Addicted to Bad Ideas: Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century
Encyclopedia
Addicted to Bad Ideas is the fifth album by The World/Inferno Friendship Society
, and their second for Chunksaah Records
. Subtitled "Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century", the release is a concept album
inspired by the life and films of actor Peter Lorre
.
Lead singer Jack Terricloth describes Lorre as "a strangely charismatic, extremely creepy person, which I think most punk rockers can identify with ... It’s the lure of the other. He’s the underdog, the outsider." Many of the album's lyrics are taken directly from movie dialogues, notable Lorre quotes, and from the biography The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre by Stephen D. Youngkin. The track title, "Everybody Comes to Rick's" is a reference to "Rick's Café Américain" from the film Casablanca
. In addition, the album's cover art is an homage to Lorre's renowned film M
.
This album was developed into a dramatic multimedia production directed by Jay Scheib
. In 2009 World Inferno performed this work at festivals such as Public Theater
's Under the Radar Festival
, Philadelphia's Live Arts Festival, Montclair State University
's Peak Performances series, and South Carolina
's Spoleto Festival USA
. Jack Terricloth commented, "the producer asked me if we were ever going to pay him back. We said 'No!'"
The songs "Peter Lorre" and "Heart Attack '64" are reworked versions of tracks from Just the Best Party
, and "Ich erinnere mich an die Weimarer Republik" is reworked from East Coast Super Sound Punk of Today.
The World/Inferno Friendship Society
The World/Inferno Friendship Society is a band from Brooklyn, New York. Its style merges punk, soul, klezmer and jazz, while its collective membership features horns, piano and guitar. The ensemble has over 30 members, including a former member of Dexys Midnight Runners. About nine or ten members...
, and their second for Chunksaah Records
Chunksaah Records
Chunksaah Records is a New Brunswick, now Asbury Park, New Jersey based independent record label founded in 1993 by The Bouncing Souls. The label started as a means for the band to release their own recordings, but ended up releasing material by other punk bands, mostly from the New Jersey area, as...
. Subtitled "Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century", the release is a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
inspired by the life and films of actor Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
.
Lead singer Jack Terricloth describes Lorre as "a strangely charismatic, extremely creepy person, which I think most punk rockers can identify with ... It’s the lure of the other. He’s the underdog, the outsider." Many of the album's lyrics are taken directly from movie dialogues, notable Lorre quotes, and from the biography The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre by Stephen D. Youngkin. The track title, "Everybody Comes to Rick's" is a reference to "Rick's Café Américain" from the film Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
. In addition, the album's cover art is an homage to Lorre's renowned film M
M (1931 film)
M is a 1931 German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang and written by Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou. It was Lang's first sound film, although he had directed more than a dozen films previously....
.
This album was developed into a dramatic multimedia production directed by Jay Scheib
Jay Scheib
Jay Scheib is an American stage director noted for his contemporary productions of both classical and new plays and operas. Scheib is Associate Professor of Theater Arts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he teaches performance media, motion theater, media and methods, and...
. In 2009 World Inferno performed this work at festivals such as Public Theater
Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as The Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers. It is headquartered at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in the East Village...
's Under the Radar Festival
Under the Radar Festival
The Under the Radar Festival is a theater festival in New York City, founded in 2005 by Mark Russell, former Artistic Director of P.S. 122 for over twenty years and also Guest Artistic Director for the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's Time-Based Art Festival in 2006...
, Philadelphia's Live Arts Festival, Montclair State University
Montclair State University
Montclair State University is a public research university located in the Upper Montclair section of Montclair, the Great Notch area of Little Falls, and Clifton, New Jersey. As of October 2009, there were 18,171 total enrolled students: 14,139 undergraduate students and 4,032 graduate students...
's Peak Performances series, and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
's Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
. Jack Terricloth commented, "the producer asked me if we were ever going to pay him back. We said 'No!'"
The songs "Peter Lorre" and "Heart Attack '64" are reworked versions of tracks from Just the Best Party
Just the Best Party
Just the Best Party is the second studio album by The World/Inferno Friendship Society. It was released on April 2, 2002 on Gern Blandsten Records. It is referred to by the band as 'Inferno #8', as it is the eighth release of new material by the band...
, and "Ich erinnere mich an die Weimarer Republik" is reworked from East Coast Super Sound Punk of Today.
Track listing
- Peter LorrePeter LorrePeter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
Overture – 4:45 - With a Good Criminal Heart – 2:55
- "M" is for Morphine – 3:01
- ...and Embarked on a Life of Poverty and Freedom... – 3:32
- Ich erinnere mich an die Weimarer RepublikWeimar RepublicThe Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
– 4:13 - I Just Make Faces – 2:45
- Everybody Comes to Rick's – 2:05
- Cathy Catharine – 2:49
- Thumb Cinema – 3:23
- Addicted to Bad Ideas – 3:14
- Heart Attack '64 – 2:40