TEAM OF JUST ONE
Listen to/download Anecdata’s Team of Just One – released 18 March, 2022. A dozen tunes of fuzzy guitar power-pop.
Stream it on Spotify, Apple Music , YouTube Music, Tidal and everywhere else. Or download it from Bandcamp and get two bonus tracks – ‘Xertz’ and ‘Note to Self’.
Tackling the state of the world in 2022, the album – written and recorded entirely in a west Auckland home studio – is a mash-up of ’90s guitars, ’80s synths and ’60s melodies.
First single ‘Ammunition’ melds Manic Street Preachers and Devo riffs and takes aim at the war in Ukraine, while follow-up ‘Rent-Free’ tackles the anxieties of living through that and a pandemic at the same time via power-pop.
Elsewhere on the record, ‘Voices for Freedumb’ and ‘You Deserve It, Nazi’ look at disinformation in the Covid-19 age, while ‘Team of Just One‘ examines the balance of rights and responsibilities during a collective crisis in a society that prioritises individual rights.
But it’s not all serious, boring shit. ‘The Beatles’ is a tune about how everyone sucks because they’re not The Beatles.
Click here to read more about the writing and recording of the album.
Lyrics
Ammunition
what did we do so wrong?
what did we do to trigger
fascism revisit
20th century shit
what do you think you’ll find?
in the waste of Chernobyl
radioactive monsters
they hate you too
I need ammunition, not a ride
get your gun, I want you by my side
want a revolution of the right
I need ammunition, not a ride
fuck your empire rebuilding shite
if we die then we die being right
I don’t want your kind words
why don’t you take that black belt
wrap it around your ambitions
cut off the blood supply
but a bullet will do too
wanna rule forever
face full of botox and hate
oil instead of blood and bile
they hate you too
I need ammunition, not a ride
get your gun, I want you by my side
want a revolution of the right
I need ammunition, not a ride
fuck your empire rebuilding shite
if we die then we die being right
and if you tolerate this, guess who’s next
and if you tolerate this, with regret
I don’t want your kind words
and if you tolerate this, guess who’s next
and if you tolerate this, with regret
I don’t want your kind words
I don’t want your kind words
we don’t need your empty promises
no, we don’t
We Can Be Wrong Every Day
have another go, we might get a little closer
do not despair
we will always hold the upper hand
just punch down
have another chance, that’s how life is fair for us
every day we are wrong
every day it’s the same old song
every day there’s another way
we can be wrong every day
on every day in every way
have another go, it’s on me, you’re not allowed to fail
you stain our name
we gave it to the land we stole
that’s why we’re better
have another vote, we pay with money
every day we are wrong
every day it’s the same old song
every day there’s another way
we can be wrong every day
on every day in every way
Team of Just One
I just want to be alone, sick of being stuck at home
and now there’s another wave, I should order my own gravestone
alpha, beta, delta three, I’ve had enough of learning Greek
and now there’s an omicron, and they say it is a bad one
and it didn’t need to be this way, not at all
but you had to be individual
have you ever had a flatmate who wouldn’t do their bit
life in lockdown with a toddler’s like that, but with more shit
look at me, I can’t be fucked, to stay at home or wear a mask
I’m the problem, truth be told, but it’s my right to be an arsehole
and it didn’t need to be this way, not at all
but we had to be individual
so we shouldn’t be surprised that it keeps on coming back
and it didn’t need to be this way, not at all
but we had to be individual
team of just one
Rent-Free
every stupid song that I can’t stand
living rent-free in my head
why can’t I get rid of all this fucking noise?
I just want to go to sleep at night
I don’t want to think about the time
i don’t remember what it was
but I know it was the worst thing ever
to happen to a human or whatever
living rent-free in my head
why can’t I get rid of all this fucking noise?
I live in words that I can’t escape
I summon thoughts that I can’t erase
I stare at screens ‘til I fall asleep
and live in hope that it stays so deep
Voices for Freedumb
try keeping your mouth shut
freedom doesn’t mean free to be what you want to be if it’s a war criminal
every time you talk I,
I get dumber, I get dumber
every time you talk I,
I get dumber, we get dumber
read a lot of your stuff – how much money’s in the pyramid?
the oil biz is not essential
freedom doesn’t mean free to be what you want to be if it’s a snake oil grifter
every time you talk I,
I get dumber, I get dumber
every time you talk I,
I get dumber, we get dumber
what’s in it for you? I wonder what’s in it for you
what’s in it for you? I wonder what’s in it for you
money
every time you talk I,
I get dumber, I get dumber
every time you talk I,
I get dumber, we get dumber
How Close We Came to the End
there was a time when i was younger than everyone in the world
and now i’ve outlived the 27 club – look at me!
i stayed alive despite living through the ’80s
i love my bubble, it’s wide as the sea
you could have one too but you voted tory
i stayed alive despite living through the ’90s
we climbed the trees, fuck you to gravity, we underrated teeth
but there’s more to life than even chewing gum – look at me!
we stayed alive despite living through the pandemic
i love my bubble, it’s wide as the sea
you could have one too but you voted tory
we stayed alive despite living through the invasion
we could have died, we could have died
we could have died, we could have died
we should have died, we should have died
we should have died, we should have died
Brainworms
chuck ‘em into the lake, dunk ‘em in the volcano
mm mm mm mm mm mm
I don’t want to hear their noise
turn the microphone up, hit ‘em with some real feedback
no need to hear them throw their toys
and I don’t wanna
and I don’t wanna
and I don’t wanna
and I don’t wanna catch your brainworms
put the record on backwards and it makes more more sense
mm mm mm mm mm mm
don’t get advice from a bogan
hit ‘em in the back pocket that’s where they keep
mm mm mm mm mm mm
all the money we gave them
and I don’t wanna
and I don’t wanna
and I don’t wanna
no I don’t wanna catch your brainworms
no I don’t wanna catch your brainworms
in light of everything we know
the night of everything we do not know
chuck ‘em into the lake, dunk ‘em in the volcano
mm mm mm mm mm mm
I don’t want to hear their noise
and I don’t wanna catch your brainworms
no I don’t wanna catch your brainworms
in light of everything we know
the night of everything we do not know
in light of everything we know
the night of everything we do not know
la la la la
la la, la, la
no I don’t wanna catch your brainworms
Enough
if i come into some money i know it won’t last
the force, it must be balanced and my riches in the past
but the opposite applies if i am in a debt
i have never had to top up money with roulette
i am patient zero, even stevens at the bank
i never have a dollar or a slaver pulling rank
never going hungry is a blessing and a curse
so is never being centre of the universe
i’m not sure what i would do
if it were not up to you
even with enough to live
it’s not enough
for you, for you, for you, for you
for you
The Beatles
or there would be no songs for the rest of us to write
nothing good anyway, we would be left with nothing but shite
they were a good band, but if they never split
then we wouldn’t have Wings, so that’s that, alright?
what we got was enough, what we wanted was more than love
whenever we’re stuck, we just choose a beatles tune
change it up, move some notes, chance our luck
if macca finds out, that means he heard our song
and we can die happy, that’s enough
we’ve had a good run so far, using paul’s taxman bass
and the drums from penny lane every second song, that’s right
what we got was enough, what we wanted was more than love
if we all had got our way, we would be in the beatles
if we all had got our way, we would be in the beatles
if we all had got our way, we would be in the beatles
if we all had got our way, we would be in the beatles
yeah
You Deserve It, Nazi
or there would be no songs for the rest of us to write
nothing good anyway, we would be left with nothing but shite
they were a good band, but if they never split
then we wouldn’t have Wings, so that’s that, alright?
what we got was enough, what we wanted was more than love
whenever we’re stuck, we just choose a beatles tune
change it up, move some notes, chance our luck
if macca finds out, that means he heard our song
and we can die happy, that’s enough
we’ve had a good run so far, using paul’s taxman bass
and the drums from penny lane every second song, that’s right
what we got was enough, what we wanted was more than love
if we all had got our way, we would be in the beatles
if we all had got our way, we would be in the beatles
if we all had got our way, we would be in the beatles
if we all had got our way, we would be in the beatles
yeah
History of Nothing
it’s been a long time
and at the time I thought that they were bad
they were bad, they were bad
you weren’t alive when things were last meaningful
and at the time I thought that they were bad
they were bad, they were bad
I wrote a history of nothing, it started last week
and it will cover all to the end of time
end of time, end of time
there’s nothing new under the sun or the moon
until the sun escapes the moon explodes
the moon escapes, the sun explodes
may you live in times they don’t make rhymes about
Living Man
I do not consent! I do not consent!
one more time and you can’t arrest me
I am not of your world, a living man
does not have need for reality
I made my own laws up, I wrote the magna carta
I write in upper-case, I made the whole thing up
I’ve a right to be a monster
you can’t arrest me
I write with quantum grammar, a living man
lives on the taste of fear of reality
I made my own laws up, I wrote the magna carta
I write in upper-case, I made the whole thing up
I don’t need your fucking rules, don’t need your fucking schools
don’t need your fucking rubbish collections
I don’t need your fucking rules, don’t need your fucking roads
don’t need your fucking police protection
I don’t understand a fucking thing about life
Xertz (bonus track)
[instrumental]
Note to Self (bonus track)
if you wanna be the best at what you do
well I’m sorry, but I’ve got bad news for you
you won’t be
there’s a million better writers of the songs
and a billion better hitters of the bong
you won’t be
we all suck in a unique way
hoping for some luck, plug away
letting real life slip away
late at night with our laptops on
hoping that the next is the one
sleep is for the weak, I want none
there’s a million better fighters in the ring
and a billion better jesters to the king
you won’t be
if you pinned your hopes on overnight success
then you’ve placed your fate at zuckerberg’s largesse
you won’t be
we all suck in a unique way
hoping for some luck, plug away
letting real life slip away
late at night with our laptops on
hoping that the next is the one
sleep is for the weak, I want none
we’re not that special
I don’t do lottery, or go casino
i’m not an outlier, just monte carlo
I don’t do lottery, or go casino
i’m not an outlier, just monte carlo
we’re hopeless, goalless – so what?
we all suck in a unique way
hoping for some luck, plug away
letting real life slip away
