Music
Welcome to Struggleville Year: 1994 | Run Time: 48:27
©1994 Capricorn/Fingerprint. Produced, Mixed and Engineered by Jim Scott. Co-Produced by Dan Russell, Vigilantes of Love. Music and Lyrics by Bill Mallonee. Russachugama Music/CybrenJoJosh BMI. All arrangements by Vigilantes of Love and Jim Scott.
Track List
- Welcome to Struggleville [4:19]
- Aftermath [2:25]
- Resume [3:37]
- Babylon [3:58]
- All Messed Up [4:13]
- Vet [4:26]
- I Can Explain Everything [3:46]
- Runaway Train [3:01]
- Sympathy [5:26]
- Cold Ground [3:43]
- Last to Know [3:20]
- Bitter Price to Pay [2:26]
- Glory and the Dream [3:47]
About Welcome to Struggleville
Released May 16, 1994, the band's first major label album was also their most professional to date, a slickly produced roots rock-n-roll album that is both accessible and complex. If you didn't hear it on the radio, it was no fault of the band's; this remarkably tight foursome—Bill on acoustic guitar, weathered vocals, and head-butts, Newt Carter on electric guitar, Travis McNabb on drums, and David LaBruyere on bass—played the hell out of these and the Killing Floor songs night after night in smokey lounges and clubs. Bill's songs again delve into the characters of the past—had anyone ever alluded to the depression-era Bonus March in a pop song before? A recurring theme on the album is the hardship that comes to people who hoped for something better from their country, their jobs, their lives, almost an album-length exploration of the emotions expressed on earlier songs like "America" or "Port of Entry." Well, "welcome all you suckers to struggleville." Despite its tilling of emotional soil, the album is musically upbeat, even whimsical in spots. But under it all is the recognition that "only two tracks take you outta here, baby, now, one'll make you crazy, one'll make you sane."
Did you know?
Welcome to Struggleville was recorded in the winter of 1992 at Triclops Recording Studio (Atlanta, GA) and Full Moon Studio (Watkinsville, GA). The Struggleville packaging was supposed to include a clear CD tray so the prison picture would show through. However, Capricorn Records didn't order clear CD trays. The prison photo remains buried behind plain old gray trays.
Quotes from Bill Mallonee
DATE UNKNOWN: Struggleville: a very intentional surreal piece—some social commentary—Salome is always at the next table. Libido is a lot of rock and roll, ain't no gettin' around it. But what does it point to? Struggleville: more than a bad day at the office and the kids are exasperating. More like a core condition we need some serious surgery for. The sinister taunt from the garden—satan round 1—but not the final round—hope—a slender thread, you know.
Jan 13, 1993: The sound of the band right now is kinda like what's on Killing Floor plus a heavy dose of Exile on Main Street by the Stones. Kinda that gritty-rockin-bluesy kind of thing, and it feels really right for us right now.
May 9, 1995: It got wet and pretty much decomposed. It was made by my older son Joshua and modeled by my younger son Joseph. Josh made it for a play at school. He blew up a large balloon and wrapped it in paper mache. Then he popped the balloon. The guys in the band hated it. It wasn't rock and roll enough for them, whatever that means. I think Capricorn botched the cover. It's too dark.
May 9, 1995: I mean, asking someone else to respect your music and invest emotionally in it is a lot to ask. I felt like that was what I was asking them to do. They sacrificed a lot. We made a living last year playing music, but it wasn't much of a living. I think Newt and David and Travis are all in better places, musically and personally.
May 9, 1995: To me, there are some points of musical transcendence on Vigilante records. One is the end of "Struggleville." Those big three notes that Newt plays. Those are glorious. There's something there that's almost indescribable.
May 9, 1995: We've sold more copies of Killing Floor than Struggleville. That's something to get angry about.
May 9, 1995: The problem with the Struggleville band was that there was three guys trying to go in one direction and I was trying to play catch-up. I'm not knocking those guys. I'm just saying that those guys had their own idea of what they wanted the band to be. And it wasn't my idea of VOL.
Aug 6, 1996: Struggleville kind of feels like a detour to me. Although I think it was a great band and those guys made huge sacrifices. But it feels like a detour. It feels like Blister Soul should have been the record after Killing Floor.
Aug 6, 1996: In thirteen months that the Struggleville band was together, we learned only two new songs.
Jan 3, 2001: Musically, I had written songs that David, Newt and Travis had infused with a type of roots-blues meets urban-soul-groove... lyrically I suppose, I was reveling in rapid-fire images of the emptiness of worldly pursuit and debauchery, a doctrine called "total depravity" and street-corner preacher religion... all served up on a piece of southern corn bread.
Jan 3, 2003: Struggleville?... far too slick for me... and a nightmare to make... a bunch of big record dicks spending each others dollars so the band at the end of the food chain can recoup it all... we were all scared to death.
Apr 5, 2003: I've got these many songs that I use to remember the melody lines to, but have long since forgotten the chords... I go back and squeeze a few drops stuff out of them, lather, rinse and repeat... that's how Welcome to Struggleville came about.
Credits
Bill Mallonee: vocals, acoustic guitars
Newton Carter: electric guitars, backing vocals
David LaBruyere: bass
Travis Aaron McNabb: drums, percussion
Joey Huffman: hammond, piano
Produced, mixed and engineered by Jim Scott. Co-Produced by Dan Russell and VoL. Executive Producer: Chuck Long. Asst. Engineers: Michael Alvord, Jeff Tomei, Mark Smith and Mark Richardson. Recorded at Triclops Recording Studio, Atlanta GA and Full Moon Studio, Watkinsville, GA. Mixed at Bosstown Studio, Atlanta, GA. Preproduction at E'Lan Multimedia Recording Studios, Atlanta, GA and Full Moon Studios, Athens, GA. Production Associate: Harold Hallas. Production Assistant: Shari Hallas and Dolores Boles. Mastered by Ken Love at Master Mix, Nashville, TN. Chicken Head Construction by Joshua Mallonee. Modeled by Joseph Mallonee. Photography by Michael Wilson. Cover Photo by Melony Wilson. Art Direction/Design: Marcia Beverly/Allison Corlew.
Liner Notes
Vigilantes of Love wish to thank the following people for their love and support: Brenda, oh, Brenda, Joshua and Joseph, Heather Carter, Adrienne Carpenter, Dan Orme and U.C. Also, special thanks to: Cindy and Jim Batten, The Barnetts, The Mallonees, Richard and Barbara McNabb, Mark McNabb, Patricia LaBruyere, Sylvia Hutchinson, The Baquie Family, Paul Fenerty, Seitu and Benjamin at Atlanta Discount, Anthony Occhipinti, Rick Taylor, all of Bill's baby-sitters, Chris Neufeld, Melony Wilson, Tim Porter, Wayne Crotts, Nick Purdy, Arthur Terratus, Brad Townsend, Kenny Corbitt, Robbie McMahan, Will Tonks, The Jones Camp, David Lester, Neil Calibro, Herb Guthrie, Michael Guthrie (thanks for your hook-line on "All messed Up"), Seven Simons, Uncle Green, Bob Dawbers, Dave and A.D.P. for great service, Don McCollister, Billy Pilgrim, Ron and Karen Phillips, Chris Kumnick, Ben Mize, David Chalfant, David (the big'un) Slovus, Jon and Susan Evans, WDA,WCA, Pete and Spence, Alice Berry, Eddie Owen, Marc Pilvinsky, The Earls, The Kirks- all umpteen of them, Mike Brownlow, Over the Rhine, Tim Eddings, Lori Perry, Tina Traber,Henry Huang, Dave Canfield, John T. Thompson, Brian Q. Newcomb, Burke and Barbara Thomas, Bill and Kathy Pritchard, The Fingerprint Family - Dan, Ali and Jesse Russell, Chuck, Sandy, Carlton, Charlie and Hugh Long, Janet Heard, Mark Heard, sorely missed, Harold Hallas, Shari and Dan Hallas, Joel and Rebecca Russell, Delores Boles, 40 Watt, Jim Parker, Michelle Roche, and all at Sky, WRAS - Amy and Kevin, Jeff Clarke, Jim and Carol Scott, George Regis, Jonathon Horn, Marnie Smith, Peggy Miles, Carter Alan, Rick Meyer, Jon, Tonya and Patty at Bosstown, Brennan Manning, Joey Huffman, David Fazio, John Huie, Dave Werlin, David Wykoff, Phil Walden, Mark Pucci, Philip Walden, Jeff Cook, Scott Madden, Nan Fisher, Marcia Beverly, G. Scott Walden and the rest of the Capricorn Team, Lee B. Beitchman (Atlanta, GA) - our legal guy, also World Vision, Habitat for Humanity, and all friends lost in the city that care forgot. Kill your television, feed the hungry and care for the poor.
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