Here it is on Spotify.
The music started off in Guitar Pro. I had the idea of an Em groove for a while and have been toying with it.
At one stage, I was taking the groove into a Tool like feel, like “Lateralus” merged with “Schism”. As the song got more progressive, it became even further departed from the original idea, so while I kept the Tool like progressive version going into a different song, I needed to strip the song back to its original intention.
For example, the following riff and it’s groove (inspired by Dimebag) became a favorite, but I had to cut it out of the song and use it for another song.
When I stripped the song back, all I had was the Em groove in the Intro/Verses and the Chorus idea. The intention was to play this riff on the guitar, but when i started recording the song, it felt better to my ears to have the bass play the riff.
At the same stage, I also had some lyrics written. I had an a cappella version of the vocal melody recorded back in February 16, 2017. I just kept on repeating the line “let’s gather the people, we all have a right” so I can get a feel of the syllables.
So I started to add other word and cut out extra words, so the words which remained fit the melody I had in my head.
The chorus riff was meant to be played by the guitar but again I changed it, so the bass could play it. The screen shot below is the guitar riff you don’t hear in the song.
The main guts of the song including intro, verse, chorus, verse and chorus was finished on March 6, 2017.
The interlude section which comes in after the chorus is repeated the second time was written and added on March 21, 2019 and in that version I went back into the Chorus to end the song. However after hearing it for a day or two I didn’t like that ending anymore.
The strummed C, G and D outro with the lead came together as I was recording it. On March 18, 2019, I recorded a demo version on my Music Memos app for another song and when I was looking for a cool strummed ending, this idea stuck and I recorded it in the studio towards the end of March, 2019.
On March 22, 2019, I added the harmony lead to the interlude section and instead of going into the Chorus again after it, I added that Em syncopated groove which has the lead break. A few days later I also added the lead break to the outro.
The theme of the song is about bullying and how people standing together can make change and protect vulnerable people and also ourselves.
And I’m taking a pretty broad look at this.
It started off as a “fuck you” to all of the corporations who bribe (the legal word is lobby) politicians to introduce laws to protect their business models and take away our rights. All in the name of profit.
Lets gather the people, we have a right, we can stand by in silence or we can fight.
We’re choosing a new way, we have a voice, we stand for the people, freedom of choice,
Our leaders are spending in wars they make and the rich spread lies with news so fake, to divide and conquer and cut us down, call us racists who stole their crown.
Our media in Australia is owned by the Murdoch Family and it’s core it’s basically a propaganda machine for the political party they support. And since they control the bulk of the news outlets, the majority of Australians read their stories. So if you don’t have a habit to read critically from different sources, you will take the lies they say, hook, line and sinker.
Another example, is how kids play Fortnite. The game is free to play, but they are bullied everyday to buy something from the store. The marketing is targeted and repeated for weeks on end.
We’ve been bullied all our lives, we’ve been bullied all our lives, we are here to fight the wrongs, we are here to throw back the stones.
We’ve been bullied all our lives, we’ve been bullied all our lives, we are here to stand up and fight, we are here to make change.
Kids at school are bullied by the institutions into factory degrees. They are told repeatedly that if they follow the curriculum, get high marks and get the relevant degrees, a great job is waiting for them. It was only recently that schools realized that the kids starting in school today, will be doing jobs that haven’t even been created. And more employers are looking at workers with soft skills more than technical skills.
When the world is on fire we all must pay for all of our wrongs on judgement day
And all of their treasure won’t save their soul, they will all pay for the dreams they stole
People in the workforce are bullied by the powers that be to follow the company line, working extra hours without any pay. And when it comes to bonuses and increases, managers get the lion share and the workers get the cents.
And of course, people are tormented physically and mentally by individuals at schools or on online forums.
And if we stand up against these kinds of behaviors, maybe we can eradicate bullying. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter if you have millions or zeroes in your bank account, we all end up in the same place.
And here are some draft lyrics that got cut from the final version.
Free Spirits Rising 
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