Chart Magazine Feb 2003
OURS
Deciphering Precious
By Lisa Ladouceur

Jimmy Gnecco Reveals the Meanings Behind his Latest Album
 
New Jersey foursome Ours is the work of singer-songwriter Jimmy Gnecco - whose primal screams of melancholy and infinite sadness make him one of the most powerful and poignant voices in rock. The kind of guy labels sign dreaming of the next “heritage act”. But with his second record, Precious, he and Ours have grown into a bona fide band. “I set up the record, lyrically, with this romantic relationship about a band, because I had spent the last few years of my life working on those relationships more than I did loved ones, and being in love,” he explains.
 
Gnecco sat with Chart to dissect the 12-track disc
 
 
1.        Kill The Band – “Kill The Band” is such a multi-sided song. What I think when I sing it, is that it’s a song of loyalty and friendship. I’m singing about things that ruin relationships, whether it’s in a band or not. I think about somebody like Kurt Cobain, who could move so many people but couldn’t help himself. It’s a slightly aggressive chorus, when we’re rocking out, but it’s a really sad line for me. I remember specifically with “Kill The Band,” we were in New Mexico.
 
2.        Realize – I was working on a song called “Until The Blood Runs Out.” It wasn’t anything gory or gothic or anything. More like giving yourself ‘til there’s nothing left. It became “Leaves” and “Leaves” became “Realize.” Just like that. It’s basically about the price that you can pay for putting yourself out there.
 
3.        Leaves – That was two songs, originally. One of them was called “Morning Paper.” It wasn’t a song for that long, and it evolved into “Leaves.” I took the chorus from that song “Until The Blood Runs Out.” In that, I was singing, “everyone, grab a gun, you can use it if you want to.” I wrote it out of being sarcastic, but I felt that if anybody misread my sarcasm and took things literally and hurt somebody that I’d never want to play music again. So I changed the words. I wanted to make it slightly more light-hearted, but still have meaning.
 
4.        Places – It’s basically about, again, when you find yourself in a place and wonder why am I here? Why are we fighting? I don’t want to feel like this anymore. Then things get good and you get lazy out of feeling comfortable again. Then, that fight comes up and you realize that you’re not where you’re supposed to be. It’s about that moment, about throwing your hands in the air and shouting, “Alright, I give into it.”
 
5.        Outside – It’s a moment of weakness, and we all have them. Sometimes it’s easy to give people advice but for your own self you can’t see. So that song is about stepping outside of yourself and looking in and trying to get a new perspective on a way to help myself out. I maybe say 15 words in that song, but it’s all I wanted to say.
 
6.        In A Minute – Dave wrote that song, but it’s consistent with my themes. In a way, the theme of the record is “I’ll be your idiot, your fool. I’ll be whatever you need me to be in your life. I don’t want to fight with you.” It goes through moments of being aggressive about it and this is one of those moments.
 
7.        Femme Fatale – If I had to think about making the most ideal record, I would never put a cover on it. But because I was singing Dave’s song, I opened it up more to that. My favorite part is the middle guitar thing we made up, Dave and I. We said we’d treat it like an Ours song and make up guitar lines that go against each other. I actually liked it so much I wanted to take it somewhere else but at that point we were too deep in it.
 
8.        Broken – This is connected to “In A Minute.” In “Broken” I’m saying I won’t go away. Everything is tied in with that concept, of trying to make people feel good.
 
9.        Chapter 2 (Money) – I do what I can to channel through that song every sad feeling I’ve ever had. Every frustration I’ve ever had about the way that things are. Religion to me, growing up, was always a double-edged sword. I didn’t go to church every Sunday and I wasn’t a practicing Catholic, but my aunt was a nun and my cousins went to Catholic school. I observed the behaviors and asked a lot of questions at a young age. Why are they beating human beings? If it’s such a beautiful thing, why are they hurting people? I felt that they were all a bunch of hypocrites. And so that’s what I’m thinking about in that song. I’m saying, “You’re all money driven people asking for money to support a religion where you beat on people and make them feel less of a person.” I was going to put it on the first record, but it was actually too dark for me to sing.
 
10.        If Flowers Turn – In 1998, we were driving up to Woodstock with [producer] Steve Lillywhite. We went up and looked at the studio and he said he wanted to start recording [Distorted Lullabies] in a week or so. I remember coming back from the trip and being so excited about recording that I sat down and wrote three songs that day and it was one of them. Originally, I was singing “Flower Girl.” Why I changed that, was to me my thought of flower girl wasn’t San Francisco sunshine, it was dead-roses-hung-upside-down flower girls. Ultimately, what I was trying to say in that song is if you surround yourself with pain, just for the sake of being miserable, then there is a good chance you will be miserable and not be able to come out of it. So I was trying to say if there is something in your life that is bringing you pain, but you’re having a rough time changing it, don’t be afraid.
 
11.        Disaster In A Halo – I had a lot of this song and we were back at our apartment during pre-production. I get up early, around 8. I’d run and get coffee and start writing before we’d start working at 11 or 12. I started to work on the chorus of “Halo.” Dave was hungover and he came running out of his room saying, “I think that’s the chorus!” And he started swinging his arms like this [makes punching motion] saying, “It makes me want to go like this!” That’s a prime example of the balance of the band. There is a place in me that does appreciate up-tempo things like that, things that move along. But I’m not always willing to go there. I have like 50 songs that are “up” like that, but might never be on a record. That’s where Dave comes in. He says I’ve got to understand that’s a good song. If left to my own devices, I’d make a really complex, sad record. Not that this one doesn’t have that in it, but there’s more of a balance.
 
12.        Red Colored Stars – This song was really important to me. And I felt that there were things that I really needed to say, just like “Flowers.” The song was called “Red Colored Stars” long before I even had the lyrics. It’s a reminder of being in a happy place and grateful for the people in your life. I took out one really aggressive part and wrote a chorus for it. I was doing it over and over and they guys were saying it didn’t need anything else but I felt that it was missing something. Then I came up with that part and it was one of those moments when we all knew it was finished. It took three years in total of going back to it. That’s the thing I want people to understand. Because this record only took us two months, it’s not a rushed, half-hearted attempt. I worked on these songs for years.