making history

Pete Davies: So that's what became of Knave of Hearts, then. They're still four people living relatively ordinary lives, even if they have more expensive shoes than most of us.

But they aren't four ordinary people. I can tell when I look at them, that there's some sort of aura around them. I don't mean that in a new age, 'woo woo' sort of way. I mean that you can see there's something about them that would make you follow them into a burning building. Like even if they don't know where they're going, you're damn sure you're going to enjoy the journey.

That's the attitude one needs to have, anyway, with any creative endeavor. That sort of delightful madness. And if you look very closely at Emma, Alan, Lane, and Tom, you'll see the madness has never really left them, exactly.

ºBrian St. Helens (recorded November 2007): What message do you have for your fans?

ºAlan Léonin (recorded November 2007): The message is all in the songs themselves, in the lyrics, and I suppose in the music too and in the manifestos and the signs and on the billboards and in the videos, but if you want that distilled down just now, I can give you a glimpse. I can't say I'll be able to tell you every single thing we thought about when we were writing those songs, and every single thing we want people to take away from them, but we can certainly try.

The most important thing you can do is figure out what you believe in. The problem with the world today is that through a haze of political correctness and bland force-fed 'happily ever after's, we can't even see our own selves. You have to understand where you stand, because if you don't you may well be standing on someone else's opinions, and those are prone to throwing off one's balance. You may well find the rug pulled out from under you. I'd suggest taking in the whole world, for all its flaws and all the rough edges that many of us find rather unpleasant, and digesting it all, and taking your time—'cause, it's all right to take your time, no one's keeping score—and in the end you'll realize that some of the things you feel are from your own heart and your own mind. And that's what you have to hold close.

The people who make history aren't just the people who have the talents and the skills and the charisma and intelligence and knowledge, they aren't just the people who work hard at it, they're the people who do both, and at the same time have no fear because they have found something that is bigger than they are, and at the same time they are the people who radiate with a brilliance that even in death will never go out.

I don't know if I'm fearless yet, but I know that I have something to believe in. How about you?