FILTER

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Coffee, air, furnace, Richard Patrick, water, oil....  what do all these things have in common?  Correct, they are all things with filters.  You win!  Your membership card for the Cool Dads Club* will be arriving shortly.  In the case of Richard Patrick, the Filter in question is a band.  A great band.  And when I say Richard Patrick has a band named Filter, I mean that.  It's his band.  It's basically him. He formed it with another dude who left after the first album.  He is the only permanent member.

*By answering the riddle correctly you have automatically joined Cool Dads Club. Your membership in the Cool Dads Club is free for the first 45 minutes, after which we will auto-deduct $499 annually from your retirement fund. You agree to indefinite auto renewal. A link to cancel will be emailed shortly but it will not work.  Welcome to the club!

I will spare you my attempt to write a bio on the band (I hyperlinked the band name above if you want to read their Wiki article), but here are some quick facts....
1. Formed in 1993 after Patrick left Nine Inch Nails as their touring guitarist.
2. Richard Patrick's older brother is actor Robert Patrick. (The liquid metal dude from Terminator 2 among other things).
3. Richard Patrick is a recovering substance user.

As with many bands I became aware of in my youth, my friend Conan is who I remember loving this band.  One song in particular that I remember him playing a lot was actually not even on any of their albums.  Jurrasitol was on the Crow - City of Angels soundtrack.  I had been aware of Filter before that because their very first single, Hey Man Nice Shot, was a huge hit and is what launched them.  I love the dynamics of that song.  When it finally explodes into full volume I feel a burst of energy still to this day, especially if I haven't heard the song in a while.  Rumors circulated for years that the song was about Kurt Cobain but was actually written three years before his death.  An article linked here from KLAQ has some great info from the man himself, Richard Patrick.

"The song was so controversial, and I was like, 'What did I do?' " Richard said. "That was the tragedy of the song coming out after he killed himself. The problem was the song was written in '91 - my label, Warner Bros. or someone put it out and said, 'It's a song about suicide,' so DJs in Seattle said, 'No this song is about Kurt Cobain' and they kept repeating it and repeating it over and over and when you repeat it, whether it's true or not, it becomes the truth."

Richard said, if anything, the song was inspired by Budd Dwyer, who shot himself on live TV during a press conference in 1987.

"I saw the raw footage of it. I'm from the suburbs, I don't remember seeing a lot of things like that growing up. When you're 22 and you see that, you're like, 'Wow.' There was no Internet to watch death on ... you can see anything on the Internet now. Back then, we were watching it out of fascination of like, 'Wow. We're all gonna die. There was a morbid curiosity. I was watching it and I was all, 'Hey man, nice shot,' " Richard said."



The other song off of Filter's debut album, Short Bus (1995), that I absolutely love is Dose.  To me, the lyrics are clearly about folks who push their religious beliefs as the only 'truth' and judge and condemn others who do not conform to the same beliefs.  

Filter's second album, Title Of Record, was released in 1999.  The lead single and first track is Welcome to the Fold.  This album also has their most well-known song and biggest hit Take A Picture.  Link is to the lyric video.  I became aware of how my drinking was adversely affecting my health, relationships, and sanity years before I was able to stop.  Richard Patrick wrote these songs in 1998/1999 but did not get sober until 2002.  I believe that space between 'realizing alcohol was a problem' but 'things not being painful or miserable enough to honestly consider living without it' is where both of these songs were written from.

From Welcome To The Fold:

"You just gotta sit yourself down
To contemplate
get yourself a nice cold beer
and drink yourself away
You're celebrating nothing
and you feel a-okay
Now when you break yourself down, go to this place
You give yourself the reason
to get off your case
Mama, give me my medicine
the one that makes me feel taller
Mama, give me my medicine that makes me feel like a tall tree"

Alcohol is what I needed every day to turn down the volume on the constant barrage of thoughts that I wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing or that I was wasting my life or that I had said something stupid that day or that I would be found out for what I really was.... a fragile, imperfect, scared imposter.  Drinking provided a brief reprieve "go to this place to give yourself the reason to get off your (own) case".  A reprieve from my own thoughts.  In that brief period after the first several drinks there was space for me to pay attention to what was in front of me.... to be present in the moment.  I could feel joy and confidence in what I was doing.  "Mama give me my medicine that makes me feel like a tall tree."

Richard Patrick


For Take A Picture, Richard Patrick has been open with the story behind it.  This links to a video with some background.  It is a reflection on an incident he had on an airplane being drunk and blacking out.  "Would you wanna take my picture... cause I won't remember".  The part that hits me the most is the shame of "hey Dad, what do you think about your son now?".  The emotion in Patrick's voice when he sings that line ......  I feel it.




Other favorite tracks from Title of Record:

Captain Bligh - One of my favorite all-time Filter songs.  As Ozzy says ..... ROCK AND ROLLLLLLLLLL.  Love the verses, love the chorus, and especially love the acoustic outro.

It's Gonna Kill Me - Has the feel of the first album.  Good stuff.

The Best Things - The third single from this album.  Catchy.


Filter's third album, The Amalgamut (2002), sounds different again from both previous albums with crunchier guitars and a heavier edge. 




You Walk Away  - One of the heaviest Filter songs, instrumentally.  In my humble opinion ;0)

American Cliche - Great groove on this one.

My Long Walk to Jail - I 'think' this is based on Patrick's feelings before serving a sentence in Cook County jail. It's a rocker! "What makes you think I'm coming back.. this makes me feel so fucking bad." I remember when Katie was dropping me off  at the Linn County jail to serve my week sentence after OWI #2 in 2005 and I asked her if we could just go to Canada instead.  I was mostly joking... but not entire sure what my response would have been if she had agreed. Bonus live performance

Richard Patrick cancelled most of the tour supporting The Amalgamut to enter treatment for substance abuse.  From what I have read he is still living the sober life to this day.  Congrats, dude!!!  Here is a sample from the Blabbermouth article linked below....

"Most people die from this disease — 95% of us die from this disease. Look at the famous ones — Scott Weiland, Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, everybody, They're dying from addiction. And there's a very small percentage — there's about five to 6% — that actually can beat it and go on and live successful lives, prosperous lives. And I just feel like when you bring that stuff out in music and you talk about it, you're shedding a light on it so other people that are feeling maybe that they have a chance and they can believe in themselves enough to quit drinking or to quit doing drugs or whatever it is that's ailing them. I think it's just a good way to process being a human being you."

Since 2002, Filter has released several more albums.  Most of these I am only somewhat familiar with, but each of them have songs that I can relate to.  2010's The Problem With Angels has the song Drug Boy. Super sludgy guitars on the verses turns into a soaring chorus with the lyrics "You're trying, to help me, but all I'm thinking, it's just the biggest waste of time."  I remember that feeling so clearly in the early days of going to meetings and talking with folks about addiction.  It all just felt too big.  I had tried being sober before and I was absolutely miserable, so.... my feeling was 'I appreciate what you are trying to do and that you are trying to help but, trust me, you are just wasting your time'.

Filter's latest release, The Algorithm (2023), has been my favorite release from them since 2002's The Amalgamut. There is a leaning more toward electronic/industrial elements that make things interesting without taking away the heavyness or distracting too much.

The Algorithm - special edition vinyl


The Drowning - this song, man.  So good.  It paints the picture from the viewpoint of an addicts friends and family.  That feeling of helplessness watching someone you love drowning and the addict refusing your help.  Plus, great musically also.

A man
is drowning
we watch
from shore
he laughs
he taunts us
and he drinks
some more

how long do we have to watch you be so sick and act like you know it
how long do we have to watch you be so sick and act like you control it

Up Against the Wall - I like this song more and more the more familiar I get with it. I think that is a bass guitar with a buttload of effects on it?  It is an original and unique sound and song.

For the Beaten - More effects on this one and I dig 'em.  Super catchy verses and chorus.  Link is for the lyric video.


To sum up, Filter and Richard Patrick are proof that people CAN make it thru addiction to keep doing what they love.  Although the words themselves in Filter songs are not obviously hopeful (pretty bleak, right?) they project a vulnerability and honesty that comes across as authentic and gives people like me a sense that I am not alone in having these feelings.  Sometimes that is enough to keep someone going.....  



Filter / Richard Patrick links/interviews/articles


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