This was our almost-famous song. We got a production deal, got on TV, got some great concerts from this one. Oddly, all that stuff made us really insane.

"Watching Donnie Brasco, it all became way too familiar, creating a shame spiral." That line was about a moment I remember so clearly.

Crutch

This one was an ode to Paul Westerberg. It was about going to one of his post-Replacements solo concerts as part of 14 Songs tour.

Dave has ripping solo on this one. It was a scratch track that we just had to keep!

Teenage Idol

This was our single, our video (on youtube). We recorded it at least 3 times. It's about a very starting-and-stopping relationship I was in during university. After a while I told myself I didn't care if we kept going or not, I was just impatient to know what the deal was. The decision was all in her hands, of course. It turns out her decision was to not keep going. Ouch.

Impartially Impatient

This was our most popular song in college and closed most shows. This recording is from a few years after when we were getting serious. Dan Wilson from Semisonic plays some guitar sound effects on this one. I think it was the only song he liked out of the batch that became Dry Dive.

Leave & Go

This was a fun live rocker. My roommate and one of best friends at the time used to tease me about the lyrics. "'I grabbed a handful of sand' - what does that mean? Lame. You should be more like Tool." I'll never forget that. I love the guy anyway.

If You Wanted Me

I knew it was over before it was.

I still like the line, "still finding myself, still finding your clothes." That was true and real. I remember finding those clothes while doing some serious self reflection.

Already Know

This is actually a love song to my end-of-college girlfriend. Some thought it was a negative song. It's not. It's just about two people who are so similar that it's hard to stay together. Reflections of reflections. BTW where are you now???

John Vars

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