Lorna Shore's new album Pain Remains is one hell of a journey. The songs are long with tons of different sections and orchestral touches, and their titles certainly hint at an underlying story throughout the album's runtime. In an interview with The Pit, Lorna Shore vocalist Will Ramos discussed the album's concept saying the band was trying to write a tragedy.
Ramos said he grew up in a family of authors and was heavily inspired by manga when it came to writing the story behind Pain Remains.
"I drew a lot of inspiration from [anime and manga], and I eventually went to start reading manga; now I only really read manga, I don't really watch anime. Honestly, it takes too damn long – just get to the fucking point already! But I remember one thing when I was growing up – there was one story, I don't even remember which anime it was, but it was based off of a certain character and she was always shot as hell [meaning, worn out or ruined]. I hated her; I was like, 'This person is shot, like, why is she even in this anime?' And then it came eventually – like in Game of Thrones, the fucking Hodor, hold the door [scene] – at the end of the whole thing, and you're like, 'Holy shit, this is the craziest thing that's ever happened.' It was one of those things where they finally explained why she's shot; by the end of the whole thing, you're like, 'Wow, that's crazy.'
"And basically, long story short, it was this person that was just unhappy with their life, and they found that in their dreams they were happier – escaping from their reality. So, because of that, they would go through drug induced cycles where they would just be sleeping all day, like every day, and it was because the person found happiness and solace in their dreams. They're like, 'I don't wanna be here, I wanna be there.' So that's what they did – they force themselves to be in that place, and in the end, it made them shot as hell. It's a small part in the anime, but I thought in a way that was so beautiful and sad at the same time; 'cause in a way, they found what made them happy. You know, who's to tell anybody what happiness is at the end of the day, you know?
"I felt this was really interesting, and when it came to the album, I tried to write further upon that [concept]. I also happen to stop smoking a lot of weed 'cause I was going into the studio. I was like, 'I need to be sharper and I wanna write better lyrics.' Then I noticed when I was not smoking, I was having crazy, vivid dreams; when I was a little kid, I used to look into lucid dreaming and all that astral projection shit. Now that I'm getting older, I'm like, 'How can I write an album and put all these things together in my mind?'
"And I'm like, 'Alright, I'm gonna write a story about a person who's trying to escape their real life, their reality, whatever is happening in front of them. That's pretty much what I try to do throughout the entire freaking album. It starts with the person lucid dreaming, they're scared, they don't know what the fuck is happening, they start to get control of what the hell is going on, they start to love dreaming, then they start to hate dreaming, and then they find something that makes them happy finally. And then they get to the point where they lose it and they're just over the whole thing; by the end of it, the person is like, 'I'm tired of being here in this place. I'm not happy.' And it makes you wonder, 'Is there ever a way to be happy?' Who knows? [Referring to the album's narrative] – You went to a place where you were happy and now you're not; when you were living in reality, you weren't happy. And I wanted to tell a story like that."
"I wanted to end where the person was like, 'Fuck this, I'm fucking angry, and the only way that I can find happiness now is to just get out of here and escape.' And now they're escaping again, but that's kind of how we try to end the whole album. At the end they are making the final escape back to where they originally came from, they want to disappear in a sea of fire, that's the lyric at the end.
"When I was writing it, I was like, 'This kind of feels like a loop'; it starts in one place and then it ends somewhere else. But it almost feels like it ends back at the beginning. So I don't know… I'm sure my my sister would absolutely penalize the shit out of me, but I was like, listen, I'm not a real author, this is as good as it's gonna get, alright. I tell stories and I try and make it relatable to me."
You can catch Lorna Shore on tour at one of the dates below, which features bassist Michael Yager moving into drummer Austin Archey's position as Archey deals with a herniated disc.
w/ Aborted, Ingested, AngelMaker & Ov Sulfur
10/21 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
10/22 New York, NY The Gramercy Theatre
10/23 Worcester, MA The Palladium
10/24 Baltimore, MD Baltimore Soundstage
10/25 Charlotte, NC Neighborhood Theatre
10/26 Nashville, TN Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
10/27 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade (Heaven)
10/28 Tampa, FL The Orpheum
10/29 Orlando, FL The Abbey
10/31 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall
11/1 San Antonio, TX Vibes Event Center
11/2 Fort Worth, TX Ridglea Theater
11/4 Mesa, AZ Nile Theater
11/5 Los Angeles, CA 1720
11/6 Roseville, CA Goldfield Trading Post
11/8 Seattle, WA El Corazon
11/9 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
11/11 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex
11/12 Denver, CO Summit
11/13 Lawrence, KS The Bottleneck
11/15 Chicago, IL The Bottom Lounge
11/16 Detroit, MI St. Andrew’s Hall
11/17 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
11/18 Mckees Rocks, PA Roxian Theatre
11/19 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert Theatre
11/20 Montreal, QC L'astral
