Mini Soundtrack To The Paralympics In Rio!

I have been working hard on Disability Horizons, creating some interesting articles for the Paralympics since the end of July. However, I wanted to find a way to show my support for the coaches, athletes, and fans of the games on my own blog!

Back in July, Channel 4 released their trailer showing their support for the Paralympic games with including musicians, athletes, just anyone with a disability, doing what we do best: live our lives to the best we can! It is called “We Are The Superheroes” and this produced a thought that I decided to store away in my head for save keeping. Since I am still a music blogger at heart, I knew I had to find a way to bring the two together, just like the commercial. So inside this post, you will find three songs that would motivate any paralympian or any invisible, mental, or physical disability!

Sidenote: I’ve seen quite a bit of different comments within the disabled community in the last month or so. Apparently people in the community, didn’t quite agree with the whole “superhero” outlook of the Paralympian athletes. I think it’s all about perspective, as a disabled person, I found the commercial’s message very motivational. These athletes are like superheroes in the way they’ve trained and accomplished to be where they are now. They will also inspire so many others, kids especially, that they can do anything whether they’re blind, missing a limb and/or in a wheelchair.  

Anyways… here is the mini soundtrack to get all of us into the mood for the next ten days!

Impossible – Lacey Sturm

This is this song that gave me this idea to list songs that remind me of my own story, and for everybody else would feel the same too! The whole song could be written by our grandparents, family friends, teachers, doctors, etc that have witnessed us doing things they never thought we could do in our lives. Just the chorus alone would pump you up into believing you could do anything you set your mind to.

“Every morning I see another miracle / I can’t believe, I’m living the impossible / We are the sign and we are the wonder / Another day of living the impossible.”

Heroes – Alesso featuring Tove Lo

I’ve always believed this song could be more than just a good song on the radio. From the time I first heard it, it gave me this powerful, but calming feeling. And I’m not talking about the bass you feel at the end of the choruses. The whole song is so beautiful! I think using Tove Lo’s soft voice was such a great touch, she doesn’t add crazy vocals, it makes me think of people just whispering the words throughout the day, helping me them through. My favorite part was this section and if I wasn’t afraid of needles, I’d get this part tattooed on the side of my legs.

“Everyday people do everyday things but I can’t be one of them / I know you hear me now, we are a different kind / we can do anything”

Soldiers – Otherwise

This song is gorgeous! Fierce in every way. Even though it was written for our troops fighting in wars, I still think it would be a great song for our paralympians. Especially the veterans that were injured and now they’re on some of these paralympic teams all over the world! It can represent a mass quantity of people at one time, if you allow yourself to hear the words in a different light. That’s the general idea of this whole post. These are just normal songs and I’ve taken their content in a different way!

“In this life there’s no surrender / There’s nothing left for us to do / Find the strength to see this through”

So what do you think of this post? Do you know of any other songs that motivate you to things? 

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Album Review: “Life Screams” by Lacey Sturm

I’ve been meaning to do this review earlier this month but I’ve had a lot going on with my other posts, so it kind of got lost with the other unfinished posts.

How about I give you some background information on the lovely Lacey Sturm! She’s a mother, author, speaker and an amazing singer. She fronted the rock band Flyleaf from the formation in 2000 to 2012. After releasing her book The Reason: How I Discovered A Life Worth Living in 2014, she set her eyes on creating new music with her husband Josh! The result “Life Screams” came out on February 12th!

Let’s get on with the review, shall we?

The song that starts off the album is the first single she released back in November (on my birthday to be exact!) called “Impossible” and I actually did a song review of that track, so I’m not going to be sharing my thoughts about it on this post. If you want to read what I thought about it, click here! Onto the second track called “The Soldier” and it’s got a great message behind it, I love the line “I might die today, but I’m gonna die anyway.” It reminds me of what our soldiers do whenever they go to war, they have the same mindset because that’s what sacrifice is all about, they’re willing to give up their lives for us. It’s very interesting that she brought it out in this song. The next is “I’m Not Laughing” and I actually like this one. There’s a part in the beginning that kind of mimics a clown clacking, I found that very cool! It has a very circus feel to it, despite the honest concept behind it. One thing I don’t like about it though is that she sounds like her voice is going to come out of her throat, like she’s forcing it out of her and I love her screams, but that was intense!

The next isn’t exactly a song, more like a skit or intro to the song after it. It’s called “Vanity” and it sounds like Lacey and maybe her husband speaking normally, acting like they’re going to break up. They’re not by the way! I don’t normally like skits, but it does give you an interesting vibe before the next song starts, which is called “Rot” and it has this dark theme going through it and I love it! The stumping sound going throughout is amazing! I love this song! That’s all I can say about it! These next two songs and I’m really sorry I’m even saying out loud, reminded me Of Mice & Men’s tracks on the most recent album “Restoring Force.” The first is called “You’re Not Alone” and it has very a somber feeling to it, but I love it! I like the lyrics to this one more than I thought I would. My favorite placement is the chorus! The next is “Feels Like Forever” and I love the introduction to this one! It has very interesting electronic sounds intertwining with the building guitars and drums! This could be another favorite of mine!

The next is a slower song that I actually accepted with arms wide open, because I thought Lacey has a gorgeous voice to belt it out for these easy-going melodies. This is the title track, “Life Screams” and it is absolutely beautiful! It has a dark theme going but it’s more like melancholy. It’s interesting. The next track is another slow one; it’s called “Faith” and I don’t really like it. Although I say that now, because there’s a 50% chance that could change in a few more weeks. I just don’t like it, sorry! The next is cover of “The Police” and I have to say before we get into this song, my Uncle David and my mom have a tendency of singing this song every once in a while, mostly because Dave and my Aunt Katt named their cat Roxanne “Roxi” and honestly it is her song! Anyways, it’s a live cover and it sound ahh-mazing sung by Lacey! Last but not least is a song called “Run To You” which is another ballad, almost acoustic tune, that sounds so beautiful! Ughh!

The album as a whole is pretty good! I was afraid that it would sound like a Flyleaf album (as everyone was thinking) but it wasn’t and you got that vibe from the start of it, with “Impossible” that this would be totally different from her time in Flyleaf. I feel she’s much stronger on her own, with her husband, and with Skillet’s own Korey Cooper on writing the lyrics for each song. If you need a new rock album, I would definitely recommend you pick up “Life Screams” right now!

What do you think of Lacey’s first solo record? Did you love it or hate it? Tell me, this girl wants to know!

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Song Review: “Impossible” by Lacey Sturm

After Lacey left Flyleaf, I was sad like everybody else but I was very supportive of her and the band’s decision. She had her second son, was featured in We As Human’s song “Take The Bullets Away” and released a book; her time away from Flyleaf doesn’t seem like a vacation, the woman’s been working and busy being a mom and loving wife to her husband Josh. I’ve been patiently waiting for new music from Lacey Sturm. When she announced that Sirius XM Octane was going to play her first single from her debut album as a solo artist on my birthday I thought, “oh crap! I’m going to miss it.” And I did just that. Everytime I would switch my TV to Octane it would at the end of the song. It took me FIVE days to hear the damn song as a whole, but it was definitely worth the wait.

Surprisingly, I didn’t have any expectations for this song before I heard it. I love Lacey’s voice, it has an innocent quality to it if that makes sense. You don’t expect it to be such a powerhouse like it is. Everybody loves her screams, she’s infamous for them. I even love them just as the next person but I’m glad that while I was listening to “Impossible” those screams were in the background. I find that after a singer has left a band, it can be tricky to not compare the music and lyrics to the work with the band. I’m happy to say I can find the divider between works. It’s very positive–lyric wise. The sound of it over all is amazing, it has everything I like basically. The creepy intro, harsh screams, and keeps my attention from beginning to end.

So what do you think of Lacey’s first single?

Tune Tuesday: Lacey Sturm

This week is going to be a different from the rest, well on here at least! I’ve decided to make both Tuesday and Thursday all about one rock band with a female vocalist(s).

Flyleaf is a heavy metal band from Texas. At the start of the group it consisted of five members: James, Pat, Jared, Sameer, and Lacey. In 2012, shortly after releasing their third album together Lacey left the band, so the lead role was given to Kristen who was a member of the band, Vedera. Today I am only focusing on Lacey’s time in the band while I’ll talk about a new song that was recently released as a single featuring Kristen on vocals on Thursday.

I found Flyleaf at the time their song “All Around Me” came out. I was still using MySpace at the time and one of the girls I was friends with at the time was obsessed with the song, she did many surveys on the Bulletin thing (do you remember doing those?) and she used to say it was she and her boyfriend’s song. It seemed like everybody was into that song! I had a late start of course! I could NEVER figure out the middle and what Lacey is singing. I never figured it out until like six or seven years later, still have trouble remembering the right words. A year or two later, I found “I’m So Sick” and “Fully Alive” because my sister was really big on finding other Christian rock bands, and Flyleaf was one of five bands she had on her iPod at the time.

I still remember hearing both “Again” and “Beautiful Bride” on the radio and watching the music video on MTV for “Again.” I’m still really addicted to these songs to this day! And yes, I know every word! In 2012, I started following the band on Twitter and within late 2012 or early 2013 I think Jared was on doing a follow spree and I got a follow back. I loved seeing the updates of the members on how the new album was progressing. They released “New Horizons” and a little bit afterwards the bomb dropped about Lacey’s departure and we all a bit shocked and upset (some of us still are apparently!) and after announcing Kristen as their new singer, they released the second single and music video for “Call You Out” the only thing I didn’t like about it was the fact they released the song for radio play but it was still in Lacey’s voice. I still think they should have rerecorded it with Kristen’s vocals and maybe that would have made a little bit more sense to move on with another singer. By the way, NW is the only Flyleaf album I’ve got a physical copy of and I still listen to it daily!

Since then she’s released a memoir called The Reason and she’s had another baby boy with her husband. She’s been doing some shows with her new band that is properly titled Lacey. She’s done some guest vocals with Orianthi and We As Human and was apart of the film Underworld: Awakening’s soundtrack on a song called “Heavy Prey” that I wish you could just buy off of iTunes as a damn single. Lacey has an incredible voice and of course, you gotta love her harsh screams in the earlier Flyleaf tracks. She feels the music and lyrics in other singers and you can clearly feel and hear the emotions of each song. My all time favorite old school Flyleaf songs are “So I Thought,” “Fully Alive,” “Arise,” “Broken Wings,” “Bury Your Heart,” “Call You Out,” and “Saving Grace.”

Ketchup With Us: Movie Scene

Looks like I’m going to have three posts today after all! Today Mel and Michele are asking what scene from a movie would you want to recreate. I’ve been racking my mind all day about what movie and what scene I would choose, and it’s hard to pick just one. Mel had picked a scene from the movie, Die Hard and Michele chose the three different scenes from three different movies. I had some thoughts about recreating the scene where Marty and Doc send Enie and the time machine to the future in the first Back To The Future movie, but I don’t have a time machine and I don’t trust anybody but Dr. Emmett Brown. Haha! I do have little dreams of “saving the day” and I have to shoot a gun and kill the enemies. even in my wheelchair and they still happen. Now the challenge is I have to figure out how to write the scene I’d want to recreate

I picked the move Underworld Awakening. I’m just adding this, I think Selene cares very deeply about the ones she loves, and if she truly lost Michael I think she would kill herself in the aftermath, but that’s just my opinion.

“I already have a strong sense of love over people but I am shy and timid. I would like to look that good in leather and have blue eyes. I would love to command control of a room that powerful to have everybody afraid that if you get in my way, I will fuck you up.”