'Love Songs for the Chemically Dependent' was released in 2005 by William Van Huss, an independent artist and musician. He originally posted this on his personal blog Psyche Zenobia, where you can find a few other albums to download as well as some poetry. The following excerpt is taken from his blog:
I put this out in June of 2005 just before leaving for Holland. That was my deadline. Most of these songs were written just after the breakup of Murder Weapon and recorded by me at my apartment in Johnson City, Tennessee on a Fostex MR-8 with the help of Audacity for editing and mastering. Since I didn't have an actual band at the time, and wasn't really interested in putting one together, I enlisted the help of several friends from other bands to play with me on these tracks. I was pretty happy with the finished product. I consider this an album that documents a very transitional period in my life. There are a couple of catchy rockers and a couple of slow songs (a new thing for me) and a couple of extras. I'll talk a little about each track:
1. From Outer Space 2 U - I wrote this during Murder Weapon and even performed it a few times live with MW. The opening sample is from the Atari classic Berzerk. It also features theremin, which I used extensively with MW. Chad Horton plays drum and he and friend Marcus Banks did the hand claps. All other vocals, guitars, and theremin were done by me.
2. Someone Else - This was the last one written and recorded for the album. Chad on drums, myself on guitars and vocals, and Billy Woodleif on lead guitar. Billy stopped by while I was recording and kindly offered his talents to me in exchange for a toke or two.
3. The Man Who Cried - An attempt at a murder ballad turned into a folky love song. This one is just me on vocals, guitars, and Casio.
4. Leaving - This one was written during the Murder Weapon time but never played by the band because it was too slow and we couldn't break stride to slow down that much live. Fred Hartley and I play guitar and I sing. This and Castles were recorded the same night and not meant to be finished versions but after a while I got used to them and decided not to spend any more time on them.
5. Castles - Fred and I on the other track from the same night. This one was originally a poem that I thought might work better as a song. I still really like the chorus here but as a whole I never was satisfied. I included it for it's honesty and it's place in my life at the time.
6. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man - Obviously a cover of the Prince song, this one was recorded straight live with Chad on drums and Fred on lead. I played guitar and tried to scream loud enough to be heard.
7. The Lonesome Death Of Mary Kelley - This is from a live show with Murder Weapon. Brad Ward on bass and Mark Dollar on drums.
8. The Facts Of Life - The day this was recorded Brett Hale had showed up to record Murder Weapon at my house in Bristol, Virginia. When the rest of the band didn't show I decided to make use of our time by recording something so Brett, Wayne, and I did this. I wrote the lyrics down and hummed the tune and we winged it. Wayne on drums and Brett on guitar. We also did "Night of the Vampire" by Roky Erickson that night but I'll save it for later.
So there you go. Download it and let me know what you think.
Download: William Van Huss - Songs For The Chemically Dependent (20MB)
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