The Juxe: Backstory — Mirage People by The Capitol Years
/I love a song with a good backstory.
I listened to this song for years before hearing where it originated. I wish you could do the same, because it probably makes the the whole thing more satisfying. But since that’s impractical, I’ll just go ahead and tell you the story.
The Capitol Years were one of my favorite indie-rock bands from Philadelphia in the early 2000s. In 2003 or so a Philly-centric blog called Philebrity named The Capitol Years the best band in the city. Then, a couple years later, some guy left a comment on the blog saying:
The Capitol Years are not a good band. Unchain yourselves, gang. I mean, I know the rock scene in Philly has reached a particularly low valley over the past few years, but that’s no reason to go slummin’ with these frauds. I assume they won by default. That’s the only way I can reckon them being named “Best of Philly” a few years back. Yes, It’s a shame The Burning Brides skipped town, but let’s hold ourselves to a higher standard than this. It’s a mirage, people. I’d love to know one substantial accolade these cats have on their resume (Disclaimer: Carson Daly does not count, now or ever).
(“Unchain yourselves, gang,” is a favorite saying of mine when I want to sound like a condescending douchebag. “Oh, you guys like The Mandalorian? Unchain yourselves, gang. It’s pandering tripe.”)
Anyway, by the next day The Capitol Years had recorded the following song whose lyrics consisted of lines from the guy’s message.
I was a fan of this song for a long time before hearing this story. Once I did, it made me like it even more. It reminded me of one of my life philosophies, (sort of) lifted from Oscar Wilde: Take everything that happens to you and make it good for you. Someone trashes your band on a popular local website? Turn that shit into a catchy, ethereal, banger.
The Capitol Years are in fact, a good band. Here are a few other favorites from their catalog.
That song is for when your old lady dumps you for some other guy. You play it to remind her she’ll be back. “Watch it not end. You’re looking my way again.”
And just for the sake of completeness, here’s my favorite Burning Brides song (hard rock/garage rock). It’s a shame these guys skipped town.