Enchant - "The New Progressive Rock Gods?!" Page 4
by Martin Popoff

"'Paint The Picture' is about somebody who thinks they know who you are without really knowing you at all," begins Doug. "'Rough Draft' is about the idea of updating, living your life every day like it's your last day. If you were to go, you would feel OK about it, and wouldn't feel so bad. We just feel that you live your life... if somebody was to write your epitaph, it doesn't really sum up every day of your life. It's just a brief overview maybe of who the person was. And so I like the idea of 'Rough Draft' being that every day isn't the final one. You're trying to improve. You write it out every day but it's not the final thing. The final thing is basically all those days put together. 'What To Say' is a song Ted wrote lyrically about a brother-in-law who died of brain cancer, and Ted tried to put himself in his place, what it must be like to leave his family behind. 'Bite My Tongue' is about sticking your foot in your mouth, really, wishing that you hadn't (laughs). Thinking before you speak, maybe. 'Colors Fade' is about the loss of innocence, how life changes. 'Black Eyes & Broken Glass' is about abuse. 'Elyse' is Ted's daughter's name, so it's a song about her. 'Shell Of A Man' is about Alzheimer's and 'Broken Wave', Paul wrote the song lyrically. He said that the music reminded him of the sea and a picture formed and his head of a woman walking along the beach which reminded him of a fictional character."

And finally, closing out the album, "'Traces'... Paul went to Yosemite, right after some people were murdered there. It's amazing to be in such an incredibly beautiful place to find out that something so horrible can happen. So he started thinking about events imprinting themselves on a place, that you can actually go somewhere and feel something wrong, that something has happened. And 'Know That' is sort of an acoustic version of 'What To Say', sort of a 'from the grave' lyrical idea."

So there you have it, now go get it, like I say, best bet being the digipak edition which is stuffed with band shots as well as haunting art photography that matches the record's often realm-straddling lyrical themes. Next up? Work on the next album, given that a planned tour with Fates Warning has er, been juggled and dropped.