Close-up: Albie – (never seen it) Rain So Hard

(written by Albie von Schaaf)

“‘Rain So Hard’ is a kind of reflection on the plight of the small business owners and non-salaried working class right now, who are being told arbitrarily by the government when and how and IF we are allowed to make our livings. Meanwhile, much larger businesses like Wal Mart and Lowe’s blithely continue to operate under no threat with thousands of people passing through each day, scratching their faces, adjusting their masks and touching thousands of items each time they come in.

While airlines are similarly allowed to seat at full capacity, bodies touching, inches from one another rather than the ‘Clinically mandated” 6 ft, so on. Yet, simultaneously we are to believe that going to a bar for two hours, or to a painting class, or for a haircut/workout with 10 other people is tantamount to murder. This song is about how the working poor are always the acceptable collateral damage for the rich and powerful class, no matter which political belief it is ascribed to.

As a guy who came up in the punk rock world, where we were called upon to do everything for ourselves, to reject dependency on institutions, this whole social push toward compliance without thought, the push for a new homogeneity, and for actually trusting the government to care for us (I assure you they don’t, on either side of the aisle) is frankly terrifying. Last year I was a professional musician, and now I am working 60 hours a week for half the earnings, because we are allowing our self-interested leaders to define things like essential and non essential work forces for us. I am disgusted by the lack of empathy we have for one another in general, as well as our refusal to even consider sources of information that separate themselves from our personal politics. I am not ordinarily given to autobiographical or topical songwriting, but this one just kind of fell out and feels pretty timely.”

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The ‘Close-up’ series contains insight provided by artists about their work.