Words by Dave Place

 Like It Always Was started out as a song entitled Easy Money. Before the formation of F!RES, I was playing in an instrumental trio called TON 8O ( the technical term used for the highest score you can get with 3 darts / 3 triple 20's or 180pts.) The band had dissolved and the very night we moved out of our practice space, I was invited to jam with some other friends in the same building. You know when they say "When one door closes, another one opens" well that literally happened here. I walked my bass about 30 feet away and into another jam. That jam became F!RES. I had all the riffs from TON 8O and started playing Easy Money. Ty Willman (vocals) and Alan Hunt (guitars) just naturally started playing along to the riff like it'd been a song we'd been playing for years. It was pretty fucking trippy...really. The song evolved from my original riff into a more classic blues style arrangement. I'm a huge Black Crowes fan and the song Remedy begins with 3 huge notes. I wanted that for the beginning, so I copped that vibe. The lyrics are textbook co-dependent rock drama. Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. Ty and I collaborated on most of the lyrics for the album. The chorus lyrics " The writings' on the wall, you'll leave it like it always was..." came about as he and I were sitting in his apartment trying to come up with lyrics for the song. I was staring at the wall and it struck me as funny that I was staring at the wall trying to think of something to write, so I wrote " The writings on the wall..." Ty completed the phrase and BOOM...Hit song! :D