FOUNDER OF JAZZ-ROCK INSTRUMENTAL BAND
THE FLYIN' RYAN BROTHERS, JIMMY RYAN RETURNS IN 2019 WITH
“SOCIOPATHIC LIAR”, A ROCK VOCAL TRACK DECRYING
THE CURRENT POLITICAL CHAOS IN 2020 AMERICA



Jimmy Ryan - master guitarist, solo artist and former leader of the underrated and now sadly defunct American instrumental rock band The Flyin' Ryan Brothers is back with a new rock vocal oozing with angst-filled lyrics dissing the current political circus in America today. Never a musician to pull punches, simply put, Jimmy has had enough of it. In 2016, Jimmy released his rock vocal track, “SUPER-PSYCHO-NAZI-RACIST-TRUMP-IS-PSYCHOPATHIC.” Now in 2019, Jimmy shows he’s really fed up and he vents his spleen to the max with his new rock vocal single, “Sociopathic Liar”. In the spirit of the aforementioned track, “Sociopathic Liar” takes on the divisive political mood in America today with a vengeance. As he sings “Now the page is turning and the world is burning”, Jimmy puts all the political bigwigs on notice that he won’t get fooled again. A song that could only be written in the aftermath of all the appalling political turmoil America has endured these last 3 years, “Sociopathic Liar” puts the Trump Administration under the musical microscope and the results are as much truth-telling as they are troubling and shocking. Looking back to his 2003 solo album, Superkiller with his band Truth Squad, Jimmy was always a good singer and while The Flyin' Ryan Brothers are still revered for their instrumental guitar rock fusion albums, on “Sociopathic Liar” Jimmy Ryan revs his political mind into vocal overdrive. Some Flyin' Ryan Brother’s fans might squawk a WTF yet there’s no getting away from the righteous rock energy and Jimmy's relentless, politically-charged lyrics.



mwe3.com presents
the 2019 interview
With Jimmy Ryan


mwe3: Was venting about this current political madness something you always wanted to do or did the Trump era just push you over the edge?

JR: It’s sort of both and neither. I’m always venting in one way or another (laughs). I’ve always been a huge fan of comic satire when it’s done well; it sort of acts as a cultural relief valve, and that’s all that this is. All great changes are products of chaos, and things are really chaotic at this moment in human history. Part of being happy is having the ability to come to terms with how things change; doing this piece was just catharsis in action. It’s not only fun to create music, but in this case the process helped me put current events into perspective, which in turn helps me come to terms with the changes. It’s therapy, and it works for me.

mwe3: You’ve done vocal tracks before, but did it feel uncomfortable singing these lyrics? What about Trump supporters? They can get angry and even violent. Aren’t you afraid of the backlash from MAGA fans?

JR: Only in the current age could a question like this be asked. Uncomfortable? Not at all. It was fun to do the track and a challenge for me to get all of the vocals out without running out of breath! In the end, it’s just satire, Robert…nothing more, nothing less. Backlash? Hmm…I hadn’t even considered it. Emotions exist to make us strongly biased for or against something, and the cognitive echo chambers in social media are working overtime in that regard. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts; unfortunately, “facts” today are now just a collection of opinions that match your own. That’s one of the reasons I’m not on ANY social media platform. I suppose that passionate hatred can and will give purpose to an empty life, so pardon me if I don’t participate. Dr. Seuss once said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” That’s the way I look at it. When all is said and done, a hell of a lot more is said than done. You would never care what people say about you if you knew how infrequently they do, so it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t care. I have a life to live.

mwe3: What kind of video are you planning or would like to plan for “SOCIOPATHIC LIAR”? Tell us about the video you did for “SUPER-PSYCHO-NAZI-RACIST-TRUMP-IS-PSYCHOPATHIC”. Are these part of a trilogy? Hopefully, will a sequel track follow in 2020?

JR: I’m not a video guy; I think I’ll just do what I did for “SUPER-PSYCHO-NAZI-RACIST-TRUMP-IS-PSYCHOPATHIC”, which was just a supercut of Trump images, mostly of him looking crazy and malevolent, with the lyrics scrolling at the bottom. Part of me would like to see an image of everything I reference in the song come up in sync with the lyrics…that said, I just don’t have any interest in expending the time, energy and money to produce a big overblown video; considering that over 300 videos are uploaded to YouTube every single minute, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Hell, the first one has only gotten 2,600 views since October of 2016, so what’s the point? I’m a realist, and have no delusions of grandeur. I’m more focused on the music anyway. A trilogy? I never even thought about that. Well, we’ll just have to see what comes to pass over the next year or so. There’s a lot that can happen, and if the past is any indication of the future, we don’t know what’ll happen until it actually happens.

mwe3: How long did it take to write the lyrics and make them fit? I guess this is one trilogy you wish you didn’t have to write, right?

JR: This one happened REALLY fast…I do a water aerobics class with my wife every morning and Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” was in the program one morning a couple of weeks back. My wife leaned over and said I should do something with it, so I did! It was a challenge to sync up the lyrics to the original song... the vocals come at you like a machine gun. So, I got home, listened to the original, got the lyric sheet, started scribbling lyric ideas and started replacing a couple of lines at a time. That’s what took the lion’s share of the time. Once I got in the groove, it came together in an afternoon. I do a lot of TV and film work, so I banged it out in between my other commitments. I played everything except drums and did all the vocals.

mwe3: Don’t you pine for The Flyin' Ryan Brothers heyday? I was just playing Totality and it’s still a masterpiece. How’s your brother?

JR: Thanks for the kind words, Robert. I think on Totality we really hit our stride, so to speak. Johnny is doing great, and we both got together on a track I wrote recently called “Quiet Flight”. It’s quite an involved piece that clocks in at over 8 minutes and includes an extended solo tradeoff at the end of the track that crescendos into a soaring double lead section that really resonates the best of what we’ve done in the past. No formal plans are in place for a new release or anything like that, but both of us were really happy with the way it came out. I’d like to do more of that. We’ll see what happens…

 





 

 
   
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