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Dark Riders, Storm Riders - album (2020)

by Van Hoflich

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1.
Erlkönig - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind? Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind; Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm, Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm. Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht? – Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht? Den Erlenkönig mit Kron' und Schweif? – Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif. "Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir! Gar schöne Spiele spiel' ich mit dir; Manch' bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand, Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand." – Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht, Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht? – Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind; In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind. – "Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn? Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön; Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn, Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein." – Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort? – Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh' es genau: Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. – "Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt; Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch' ich Gewalt." – Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an! Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan! – Dem Vater grauset's; er reitet geschwind, Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind, Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not; In seinen Armen das Kind war tot. ---- Dark Riders, Storm Riders (Peter Hoflich) Time the master trapper, Coming through the slaughter Feel the rusty scalpel, In a midnight chapel Gazing through the sky, Inky clouds drift by Haunted visions cry, Time to do or die Dark riders, storm riders, howling at the moon Dark riders, storm riders, vengeance at high noon Dark riders, storm riders, sing a murder tune Dark riders, storm riders, howling at the moon Breathe the stinging air, Shake your tangled hair Clutch the leather whip, Pistols at the hip Feel the raging blood, Drag them through the mud Country of the dead, Hand is glowing red Dark riders, storm riders, howling at the moon Dark riders, storm riders, vengeance at high noon Dark riders, storm riders, sing a murder tune Dark riders, storm riders, howling at the moon Burning through the night Raging at the light Slicing through the gloom Kiss the hand of doom Feel the raging fury I am judge and jury Riders burning bright In night, in the night, in the night Dark riders, storm riders, howling at the moon Dark riders, storm riders, vengeance at high noon Dark riders, storm riders, sing a murder tune Dark riders, storm riders, howling at the moon
2.
You walk the dust plains at night Your eyes they can’t stand the light Your lust for blood is your right And I’m going to take my first bite I’ve watched you for a long time You’re weak and way past your prime Be strong and give me a sign Just put your hand into mine I’ll bring you eternal joy Ich bin dein Teufel Cowboy The world is a fountain of sin Your crimes will swallow you in The hate and the madness will win And crush your soul from within I love your pale ghostly skin Your teeth as sharp as a pin A man looks-at-you and grins And so the bloodletting begins Your heart they want to destroy Ich bin dein Teufel Cowboy We watch the birds soaring high The pain will spread ‘cross the sky We’ll fight an eye for an eye The world will tremble and cry The towns were we slay are just fine They’re on th’ Texas side of the Rhein We twist around serpentine Humanity’s on the decline Listening to Willie & Roy Ich bin dein Teufel Cowboy I’m crazy just like Patsy Kline I want you to always be mine Du bist mein Vampir Fräulein Lass mich dein Teufelprinz sein I taught you the right way to kill And now you do it at will The mountains shiver with chill And watch the blood spill & spill The hounds have brought me a sign Your destiny’s trapped up with mine I see our final bloodline It feeds on me time after time Du bist mein Vampir Fräulein Lass mich dein Teufelprinz sein Du sagst zu mir “Grendhal du Schwein, Du darfst mein Teufelprinz sein.”
3.
This is the sound of my left hand strumming This is the sound of my right hand fretting This is the sound of… my guitar… when I play it… oh Lord This is the sound of my guitar humming This is the sound of my voice a-singing This is the sound of my tunes a-growing I write down all the words, then I sing them … oh Lord This is the sound of my pipes a-ringing This is the sound of my death metal growling This is the sound of my black metal shrieking This is the sound of my voice when I hum… mmm-mmm-mmm This is the sound that gives my life meaning This is the sound of a man feeling restless This is the sound of a man feeling bored This is the sound of a man in a lockdown, oh Lord This is the sound of a man and his stresses This is the sound my lasso slashingm This is the sound of my six guns a-blazing This is the SOUND… my bullwhip makes… when it slashes, oh Lord This is the sound of my pickaxe mashing This is the sound of my mouth a-smoking This is the sound of my throat a-choking But please just don’t you think… that I’m tokin’… no, no, no This is the sound of my lungs a croakin’ This is the sound of my spurs go jingle-jangle [JINGLE] This is the sound is the sound of the law of the jungle This is the sound of the tigers burning bright, in the night This is the sound of my dark country ramble This is the sound of my left hand strumming This is the sound of my right hand fretting This is the sound of… my guitar… when I play it… oh Lord This is the sound of my guitar humming
4.
You walk the dust plains at night Your eyes they can’t stand the light Your lust for blood is your right And I’m going to take my first bite I’ve watched you for a long time You’re weak and way past your prime Be strong and give me a sign Just put your hand into mine I’ll bring you eternal joy Ich bin dein Teufel Cowboy The world is a fountain of sin Your crimes will swallow you in The hate and the madness will win And crush your soul from within I love your pale ghostly skin Your teeth as sharp as a pin A man looks-at-you and grins And so the bloodletting begins Your heart they want to destroy Ich bin dein Teufel Cowboy We watch the birds soaring high The pain will spread ‘cross the sky We’ll fight an eye for an eye The world will tremble and cry The towns were we slay are just fine They’re on th’ Texas side of the Rhein We twist around serpentine Humanity’s on the decline Listening to Willie & Roy Ich bin dein Teufel Cowboy I’m crazy just like Patsy Kline I want you to always be mine Du bist mein Vampir Fräulein Lass mich dein Teufelprinz sein I taught you the right way to kill And now you do it at will The mountains shiver with chill And watch the blood spill & spill The hounds have brought me a sign Your destiny’s trapped up with mine I see our final bloodline It feeds on me time after time Du bist mein Vampir Fräulein Lass mich dein Teufelprinz sein Du sagst zu mir “Grendhal du Schwein, Du darfst mein Teufelprinz sein.”

about

This is a FREE DOWNLOAD (although the pay-what-you-want option is still enabled if you're fine with that)

Way back in 2020, right when this whole lockdown stuff started happening, a friend challenged a group of us to put together a "dark country" EP, with each of us contributing a song. Well, I wrote my song, called "Dark Riders, Storm Riders"... and then I wrote another "dark country" song... and another one... and another one.

The supergroup hasn't happened yet.

Anyway... around the same time I also discovered Hank Williams' "Angel Of Death", which is about as "dark country" as it can possible get! I then ALSO hit upon the idea of narrating the famous German poem "Erlkönig" to low-fi music because it fit in with the theme... despite it being in another language. A friend who heard the songs then suggested that it would make a good prelude to a song, so I put it in front of the title track, and it worked great. If you don't speak German, you can easily find translations of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's famous poem online.

For a while I was wondering to myself why there should be so much German on a country album, other than the band having a Dutch/German name (a tribute to country legend Townes Van Zandt, obviously, and a riff on my family name Hoflich). Then I discovered something called "Texas German", which is a form of German spoken in Texas by the descendants of German immigrants who had settled there in the 19th century - five generations later, those Texans still speak German among each other!

So, retroactively, I guess it really does makes perfect sense for our Teufel Cowboy to speak German while he wreaks havoc on the Texas countryside with his lady love... whew!

For this project I actually recorded a cool version of "Angel Of Death". However, to make that available here would require licenses, so I think I'll just exclude that one for now, although it is part of my video playlist of all the songs on the album - just go to www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaVM-GZ6yZmAHMQ--nObH-Xm7P25LSIms

Special thanks to my fellow Canadian Kelly Olafson who provided an amazing banjo track (and threw in some harmony vocals to boot)!! Kelly rules!!

Enjoy the songs, I hope you have as much fun listening to them as I did making them...

credits

released September 18, 2020

Banjo and harmony vocals on "Ich Bin Dein Teufel Cowboy" by Kelly Olafson - super thanks Kelly!!!!

Music & lyrics & all other instruments by Peter Hoflich

Inspiration: Hank Williams, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Farid Long & Jae Lee

Love: Naoko & Zen

Truth & soul: Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Townes Van Zandt, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, John Prine, Nanci Griffiths, Gordon Lightfoot, Cowboy Junkies, Chris Stapleton, Orville Peck, Brian Pereira, Matthew Tan, Kevin Mathews, Ramon Cedillo, Trampas Django, Rip Alhuzzrad, Rory Barker...

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HöFLICH Singapore

Peter Hoflich is a musician living in Singapore. He has sung in the rock bands MegalomaniA, the Hideous Motör-Apes, Reckless Hearts, Von Doom and The Sinisters, as well as the folk unit the Es with Athena Desai and Jae Lee. He also performs his own acoustic songs from time to time, and is trying a few experimental things in the home studio. ... more

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