it on acoustic so both songs that we added provided a nice change up to the rest of the album. We recorded those songs in the control room because it was really tight and direct, which provided a good contrast to the dark, airy sound of the rest of the record. it made it so the quiet songs sounded really close and personal while the loud songs sound wild and roomy. When the 2xLP test press came back everything was cool. Matt from Animal Style reached out to Cassie Podish to do the insert. I think I sent a few notes and the lyrics or something but when I saw the finished product I was blown away, it was absolutely perfect. We played Fest the fall before it was released and dubbed some tapes for people to check out and we had an excellent time. I remember smoking joints with Sean from ‘Dan Webb and the Spiders’ after watching them destroy and having a fucking blast with ‘Adult Dude’ who had just released an absolutely incredible record. The show we played was also ‘Old Flings’ last show which was super special. We also ate at reggae shack every single day, it was sick. We received physical copies of the record that following January and we played a bunch of shows around home that fall to celebrate. It’s crazy to think that we had been a band for 10 years at that point and had been working on ILMLWYA for a quarter of that time. Looking back a lot of things came up that were super frustrating, but it was really nice to always have something to do with my friends. It was definitely the end of an era because Keith’s family moved from the spot at Dudley shortly after. I miss that place a lot, and I can’t imagine how Keith must feel. I’m eternally grateful to have had the opportunity to make that record there, and memories of hanging out with friends come rushing back every time I look at the cover. It was super heavy moving all the stuff from there into storage, Keith was filled with worry not having a place to record or the ultimate zone to isolate in. Things went from being super comfortable to absolutely uncertain really fast, and there wasn’t a moment where we weren’t consumed by thoughts about what the fuck we were going to do now?

credits

released January 13, 2017

all songs written and performed by the fake boys
sick mostly cowritten by damon domenici
record, mixed, and mastered by keith gentile @ labyrinth audio
produced by jim domenici and keith gentile (the trashmen)
ILMLWYA 2xLP released by animal style records/labyrinth audio
ILMLWYA cassette coming soon from labyrinth audio!

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the fake boys Lowell, Massachusetts

we're neanderthals writing dirty pop songs, we like video games and dogs, we do what we want, this is thick pop.

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