Station Track by Track guide for their new album

Just last week one of our favorite rock bands, Station released their self titled debut album which was recorded at The Music Refinery. These bad ass rockers released a complete 15 song rock album that will deliver a full dose of rock n roll to infect your soul. We featured Station last year as one of our highlighted bands of Rocklahoma. You can check out our interview with them and that post here: Station – Our Rocklahoma Featured band.

Their new album makes the statement that Rock n Roll is far from being dead. With these dedicated rockers at the helm, there is no letting rock die. With engaging vocals, kick ass guitar riffs, 80’s over the top energy, this album will soon become the playlist of your life. It will not only have us middle agers reflecting back on our love of the 80’s but with its modern flair, the younger generation fall in love with it as well. You can’t help but get addicted to Station. We recently talked with guitarist, Chris Lane and he has given us a Track by Track guide to all these killer new songs. Check it out here:

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Music Junkie Press: Congratulations Guys on a hell of a record. You are giving everyone what they have been craving, begging for. Straight up Non-Stop Rock n Roll. This album really just is a 15 song musical gem! There is no fill on this album, just kick ass track after track.

Let’s talk about the tracks! You start right off with an in your face rock track, I Don’t Want To Know Your Name. Can you tell us about this song:

Chris Lane: This song is actually more about me than anything haha. The song is about writing songs about people you don’t really know. The lyrics talk about not wanting to know the name of the girl because you will end up with a song titled whatever the girls name is. Sometimes it’s easier to write lyrics about people you know nothing about because you have more freedom to invent the person you want to write about while using them as a basis. It’s fine once in a while of course, but you also don’t really want to end up with a set list that sounds like a roll call. What triggered this song was a night when Pat and I went out to see our friend for his birthday. We ended up at this club on the west side and I started talking to this girl. We spoke for a little bit and then Pat and I ended up leaving to go somewhere else. I might have spent 5 minutes talking to her and that was it. When I got home that night, I had written a song about her and it was very dramatic, definitely an example of embellishing the hell out of a normal situation. When I told Pat about it he pretty much told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to people anymore because they all get songs about them. And so our concept was born.

MJP: Everything has stadium rock anthem written all over it. This is definitely one that has grabbed everyone’s attention. This song was on your EP right? Tell us about when you guys wrote this one?

Chris Lane: Thanks! I really like playing this song live. This song was on the EP, but we re-recorded it for the album because there was more we wanted to do with it. I had finished the music and melody while I was in college, but the lyrics took a while to write. This song is about not wanting to get into something you cannot see through. In this particular instance, it was about not getting into a relationship because you knew it would have to end for reasons beyond your control. This song is actually the first song STATION ever played live. The lyrics here are more like stereo instructions to me haha. There are a lot of very specific references in this song. The line “Stern hours” actually refers to one of the colleges at NYU (which is where I went to school). I think the “you’re in Sofia” definitely gets a heard turn when we play it and the listener doesn’t know what we are talking about haha.

MJP: Dressed To Kill conjures up a great Motley Crue vibe, love this track. What was the inspiration?

Chris Lane: This one talks about a night out a party. We are from New York City and often times you end up in a completely different place by the end of the night than you started. The city is great for that reason, it’s always an adventure and you never know what can happen. In this case, it was about finding someone you didn’t expect to. This was actually inspired by a friend of mine who had a party and was really made up. My favorite part of this song is the drum beat in the beginning. When I made a demo of it to play for the band, I actually recorded it on an acoustic guitar mapping the hits and beat because I felt it was so central to the groove.

MJP: Are You Sleeping Alone is a kick ass rock ballad. You guys have a great video out for this one. Tell us about this song?

Chris Lane: Thanks so much! We had a great time making that video, but it was also in the middle of a blizzard in -24 degree weather. Try loading a bus up in the snow, with leather pants and a tank top; not fun. It was an interesting time to say the least haha.

The song is about wanting someone, but not knowing how they feel. The line “I’d call you every night but I know you’re not at home” is about that defeatist mentality we all sometimes have when you’re really not confident about how someone feels. I think, in the end, life is too short to have that type of mentality and you need to go for things you care about. You might miss out on something that could be really great.

MJP: True Believer will have every true rocker in love with this song. You guys brought a new element in with cool unique guitars and powerful vocals and then straight into some sweet solos and riffs. How did this song come about?

Chris Lane: I think the song is the perfect soundtrack for an exercise video haha. This is also a pretty old song for us, that’s why it was on the EP as well. We re-recorded this song to add a lot more to it. The band will tell you, I would not stop talking about wanting to add that little Lydian riff at the end from the second we got in the studio haha. Although the song sounds like it’s about hope, I find this song to be more about not allowing someone to define your views. It’s about seeking out things that are unique to you and not following suit on something that everyone else is currently following. It’s fine if you believe in it, but blindly buying into something is never a good idea. I was out getting yogurt when I thought up the riff and ran home to play it on my guitar. Nothing inspires music like frozen yogurt. Fact.

MJP: With Me Tonight has all the right ingredients for that epic ballad, emotionally driven lyrics and melodies. How did this ballad come about?

Chris Lane: This song was written in about 3 minutes sitting on the floor of my apartment. It’s really just about second chances and knowing what to do with them. I feel like a lot of times what I want is in conflict with that I think is best for me. That’s what this song is about. The funny thing about this song is that it was actually written about two weeks before we got in the studio and we had already picked out which songs we were going to record. We all decided this song definitely had to be on the first record. This was my absolute favorite song to hear come to life with the vocals. I love the harmonies.

MJP: With Bitter With The Better, another great track! You heavy it up a bit more in this song and have a metal edge. What was the inspiration behind this one?

Chris Lane: Bitter with the Better was inspired when I heard this term used in a movie. I heard it and started writing around the idea of trading things when you pursue someone. The expression was “You have to take the bitter with the better.”

MJP: More Than Enough starts right off with those fierce guitars and a Winger vibe wrapped in some Zep. Powerful vocals that deliver perfect 80’s-esque screams and some wild sexy guitars! Tell us more about this song

Chris Lane: Pat really kills it on this one. You should hear him do it live. We were rehearsing for a gig and I started playing the riff over and over. Pat turned to me and said, “I just want to sing high.” And so…he does. This was a pretty quick song to write since I felt kind of like the song wrote itself. The guitar playing is a lot more complicated on this song than others and it felt very natural to have that much movement since the vocals are pretty simple and bluesy.

MJP: How about No Way Out ?

Chris Lane: This is also a song that was a last minute addition to the album. We already have album 2 written (with some songs perhaps for a third album), so we weren’t looking for songs to add. When we were rehearsing for the album, I played this song for everyone and we decided to add it because it was a chance for us to do some different things on record. For instance, this is the only song that has a dual lead line in the solo. We also wanted to play with stops in the songs, so we put a lot of that in the bridge.

MJP: Waiting for You is that perfect song for the ladies to fall in love with and the guys to grab that “hold your girl” tight moment. Not only that but coming in at nearly 7 minutes, you maintain the passion throughout the song. Inspiration behind this song?

Chris Lane: I’m glad you think so! This song can’t be any shorter than it is haha. We tried to figure out a way to make it 5-6 minutes, but it felt incomplete every time we went down that road. This song took about 10 minutes to write. Pat and I were sitting in my parent’s basement getting ready to head to Philadelphia for a few shows. We started working on the chorus and the rest of the song just came to life. Something that was fun about this song is that it grew more out of the songs subject matter. We kept singing the chorus over and over and it wouldn’t get out of our heads. I still can’t get that song out of my head haha.

MJP: Never Say Never has this intro that grabs you from the start, ready to take a wild ride. This song takes it down heavy and brings you right up ready to rock. Love the heavy guitar lick. What can you tell us about this song?

Chris Lane: Thanks, I like the riff too. This song comes from a very different place from the rest of the album. This song is more about frustration than anything. I’ve met a lot of people who have such a negative view on everything and really just have no faith in anything. I am usually guilty of being an optimist and I tend to see the bright side, so this song is very much about the frustration I feel when others can’t do that. I think Mike really brings this song to life in the pre-chorus. I absolutely love the bass part there. That man knows what’s he’s doing. It’s really funky over a relatively dark sounding guitar part and somehow makes it sound pretty bouncy.

MJP: I Can’t Live Without You has such a vulnerable tone to it. Did you do anything different with recording this track, to bring out that vulnerability in the tone and vocals?

Chris Lane: I think this is my favorite song I’ve ever written. This about a period in my life where I was very interested in someone and that quickly turned into me making decisions based on her. When I wrote this, I knew it was something that would become a major part of our set since it just seemed to exactly depict how I felt and the vocal style is what Pat does best. When we recorded it, Pat layered so many vocal parts to create this kind of vocal mosaic. I think it really turned out beautifully. My favorite part of the recording is how much space it has. I feel like it feels like its own world.

MJP: Wildest Dreams – Another in your face track that takes it to 11 real quick! Tell us about this track

Chris Lane: This is actually a funny story. We were in the rehearsal studio and I was messing with my amp. I came up with the riff and liked it. That was it for a while. A lot times you write something small and then lock it away for a while until something reminds you of it. I had the riff, but really didn’t do anything with it. One night maybe a month or two later I was at a party. It’s probably 9pm, and my friend told me a story about how she had a dream about something her boyfriend had said to her and it was more of a “sexy dream” because of what he had said. She said that and I pretty much stood up, said goodbye, and wrote the song on the way home. Inspiration comes in weird places.

MJP: Shot Of Life – You guys really give that punch of rock and have this straight up Sunset Strip mood to it. Can you comment on this track?

Chris Lane: I’m a firm believer in not writing music with a guitar in hand. For me, it’s much more natural to write as I go about my life. If I can remember the song by the time I do end up at a guitar or piano, then it’s a keeper. If not, it’s like natural selection for catchiness. I was heading out and I was stuck on the subway. I think the train was delayed for maybe an hour in the tunnel, so I really had nothing to do. I had the basic idea for the song in my head already. I was sitting and I saw this girl sitting on the other end of the train. I have a feeling that because I was on a metal train, in a tunnel, with horns and clanking sounds around me, it really turned the song into a much more “industrial” sound in my head. When we started playing it live, we found that we could pull it off with just us on stage (we don’t use backing tracks ever). When we got to the studio, we really got to go crazy with adding a lot of stuff going on around the music. There are guitar noises, strange vocal lines for layering and some odd sound effects. For instance, the bell in the beginning is actually our engineer hitting a keg with a baseball bat. We also had one of my friends from high school come in and moan on the track a bit. I think it came out great, but that could have been one of the weirdest days in the studio haha. Overall, we spent days working on this song layering everything.

MJP: We wrap up the album with One and Only – Perfect way to finish up the album and leave everyone begging for more! Tell us about One and Only?

Chris Lane: Pat and I wrote this song one night around me saying “oh oh” over and over. Part of me thinks he said, “lets work on that” just to shut me up. When we wrote it, we immediately saw a way to work this into our set to add a different feel. Pat immediately came up with this feel on the drums that was very different than any of our other songs. We brought it to rehearsal and had such a great time with it. One of the things we really enjoy about this song is that we can use it to really take our time on stage. We can jam on it, play with the crowd or just play it straight. It’s pretty versatile in a set list. When we got into the studio, we had a lot of fun with the tones. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the guitars should sound like because it was so different than a lot of the other songs. After we demo-ed it out, I made the suggestion of adding an outro to it that was kind of like a jam, but more structured. When we tried it, we all agreed we liked it and knew it had to close out the album. I’m very proud of that ending guitar part’s tone.

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With this rock and roll gem of an album, you will have all the ingredients you need to keep Rock n Roll alive and thriving. Ear porn at its finest! So pick up your copy and get ready to crank it up loud so you can introduce your neighbors to Station. Album is available on the following links:

I will leave you with their video for the killer new track, Dressed To Kill. Check it out here: