Description
POPULIST ROCK
A bold, DIY collection of ten rock tracks written, produced, and performed by James Blames.
This album is an eclectic journey, touching on the mundane, the fantastic, the humorous, and the horrific, all while delivering sharp social commentary. Each song is a tribute to a different musical hero, crafted to feel right at home within their discography. As James puts it, “I only steal from the best.”
True to its DIY roots, Populist Rock embraces the raw imperfections of home recording. Yes, you’ll find a few errors and the occasional sonic clash, but these “warts and all” moments are part of the charm. James believes that music’s true beauty lies in its imperfect, instinctual origins—a belief he hopes will inspire others to reject the rigid norms of contemporary music production.
This is an experiment in creativity, authenticity, and homage. James Blames invites you to experience the raw energy of Populist Rock—a celebration of imperfection and the enduring power of great songwriting.
Tracklist:
1. MIND CONTROLLERS
2. WE ARE BEING INVADED BY DEMONS
3. THE ICON
4. THE EXCLUSION ZONE
5. HOLIDAY
6. TRACK BYFORD DOLPHIN
7. DO IT WRONG
8. MAZE OF DEATH
9. SLUTS IN THE MALL
10. IN JONESTOWN
Released on the following formats:
Digitally on all major platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.).
You can check it out by using this link: https://bfan.link/populist-rock
Mind Controllers
1. Mind Controllers
Words and music: James Paul Clarke
We are the mind controllers
We are the sign controllers
And we’re taking over now
Try to hide ,your room inside
And get down on the floor
You’ll go blind, in bright blue light
That’s bleeding through the cracks in your door
Wake up in a lab
Tied down to a slab
This ain’t no visitation
This is your extermination
.
We glide right in, and take your skin
And wear it like a mask
We stimulate, and simulate
Erasing all your past
You move from first to last
No we’re at the top
The food chain has been altered
Now your just bags of mostly water
2. WE ARE BEING INVADED BY DEMONS
Words and music: James Paul Clarke
They come from the dark
They’re on our TV
They wanna be you and
They wanna be me
They wanna control us, fill us with hate
Gotta get a grip before it’s too late
We are being invaded by demons
They make us a prize for the lord of the flies
Can we resist, or can we even try
We are so confused, we’ve been lied to so long
It’s hard to remember which side we’re on.
We are being invaded by demons.
Will we survive
Are we even alive
We’re making them laugh while they’re making us cry
They tear us apart from the inside out
Filling our minds with confusion and doubt
So where do we stand, where do we fight
Alone in the darkness while they turn on the light
Dont bother to scream, don’t bother to shout
There’s way too many of them about.
We are being invaded by demons
3. THE ICON
Words: James Paul Clarke
Music: James Paul Clarke
The icon staggers up to the stage
His shirt is off, his eyes are glazed
His body mass of pulsing sweat
He hasn’t even warmed up yet
He seems distracted and his voice is poor
But that isn’t what the crowds here for
They don’t care if he can hold a tune
They wanna see him dance till doom
There’s noone to take him by the hand
No sympathy from his store bought band
And in the back room they count the gold
Earned by the pain falling out of his soul
His face is everywhere
A poster on the wall
Breakfast cereal
A lampshade in the hall
They hope that he’ll die young
That would be so good
Cause they control the image
They don’t need the attitude
.
Been doing this since he was young
It use to be a lot of fun
Now the pressure is building up
Like cracks appear in a china cup
Nobody cares that he’s going insane
Cause there’s a profit to be made from his pain
Just as long as he puts on a show
Then tomorrow he will do it again
He’s carried off the stage
Into the hotel room
He wishes he was dead
Surely be real soon
He takes another shot
As he sinks into the tub
Just another member
Of the twenty seven club
4. Exclusion Zone
Words: James Paul Clarke
Music: James Paul Clarke
I can’t go home, I’m all alone
Got no radio, I got no phone
Got nothing to eat I’m just skin and bones
Starving to death in the exclusion zone
.
I don’t know why they want me dead
It must have been something I said
Fallout’s landing on my bones
Out here in the exclusion zone
.
Now there’s a price for speaking your mind
Your transport papers will get signed
And then they’ll come, and then you’ll groan
As they ship you to the exclusion zone
.
Feeling cold, I need someone to hold
But I’ve been bad, or so I’ve been told
So if they roll up on you in a flat bed truck
Then you too will be out of luck
.
And if you want to keep your friends
And you disagree, you can still pretend
Cause it’s no fun being on your own
Killing time in the exclusion zone
5. HOLIDAY IN VAIN
Words: James Paul Clarke
Music: James Paul Clarke
I was lying in the Egypt sun
When I saw everybody run
Someone went and set off a bomb
Now the pyramids are gone
It’s just another holiday in vain
.
In India the food made me cramp
The Chinese put me in a camp
Burma it was all locked down
Martial law all over town
It’s just another holiday in vain
.
America all went wrong
I was cornered in old San Fran
They asked me which side I’m on
BLM or the Ku Klux Klan
It’s just another holiday in vain
.
North Korea was out of bounds
At the border they released the hounds
I had a little peek inside
A million starving people died
It’s just another holiday in vain
.
I decided to turn back home
Caught corona from a Glasgow phone
Found out that my house burnt down
It seems I left the oven on.
It’s just another holiday in vain
.
6. TRACK BYFORD DOLPHIN
7. DO IT WRONG
Words: James Paul Clarke
Music: James Paul Clarke
Some of us, we crave perfection
Some go in another direction and
Do it wrong
Don’t put the cart before the horse
Just burn the cart and shoot the horse and
Do it wrong
Take that bush right in your hand
Take two birds to the ice cream stand and
Do it wrong
Stitch your time to number nine
Tie your hand to the clothing line and
Do it wrong
Some of us are not impressed by
Sterile plastic beat excess so
Do it wrong
8. MAZE OF DEATH
Words: James Paul Clarke
Music: James Paul Clarke
Were lost in space it seems a thousand years
We can’t remember how we got out here
Got no illusions bout my mental health
We run in circles through the maze of death
It’s like a tv screen is on my brain
No matter who I am it’s all the same
The players are all picked off one by one
A strange construction on the horizon
And I don’t care much if we don’t survive
There is no purpose just to stay alive
The chance for rescue has now come and gone
But this game keeps going on and on
Maybe someone will find this rotten hull
They’ll find the sensors I put in my skull
The life support shut down, can’t take your breath
My ghost still lost inside the maze of death
9. SLUTS IN THE MALL
Words: James Paul Clarke
Music: James Paul Clarke
Children, seniors, vagabonds
It’s a happening place that’s got it going on
Merge with the genus where you belong
Playing hide and seek inside designer jeans
Friday night to Saturday, know what I mean
The food courts open and I’m hungry for love
.
Step right up, claim your prize
For we are all
The sluts in the mall
Size extra large and extra small, we got it
The sluts in the mall
Dropping prices with standards
.
I never felt so out of place
I’m like a sign in the window that says “watch this space”
When I see you, holding hands
As I hide behind the Orange Julius stand
.
Smoke some cigarettes, cling to the wall
To the sluts that’s a mating call
There’s a mattress in the woods behind the parking lot
Gotta go home now, dinner is soon
Intercom plays the closing time tune
And someone took a shit inside a changing room
.
The sluts in the mall
.
10. IN JONESTOWN
Words: James Paul Clarke
Music: James Paul Clarke
Let me tell you about reverend Jones
Words of fire from a heart of stone
He took his flock, down to Guyana
And now there’s food for the piranha
In Jonestown
They were devoted, they went through stations
But chairman Mao was his inspiration
A psychic war, mass immolation
Nine hundred bodies waiting for cremation
In Jonestown
The rain is falling, the jungle heat
The smell of almonds, sickly sweet
With reverend Jones, the state he’s in
Calling out “White Nights” watch it all begin
In Jonestown
Senator Ryan, came down to see
If the flock was truly free
They shot the senator, in the head
Now reverend Jones is telling them it’s time to be dead
In Jonestown
They forced the innocent to say goodbye
They poisoned them, and watched them die
They drank the Kool Aid, cause that’s the price
To live in a utopian paradise
Called Jonestown
Now reverend Jones, has longtime gone
But like a stain, he lingers on
If there’s a God and all goes well
Then that bastard Jim Jones will burn forever in Hell
For Jonestown
