That is The Anthem, the place we’re telling tales behind traditional songs by interviewing the individuals who have been actually there. This week, we’re bearing on AFI’s riotous 2003 single “Woman’s Not Gray.”
In 2003, the bases have been loaded for Bay Space hardcore punks AFI. Following the discharge of 5 genre-defining albums on the indie powerhouse label Nitro Information, AFI determined to make the leap to the main leagues of DreamWorks Information for the discharge of their sixth studio album, Sing The Sorrow.
The discharge propelled them from the common-or-garden levels of sweaty punk golf equipment like 924 Gilman Road to large arenas, the place they’d turn into mainstream rock darlings who would dominate the airwaves of MTV and TRL for years to return. Possessing a extra post-hardcore, goth, and, at occasions, new-wave sound, Sing The Sorrow served as an ideal transitional file for the beloved group as they ventured into extra melodic and accessible territory.
Regardless of being written on the eleventh hour, the album’s lead single, “Woman’s Not Gray,” ended up being the group’s mainstream breakthrough launch and went on to turn into one of the crucial recognizable songs of their catalog, which stays a everlasting staple of their riotous stay reveals to this present day. Within the early ‘00s, “Woman’s Not Gray” was virtually inescapable, because the music video directed by David Slade (who’s since directed motion pictures like The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and 30 Days of Evening) continually performed on MTV. The frequent programming made sense, as a result of not solely was the observe itself successful, Slade created a surprising, Alice in Wonderland-inspired idea and set design that captured the band’s unparalleled gothic aesthetic, and even helped to introduce recurring themes and characters that turned central items in AFI’s distinctive model of images.
Centered round melodic guitar traces, locked-in rhythm sections, gang vocals, and the spectacular vary of the band’s inimitable frontman Davey Havok, “Woman’s Not Gray” may maintain a candle to any pop track that was dominating the radio on the time, whereas nonetheless satiating even probably the most punk purists. Havok’s poetic wordplay, whereas darkish and ambiguous, managed to captivate listeners with ease — even when nearly all of folks singing alongside weren’t sure they knew what the track was actually about.
[Photo by Matthew Welsh]
The genesis
JADE PUGET (GUITAR): This track is definitely totally different from some other track on [Sing The Sorrow]. We had mainly completed writing the file, however on the very finish, we determined we might attempt to write another track. I wanted a change of surroundings to get into a unique headspace, so I went to Toronto, Ontario to put in writing some extra and thought if nothing comes from it that’s effective, as a result of we already had a cool file already. I sat in a lodge room for just a few days and wrote the music of the track, in addition to the [verse] melody, and got here again with simply that and confirmed it to Davey [Havok]. From there, he wrote the lyrics to the verse and I helped give you the call-and-response factor [in the chorus].
ADAM CARSON (DRUMS): Being the primary single [for the album], we needed the track to showcase the whole lot that AFI is and was on the time. It’s a melodic, anthemic refrain with the gang vocals, and it’s an up-tempo track that has a pacing that was in all probability a little bit bit sooner than a whole lot of stuff on the radio on the time. With the quieter, moody, broken-down middle-eight, it’s actually all of the hallmarks of the band on the time. It’s a track that actually works as the primary track in a set, which is why I feel we’ve performed that track in all probability greater than something. It’s humorous as a result of as I’m rehearsing and getting ready for the Sing The Sorrow anniversary present we’re taking part in [next month], I’m all the time shocked after I see that “Woman’s Not Gray” is the sixth track on the file.
PUGET: I imagine that I voted for it to be the primary track on the file, however I used to be the one one.
[Photo by Ross Haflin]
The lyrics
PUGET: It’s laborious to talk for [Davey], however I do know that his intentionality is often clouded in mystique as he needs it. He does not put concepts on the market that may be simply parsed and he’s a type of “you determine” type of guys. I all the time thought the track’s refrain was type of humorous as a result of the lyrics say, “What follows, simply begs to be imbrued,” and imbrued isn’t a phrase anybody ever makes use of. For a track on mainstream radio that has these weird, opaque lyrics, I’m shocked it did in addition to it did. Nobody needs to sing alongside to a phrase like imbrued.
CARSON: I’ve been singing these backing vocals for 20 years now and my spouse lately requested me what the lyrics have been and I noticed I didn’t fairly know. I had turn into so conditioned to singing the melody and cadence of these traces however probably not realizing what I used to be singing.
PUGET: There are just a few AFI songs that I’m certain that I’m in all probability simply singing my very own made-up lyrics to. [Laughs.]
The music video
HUNTER BURGAN (BASS): I bear in mind [the director] David Slade carried round this little pocket book with drawings of rabbits as a result of rabbits have been his factor. On the time, Davey was additionally closely into rabbits, so that they immediately bonded over that and knew we needed to have them in there by some means.
CARSON: It was our first time ever making an actual big-budget music video. We didn’t know what to anticipate going into it, however strolling into the soundstage and seeing the enormous set that was constructed with the hills and psychedelic landscapes with the pink and bushes was fairly full on. It was thrilling to be part of one thing that felt so huge.
PUGET: I’ll say with the pink, the leaves, and the hills, it was a very stunning set, particularly in particular person. In comparison with the opposite half the place we’re painted black, which was type of janky, the [set] half was actually cool. I bear in mind David Slade having a whole lot of nervous vitality, and he used to chew on his sweater, which I feel was a method for him to harness his nascent inherent vitality.
CARSON: The bunny that’s featured within the video was really worn by an actor, and we lately unearthed the bunny go well with in a storage locker at our administration’s workplace, so we gifted it to the Punk Rock Museum that’s opening in Las Vegas.
PUGET: For $1.99, you may put on it and stroll across the museum.
CARSON: I additionally bear in mind the actor who was taking part in the bunny took some steps and tripped over one thing and kind of fell in sluggish movement. The entire time he was beginning to fall, you might hear this bunny going, “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.”
