I’m happy with the new album, but there are four or five songs that I’m particularly pleased with. “Long Shadow” is one of them.

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Above all, as with “Strip,” the song rocks (if I do say so myself…).

It has a few nice touches, too: some unexpected timing between the first chorus and second verse; the octave guitar line in the choruses; Curtis’s bass driving the song forward with straight eighth notes, punctuated with clever transitions.

And I really like the key change toward the end, where we build tension by raising the song up a half step, and then open things back up by dropping back to the original key — something I liked enough that I incorporated the move in the verses in another song (“The Color of the Pen,” which is due for a remix…).

Yes, the MADD vibe is perhaps a touch on the nose, and, yes, I insisted on slipping in a few allusions (or outright references) to my Christianity, a habit that took me years to break. Of course, to be fair, we were more or less a Christian band, so such allusions or references were pretty much expected — a convention of the genre, as I wrote about in another post.

But I was learning subtlety, however slowly, and there are some good lines. Curtis told me he liked “Cigarettes lit in the hall / Shadows dance across the wall” — though I think he equally hated the “dog-crap week” bit.

If I could have changed one thing, it would have been the length of the guitar solo. It feels self-indulgent to me now, appropriate for a live show (maybe), but not for a 2025 release.

Still, when I suggested we shorten the solo, the band all argued against it. And when our mixer, Marc DeSisto, agreed with the others, I decided to shut up so I wouldn’t look like I was fishing for compliments. (More accurately: so I wouldn’t be fishing for compliments, something I’ve been known to do!)

One last tidbit, I suppose: I remember that I was deep into Concrete Blonde when I was writing the lyrics to this. I’ve been re-listening to the albums I’d owned — Free was released in 1989, and Bloodletting the next year — and (thankfully) the connections aren’t obvious; I wasn’t simply copying them.

But I was influenced in two ways: first, “God Is a Bullet” gave me the idea or, perhaps, permission to write about a social issue; and, second, Johnette Napolitano’s writing often includes unpredictable line lengths. I definitely hear that influence in the verses.

Free was the album that influenced me more, but Bloodletting is among my all-time favorite records, and “Joey” is among my all-time favorite songs — the perfect combination of emotional music, expressive singing, and evocative lyrics. (If you haven’t heard that, here’s the official video. It’s worth your time.)

Credits

Here are the lyrics, if you’re interested.

Written by The Reign.

• Greg Kemble: Lead vocals, guitars
• Curtis Holtzen: Bass
• Doug Lada: Drums
• Travis Sheets: Keys
• Dave Hackbarth: Recording engineer (RIP, Dave)
• Marc DeSisto: Mixing engineer

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Better Late than Neverland is available on vinyl, CD, and digital download through The Reign Store. It’s also available for purchase digitally through Amazon and iTunes (through Apple Music).

The album and individual songs are available to stream on YouTube Music, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and other streaming services. (You can find them on YouTube, too, but if you’re not a Premium subscriber, it will serve you ads….)

lyrics and Liner Notes

(I’ll update this list as I complete blog posts…)

Side One	Side Two
Strip: Lyrics  — Liner Notes Long Shadow: Lyrics — Liner Notes	Wall St. Wisdom: Lyrics — Liner Notes