The credit goes to David’s brother Matthew for the name, actually. He told David the idea while on the plane to a Washington, D.C trip.
This one was started shortly after All Good Things, but never finished until after Shorthand. There exists an original demo of this song from around the time Feral Dogs was being written. This version is significantly different, and David has no memory of ever recording it – yet it exists. Phantom demo I guess.
The final version began one night when David and Ryan decided to write something, and ended up banging out the minute-and-a-half-intro in about an hour. David finished writing the rest of the song after Shorthand was finished, and it ended up being another pretty good one. David and Ryan both think the song is pretty good now, but wouldn’t want to play it live again because it’s not that fun to play and not up to snuff with the newer material. David remembers having a lot of trouble playing the riff in the bridge consistently back when this was the newest song. He wasn’t that good at switching strings that fast.
The chorus was heavily inspired by one of David’s favorite Muse songs, Thoughts of a Dying Atheist. He remembers listening to the song while vacuuming, then running into the bonus room (our old practice space) to quickly write something that sounded like it before he had to go somewhere. In 2020, David realized the first verse riff was totally ripped from Dig for Fire by Pixies. Oh well.
The song is about somebody who sells misinformation, but beyond that it’s pretty vague. David and Keegan wrote the lyrics together. They remember being really proud of bringing back “the ball” from the first verse in the bridge. Yeah really cool, guys.
This was the first song where our sound started to develop. We used some motifs like the “bridge after the first chorus” and the “long outro” that we still use today. It was our most original song to date, and had a catchy chorus too. Overall though, meh.
For some reason, this has kind of become a favorite among some of our friends. We’re not really sure why. Cool title though.
[Verse]
Never one to see the greater picture
But the sandbox was so much more than a brick in the wall
Looking back, I saw myself as a preacher
But my voice came louder than words, so I kicked the ball
Consolidate, accommodate, exasperate
Nothing’s gonna work
[Chorus]
Days turn into weeks
And the weeks turn into months
How much longer does he have to save his soul
Months turn into years
And the years turn into life
The man who sells fog has lost control
[Bridge]
Dry history
Moments passing by through my telescope I see, I see
Information flying by like kites
Keep passing on ones and zeroes and you will be alright
I feel I’ve been on the right track
Well, the ball that I kicked before just keeps on coming back
Here’s a recording of Ryan and David the night they came up with the song. Peep the celebration at the end.
Here’s an old performance of The Fog Salesman on the electric drum kit. Probably from late 2018.
And HERE is a SUPER old demo David made in Audacity of a really early version of the song. It was totally different at the time, with only a few parts making it into the final version. David doesn’t have hardly any memory of doing this. This is from July 2018, around the time Feral Dogs and All Good Things were being finished up.
And the motherlode: the studio version of The Fog Salesman, recorded in March 2020 during the initial Film Run Backwards sessions. With scratch vocals.
(If this doesn’t load for you, reload the page. Idk why it does that lol)
This has been performed twice, or three times if you count the rehearsals for our high school talent show. It’s not very fun to play, so we’re not exactly itching to bring it back, but some people really seem to like it.