VH1 Classic Albums Presents: "Cycle of Hate"

[Hawk4669]

*Cool intro music plays....a montage of live footage of Velocity, shots of the band on tour, while songs from the album play in the background...*

Narrator's Voice: "In February of 2006, punk superstars Velocity crossed into territory never before seen by a punk rock band. The album, "Cycle of Hate" broke new ground selling over 10 million copies in the U.S. alone, and continues to close in on some of the best selling albums of all time. Written on the tour supporting their previous best selling album "Forgotten Government", the intrepid foursome had no idea what they were penning would change the rock and roll world. Here is the story of the album as told by the artists themselves...."



*Title Sequence Ends*

Narrator's Voice: Velocity was formed in Oakland, California January 1st, 2000. Founding member guitarist William "Hawk" Reynolds set out to combat boredom by pursuit of a musical dream. With the addition of Vocalist Katrina "Kat" Ogden, Bassist Patty Carty, and Drummer Henry Towne, Velocity took shape and began their rise to musical stardom. With over 30 million records sold worldwide, and a slew of multi-platinum releases, the sky appears to be the limit for Velocity.


Early Press Photo of Velocity


Press Photo from the "Cycle of Hate" Tour

William "Hawk" Reynolds: We started writing the songs for "Cycle of Hate" on the last quarter leg of the "Forgotten Government Tour. The album "Forgotten Government" had just broken 8 million sales, and we were all still in shock from that. We were also a bit scared. I mean, that kind of success only comes once in a lifetime. We were a bit scared that we had reached out zenith already.


Velocity Guitarist William "Hawk" Reynolds

Katrina "Kat" Ogden: We had a meeting to decide if we wanted to keep touring to support "Forgotten" or let it die down while we worked on a follow up. It ended up being one of the few unanimous votes in the history of Velocity. We decided to pursue a new album.


Singer Kat Ogden

Henry Towne: What better place to find inspiration than on the road. We wrote "Forgotten" while at home and on vacation from the previous album. The songs were good...really good. I mean, you don't sell 8 million plus without some good songs. But we all agreed that something was missing....but we couldn't put our fingers on it. It just lacked that edge. That certain something.


Drummer Henry Towne

Patty Carty: I guess it was a case of killing two birds with one stone really. Putting on killer shows each night, and spending hours during the day writing what would eventually become "Cycle." For a punk band who has always prided its self on relevant lyrics, we found no shortage of subject matter on the road.


Bassist Patty Carty


*Commercial Break.....to be continued*
_________________
Hawk: Gilligames Moderator, Amateur Musician, Career Fire Captain, Gamer, Husband, Father....and all around Nice Guy

[Hawk4669]

*After 4 or 5 commercials no one paid any attention to....*

Hawk: After the "Forgotten" tour ended, we took a tally and found we had written 17 "keeper" songs collectively. 13 of those 17 eventually made the album. The other four were good....but just didn't fit the attitude and direction we were going. Who knows...you might see some "B" sides in the future. But until then, those songs will remain a secret. *winks at camera*

Patty: We started recording in November of '05. We have always loved the feel of Alec's Studio in New York, New York. They are always able to capture our true sound. Given the quality of the "Forgotten Government" album, it was a no brainer that we'd return there to lay this LP down.

Henry: Also a no brainer was the selection of producer Robert Storey. Not only is he the best in the business, he also made sure that the creative freedom we demanded was intact. He kept our record company, Eighth Month Records, off our backs and let us be us.

Kat: He also kept out manager, Mark Montez, in Chicago. Mark's a great guy and all....but he's a "punk-vibe" killer. The further away he stayed and concentrated on the business end of things...the better. If you're watching Mark...sorry man, it's the truth.

Hawk: The entire recording, mixing, etc etc etc of the album took until mid-January of '06. As we were recording and eventually hearing the final mixes, we knew we had laid down something special. Our producer and crew were able to capture the raw energy of the songs and mix them just right so the message of each song pierced though. In short, we thought it sounded amazing.

Henry: But we were still worried about the "follow up jinx." We knew how awesome the disc sounded...but would our fans pick up on it as well?

Narrator's Voice: "Cycle of Hate" was released on February 27th of 2006. Fans and non-fans alike picked up on the album's special feel and immediately sent it directly to #1 on the charts.



Narrator's Voice: Within weeks the album shot past the platinum and double platinum marks. By the end of April, the album had climbed to triple platinum. But it wasn't done there.

Patty: We had launched the tour supporting "Cycle." We were in Nashville I think when Robert Storey called us and informed us we had passed the 6 million sales point with no signs of slowing down. We were happy first off that the "follow up jinx" didn't apply. We started to joke about the mythical "Diamond" platform....but shrugged it off. Punk bands don't sell diamond. Never have, never will. Or so we thought.

Narrator's Voice: After an amazing 30 week run in the #1 slot on the Billboard Charts, "Cycle of Hate" finally dropped to the #3 position....but not before passing the 10 million albums sold mark.



Hawk: I was in bed at the hotel when my phone rank. It was Kat calling from here room and I couldn't understand a *beep* word she said. She kept screaming something about "diamonds." I actually hung up on her thinking she was still drunk. It wasn't until Patty called and told me we had crossed the 10 million mark that I realized the full gravity of the situation.


"Cycle of Hate" Honors

Kat: As if 10 million albums sold wasn't enough...pretty soon we were getting calls about Grammy's and all kinds of other *beep*. In the end, we were just stoked that we had made history and didn't compromise what we believed in to do it!

*commercial break....to be continued*
_________________
Hawk: Gilligames Moderator, Amateur Musician, Career Fire Captain, Gamer, Husband, Father....and all around Nice Guy

[Hawk4669]

*commercial fades out....Classic Albums fades back in*

Hawk: There wasn't one bad song on the album. We had ones we liked better than others....but quite honestly, I think we would've had the same sales even with the tracks we chose not to include.

*quick cut to the band playing the album's opening track live*

United We Fall

Patty: Henry and I wrote this after watching more depressing footage of the U.S.'s ever growing homeless problem. We made an intense, biting commentary on the situation and our contry's continued ignoring of the problem. We've always believed that the lead off track should be high energy and with a great hook.

Henry: Plus Patty just digs her cool bass solo near the middle of it. *rolls eyes*

Ripped Up

Henry: Another one from Patty and I. Quite simply, just a good pit song. Sitting behind the kit every night, I love watching the kids slam around down there. The energy is contagious. I think the imagry carried over well in this track.

*cut to an energetic live performance by the band doing the album title track*

Cycle of Hate

Patty: I didn't realize until now that Henry and I wrote the first three tracks on the album. *laughs* This one basically delt with the upcoming elections and the amount of hate generated by it. Seems like the country splits right down the middle. I'm most proud of my lyrics on this song.

Henry: Yeah, politics suck.

God's Joke

Kat: With all the high energy numbers on the disc so far, Hawk and I decided to take it down a notch with this one. Slower, more methodical, but tight and biting. This basically deals with human's being God's little joke. I like giving Hawk a hard time about this song as he's an Atheist, but this song acknowledges the existance of a God.

Hawk: Yeah yeah yeah....it made for a good song to piss people off. So I said why not?

*close up of Kat singing the lyrics to the next track live in Los Angeles*

Atheist Nation

Hawk: Separation of church and state. Basically I wrote this one dealing with the country getting away from that. My views on religion are widely known, and the Right Wing would love to squash me. I think they would if it wasn't for that pesky Constitution thingy.

Heavy

Hawk: Another by Kat and I. Kat wrote the lyrics about her past struggles with addiction.

Kat: My drug use history and arrests in the past are no secret. This is basically me coming to terms with it. I still have a long way to recovery, but writing songs like this really are like therapy.

Mishandled

Patty: Hawk and I wrote this one as an Iraq War song. Plain and simple. Only one on this album as a matter of fact. What can be said about the war that hasn't already been said?

*Footage of Henry bashing his drums extremely fast*

Terminal Velocity

Hawk: People are calling this our theme song. This is my one of my favorites. Fast, intense, an unforgiving.

Evaporation of Liberty

Henry: Patty and I once again locked brains for this one. Again, another one dealing with our vanishing freedoms and our citizens' lack of tolerance for each other. What keys this song is the slow, lighter accoustic pace, with the hardcore biting commentary. Nice screaming job by Kat near the middle of the song.

Patty: Yeah, and the sobbing you hear near the end of the track is legit. I had three blisters that had finally gotten the better of me. *shudder* Really added to the feel of the song though.

Reach the Bottom

Kat: I wrote this one with a little help from Hawk. This is probably the most uplifting song on the album. It deals with reaching the bottom as a society and resetting ourselves to climb the ladder back up.

Snake in the Congress

Kat: Henry and I were drunk when we wrote this. It initially was called "Snake in the Grass" but changed to "Congress" when we saw a news story on one of our local Congressmen facing charges of corruption. Probably the weakest song on the album. We've never played it live.

*Cut to an aerial view of the band performing the next song*

Preturbed

Henry: A song on band relations near the end of recording. Nothing more, nothing less. Usually we all hate each other by the end of the recording sessions. This was no different. But we always seem to bring it back together before hitting the road.

Global Dissention

Hawk: I did the lyrics, Patty wrote the music. This basically deals with our current world standing, where we went wrong, and where we need to go to fix it.

Parry: Don't let the medium pace fool you, it really is as intense as songs like "United We Fall."


Narrator's Voice: So what does the future hold for Velocity?

Hawk: We've only been around for 6 or so years. We hope to keep pushing forward and challenging people's world views with our music. We enjoy what we do, and want to make our feelings known.

Kat: Velocity has a lot of good music left in it. Who knows...maybe our follow up will sell 20 million?

Henry: Or less than one million.....

Patty: Or maybe we'll all die in a tragic van accident. Wouldn't that be sweet to die on top?

Hawk: Ah, the stuff of music legends......

*image fades into the band playing live in front of 60,000 screaming fans in New York*

*Credits roll*
___________________________

Cheers!
_________________
Hawk: Gilligames Moderator, Amateur Musician, Career Fire Captain, Gamer, Husband, Father....and all around Nice Guy

[Missing User]

looks like you had fun

[Hawk4669]

Always.

Cheers!
_________________
Hawk: Gilligames Moderator, Amateur Musician, Career Fire Captain, Gamer, Husband, Father....and all around Nice Guy

[Gillissie]

Wow! Now that's what I call writer's embellishment.
_________________
Todd M. Gillissie
Gilligames
www.gilligames.com

[Hawk4669]

Cheers!
_________________
Hawk: Gilligames Moderator, Amateur Musician, Career Fire Captain, Gamer, Husband, Father....and all around Nice Guy

[Silvertongue]

Hawk, thanks for pointing me to this from mine. You put this out long before I'd even heard of the game and somehow when I initially scanned/read the forum I missed it. All I can say is... Wow! Nice!

Of course you might have to take Punk out of the hands of folks like "The Sex Pistols", "The Macc Lads" and certain others...