Y&T: More 'Facemelter' Audio Clips Available

Audio samples of all 15 songs (including the Japanese and European bonus tracks) that are set to appear on "Facemelter", first studio album in 13 years from Californian rockers Y&T, are available on the Meniketti.com web site.

Y&T, featuring original members Dave Meniketti and Phil Kennemore (bass),along with longtime members John Nymann (guitar) and Mike Vanderhule (drums),will release "Facemelter" in Europe on May 21 via Frontiers Records.

"Facemelter" track listing:

01. Prelude
02. On With The Show
03. One Life
04. Shine On
05. Wild Child
06. I Want Your Money
07. I'm Coming Home
08. If You Want Me
09. Hot Shot
10. How Long
11. Gonna Go Blind
12. Don't Bring me Down
13. Blind Patriot
14. Losing My Mind (European bonus)
15. Deadly Deceiver (Japanese bonus)

Dave Meniketti has issued the following track-by-track breakdown for "Facemelter":

"On With The Show":

"'On With The Show' was written literally like 'Open Fire' was for the 'Black Tiger' record, where it was just a descriptive song of what it is like to hit the stage on the first moment of any show. It is like the anticipation is there. Any number of things are going to happen during the course of this show. There is going to be great moments. There could other moments that happen etc, etc. It is really a descriptive song about what it is like in the anticipation of going on and playing a show every night."

"One Life":

"That and other song called 'Losing My Mind' were two songs that were written at the very last minute. We were almost ready to go in and start recording the record and I came up with these ideas at the end of the whole thing. This song and 'Losing My Mind' both turned out really great. 'One Life' is specifically a song about giving it your all. You only got one time around. So don't waste it. Go out and do everything you ever wanted to do."

"Shine On":

"This is absolutely an amazing song. Everybody that has heard this song from top to bottom has become a favorite of theirs. It has got such a great heavy rock groove to it and a real strong chorus. This song is all about the fans of today like bands like Y&T. It is specifically targeted to the women fans of the band. As we have gotten older, we have a lot of our fans that have stuck with us. Along with that came with that no longer being a teenager and just being able to do anything that you want. There are all these other things in life that get in the way like kids, day care and jobs and all of this other stuff. These people are still getting excited to dress up and live out the fantasies of rock and roll and going out and enjoying the show. It is a very targeted kind of song but even when I hear it every moment I think about almost literally I can see the fans, as they get ready for the show. It is a pretty cool song."

"Wild Child":

"This was the first song that John Nymann was able to get on a Y&T record fully by himself. He actually co-wrote a song that we put on the 'Unearthed' record, which never made it to an album, which should have. That was called 'Wild If I Wanna'. So two songs that have 'Wild' in the title from John. So he came in with this months ago and said, 'Hey I got an idea for a song. What do you guys think?' I thought he just nailed it. It was such a good song. It is a good sexy groove kind of song. I think the words kind of say it for themselves. Basically, it is a sexy song."

"I Want Your Money":

"This song was written for the Donald Trumps of America and not necessarily just for Donald Trumps but all those people out there who are sick and tired of seeing them flaunt themselves all over the airwaves just to make a quick buck in the disguise of entertaining us. But we know better. It is kind of a little slap in their face."

"I'm Coming Home":

"Everyone can identify with this song. That is why I think this song will be a strong contender live. At least I hope it does. It is probably one of those songs you can take four different ways. But it is all about the same basic idea, which is about finding a place where you consider home and how much that means to you in one way or another. Whether that means you have been traveling forever and you just can't wait to get home because you know how much that means to you. Or you are a service person that can't wait to get home or you are lost sort of in life and didn’t realize the place that was going to offer you comfort that you needed was right in front of you. For me, personally, it was all of those things but also meant for another reason. It was sort of a thank you to the great fans that we got that sort of make us feel that we are at home when we are away from home. In particular there was at least one show last year that personified that for me when I had gotten very ill from a flu-like kind of virus and I lost my voice. It was a very big show in Newcastle, England. Here we are with thousands of people and I couldn't sing a note but I tried my hardest but they knew I was sick and I couldn't do it. They sang every song for me out there in the crowd and they didn't give me hell. In fact, most of them posted online and said, 'We respect the hell out of you for showing up and not canceling the show and trying your hardest. It was fun just singing all of those songs and helping you out.' See that is the kind of special we can say is something that we can be proud of. I felt that when I wrote that song that also was something that I was trying to say. Thank you for making it home for us when we go out there."

"If You Want Me":

"It is just an up close and personal song of somebody taking to another person and saying look all you got to do is let me know and I am there for you. It is a nice beautiful ballad. It is a very strong song because of the attitude. It is just building and building. I am hopeful that a lot of people will catch on to that song."

"Hot Shot":

"This song is our straight ahead fun rockin', AC/DC-style kind of song. It is very self-explanatory from that standpoint. There are a lot of fun lyrics in that and play on words to what 'Hot Shot' means. We just love writing that kind of song. Every rock band owes their existence to AC/DC in one way or another. We just can't get that part of us and shove it aside. It always wants to come to the forefront one way or another."

"How Long":

"This is a good straight ahead heavy song. Phil came up with the lyrics to this one about sort of a tortured individual that is sort of gone inside himself and trying to break the demons free from inside."

"Gonna Go Blind":

"We were just talking about this song. I did a special-preview, CD-release party at my house two nights ago. We invited friends and family and stuff like that. Everybody went absolutely nuts for this song because of the lyrical content of it and how catchy it is. It is about what happens when your Mom used to tell you when you were a young boy. You keep doing that son you are going to go blind." (Laughter)

"Don’t Bring Me Down":

"To me this is a very current to the moment kind of song. I love what that lyric says. This song is about the haters in the world on the Internet, quite frankly. I know all of us individually and collectively are so tired of going to websites where you want to discuss things that are important to you or fun to you and there are some people on there that the only reason they are there is to distract and cause absolute chaos on the website. Where it is just for a fan website or even just a simple news story and you read the comments at the end of the news story and you see how scary some of these people are. When they are anonymous and they can just say what they want. So here is a lyric for these people and it is called 'Don't Bring Me Down'. It is about the crazy haters in the world of the Internet."

"Blind Patriot":

"It is my sort of take giving credit to the patriots of the world that give up their life for a cause of defending the country and at the same time not having a clue of what is going to happen to them or where they are going to be deployed or what they are going to be fighting for or against. That is where the blind part comes in. It is not that they are blindly being a patriot; it is that they have no idea what is going to happen when they join up for the service. It is just my way of saying sort of a big thank you to there for being as courageous as they are considering that their job is so incredibly tough right now."

"Losing My Mind" (European Bonus):

"This is a bonus track for the European CD. It is a song about looking to a particular girl and saying look this is driving me crazy I got to be with you. It is a straight-ahead bluesy kind of rock thing.”

"Deadly Deceiver" (Japanese Bonus):

"['Deadly Deceiver'] is a bonus track for Japan. That is about somebody that looks great on the outside but as soon as you become their partner they are just messing with you on the inside out."

As the title indicates, "Facemelter" is a hard-rockin', song-oriented album that lives up to its name: it captures the band's raw energy and tightness that they've become known for. Featuring heavy grooves, powerful guitars, and strong melodies, the band shows their versatility, delivering a range of high-energy rockers, mid-tempo head-bangers, modern rock grooves, majestic ballads, and signature Y&T rock anthems. To mark the return, the band engaged John Taylor Dismukes — the same artist who designed covers for Y&T's classic albums "Mean Streak", "Black Tiger" and "In Rock We Trust" — to create the amazing art of the new "Facemelter".

Face-melting is a term that has been with Y&T since the mid-'70s, when a rabid fan ran backstage and told the band, "you melted my face," which inspired the group's first publishing company: "Facemelting Music."

Y&T is:

Dave Meniketti - Lead Vocals, Lead Guitars
Phil Kennemore - Bass Guitar, Vocals
John Nymann - Guitar, Vocals
Mike Vanderhule - Drums & Percussion, Vocals

(Thanks: Francesco / Deep Purple Italia)