OurStage

On June 20th 2008, I happened along a band that has impressed the hell out of me, I jotted down some notes in an effort to review. On June 21st 2008. I requested the individual stories behind the material from Project Dopamine...to my surprise and delight, I received them from W.T. Lummus himself. This review is a melding of my reflection to the sounds of Project Dopamine and the actual stories behind the songs. On occasion you will note that my interpretation and the intended feeling of the tune are quite similar. The message did not lose much in translation... Project Dopamine is: W.T. Lummus – Lead Vocals, Lyrics, Melody Lee Santucci- Composer, production, Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming Heidi Lummus- Lyrics Mission ~ Has a scattered feel a mix between System of a Down and STP[but better], it's like riding a dirty mechanical bull with the intent to break it. ***** ----Mission was about our 8th song on our new recording equipment. As Santucci was recording the guitar and drums I searched through my book of lyrics. Nothing seemed to fit and on the spot I wrote the lyrics to Mission. It is basically about the desire for success; you know the excitement, anxiety and determination associated with accomplishing life's personal goals. ----W.T. Lummus – Lead Vocals, Lyrics, Melody ----Lee Santucci- Composer, production, Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming Human ~ Good old fashioned 'hate-this-addiction' song [in the vein of ThreeDaysGrace but not ThreeDaysGrace] feels a little like Tool [Prison Sex to be exact] and maybe a little System of a Down. ***** ----The music was actually written by Santucci for his previous band. I began working on the song with different lyrics that I was trying to use with the song but they weren't fitting rhythmically. After working with it for awhile trying to get them to fit I sort of put it on hold. While cleaning my room a few days later there it was on the floor begging me to pick it up. I took it to the studio and there it was. Human was actually written as a love-hate letter to my past addictions. ----W.T. Lummus – Lead Vocals, Lyrics, Melody ----Lee Santucci- Composer, production, Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming As I Am ~ Tricky like Limp Bizkit [vocals are remeniscent of 7 Mary 3] ***** ----As I AM is about life's confusion accepting yourself for who you are regardless of how others see you and making a stand. Begging for enlightenment but not sure that you really want it. ----W.T. Lummus – Lead Vocals, Melody ----Lee Santucci- Composer, production, Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming ----Heidi Lummus- Lyrics Dream Aloud ~ [Texas Metal but not ZZTop] This song has the sand to be big. It has the feel of a front porch ditty taken into the mainstream. It is a conversation that gets unintentionally overheard. ***** ----This song came together in a jam session, actually the first jam session that we had together sitting outside on the back deck with an acoustic guitar. 95% of the words were freestyle/improv about our ideas and passion for music. ----W.T. Lummus – Lead Vocals, Lyrics, Melody ----Lee Santucci- Composer, production, Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming Cut ~ I dig the groove on this, it is like being in the transitional moment where angst/anger/love/loss occur. 'Cut' artistically represents the 'fist' and the 'apology' without being either. ***** ----Cut's lyrics were written by my wife (Heidi) she says, "It's pretty self explanatory bad relationships are tough. You go through them and at some point you have to make a decision whether you want to continue to me miserable or find a way out" "I'd love to go into the details behind cut but the names have been changed to protect the guilty" This one gave me the most trouble getting the melody right but it just felt so right together. The powerful lyrics with the music. I knew I could get it to work and after working on it here you have it. ----W.T. Lummus – Lead Vocals, Melody ----Lee Santucci- Composer, production, Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming ----Heidi Lummus- Lyrics The Leaving ~ Grinds like Rob Zombie without samples and vocals like...RZ. It is important to note also that the lyrical content is almost 'possessive' and is poetic as a Vedder but appears to be much closer to Lummus. It is a coping song - at first It didn't do a thing for me...then I received the personal communication from Lummus and now, the song takes on a whole different meaning. Now it makes the hair stand up on my arms and fills me with anger at situations that people have to go through just to survive on this damn rock. Here is a case where a stereotype of music can actually destroy the tune until the context is taken into consideration. Once this happens the initial artistic feeling is completely understood. ***** ----Heidi says about the lyrics, " this song was written about my birth Mother, whom I've known all my life as my sister. She moved to South Carolina to escape a bad relationship she had with her boyfriend. Leaving everything and everyone she had known all of her life. I knew she had to leave for herself and that it was something she had to do. It's about the struggles that I had to endure with mixed emotions about the whole situation." Santucci said the basic idea for the song came from tuning his guitar. We were under a deadline to complete the song before she left. The song seemed doomed from the start we'd get it recorded then it would disappear and we'd have to re-record. Even on the latest version lightning struck and all we were left with was the mixed down that we were half finished working on. ----W.T. Lummus – Lead Vocals, Melody ----Lee Santucci- Composer, production, Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming ----Heidi Lummus- Lyrics Where have you gone ~ begins as a sittin-in-the-hallway-warm-on-the-eq-spread-of-ballady-inquisition and it develops into a 'house-is-not-a-home' tune. [vocally there are flavors of 7 Mary 3] ***** ----This song was for me (W.T.) was the most emotionally draining recording session. When my wife (Heidi) wrote the lyrics about her father who passed away in 1995 it hit home. My own father had passed away when I was an adolescent. While reading it I didn't personalize it until I was in the studio recording. Half way through the 1st verse I found myself overcome with the emotional power of the song and had to stop and compose myself a number of times. Defiantly the most difficult song I've ever had to do. The vocals were recorded in one night and is the original track that you hear today. ----W.T. Lummus – Lead Vocals, Melody ----Lee Santucci- Composer, production, Guitar, Bass, Drum Programming ----Heidi Lummus- Lyrics Project Dopamine has a post grunge base - like bombing Pearland, Texas with 1990's Seattle. I can not escape the influences of 7Mary3, Tool, System of a Down, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Limp Bizkit and the like. The sound is honed into heavy and thick ear-worms. If a band can exist to be dirty and wholesome simultaneously then I think that Project Dopamine has accomplished this in spades. They have instantiated a dopmaninergic response within my skullcap. ---Personal Favorite is 'Dream Aloud'.