Understatement
You Made Us
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Understatement have installed a new drummer, Zachk Cain, and returned with a new recording featuring a brace of songs with Bala Rice on lead vocals. Let’s hit play and find out what’s occurring.
‘You Made Us’ is a tribute to Bala Rice’s father, Stephen Sevananda Rice, who sadly died on 26th December 2021, aged 50. Bala wrote the song at the time but said, ‘despite the song’s age, we didn’t start playing it as a band until September 2022 once I became emotionally able’.
As you’d expect from Understatement, the song has some old-school punk roots, the bass driving things along while the guitar provides palm mutes, flicks, and lead licks. The chorus is emotional and anthemic, with Rice’s sisters Candrika Rice and Sapphire Welka adding backing vocals in the middle eight and final chorus.
You made me what I am today
You made me not afraid to say
That I’m different, and that’s okay
Because you’d still love me anyway
The song has sadness but is also awash with gratefulness for the impact the great man had.
The second song is an eponymous track that features a Strummer-esque barked vocal from Rice. This is a love letter to the band’s local Pittsburgh art scene. This is the kind of track that gets selected for a Rock Band track listing. It has that perfect collection of backbone bass, drum fills, and the guitars flipping between chords and hooky motifs, with great big plectrum slides in between.
The extended edition features instrumental and demo versions of the two songs.
Check it out on Understatement’s Bandcamp page.
Watch Understatement – You Made Us.
You Made Us Lyrics
On Christmas day, you seemed so far away
You were in our hearts and in our minds
Alone for the best, thinking you just needed more rest
To be back to your joyful waysAnd none of us knew that it’d come for you too
Now none of us know what to do without youYou made me what I am today
You made me not afraid to say
That I’m different and that’s okay because
You’d still love me anywayBringing smiles to everyone in the room
Bright in the dark, you were the moon
Deep down just as shy and awkward as me
Yet still the life of the partyAnd none of us knew that it’d come for you too
Now none of us know what to do without youYou made me what I am today
You made me not afraid to say
That I’m different and that’s okay because
You’d still love us anywayGone to soon, but at least you knew
That we loved you and we hope you were proud too
That we ended up just like you
We’re moshing at all of your favorite venues
(Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare)You made us who we are today
You made us not afraid to say
That we’re different and that’s okay because
You’d still love us anyway
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Written by Fenton on
