THE LIVINGBROOKS
NIGHT OF THE LIVINGBROOKS

Chris Baltrus - vocals/guitar
Jake Freemont - bass/vocals
Matt Kurz - drums/vocals

In 2001, The Livingbrooks were without a doubt the brightest flash in a seemingly non-existent Long Island punk rock scene. While the rest of the world was concentrating on being either the next Taking Back Sunday or the next Strokes, this three-piece were ready to take on the Ramones. Unfortunately, the band broke up before they could ever truly conquer the world as they should have, as wonderful bands often do.

I can say with no hesitation that Night of the Livingbrooks is a classic, one of my favorite albums of all time and one that needs to be heard by anyone trapped in the suburbs or any other shitty nowhere town. Combining the harmonies of the Beach Boys, the melodies of the Queers and the rhythms of the Buzzcocks this record sounds more like a time capsule holding the kind of punk rock you just don't hear anymore. I am proud to be rereleasing it and I hope you enjoy it.

click here for the whole album!

Download specific tracks:
1. The Sun is Setting
2. Sea Cliff
3. Baldwin
4. For the Love of God, Please
5. Big Muff Buddha
6. Browntown
7. It Doesn't Matter Anyway
8. Deadbeat Dad
9. Nowhere to Go
10. Suffocation
11. The Dunes
12. Lovesick
13. Renee
14. When the Sun Starts Coming Up

credits:
produced by the Livingbrooks. engineered by Chris Baltrus.
Rhythm tracks recorded live onto two-track 12/30/01. Additional tracks completed Spring 2002.

 

LYRICS!

The Sun is Setting (Baltrus)

Hypnotized by the purple skies above
The sun is setting and I'm head over heels in love
You know I'm glad that your folks are gone
You know you love it when the music's on
Hey, baby. The fun has just begun.

Don't be afraid 'cause I got you by my side
When the moon goes down we'll be going for a ride
We'll drop the top on daddy's chevrolet
I stole the keys so we could play
Hey, baby. The fun has just begun.

Sea Cliff (Baltrus)

There's a place on the east coast
where the sun shines every day
But the waves ain't big and the ocean's far away.

The people out there spend their time
soaking up the rays
while I sit inside and blow my weekly pay.

Someday things will change, it's true.
I'll have a little place that I can go home to
Someday things will change and I won't feel the same
'cause I'll forget her name and things will be fine.

Baldwin (Kurz)

Sit on the back stoop of my home
drinking a 40 and I'm all alone
and I think of the way things just aren't yet.

I look at the bottle and I start to think
about all the friends that I lost to the drink
and I wanna put it out like a cigarette.

I know that it's time to move on but I can't wait
'til where I rest my head is far away.
i'll leave behind my friends with high school mentalities
I won't care 'cause I hated high school when I was there

Alone at the bar and I try to pretend
that I don't notice all of my friends
all crowded in a bathroom sniffing coke.

Now when they come out they're such a disgrace
Acting intense talking all up in my face
with tiny white crystals caked on their nose.

For the Love of God, Please (Kurz)

Hey, pretty baby, let's not fight
Let's just make sweet love tonight.
Oh yeah, it'll be alright.

Let's not do each other harm.
Let me hold you in my arms.
Oh yeah, it'll be alright.

Baby I don't know why you always throw a fit
I promise you baby if you drop it
We will go out to eat then I'll spoon you while we sleep
Pretty baby, it'll be alright.

Big Muff Buddha (Baltrus)

Flickering in the living room
Hidden pictures in cartoons
Buddha comes down from the moon
Tells me that the end is soon.

I don't wanna live in reality
Give away my things for free
Take away my identity 'cause
i don't wanna live in reality.

Watch the talk show on TV
Tripping out on LSD
Scary things were chasing me
I locked the front door and went to sleep

Browntown (Baltrus)

Yellow faded pictures
Nazi history
Mechanical banks and sherman tanks
on a black and white TV

I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
I don't know where I'm going
Is it ever gonna end?

Nosy stupid neighbors
Always hangin' round
Paranoia setting in
Don't wanna live in a white trash town

It Doesn't Matter Anyway (Baltrus)

I'm so screwed up I don't remember my name
I lost my job I think I'm going insane
but mommy says it's alright
and daddy says it's alright.

The voices keep screaming my dog isn't fed
Addicted to dreaming 'cause I'm so depressed
I'm so screwed up I can't remember my name
I think my life is going down the drain
but mommy says it's alright
and daddy says it's alright
but I'm not feeling ok
it doesn't matter anyway.

Deadbeat Dad (Baltrus, Kurz)

Born of a woman, raised by a machine
I spent my whole damn youth in front of tv screens
While you got drunk fooled around on mom
and we were glad when you were gone.

Now you walk back into my life
With your brand new kids and your brand new wife
you're still a deadbeat but I wish instead
that you were just plain dead.

Why did you desert me
leaving mom to support me
say that you wanna be my friend
'cause the step you're at says that you should make amends

You're a deadbeat dad.

Nowhere to Go (Baltrus)

Sitting around with nowhere to go
I gotta get outta this town
I'm feeling kinda down
Feeling kinda low
and nowhere to go oh whoa no
I think I'm gonna stay home.

Now I'm not saying I don't care
that I'm not having fun
'cause if I don't get outta here
my mind's gonna go numb.

Suffocation (Baltrus)

White white picket fences, luxury sedan
and a beautiful wife that tells me I'm a man
White white walls surround me, trapped in a sardine can
Just wanna go to the beach and pass out on the sand.

Suffocation I'm not well
Suffolk county living hell.

White white waves surround me, miles and miles around
and I'm never going back to solid ground
Blue pacific ocean, blue blue skies abound
and I hope someday that maybe I will drown.

The Dunes (Baltrus)

I'm gonna go where the ocean meets the sky
'cause when I try to get back the time keeps passing me by
I got my own little private world
where I can always shoot the curl
and let my head float in the cloud just like a balloon.
But I don't have a care, no, I don't care 'cause
I'm not coming back any time soon.

She's got a smile like the warm bright sun in May
and with those eyes so blue all the clouds just drift away.

She's got her own little private world
I really think I like that girl
and if I give it one more chance she'll like me too
but I don't have a care, no, I don't care 'cause
she's not coming back any time soon.

Lovesick (Baltrus)

It takes no time at all 'cause I'm about to fall again.
There's nothing I can do 'cause now she's more that just a friend.

And I know that I've been thinking for so long
Will she still need me when the summer's gone
and I'm trying not to think about
what I've said all along
Can something feel so right and still be wrong?

Lovesick lovesick
If I wasn't so afraid I know I'd be okay.

Second time around, another chance to fuck things up
But I know better now 'cause I won't fall in love with love.

Renee (Baltrus)

At peace with ourselves we all know
That our lives will never be the lives of strangers anymore
A kiss on your cheek yeah I know that it's wrong
But i'm still reminded what this love is for

I live in a world, a beautiful world
Where everything is meant for you and me
I kiss you in a dream
I kiss you in real life it's all the same

At peace with ourselves we all know
That the days are growing shorter on and on until the end
But I still believe that the spring will arrive
and we will find each other lost in love again

I live in a world, a wonderful world
Where nothing ever seems to work for me

Where life isn't fair
and love isn't free
and friendships were never meant to be

That's alright with me
I'll kiss you in my dreams it's all the same.

When the Sun Starts Coming Up (Baltrus)

When you can't escape the voices in your head
and they're screaming out your name
and the whole world's coming down like acid rain.
When you can't escape the voices in your mind
and you think you're going insane
There's only one thing you can do to get away.

When the sun starts coming up
and the tide starts going down
there's a place where you can always hang around.
Just turn the music loud
and tune those voices out
and you'll never have nothing to worry about.