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Self Care

by We Are The Union

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unknownpaleness
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unknownpaleness Amazing, helped pick it up for sure.
ice cream
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ice cream LITERALLY I've been feeling like this recently, from Post-Ironic Sinkhole "And I hate this, how I romanticize the past, cause I'm never going back." Wow, top notch, 100/10. The whole album is a sweet and raw combination of punk and ska that I recommend with my whole heart and both my ears Favorite track: Post-Ironic Sinkhole.
Pierre-luc B. Hautcoeur
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Pierre-luc B. Hautcoeur At first i didn't like the change to a more ska style. But after a few listen i can say it's a great ska punk album with very personnals lyrics. The more i listen the better it get. It's now my favorite We are the union album. Favorite track: Self Care.
Nick Civili
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Nick Civili A wonderful album showcasing what modern ska sounds like. Favorite track: A Better Home.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    12" Vinyl LP of "Self Care" by We Are The Union on electric blue with black splatter. This will ship on or before 4/1/23.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Self Care via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    edition of 250 
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      $25 USD or more 

     

1.
Been staring at my phone for weeks, the future never seemed so bleak Quite comfortable with constant conflict in what I do and write We roll our apathetic eyes We flash our gin and tonic smiles to forget Our take on adulthood is just barely scraping by Count all the reasons that I still have feelings to make sure that I still have feelings A post-ironic sinkhole that I just fall in and die I feel defined by advertisements, social media, and the Donald Trump meme you said was funny, but Donald Trump is never funny And I hate this How I capsize when we contrast I’m all bite with no attack And I hate this How I romanticize the past Cause I’m never going back Every day is difficult when you’re stuck in your head A million voices screaming in a fight you can’t defend Been staring at this screen for weeks, the present never seemed so bleak Forever lost in my apartment, alone among my friends And I hate this How I capsize when we contrast I’m all bite with no attack And I hate this How I romanticize the past Cause I’m never going back But we feel safe Glowing light on vacant faces Glorifying daily paces And we feel safe Glowing light on vacant faces Embellishing our rodent races We feel safe When we dissasociate Why can’t I put my phone away? It doesn’t mean anything Why can’t I put my phone away? Why can’t I put the glow away? It doesn’t mean anything
2.
I’ve been sleeping with the TV on Just loud enough to drown out all my thoughts Cause lately I can’t think without panic chasing me Stare at the ceiling, count pounding heartbeats Lost in a crowd Of recycled bones and skin What do you now With your seven skeletons? I know how it feels to get stuck Lonely, melancholy, nothing makes you give a fuck But if our stubborn bones can grow new on their own Then we can change ourselves, and build a better home Lost in a crowd Of recycled bones and skin What do you now With your seven skeletons? Lost in a crowd Of recycled bones and skin What do you now With your seven skeletons The darkest clouds part overhead What do you do now With your seven skeletons?
3.
It’s just waking up At eleven o’clock in the morning It’s every bill piled underneath A compact disc bought ironically It’s that sinking feeling The constant uncertainty Burnt out eyes and wonder-whys Apathy and “dead inside” I’m just trying to explain Why nothing feels that good to me Can’t escape the way I feel Why do I keep Running away when life gets real? What’s wrong with me? It’s just waking up At three in the afternoon Short on time and short on rent Haunted by your future death It’s the constant nausea The “never good enough” It’s staying up all fucking night To watch bad sitcoms that you don’t like I’m just trying to explain Why nothing feels that good to me Can’t escape the way I feel Why do I keep Running away when life gets real? What’s wrong with me? I’ll always be unsatisfied I’ll always be one step behind Tired lungs exhale, reset the mind It’s when you realize “You’ll never get used to it, you just have to live with it” and get by I’m just trying to explain Why nothing feels that good to me Can’t escape the way I feel Why do I keep Running away when life gets real? What’s wrong with me? *Justin Pierre
4.
End of Daze 03:13
Empty cans, plastic cups, self-esteem, and other throwaways 6 AM disaster struck Beer-stained walls in the hallway And Paul doesn’t want to clean it up, clean it up He wants to go to breakfast, leave the mess for the next tenants He says trouble exists with or without us, with or without us So just forget it and just Party ‘til the end of the world ‘Til the end of the world On the way to the diner, leaking oil, burning gas Weary lungs feel a bit tighter, sterile soil and barren wastelands And Paul won’t admit it’s us, admit it’s us Cause he knows he could lose his job where he makes life harder for immigrants He says doomsday is next with or without us, with or without us So just forget it and just Ignore the changes in the weather It’s just a cycle, it’ll get better And 97%, well it ain’t a sure thing If it tells you something you don’t want to believe, so Party ‘til the end of the world ‘Til the end of the world
5.
My Death 00:31
I just want to think about my death a little less often.
6.
Go shine your ghost light Illuminate this empty room It always felt right All the time I spent with you Everyone moved on Now I’m a phantom in the night Cut loose Rear view And I know It can’t be the way it was It can’t be the way it was Way it was back then Marley’s chained you to your desk To live the same day again I was foolish thinking youth was not a story with an end It can’t be the way it was It can’t be the way it was Way it was back then It can’t be the way it was It can’t be the way it was Way it was back then We never do anything But sulk and feel sorry And I don’t belong We never do anything Last night when you called me I turned my phone off
7.
We were islands soaked in solitude Joined by the tide, we pushed back and we outgrew If you told me the highway would wear your tires through Then I’d go back and take the long way with you Warm cans of Steel Reserve in a basement Sweat-stained singalongs and discontent Bound together by not fitting in Punk rock songs and teenage stress We were freaks, we were kids, we were miscreants We were islands soaked in solitude Joined by the tide, we pushed back and we outgrew If you told me the highway would wear your tires through Then I’d go back and take the long way with you In bars that reeked of piss and alcohol Choking on mothballs in legion halls Found a place where we belonged With each other we were strong We were kin, we were rebels lost without a cause It’s a lump in my throat and a longing for the mitten state An infinite search for a past that I can’t recreate We were islands soaked in solitude Joined by the tide, we pushed back and we outgrew If you told me the highway would wear your tires through Then I’d go back and take the long way with you
8.
For Good 02:28
I’m doing fine despite my own best efforts I always catch myself standing in my way Reinvent this breath with ashes And burn the part of me afraid to fail A cloud of smoke to dissipate No more closed doors on westbound trains When I leave, I leave for good Say goodbye to the rust belt paradise I’m doing fine despite my own best efforts I build a mountain on every sand dune I climb Goodbyes at sunrise, before I run out of time To grow a spark of hope into a wildfire Watch it burn across the countryside Time to go before I waste away No more closed doors on westbound trains When I leave, I leave for good Say goodbye to the rust belt paradise When I leave, I leave for good Say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye Two decades and a half tell me to go and not look back I feel my patience wearing thin when the cold comes creeping in It’s not the place, it’s not the faces Something inside me A restlessness inside my head tells me it’s time to leave It’s not this place, it’s something inside me When I leave, I leave for good Say goodbye to the rust belt paradise When I leave, I leave for good Say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye When I leave, I leave for good Say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
9.
All out of patience, all out of care for fucking racists Keyboard warriors, anonymous down in the basement Tires thin out as you lose control and spin out The seeds you sow come back around You’ve got it wrong You’ve got it wrong You’ve got it wrong You’re on the wrong side of history “Pride not hate,” you say, yeah right okay But the rest of us are laughing loud, you’re nothing to be proud about Tires thin out as you lose control and spin out The seeds you sow come back around You’ve got it wrong You’ve got it wrong You’ve got it wrong You’re on the wrong side of history The past celebrated how the scales were weighted But I’ve got a match and some gasoline We’re gonna burn it down
10.
A small world on a real big planet Overworked, eternally in transit Strung out on retweets and attention A dopamine drip in your pocket Woah oh oh Can we put it all to bed? Woah oh oh Can we focus on each other instead? Tear down the world And build up the people around you Tear down their fake world Build up the people around you It’s an exploit of psychology Pulls the puppet strings of our insecurities They’re farming us for the engagement Selling our loneliness for advertisements Tear down the world And build up the people around you Tear down their fake world Build up the people around you 3 billion brains addicted to the same drug Isolation by design, plugged in and pacified It’s in the small changes gone unnoticed But if we can turn it off we can create all that we want in this moment Tear down the world And build up the people around you Tear down their fake world Build up the people around you Tear down their fake world
11.
Every word from you, everything Is a gift left unwrapped by me My soul sings in sonnets, but my mouth is sewn shut I’m the bud who forgot to open up I could blame music, or blame the road The truth is my circuits overload But still every wire, and every vein Must serve its purpose in the pouring rain I’ve always been this way The garden’s colors eventually fade away When I get frustrated every harmless observation gets me down In endless television on a permanent vacation all alone I hold the triple crown Monday every reason the birds might sing in my eyes was a mystery On Tuesday I sang so loud, that I couldn’t come down Like my wings never felt the frozen ground I’ve always been this way The songbird’s colors eventually fade away I’m going surfing on the waves of depression I’m gonna ride like I don’t know how to swim I don’t need no board, won’t see me no more Cause I don’t care if I get back to shore I’m going surfing on the waves of depression I want to try but don’t know where to begin I don’t need no board, won’t see me no more Cause I don’t care if I get back to shore
12.
Self Care 04:04
Watched everybody else grow up Felt like disappointment incarnate Had a beer and a week-old donut for breakfast Spent all day in the apartment Stop, you’re stuck in it again Stop, put a record on and get outside your head Bought a brand new fancy french press Phoned a friend and we talked together Sent a “fuck you” tweet or a hundred to the president Baby steps to getting better Faked a smile at my own reflection Wrote a song even though it felt stupid Skipped out on work and we watched Bojack on Netflix Went for a walk and watched the sunset Stop, you’re stuck in it again Stop, put a record on and get outside your head It’s not your fault when you get sad for no reason (Why can’t I put my phone away? It doesn’t mean anything) (I’m going surfing on the waves of depression)

credits

released October 1, 2018

All music & lyrics written by We Are The Union
Everything on ‘Self Care’ was performed by We Are The Union, except:
Additional vocals on track 7 performed by Stacey Dee
Additional vocals on track 10 performed by Nick Riggs
Additional vocals on all tracks, except track 5, performed by Jon Graber
Additional vocals on all tracks, except track 5, performed by Vincent Walker
Trumpet on tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 performed by Vincent Walker
Trumpet on track 3 performed by David Miller
Tenor & Baritone Sax on tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 performed by Chris Carbajal
Accordion on track 12 performed by Jon Graber
Synthesizers on tracks 5 & 11 performed by Jon Graber
Gang vocals performed by We Are The Union, Jon Graber, Kenny Schwartz, Ian Abel, Jessica Lamat, & Vincent Walker

‘Self Care’ was recorded at Splendor 2 (North Hollywood, CA), Industry Ave Recordings (Pico Rivera, CA), & The Ship (Los Angeles, CA) from December 2017 to April 2018

Personnel:
Jon Graber - producer, recording engineer, mix engineer
Reed Wolcott - assistant recording engineer, assistant mix engineer
Alan Douches - mastering engineer
Chris Graue - videographer

Art, layout, & design by Justin Gray
Cover photo by Eden Kittiver

Thanks to all of our backers on Kickstarter, especially the following “THAAAAANKS” level backers:
Ben Thompson, Mike Mason, Michael Mello, Yuji Sata, Adam Mandarino, Caroline Raymond, and Guest 191877730 (who didn’t fill out the backer survey yet...tsk tsk)
Thanks to these fine folks, and the 633 other amazing individuals who backed the ‘Self Care’ Kickstarter, we are living proof that independent musicians can define success on their own terms and find creative ways to bring the music directly to the fans. We hope you love this record half as much as we loved making it.

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We Are The Union Los Angeles, California

Drawing heavily on ska, pop, & punk, WATU’s 2021 full length, ‘Ordinary Life,’ balances soul crushing lyrics about dysphoria & heartbreak w/ endless hooks & furiously catchy choruses. The album, which serves as vocalist Reade Wolcott’s coming out as a trans woman, was recorded in secret in a rented house in Joshua Tree w/ producer Jon Graber. ‘Ordinary Life’ releases June 4th via Bad Time Records. ... more

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