And you wait for the shadow of a memory
Here’s your sign, you barely saw me leave
A picture’s worth a thousand words
Let’s leave them as memories…
TRACING HOLLAND
NSB #2 explores Luke, Holland, Wes, Jesse, Callie, and Casey’s stories.
Synopsis:
Second chances are hard enough when you deserve them. Then there are the ones you don’t.
Callie asked if I was ready. And that’s the question, isn’t it? Ready for what? The spotlight? The music? Or ready for life. Ready to face the reality that what I was is going to attack the very fabric of who I am now. No one knows I’m a different person. Well, no one except the two most important people in my life, which is why there’s a remote chance I might actually pull off the comeback I never saw coming.
Then again, that was before Holland Drake crashed into my life. I didn’t ask for her. Heaven knows she didn’t ask for me. But sometimes it’s not about what makes sense; it’s about accepting that not everything will. It’s learning you have a choice when it feels like you don’t. It’s believing even the worst past can still have a future.
And sometimes it’s none of that. Sometimes it’s survival. A blind fight through the pain as you cling to any shred of hope you can find. And it’s those moments, those desperate pleas into the darkness for a flicker of light, when you have no choice but to confront the blessing that often feels like a curse:
You’re still alive. You’re still significant.
You’re once again Luke Craven, frontman for Night Shifts Black.
“Metamorphosis”
Crawl in, crawl out
Terrified but moving now
Claw up, slide down
There’s no going back, can’t go back
Break down, break out
Break down, break out
Brand new day feast on the dark
Shuttered light, reluctant spark
Growing dawn and setting sun
Fight song of the desperate one.
Cocoon shredding
Past, heading straight for the wall
No more regretting, just breathing
Underwater
Too late to choose, too far to fall
Nowhere to go but on
No more excuses, no denial
No holding on to lost time
Break out, I’m breaking out
Brand new day release the dark
A new light, the smallest spark
Growing dawn and setting sun
Fight song of the desperate one.
Break it down, break it
Breaking out, just break it, break it
“Acrobat”
Flying high as you watch me fall.
Twisting in your beautiful lies, bravo.
Hats off to your elegant show.
Take a bow, my acrobat.
You’ve won the crowd, it’s yours now, sweet acrobat.
“Perfect Storm”
You and me, babe, a tidal wave I never saw coming.
You and me, and that hurricane we can’t outrun.
It shouldn’t have been, but there’s no fight against the wind.
It all blew in, too fast, too hard, the Perfect Storm.
You and me, babe, still afraid but locked into fate.
You and me, losing all the reasons to run.
Oh sweet ecstasy of defeat, forgive me now.
It all blew in, too hard, too fast, the Perfect Storm.
And I will fight through the waves
To get to you, to get to you
And I will scream through the dark
Against the lies, against the lies that overtake me.
“The Wanderer”
Guide me toward the light, I swear I’ll follow.
Forgive me for the man I am.
Fight the hollow ghost I carry.
I’ve learned to hide the tears,
Though they still break me.
Search for me, the broken wanderer
Find me, deep within my own void
Save me, from my burning lies
Don’t believe what I am
I’m a fallen angel,
The disease you can’t understand
I’m the reason you’ve lost faith, your sin
But I’m a liar, don’t believe me, please don’t believe me
Guide me toward the light, I swear I’ll follow
Hold me til the hollowness is gone
These tears mean nothing in the darkness
Don’t believe what I am.
I need you to believe when I can’t
That I’m more, more than I am.
“Nowhere Man”
I’m Nowhere Man in nowhere spaces
Everywhere a thousand faces, places spill from beneath the wreckage
Oh it’s over now
Oh oh it’s over
I’m Forgotten Man in endless races
Chasing air with futile paces, traces of the craft that made us
Oh it’s over now
Oh oh it’s over
You say you see me, but it’s just my shadow
I’m not waiting, just fading past the time you remember
I’m Forgotten Man, Nowhere Man
Light a candle before I’m gone.
I’ll run this race, it’s still my anthem
Past the shame, the pain is where I fight now
I’m a blaze, a fire, a final hour
Oh it’s not over
Oh oh it’s not
It’s never over
VIPER
NSB #3 explores Wes, Holland, and Luke’s stories.
Synopsis:
It’s not easy being the bad guy.
Yeah, that’s a lie. It’s pretty damn simple. You act and you own it. You sell your soul to protect those you love and screw the rest.
It’s the restraint that’s hard. The demons that poke at your trigger, burn in your gut—just waiting for a second of freedom to unleash the fire in your soul.
Call me a villain. Call me whatever helps you sleep at night and feel good about the black and white of love. But watch your back because I don’t care. Until I do.
And then I implode.
“Unraveling”
Fire of mine, ashes of regret
Redeem the manic truth.
Proving scars in vain effect
With no doubts left to lose.
Seven scars from timid youth—six I’ve left undone.
Since here I am unraveling
And it only took the one.
“Sweetest Death”
Hell’s fire and Hades’ desire, have nothing on you, babe.
Nothing on you.
Reigning kings tossed worthless rings with less hunger than my desperate plunder for your treasure.
Better, you tell me no, and save my soul, before your charm, disarms all that I am.
Breathe my last, through your lungs.
The sweetest death.
“Session in Progress”
Session in progress
The hardest journey we take
Raise a glass to the past, it’s the future we break
If all goes well or damns you to hell, it’s your story to own
So tell if you dare, to care about your mess, in progress.
“Viper Rising”
Coil of strength wound tight
to hide
to lie
to wither and writhe
In its prison it cries, ‘Coil of rage!’
Dirty secrets revealed
The bed
I made
Was never the place
To trap this broken soul, It’s over!
Stand back, you’re gonna want to stand back
I’m breaking free to strike
Fangs bared, spring out, out
Of hell, don’t tell
Me what I am
I’m not, not your pet
I’m your hidden regret
So hear me, you should fucking fear me!
As I rise
“Whiskey Theater”
Her darkness is mine
Desperate to hide,
In the lie of
Breathing hard.
Igniting skin, she sins in the betrayal of lust
She just needs a sign that she’s alive and
Free to fly.
“Bloody Heart”
Bloodshot eyes scratch through the veil and find you, find you
Truth locked beyond my reach
You flood in, addictive fangs, sink deep
So deep I bled
For you,
Fled, for you
Chased the moon, I died and came back for you
Wrapped in you
Trapped trapped, before I knew
How to survive the loss
When you find me too, those hidden parts
I blocked, beyond your reach
Your perfection is
My rejection, burns
Hot through the bloody heart you own
Until the beat, beat, beat
Stops.
LIMELIGHT
NSB #4 explores Jesse and Luke’s stories.
Synopsis:
I’m unpredictable.
A genius, an underachiever.
I’m the song, the voice, the passion, the pain.
I am failure.
I do music because it’s what I am, but sometimes that’s not enough.
A slave to my nature, I wait for it to show mercy and drop a gift in my lap.
Because the music chose me.
I’m its victim not its gift.
She destroyed my career.
Ruined my life.
Pushed me from the shadows and exposed my lies.
She’s the fire that destroys lesser men,
and now her flames are aimed at me.
She loves to watch me burn,
but the part we never saw coming?
Sometimes it takes a fire to ignite a spark
And slay the darkness.
“Nothing I Want’
Stop beggin’ for the hunt, babe. You’ve got nothing I want. Hey—
Keep checkin’ for clues, cuz I refuse your bait.
Just wait. Your games were a mistake. Hey—
Maybe your lies work on other guys but this one’s checking out.
You’ve got nothing I want.
Nothing, no, no, nothing I want.
“Jonas”
Little light of mine. Flicker, flicker burn, until I learn to slay the ghost of hope, the fucking joke you’ve made of me.
Little friend of mine. Don’t be kind when you grind our past into lasting crimes that might just be the end of me.
Traitor. Fool me once.
Traitor. Fool me twice.
That knife you hold is so damn pretty.
How’s it look in my back? Hey hey
My reaction time is lacking
No backtracking now that you’ve got me on the prowl
Hey hey
I’m looking at you, traitor, faker, promise-breaker,
Re-arranger of the lies we’ve tried to bury
Hey hey
I’m looking at you, pretender, mender, truth-blender
Defender of the game I thought we ended
Yeah, yeah, I’m looking at you
“Candlelight”
Another night in the candlelight
Not bright enough to see my scars, just enough to
Fight, Fight
Burn out
Fade out
Cry out against demon screams
Broken dreams
All that keeps me breathing in the dark
Hold tight tight
Just a spark.
Another night.
It’ll be all right.
in the candlelight.
“Agitator”
Overrated, garage-band wasted, talent-jaded
They said
Destined for rejection, binding imperfections, nothing but objections
They said, they said
Attractive fraud, where’s your army now to defend the legend that only exists in
Could have beens
Would have beens
Should have been vapors assaulted by the wind
Attractive fraud, where’s your army now?
Could have been,
Would have been,
Should, should, should have been
Too hazy for a spotlight
They said
Couldn’t be
Shouldn’t be
Would, would, wouldn’t be if not for helping hands that cower under streetlights
You’re special she said
A fucking god beneath the fraud she said
Could be
Should be
Won’t be
Unless she collects
the lies she tells
I’m no god, just a piece of hell
Here to tell you how it is
And I will.
“Philadelphia”
Rewind back to the start
And your heart would still be too big for me
Love is a game
For some a lie
For you an epic tie that bound you
To the one who cries
When the lights go out
When the chill seeps down
Through cracks you always mended
Arms that braved the fiercest storms
Swarmed, warmed a broken boy
Who never had a chance
To dance with fate
Who lived afraid of himself
That’s love in a city of demons
A pity they never saw you coming
Rewind back to the day
A superhero roared,
“It’s okay
To fly, to dream, to spread broken wings
To scale a mountain in spite of it all.”
“Brother,” he said.
“I’ll catch you when you fall.”
AN NSB WEDDING
NSB #5 conclude’s the series with Casey and Callie’s stories (along with the rest of the NSB gang).
Synopsis:
They say every happily ever after needs a wedding. Heaven knows after the hell we’ve survived, we deserve the mother of all HEAs. All the pieces are in place. All the players, assembled. The Wedding of the Century is locked and loaded.
Too bad nothing’s fair in love, rock, and wedding planning.
Too bad sometimes epic happiness requires an epic fail.
Guess we should have seen it coming.
Did we expect anything less from AN NSB WEDDING?
“Can It Be Me?”
Words and Music by Jon Meckes
Used with permission
(Also a recorded song)
I can only dream of ending all the waiting
Praying that I’ll see you again
Traveling the world I’ve seen so many others
But I can’t keep from thinking of you
But I still walk alone
Should I just move along
Since I’m far away do you look for someone closer
Maybe one to sweep you away
Someone who can hold you
Like I’ve always wanted to
Oh how I wish that I was there
But I still walk alone
Should I just move along
Only time will tell
If I can be the one inside your dreams
Can it be me?
I don’t mean to scare you
I just need to hear you
Tell me that there’s nothing for me to fear
But I still walk alone
Should I just move along
Only time will tell
If I can be the one inside your dreams
Can it be me?
I have so many questions
That need to stay unanswered
How will I know the time is right
But I still walk alone
Should I just move along
Only time will tell
If I can be the one inside your dreams
Can it be me?
I hate to have suspicions
It’s hard when there’s a distance
Like the one that’s keeping us apart
So if you feel the same way
Come on out and tell me
I would love to only wait for you.
“Always”
Words and music by Jon Meckes
Used with permission
(Also a recorded song)
It’s time to tell you how I feel
I know you’ve been waiting
I know you’ve been wondering when