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Centralia...
Buy
it online! (cd baby)
Itunes
Listen to the tracks in a random order to unearth the multiple
tales of Centralia!
Forgiv'r (4:32) (lyrics)
The Fuse That Burned Too Fast (6:25) (lyrics)
Magnified (10:48
) (lyrics)*
Soñar Con Aventura (5:40)
(lyrics)
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Die (5:38) (lyrics)
Total (33:05)
Centralia concept, music, and lyrics by Mark
Doerksen
*Lyrics on Magnified by Mark Doerksen, Steve Doerksen, Phil Janzen
Narration written by Steve Doerksen, performed by Ken Morse
Produced by John Peters and Dream Quest
Cover art – Joel Braun
The Great Centralia FAQ!
This page is never finished!
If you have a question about Centralia, why don't you just ask the
guy who wrote it? ?
What is Centralia?
Centralia is also a one-of-a-kind
concept album. The five tracks each tell one part of an overarching
story,
but the order in
which the songs are played changes the plot! Putting the CD player
on random/shuffle determines whether the main character is good
or bad, killer or dreamer, hypocrite or saint, without missing
a beat! Centralia is 120 different possible stories on one album,
yet the music flows equally well from song to song in any order!
Where is Centralia? Did you make it up?
No! The story takes place in Centralia,
Pennsylvania.
Once a booming mining
town,
it's
population
diminished
greatly
once the mine underneath the city caught on fire causing serious
carbon monoxide problems. The town of Centralia is not only the
setting of our story, but it's history closely resembles the situation
of our protagonist. You can read more about the town here.
You can see more pictures of it here.
Interesting fact: The mind-blowing album artwork of Joel
Braun features actual buildings from Centralia.
What exactly happens when I listen to Centralia's
songs in a random order? Waddaya mean the
story changes? What's this story about?
Context is everything! Consider the following three sentences:
1. Phil's beard is made up of russian dog hair extensions.
2. The following sentence isn't true...
3.
I just typed random letters, and here's what came out!
So, if the order were 1-2-3, phil's beard is fake, and I never
typed random letters (since sentence 2 says sentence 3 is a lie).
If the order were 3-2-1, sentence 1 and 2 don't mean anything since
they were the result of random typing anyway.
If the order were
2-3-1, then sentence 3 is a lie (So I never typed random letters
at all), and Phil's beard is still fake.
If the order were... you get the idea.
And...?
The point is that Centralia features 5 tracks, and each one has
an effect on the one before or after! Every order makes a different
story with different circumstances
and different outcomes! The above lame, lame, lame example has
three sentences. Consider the complexities of five songs! So, if
you want to know what the story in the album is without explaining
all 120 stories,
I can only tell you that the hero might be great, he might be a
monster,
he
might
be a huge monster, he might have killed someone, he might be forgiven
if he did, or he might have not done anything incriminating at
all!
Ah, it's all connected! What else is connected?
Firstly, no doubt you've noticed
the narration by Ken Morse. The narration changes depending on
the order. If you've bought the album, this will be terribly obvious
how it works. If not, maybe you should just buy it and see what
I mean.
Secondly, the music links up no matter the order. You may have
to be a music nerd to understand this aspect. Though the songs
are in different keys, the beginning and end of each song has a
short musical interlude that is tied to a neutral key (in this
case, the key of E). So, each song's 'intro' starts in E, and
ends in the key of the song. Each 'outro' moves from the key of
the song into the neutral key. The result? A nearly seamless
transfer from track to track, even when on random/shuffle!
For best results you can rip it to your computer
and re-order the tracks. However, unless your CD player has unusually long
pauses when on random, you still won't be able to tell when
tracks are changing.
This is crazy. How did you come up with it? Do all 120
stories make sense?
Mark Doerksen says: "I liked 'Choose Your Own Adventure'
books when I was 7 years old. Some 15 years later, that enjoyment
plus
my realization of the full potential of my CD player's shuffle
function
caused an idea to fall out of my head. Then I wrote five songs. Yes,
all 120 stories make sense. I have them all worked out! My personal favourite
order
is:
Soñar con Aventura,
The
Fuse
that
Burned
Too Fast, Magnified, Eeny Meeny Miny Die!, Forgiv'r."
You have them all worked out!??! Can I
see that?
Mark Doerksen says: "Hahahah....no. These days too many
things are completely blatantly obvious and explained for you
(see: every action move made
in the last
decade). Half the fun is figuring it out, and I don't think
it's really that difficult. Use your brain. If you
have
a theory,
feel
free
to run
it by
me; my email is mark@adventuremetal.com.
I'm actually quite interested to see what everyone's take on it
will
be. Everything is subjective (well, almost everything. Phil's beard
is awesome = objective)."
What does Soñar con Aventura mean? Is that,
like, some other language?
It's Spanish for 'Dream of Adventure.'
What if I put my CD player on random AND repeat
(or R'n'R as I call it)?
The story will make sense for exactly five tracks. Then it will
get silly.
If there's 5 tracks, isn't there a total of 25
stories, not 120?
Nope, there's 120. First, pick your first song - that's 5 to choose
from. Next, pick track two - that's 4 left to choose from. Track
three has 3 options, track four, 2 options, and then you're stuck
with one song left.
5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 120
Or, if you prefer grade 11 pre-calculus, it's simply 5!=120
Is that Phil on the cover? Is he facing towards
us, or away from us?
That's a good question. Whoever it is, he's facing all
ways always.
Is Centralia considered an EP or full-length?
Though originally intended to be an EP, apparently Centralia meets
the requirements
of a full length. According to the WCMA, a full length has at least
five tracks and is over 30 minutes in length. So, I guess it's a full-length.
All music written and performed by Dream
Quest
Produced by John Paul Peters and Dream Quest
Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered by John Paul Peters
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