DECK: SPADES

June 13, 2025

Cover art

Available on Bandcamp and streaming services

Recorded at Rare Signals, Cambridge MA
August 11, 2024
Engineered by Brian Charles

"I Got Out of this World Alive," "I Did My Own Stunts," and "The End is Just Beginning" Recorded at Sun Tiki Studios, Portland, ME
June 3rd, 2023
Engineered by Keith Mann

"No One Remembers Their Names" and "The World is Not What You Think It Is" cannot be tied to one single location for recording, not even basic tracks recording, and isn't that interesting?

Overdubs done in various locations Summer 2024 - Fall 2024
Mixed by Evan Sicuranza, Crooked Horse Studio, Providence, RI Nov-Dec 2024
Mastered by Amar Lal, Macro Sound, Oakland, CA

Backing/Gang vox, unless noted otherwise, is: Ryan Connelly, Joseph Marrett, Brian Rutledge, Ryan H. Walsh, & Nicholas Ward.

All songs written by Ryan H. Walsh
All songs arranged by Hallelujah The Hills

Copyright ©2025 Reverse The Tape Decks ASCAP

This is Not a Dream (Ace of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Trumpet
Joseph Marrett - Bass
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Ward - Organ, Piano, Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitars, Lead Vocals

With:
Julia Papps - Righteous Screaming
Evan Sicuranza - Octave piano

Now we come to the present moment or so they'd have us think
If you don't know about time manipulation, buddy, it'll bring you to the brink
The future's already happened and the past is yet to come
And what we're in presently is a simulation that's only just begun

Do you feel it? Does your clock tick? Can you go back to the way you were?
If you can, then no one will remember your name

Who am I though? Why do I know? We don't have time for that
Relax, no one ever remembers my name
Relax, no one ever remembers my name

It's Undeniable (2 of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Synthesizer
Joseph Marrett - Bass, Organ
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Ward - Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitars, Samples, Lead Vocals

With:
Niani Campbell - Vocals
Howard Kremer - Live Podcast Overdub
Brett Morris - Live Podcast Overdub

Great plains!
Branded son!
Sage bush! Lightning seed!
Commemorative barnyard
Speak 'n spiel
I picture places burnt into wood
Aren't you glad to see me in this golden hour?
Soundtracks built in my bones
I know you're not my stepping stone
Smoke 'n ash sent me home

Tornados, quicksand, a man with a plan
It's undeniable

Showtime! Say pretty please
Clutching fate from the grip of them teeth
I've got a zest for life, I'm in a violent choir
I've got a tape deck dream, I built a birthing pyre
Tell me what you think of these
Ooh!

Tornados, quicksand, a man with a plan
It's undeniable
It's undeniable
It's undeniable
It's undeniable
It's un-de-nigh-able

Divine Interventions (3 of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Synthesizer
Joseph Marrett - Bass
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Ward - Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola, Harmonica
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitars, Lead Vocals, Samples

Sad-eyed lady of nobody's fool
I been dreaming about you
Wild mushroom moon walk blues
The glossolalia of a goddess
Just turn me on

Diaphanous tongue-tied ruby jewels
Drip from the end of your sentences
Divine interventions, please roll through
Let love potions spring forth like geysers

Just turn me on and on and on and on
Just turn me on and on and on and on
I thought I missed your exodus but now I know your name
Shadows on the razor's edge, blizzards on the brain
"Fragments of a Rainy Season," please don't act so tame
Drag me through your waking dreams, lit by open flames
Defending my thesis to your bundle of bees
I bet that some of these other losers never had nights like these

Just turn me on and on and on and on
Just turn me on and on and on and on
Just turn me on and on and on and on
Just turn me on and on and on and on

I Did My Own Stunts (4 of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Synthesizer
Joseph Marrett - Bass, Organ, Synth Orchestra
Ryan Connelly - Drums
Nicholas Ward - Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitar, Samples, Synths

With:
Clint Conley - Lead Vocals
Neal Block, Jay Schneider - Additional Backing Vocals

Major arcana,
Minor injuries
My most dangerous days laid out for all to see
Now I know you're wonderin'
"Sir?

Did you do your own stunts?
Did you jump the ravine?
Did you travel by hurricane? Get mangled by the machine?"
Yeah, I did my own stunts

Days in the canyon
Evenings on the peaks
I don't need any Everests when I'm running out with the freaks
I know that someday they'll ask me,
"Excuse me, sir?
Did you do your own stunts?
Did you jump the ravine?
Did you travel by hurricane? Get mangled by the machine?"
Yeah, I did my own stunts
Yeah, I did my own stunts
Yeah, I did my own stunts
Yeah, I did my own stunts

The World is Not What You Think It Is (5 of Spades)

Joseph Marrett - Keyborgs
David Michael Curry - Conch Shell
Ryan H. Walsh - Sequencer, Piano, Samples

With:
David Silver - Monologue
Maya Litani - Backing Monologue
Rob Johanson - Clap Loop

The world is not what you think it is
But this is not your fault, don't be too hard on yourself.
In this seminar, we will equip you with the necessary tools
To pierce veils, rip fabric, and step into the structure behind the painting.
Empires, ideas, institutions---everything falls eventually,
You could spend a lifetime in Toledo thinking everything was face value.
How many days can you get through waking up wishing things were different?
Parties roll on into the night like
They could erase a war.
Liberator, liberator
Let me know when you have a Thursday night off work.
Calling all cartographers! We're taking back what's yours
The surf is now up
Paint over the murals, burn down your atlas.
We want you. I want you.
If you keep thinking about your own funeral
Or sobbing outside the sunset factory,
If you stand frozen in the grocery aisle disassociating into the ether,
If you believe that songs are advertisements for feelings,
If your pockets are filled with ceremonial grade sage,
Or that everyone used to play a game called
My Greek Chorus when you were a kid
But everyone you ask has no idea what that is
Well, buddy, we've got good news
This is the kind of lesson you only learn once. I love you. Good luck.
This is the kind of lesson you only learn once. I love you. Good luck.
This is the kind of lesson you only learn once. I love you. Good luck.
This is the kind of lesson you only learn once. I love you. Good luck.
I love you. Good luck.
I love you. Good luck.
I love you. Good luck.

The Feeling is Mine (6 of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Synthesizer
Joseph Marrett - Bass, Organ
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Bottles
Nicholas Ward - Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitars, Samples

With:
Mariam Saleh - Lead Vocals
Audra Sears - Vocals
Cali Serino - Vocals
Niani Campbell - Vocals
Evan Sicuranza - Piano

The feeling is mine
Won't leave it behind
Watching it grow
And letting it know
It can't be confined
The feeling is mine
I got a feeling
I got a feeling
I got a feeling
And the feeling is mine

I Got Out of This World Alive (7 of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Trumpet
Joseph Marrett - Bass, Banjo, Percussion Loop
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Ward - Organ, Piano, Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitars, Synths, Samples, Percussion Loop

With:
Rob Johanson - Lead Vocals
Oluwatosin F - Choir

Well, on top of Old Smokey
Draggin' a demagogue's head
Breathin' deeply the diamond war
Smashing skulls on the hard wood floor
Expecting bones to be dynamite
Watch me inhale the night tonight

Well, surprise, surprise
You won't believe your eyes
I made it out of this world alive
They said I couldn't so I had to try
They said the only way out's to die
But I got out of this world alive

Instead of skin there's geometry
Don't let the world get in front of me
Kicking hours into twilight rooms
Consuming nothin' but sonic booms.
There's a monster in my movie
The kind of creature you aint ever seen
No! No! No! No!
Well, surprise, surprise
You won't believe your eyes
I made it out of this world alive
They said I couldn't so I had to try
They said the only way out's to die
But I got out of this world alive

Speaking of a double dare, Rasputin, hold my beer
Speaking of a double dare, I'm an animal

Well, surprise, surprise
You won't believe your eyes
I made it out of this world alive
They said I couldn't so I had to try
They said the only way out's to die
But I got out of this world alive

I'm Your Tambourine (8 of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Trumpet
Joseph Marrett - Bass, Banjo, Tambourine
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Ward - Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitars, Lead Vocals

With:
Will Dailey - Backing Vocals
Antonio Bustabad - Bagpipes

"What about this? What about that?"
All their questions were endless and my replies were attacks
Now in regards to my absence, I sincerely apologize
Now there's only one way that you'll see through my eyes

Shake me into existence, I'm your tambourine
Shake me into existence, I'm your tambourine

Try this on for size, try out a diet of crow
We've been humbled to the max, ready to reap what we've sowed
And they can't kill you until they kill me
So I'll stay alive but only you can set me free

Shake me into existence, I'm your tambourine
Shake me into existence, I'm your tambourine
They can't talk me out of resistance
They can't mock me away from persistence
They can't force me into enemy assistance
They can't keep me from running the distance
Shake me into existence, I'm your tambourine
Shake me into existence, I'm your tambourine
Shake me into existence, I'm your tambourine
Shake me into existence, I'm your tambourine

Hits Get Hard (9 of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Synth
Joseph Marrett - Bass
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Ward - Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Electric Guitar, Lead Vocals

*Any / similarity / to persons living or dead / is purely coincidental*
Unexpectedly alone during my hardest days
Keeping promises seemed to be just a phase
Now everyone knows that your new zip code tells the tale
I read all of the classics, I got the gist
Reluctantly my own protagonist
But sometimes late at night old visions come to my door

But this time I'll break every rule
And whether I win or lose
I'll never quit when the hits get hard
Oh! My! Soul! Oh!

I recall you were good in emergency
Cauterizing wounds with lit cigarette
But there's no one 'round these parts like that no more

While I tally all the damage incurred
No, you haven't misheard
I'll never quit when the hits get hard
Oh! My! Soul! Oh!
This time I'll break every rule
And whether I win or lose
I'll never quit when the hits get hard
Oh! My! Soul! Oh!
For once, I won't do my worst
And though it might seem perverse
Watch me go all in on the world
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
And this time I'll break every rule
The hero was once the fool
And I'll never quit when the hits get hard
Oh! My! Soul! Oh!

No One Remembers Their Names (10 of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Trumpet
Joseph Marrett - Bass, Bass Synth
Ryan Connelly - Drums
Nicholas Ward - Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Piano, Guitars, Samples, Electronic Drums

With:
Evan Sicuranza - Lead Vocals

There's a page ripped from the history books, someone didn't want it known
About some late 1800's surrealists who lived inside the Capitol dome
They sent cut-ups down to congress, who interpreted it into law
They staged performance art for presidents who couldn't believe what they saw

They were wild, they were unhinged, they were fevered and free
But alas, no one remembers their names

In regards to the Grand Canyon, it isn't what you think
10,000 men trapped in a fugue state, dug it down with silver picks
If you asked them what they were doing, or why they'd die for such a thing
They'd rip all of your bones out and use 'em all some more to dig

They were feral, they were unhinged, they were focused on their task
But alas, no one remembers their names

While these idiots sit and argue whether we've been to the moon
I can tell you we first got there back in 1902
Roosevelt hired a Frenchman to shoot it all on film
Academics praise its genius while Selenites live among us still

They're your neighbors, they're your leaders, aliens in disguise
No surprise that no one will tell you their names

Now the thing about Mt. Rushmore, before Borglum had his way
There were other faces in that rock, where they came from no one can say
And these granite, grotesque portraits haunted every passerby
To the point their lives were ruined by the visage in their eye

They were fucked up, such a horror, these cursed four facades
But alas, no one remembers their names

Now the thing about Elvis Presley, is that there were more than one of him
Army scientists cloned him out so more people could see him sing
But one of 'em he went crazy and killed several heads of state
Now, "Jailhouse Rock" is just a cover to obfuscate his awful fate

He was gorgeous, he could shake it, he could murder with his bare hands
But now, no one remembers his name

A Lot of Super Weird Stuff Went Down Right Before I Met You (Jack of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Trumpet
Joseph Marrett - Synth Bass, Banjo
David Michael Curry - Viola, Toy Piano
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitar, Lead Vocals

It's a feeling I get when it rains
And I feel it coming on again
When the sky opens up without warning I prep my told you so's
I've got stories on stories for days about the crazies who went through a phase
Followin' me around the city actin' like I was king

I been honest with you
And you've told the truth, too
But is it enough to cut through the noise and really make love come true?
Cuz a lot of super weird stuff went down right before I met you

I should have never been hypnotized; "track this pendulum with your eyes"
Next night I walked into my local, I was speakin' in tongues
And by the time I was kidnapped at home I had been working on some fucked holy tome
Much to my surprise these freaks they tried to ransom it off

We sit in photo booths. In love, we're both overdue
But are you still gonna think of me the same once you've heard the whole truth?
Cuz a lot of super weird stuff went down right before I met you

It's a feeling I get when your near like an explorer near a wild frontier
Throw away my atlas, head north till I discover your key
And while the jury deliberates we joke about if this should count as a date
The defendant without defenses, truly open for the first time

Well, I've got a big heart and while that's a good start
Is it enough to eclipse all the headlines and not tear us apart?
Cuz some other people figured I was crazy right from the start

I stand in front of you, askin' what should we do?
You know, I wish some of these voices maybe give me a clue
You know, a lot of super weird stuff went down right before I met you
A lot of super weird stuff went down right before I met you
A lot of super weird stuff went down right before I met you

The End is Just Beginning (Queen of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Trumpet
Joseph Marrett - Bass, Banjo
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Ward - Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Classical Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals

With:
Oluwatosin F - Choir
Paul Hansen - Backing vocals

The end is just beginning, we'll start here, my friends
The signs have withered up and died
So I don't know where-to next
Is the best behind me?
Weren't you my compass?

The end is just beginning, we'll start here, my friends

I walked off the edges of the map
Cartography's great void
There's a new world up ahead
But it won't be easy

The end is just beginning, we'll start here, my friends
So please, won't you take this information
When you're makin' your decision
If you wanna follow me
The end is just beginning, we'll start here, my friends
The end is just beginning, we'll start here, my friends
The end is just beginning, we'll start here, my friends

Places, Everybody (King of Spades)

Brian Rutledge - Trumpet
Joseph Marrett - bass
Ryan Connelly - Drums, Percussion
Nicholas Ward - Electric Guitar
David Michael Curry - Viola
Ryan H. Walsh - Guitars, Piano, Lead Vocals

Come now, we're all backstage
Pacing slowly
Waitin' for showtime
Admission: one dollar
It's a value
That's become my life
Places, Everybody
Let's do this one more time
Our magician readies rabbit
And the poet runs her lines
Places, everybody
Showtime

Curtains rise up
Spotlight finds me
It's a real good crowd
With a gesture, I invite them
Into our world
Where their troubles fly by
Places, Everybody
Let's do this one more time
The freak act approaches stage left
And the satirist ain't far behind
Places, everybody

Don't stop: Cue the jugglers
Give 'em burlesque
Make 'em laugh, make 'em cry
The escape act gets chained up
Dropped in water
and then time stands still
Places, everybody
Let's do this one more time
The crowds don't come like they used to
And then the talkies took our lines
So, places, everybody

There's a ghost light
Deep in my mind
A hopeful beacon
That I can never turn off
And if you stare into my eyes
You might see it
And you might feel hopeful too
Places, everybody
The curtain's coming down
Tomorrow's they'll start to bulldoze
The last great show in town
Places, everybody

We'll all land on our feet
It's a big world full of love and hate
and you can never admit defeat
So, places, everybody
Encore, they cry encore
But it's the curtain call
Where we all take a bow
Hand in hand, we're a family
On the cusp of
The great unknown