There are songs that become a “trademark” of a band and which only by listening to them give the stigma of musicians.
Many times, to such an extent that, apart from the band’s fans, it is almost impossible for the rest of the world to understand the rest of their discography.
On the other hand, there are songs that can even give the logo to a band.
As in the universe of Pirate Metal and the myths of the “Golden Age of Piracy” (1650-1730) where everything acrobats between the logical, and the grotesque as improbable.
But even a pineapple, like the home of a square sponge, could conquer the entire bottom of the Bikini, with a pirate telling its stories.
Thus, an “invisible pineapple” can give the logo to a band, but also conquer our ears.
After all, who does not want to hear stories about pirates, especially if they are accompanied by a lot of metal riffs?
Especially if the story is about “Invisible Pineapples” and no one knows if he’s going to meet SpongeBob or Jack Sparrow himself.
Let’s put the bottle of rum on the table, maybe with pineapple juice, because we’re not as tough as the real pirates.
A few beers in the fridge for every occasion and let’s read the story as told by Philipp Wyssen, the voice of the Calarook.
Invisible Pineapples
“This is the story of the song “Invisible Pineapples” and the story of our logo as well.
When we started writing songs in 2014, the first steps of a new song were jamming for some good ideas and then thinking about a topic for the song.
Not for this song. Here we first had the song title itself.
One day, I think it was at the end of 2015, Nico came into the rehearsal room and said that I have to write lyrics to a song called “Invisible Pineapples“.
First, I thought he is joking, but he was totally serious about this.
He picked up this phrase to make an evil gesture with the hands. Then you are crushing invisible pineapples”.
Anything is possible in pirate stories and what is invisible becomes reality with… Notes.
In the pirate universe, it all ends with a strong hangover after overdrinking alcohol.
Maybe not just there: “I sat there and had no idea what the lyrics could be about.
We had to make something like brainstorming at the rehearsal to have a story about this.
Of course, a lot of beer was involved.
And then we had it. Invisible pineapples are the reason for the hangover on the next day.
They fall on your head while you are asleep and cause the headache.”
Good ideas always have a headache, everyone or almost everyone knows that.
“With this idea in mind, I started writing the lyrics.
At the same time, the others created the first parts of the song by jamming around.
The song is not really complex. We tried to make it as catchy as possible.
So, it took not that long to have the rough sequences of the song.”
As long as the muse’s winds blow, the band must follow them, catching the end of the song.
The lyrical part
“Of course, I knew how much text is needed. I was surprised by myself how much text I was able to write on this topic.
Maybe it was in such a good flow because I have a silly mind very often”.
Like many pirates, their stories are always interesting.
“So, I wrote three stories. One for every verse. The first lines of the refrains are always different and fit the previous verse.
For example, are my crewmates throwing those invisible pineapples at me in the second verse.
The first line of the refrain is the “Bastards screw you all”.”
Just like it sounds a sea shanty.
Of course, pirates are not scientists and cannot know some basic things, but they sing very well.
“In the first verse, the fruits fall from a tree on my head.
Then we had the idea for a moral of this song which is as silly as the song itself.
Since Pineapples grow on the ground, the last lines of the lyrics are “And the moral of the story is very simple for thee.
Actually, pineapples don’t grow on a tree.”
So, after the ship, eem… the song was ready, it was time to start his musical journey in seas full of metal-heads.
The live performance
“Invisible Pineapples was one of the songs we played at our first concert.
And as expected the audience loved the main melody.
They instantly began to party to the song and started a mosh pit.
Since then, we played the song almost on every show. And I was always able to say who from the audience already was at one of our shows.
Because they sang along to the refrain when we played this song.
With every show, more and more people knew the song and were with us”, concludes the Calarook frontman.
The recording
So, after many concert trips, the band entered the studio to record their debut album “Surrender or Die“.
It was officially released on September 11, 2020, with the video of the song being released a month earlier.
However, the song, like any pirate ship, had other adventures.
The lyrics of the song were much more than the notes could lift.
So, they had to lighten it up a bit, but without throwing the rum into the sea.
In their live shows, they could cut something to sew, and generally, no one would understand that something changed.
But in the recording, something like that could not be done and everything had to be perfect.
In the end, as befits the pirates, they succeeded and in fact, they liked the more lyrically collected version even more.
Produced by Rafael Salzmann (Eluveitie) and the video clip is by Kay Brem (Eluveitie).
So, the next time you wake up with a devilish headache, know that it’s not the sea of alcohol you drank the night before.
But some invisible pineapples were falling on your head from a tree while you were sleeping.
It’s not a hangover, it’s just a pirate song.
And if you sing it softly, maybe the pain will go away from your head, who knows?
***
Info:
Calarook
- http://www.calarook.ch/
- https://www.facebook.com/Calarook.Metal/
- https://www.instagram.com/calarook.metal/
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