Liner Notes: This was a difficult album to make. It is not the album we initially planned. Several key songs had to be abandoned due to budget constraints and the lack of rehearsing required for the band to become intimate with the material. Nevertheless, we were determined to get a recording out this year…against all odds, against better judgment and despite the hard personal sacrifices we had to make during these difficult times. The fact that we got it done is impressive. The fact that it turned out as good as it did is miraculous. 2009 was a rough one. For better or worse, this is the document. This is FRACTURED. See you on the road. 68AD 2009 The title track is a completely fictional account of a doomed relationship, written as sort of a Buddy Holly/Eddie Cochran motif on steroids (with Itchy Fingaz providing much of the steroids). The term "Fractured" just seemed to have a lot of relevance and resonance on a number of levels. There is really nothing else we could have called the album.

"The Reader's Digest Version of my Mind" is what I would consider to be one of the couple of major songs of the record. I don't think the lyrics require any explaining but, if they do, the wonderfully brutal attack of the rhythm section should hammer it home for you after a few listens.

"16 Tons on my Back" is more complex that you will ever believe it is. Aside from being a sequel and homage to the famous Tennessee Ernie Ford song, it is a comment on the current recession, on the ongoing role of slavery in America and the history and importance of American popular music in the struggle for liberty and the pursuit of happiness. On an autobiographical note, it explains what the hell I am doing here.

"Perfect Weapon" is a song that nobody seemed too keen on while it was in its formative stages. I think the finished product came out magnificently and our engineer C.J. said it was his favorite as he was handing over the master. This is possibly the most lyrically challenging song on the disc. It was loosely based on a story that my brother is writing (which is a sequel to the novel he wrote that was based on my rock opera "Bread and Circuses"). Got that? No? Well then...you will just have to wonder who or what the "perfect weapon" is. Maybe it's a person. Maybe it's God. Or maybe it's the WMD of your choice.

"Garbageman" is an excuse to do an honest to goodness blues song and giving me an excuse to strap on the Les Paul (for a change) to do an honest to goodness blues solo. Lyrically, the concept has a whole lot more potential that we chose to explore here. The dark and heavy atmosphere fills in the blanks.

"Rachel Maddow" is thrown in to lighten the mood. I find Ms. Maddow to be very charming an intelligent and I particularly liked the "Lame Duck Watch" segments she did during the last days of the Bush junta. So I decided she needed a tribute song and I decided it would be funny if it came from the perspective of a lovelorn fan. In this way, it can also be seen as a commentary on our celebrity obsessed culture with the element of humor coming from the fact that the poor schlub doesn't realize Maddow is openly lesbian. The punked up style of the song is also an homage to Joey Ramone who released a similar song about Maria Bartiromo on his final solo lp.

"Wake Me When You're Done" is another very complex song...so complex in fact that I'm not even sure what it means. It might be about a prisoner of war. Whatever the case, I think it reflects a person who is completely at the mercy of forces beyond his control and is rebelling through the only means left to him. On a wider level, I suppose it could be about a society that is so overworked and overstressed that sleep becomes, for some, less a form of rest and more a form of temporary suicide...if that makes sense. Beyond that, it's a catchy sumbitch that's too weird to ever be a hit single.

"She's Illuminated" is another song from the rock opera "Bread and Circuses" as were most of the songs from our previous EP "Hell's Tenants". Taken out of context, the song stands as a catchy rocker and doesn't mean a whole lot. It's inclusion is part of a strategy to eventually capture studio recordings of all the songs from the opera.

"Victim of Coincidence" is another major song in my opinion. Lyrically, it revisits some of the themes that appear elsewhere on the record (hard times, the hand of fate, prophecy, the power of music and the motivation/process of songwriting). Musically, I find it quite moving thanks largely to the wonderful guitar accompaniments that John provided. Guest drummer Tommy Dowd of Earthquake studios did a bang up job for us here also.

"Coming Together (But Slowly)" is another song that nobody was crazy about at first. I tried to write positive song. John said it sounded like Dave Matthews. Joe said, "Is this as positive as you can get?" Nevertheless, I think the studio incarnation came out really well and I think we've all grown to like it...it's a different groove and a nice vibe to start winding the album down on.

"Thrash Marley" is an interesting artifact that we've played a few times live. One of the songs and characters from "Bread and Circuses" was called "The Heathen". It occurred to one of us that Bob Marley had a song called that and, lo and behold, it sort of fit the concept of the opera. So we decided to work up a cover version and, since this band doesn't quite have its reggae chops down yet, we translated it into a musical language that most of the boys are comfortable with...THRASH METAL! At some point during the arrangement, we realized it sounded a little like "Rockin in the Free World" and so we threw a little Neil Young into the mix as well. Wallah...Thrash Marley.

"In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" is based on an old Irish (I assume) ditty that my grandfather actually did used to sing. Since I could not trace the origin of the song, and could not remember if it had any other lyrics, I wrote new lyrics and made it my own. After the bombast of "Thrash Marley" this serves as a quiet toast to all the countless drunks that sat through our live act over the last two years.