I wrote “Right Now” after the 2000 election. I was disgusted with the outcome of the election, but even more disgusted with politics and society in general. The best man for the job won’t even be nominated (unless, of course, he sacrifices his ideals and allows himself to be bought). It seemed to me that the differences between political parties was dwindling (with the exception of a few issues) and that really it had just become a mentality of “my club is better than your club.” The men and women that seemed like they genuinely wanted to make a difference would not get the chance to unless they fell in line. Winning the game wasn’t defined by who had the best plan, but by who could raise the most money. Politicians seems merely like clones of each other; they all dressed alike, looked alike, catered to the same corporations, spent the same money, spewed out the same nonspecific jargon, all the while trying to convince the public that all the problems in the world were the fault of the other guy.

A society that had evolved too rapidly for its own good produced a public that was losing touch with itself. The more reliant we become on technology, the more personal connections between us disappear. Worst of all, an ever-growing apathy toward the world around us has been fostered.

“Right Now” was born out of this frustration. I had envisioned the song as a fast/heavy punk-influenced song for my band at the time, Highball. For some reason, I never presented the song to the band, and subsequently lost and forgot about it. Four years later, I rediscovered the piece of paper with the crudely scribbled lyrics on it and found that the song was even more relevant than when I had initially written it. I rewrote a couple lines here and there and completely reworked the third verse to reflect more recent events and feelings and this time presented the song to the band. We played the song for a year until the band’s breakup in 2005, never having the chance to record it.

I did not want this song’s life to end with the band’s. In 2006, I included the song as an acoustic track on my first solo album, More Than What You See.