The New Regime (Nine Inch Nails, Lostprophets) Singled Out Week: Day 1 - Live In Fear

Live In Fear was the first song written for Speak Through The White Noise, long before the idea of starting a second album was even conceived. I remember writing the main riff and B sections while being stuck in a hotel room in Cardiff, Wales, when I was there writing with Lostprophets for a few weeks. I borrowed one of their guitars to escape boredom at night. The majority of Live In Fear came together there pretty quickly.

At the time I was listening to quite a bit of Jeff Buckley (still do) and my ear was getting very used to the sorts of chords he used to play, like in the chorus of "So Real", for example. I wanted the chorus to open up and be powerful yet remain dark and driving, so the "6th" chords I learned from him did the trick.

The brief second verse has a pretty interesting sonic quality to it. It was one of those moments where you put a lot of time and effort into producing what you hear in your head, all for a whopping 9 seconds of music. Everything from numerous synths, backwards guitars, organs, effects pedals, nylon and steel string acoustic guitars, even a ukulele, were used to build that sound.

Lyrically, the song is about public unrest. In an age where so much information (current events to be specific) is available and practically thrown at you from every direction, who do you trust?