My Cruel Mistress the Music
Once upon a time
Having been a creative being all of his life Malflic began studying music at the age of seven and composing before he entered his teens. Music is his first love and continues to taunt his soul as a cruel and elusive Mistress. He could be considered a classically trained musician and studied advanced music theory while still in high school. The crowning orchestral achievement of all those wasted years was composed in 1988 a full orchestral movement titled Devon Seran done as a neoclassical composition. The inspiration came from a Gaelic story about a dying old woman’s last words…“the end of all pleasure is pain”.
Five years prior to that accomplishment drifting away from nylon strings at every turn, trading in studies Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, and Paganini for Iron Maiden, Vai, Zappa, and Rhoads set him on a course that would make him a fixture in small un-crowded bars and the occasional packed club for more than a decade.
Malflic’s lyrics started out as a lampoonish schmaltz fest and quickly migrated to 80’s metal before finally giving way to more serious music that reflected his often tortured soul. Dark, brooding, with graphic sexual over tones, and pining over lost loves the music mirrored his own unrelenting demons and his close friend’s seemingly constant struggle with addiction. Later themes often referred to losing himself after moving into a corporate existence and losing his creative soul to corporate greed and his wasted youth.
His Prize musical possessions include a well loved 24 fret custom shop neck through body Jackson Soloist and a Roscoe Guitar LP2000. Amplification varies depending on the mood, (a often rebuilt) hot rodded Marshall JCM800 (uses half a an extra preamp tube in the gain stage and sounds great until it blows up), The occasional Boogie head, and an assortment of combo amps, effects, and grating guttural voice.
If I was Satan
A is ranting lyrical ponderance set to grinding guitars filled with angry inquisitive lyrics about ones role as good or evil in the universe, and how much better it would be to be anyone but who you are. Even if it is the embodiment and universal symbol for evil.
Nothing Like they Said
A Haunting tale laden with distorted guitars warning of the temptations, the lies, and deceit perpetrated by a corporate existence and the desire for money power and commercial success. It embodies the seeming death of Malflic’s creative soul during a period of daytime success at the expesne of his own identity. It is the representation that the last of his innocence…idealism and hope had been stolen by his own fostered well fed greed. Sadly there would be no turning back.
Wish
A rare Synth driven and drum machine piece backed by overly distorted guitar and the angriest words to ever leave his lips were spewed with all the malice and putrid hate he could muster each and every time the song is sung to this day. The muse on this one is Malflic’s most common one over nearly a 10 year period. The theme of the same lost love and betrayal was told and retold countless times far more gently in countless other works until the true rage and pain of a broken heart mutated from anger to genuine disdain and hatred. Some wounds won’t heal…the last words he ever spoke to her was “I’ll see you in Hell.” He does not regret one syllable yet.
Specters and imagery of haunting personal demons tell the story of insomnia, addiction, hallucination and ultimately a chorus about a self inflicted tragic ending that reprises yet another common theme in Malflic’s literary and musical works…suicide. Perhaps because of it’s taboo as a mortal sin, perhaps because of the tragic finality of the act. It worked in Shakespeare, Philosophy, and the opera so why not contemporary music…less the poison hemlock of course?
A staple in any Malflic performance from 92 to 2002 and actually covered by a handful of other Pittsburgh bands during that era the drunken frivolity of the beginning tells the tale of his first love gone wrong by naming names and answering the question an old friend asked once too often “Who fucked you up?” Well folks it was her! Most people missed the point of the song and just got off at the anger it was sung with- Living well is the best revenge!
“Money’s all that matters, innocence is shattered, no one even stops to stare” One of many works during the period that dealt with the struggle and loss of the creative soul and the all consuming greed for physical possessions created by professional obligations. It is a struggle that still rages on inside many of us.
“It’s all about greed, nothing else. Does money matter that much? When you don’t have any it does and the more you have the more I know the more you worry about keeping it”
Were Malflic’s original comments to a close female friend who was criticizing him for again using negative female imagery. Musically speaking the guitar parts are some of the most complex he ever penned and the rhythm & key changes bordered on pure exquisite lunacy.
Musically speaking is a rare original funk based groove that plays off a theme inspired by Zappa’s “Jesus thinks you’re jerk”. In Malflic’s rendition the lyrics speak to the lies told to the truly faithful using God’s name by those with intentions that are less than pure and are financially motivated whether it is an unseen priceless art collection, a private jet, or a new Mercedes.
Perhaps the most misunderstood song he ever wrote, it drew irate comments and harsh criticism from a lot of friends and family members the very first time the song was performed. The explanation after the fact did little change their opinions and it was not removed from the set list. It was perceived to be about rape and again used strong negative female imagery. In fact the references were written about a two close friends involved in a consensually rough sexual relationship that while not traditional was each of them preferred.
A slow melodic haunting that showed his classical roots and was written at the height of his own virtuosity sets the tone for the one and probably only song ever Malflic would refuse to discuss or explain to anyone. Still for years he insisted on playing it.
The music while serenely calm and chorused felt secretly deeply disturbed told a story that didn’t quite match the words. His own emotions could be genuinely seen on open display, not the theatrics or the rage but something else, something much darker and hidden. He often poked fun at religion, and nothing was sacred the only explanation ever offered was as we combed through his lyric books recently and asked what it was about…”it tells the story of why I am a man of little faith” allowing everyone to draw their own conclusions.
The lyrics are remedial at best, but it is the only piano song Malfic had every written and never added guitars to. A certain irony that is more interesting if you know him or did during that era is that the song was written in August of 1990 with the aid of a vodka induced haze after playing all summer on the Jersey shore with the band properly un acclaimed metal glam band Rumorz.
It was composed over two days in the lobby of a women’s freshman dorm as the new students were arriving. Men were forbidden in the building, perhaps not eating much for three months and having blonde hair down to the middle of his back fooled the administrators. Shortly there after he was allowed access to the pianos in the music department “even though he was not a music major”. On Saturday afternoons as he waits for everyone to be ready to leave the house he still plays and sings the song usually right after an acoustic piano rendition of Head like a Hole by NiN, his own song is then followed by Prince’s Darling Nikki.
Silly but insightful Songs
The song is included for posterities sake. The words were written in October 1986 by his childhood best friend John “Dusty “ Jones who would be a musical collaborator (and often bass player) from 1982- 1996. Jones is a talented graphic artist in his own right. The two childhood best friends have since lost touch and only seeing each other twice Since 96. Once in Dec 1998 at Jones wedding, and at Malflic’s parents 4oth anniversary in 2006. Still the little known fact remains Malflic’s youngest daughter is named after Jones’ first cousin.
A pure punk limerick penned in September 1988 with a metronome setting high enough to cause cardiac arrest. Think the Dead Milkmen on speed type silliness. Skateboarding was not what it is today with main stream brands and corporate sponsorships. Skaters were viewed by many as nothing more than doobie toking outcasts.
The young lady in question was a preppie as a J Crew catalog, which made it all the more mystifying that she could really skate for the era and hung with that crowd despite the Greek letters on her chest. Oh and no reference would be complete with out quoting the girl herself.
“Father! Father! I can’t find the letter Q!” (that one’s for you JB)
I suspect she lives in the suburbs, somewhere with her 2.5 kids white picked fence and dog. Really just like the song we have no fucking idea what happened to her (or us for that matter).
