Surrounded

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I wrote “Surrounded” around the age of 14.  The song was originally written on acoustic guitar.  However, being the young angsty teenager I was, and given the musical climate of the day, it was much cooler to turn up the volume, turn on the distortion and scream things out: so this is what I did.  

The Chain

At the time, I was very influenced by Feederchain, a band of older kids from my high school.  I learned nearly every song on their cassette and would spend hours jamming along to their tunes while I posed in the mirror with my first electric guitar: a B.C. Rich Rave II.  Feederchain used drop D tuning to make the song sound meaner.  Consequently, this is what I did with a lot of my own songs including “Surrounded”.  I wrote a guitar riff and the song became a staple of the set of my first band Chogga.  We played “Surrounded” at my first show in front of my high school.  Eventually, 15 years later I would form Young James with members of Feederchain.

Here is a 4 track recording of the song as Chogga played it circa 1994-ish.  At the time we called it “Drained”.

Surrounded is an honest expression of how I felt at the age of 14 or 15 years old.  At various points in my life I go back to the song. I’ve always been surprised these lyrics came out of me.  

Road Trip

In the summer of 1995 I was 16. I had been offered a tryout with the Prince George Cougars WHL team. My dad and I loaded up the family’s 1987 Chevy Astro and made the 1300km drive to Prince George. The week we made the drive, Foo Fighters released their debut album. I bought the cassette somewhere in the mountains on the way there. We listened to the album most of the trip.

Hotels weren’t in the budget so we camped along the way.  We had my dad’s acoustic guitar to pass the time: a 1970’s Norman guitar, made in Canada.  This was the guitar I learned to play on.  At one of the stops I played my dad the acoustic version of “Surrounded”.  He seemed genuinely impressed  and interested in the song.  This was a big deal for me as he was the first musician I knew and respected.  It felt like a milestone for me as a songwriter.  

Looking Back

In spite of being told I had no chance of making the hockey team unless I grew a foot, that drive is one of my fondest memories.  For my Dad the trip seemed even more important.  I felt like he was making a bigger deal about it than it was.  In hindsight and now having had my own children, I feel like he knew the time he had with me as his child at home would soon be ending as I approached adulthood.  So to me this song has always represented many aspects of a short time in my life.  One of the greatest things about music is it’s ability to take you back in time.  Music triggers memories.  Perhaps this is why I’ve always held onto this song for myself.