Help Me (Alkaline Trio song)
Encyclopedia
"Help Me" is a song by the Chicago
-based punk rock
band Alkaline Trio
, released as the first single from their 2008 album Agony & Irony
. It became the highest-charting single of the band's career, reaching #14 on Billboard
's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The B-side
of the single is a cover version
of Tegan and Sara
's "Wake Up Exhausted", recorded with Jim Devito at Retrophonics Studio in St. Augustine, Florida
in a separate session from Agony & Irony.
The lyrics of "Help Me" were inspired by Anton Corbijn
's 2007 film Control, a biopic of Joy Division
singer Ian Curtis
. The single's cover art was inspired by Peter Saville's artwork for Joy Division's 1980 single "Love Will Tear Us Apart
", a song that Alkaline Trio singer and guitarist Matt Skiba
covered
in November 2008 with his side project Heavens. He explained that Joy Division were a major influence on the writing of "Help Me":
The music video
for "Help Me", directed by Josh Forbes, depicts the band in a steampunk
setting driving a locomotive
through the Southwestern United States
. Singer/bassist Dan Andriano
notices another locomotive approaching on a collision course
, driven by a villain
and with a damsel in distress
(played by Kat Von D
) tied to its pilot
. Drummer Derek Grant
pilots a monowheel
device to activate a railroad switch
, causing the two locomotives to run parallel. The battle takes to the sky as Skiba rescues the damsel with the aid of a jet pack
while the villain's locomotive becomes an airplane
and the band's becomes an airship
emblazoned with their logo. Skiba evades the villain by flying through a narrow opening in a canyon wall which the villain's aircraft crashes into. The video makes heavy use of computer-generated imagery
and is interspersed with footage depicting the band performing the song on a rooftop.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band that formed in McHenry, Illinois, in 1996. The band's line-up consists of Matt Skiba , Dan Andriano , and Derek Grant...
, released as the first single from their 2008 album Agony & Irony
Agony & Irony
Agony & Irony is the sixth studio album by Alkaline Trio, released on July 1, 2008 on Epic Records. Regarding this album, vocalist and guitarist Matt Skiba stated that the band set out to record an "anthemic hard rock record."...
. It became the highest-charting single of the band's career, reaching #14 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
of the single is a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Tegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie band composed of identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin . Both Tegan and Sara play guitar and keyboard and write songs.-History:...
's "Wake Up Exhausted", recorded with Jim Devito at Retrophonics Studio in St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
in a separate session from Agony & Irony.
The lyrics of "Help Me" were inspired by Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...
's 2007 film Control, a biopic of Joy Division
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...
singer Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis
Ian Kevin Curtis was an English singer and lyricist, famous for leading the post-punk band Joy Division. Joy Division released their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in 1979 and recorded their follow-up, Closer, in 1980...
. The single's cover art was inspired by Peter Saville's artwork for Joy Division's 1980 single "Love Will Tear Us Apart
Love Will Tear Us Apart
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" is a song by the British post-punk band Joy Division. It was written in August and September 1979, and debuted when the band supported Buzzcocks on their UK tour in September and October 1979. It is one of the few songs in which singer Ian Curtis played guitar...
", a song that Alkaline Trio singer and guitarist Matt Skiba
Matt Skiba
Matthew Thomas Skiba is the lead singer and guitarist of Alkaline Trio.-Early life and family:...
covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
in November 2008 with his side project Heavens. He explained that Joy Division were a major influence on the writing of "Help Me":
I've always been a big Joy Division fan and I was quite touched by the film. I thought it captured Joy Division and Ian Curtis' life beautifully. The sincerity of their music combined with their imagery and art is like nothing else. Everything about them was artistic and unique. Our artwork and song is a tribute to a melancholic beauty that can never be replicated.
The music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Help Me", directed by Josh Forbes, depicts the band in a steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
setting driving a locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
through the Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
. Singer/bassist Dan Andriano
Dan Andriano
Daniel Michael Andriano is the bassist and co-vocalist of the punk rock band Alkaline Trio.-Education and early bands:...
notices another locomotive approaching on a collision course
Collision course
A collision course, also known as a kamikaze run, is the deliberate maneuver by the operator of a moving object to collide with another object...
, driven by a villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
and with a damsel in distress
Damsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
(played by Kat Von D
Kat Von D
Katherine Drachenberg , known professionally as Kat Von D and who has given her name as Katherine von Drachenberg in two German interviews is an American tattoo artist and television personality...
) tied to its pilot
Pilot (locomotive)
In railroading, the pilot is the device mounted at the front of a locomotive to deflect obstacles from the track that might otherwise derail the train. In some countries it is also called cowcatcher or cattle catcher....
. Drummer Derek Grant
Derek Grant
Derek Grant is the drummer for punk band Alkaline Trio, where he replaced Mike Felumlee. He was previously a member of The Suicide Machines, Telegraph, Gyga, Thoughts of Ionesco, Remainder, Walls of Jericho, The Exceptions and Broken Spoke, a side band with Royce Nunley and Jay Navarro...
pilots a monowheel
Monowheel
A monowheel is a one-wheeled single-track vehicle similar to a unicycle. However, instead of sitting above the wheel, the rider sits either within it or next to it. The wheel is a ring, usually driven by smaller wheels pressing against its inner rim...
device to activate a railroad switch
Railroad switch
A railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....
, causing the two locomotives to run parallel. The battle takes to the sky as Skiba rescues the damsel with the aid of a jet pack
Jet pack
Jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack, and similar names are various types of devices, usually worn on the back, that are propelled by jets of escaping gases so as to allow a single user to fly....
while the villain's locomotive becomes an airplane
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
and the band's becomes an airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
emblazoned with their logo. Skiba evades the villain by flying through a narrow opening in a canyon wall which the villain's aircraft crashes into. The video makes heavy use of computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
and is interspersed with footage depicting the band performing the song on a rooftop.
Track listing
Band
- Matt SkibaMatt SkibaMatthew Thomas Skiba is the lead singer and guitarist of Alkaline Trio.-Early life and family:...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Dan AndrianoDan AndrianoDaniel Michael Andriano is the bassist and co-vocalist of the punk rock band Alkaline Trio.-Education and early bands:...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals - Derek GrantDerek GrantDerek Grant is the drummer for punk band Alkaline Trio, where he replaced Mike Felumlee. He was previously a member of The Suicide Machines, Telegraph, Gyga, Thoughts of Ionesco, Remainder, Walls of Jericho, The Exceptions and Broken Spoke, a side band with Royce Nunley and Jay Navarro...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Production
- Josh AbrahamJosh AbrahamJosh Abraham is a Grammy-winning record producer and co-owner of Pulse Management and Check Your Pulse Publishing. He has produced songs and albums for many of the industry's most successful artists such as Velvet Revolver, 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson and Courtney Love...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
of "Help Me" - Ryan Williams – recording engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
and mix engineerMix engineerA mix engineer, also referred to as "mixing engineer", is a person who, once all instruments, voices, and sounds, etc., have been recorded, creates what is called the final version of a song, hence the term "mix engineer"...
of "Help Me" - Ted Jensen – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
of "Help Me" - Jim Devito – recording engineer of "Wake Up Exhausted"